By Daniel Ciolkosz
Mifflinburg Schools Now Heating with Renewable, Low Cost Biomass (Mifflinburg, PA) Even in times of low fossil fuel costs and restricted public activity, biomass continues to be a good choice for facility heating systems. The most recent example is in Mifflinburg, where the School District has just completed a new biomass heating system for their elementary, intermediate, and middle school buildings (201,000 square feet total).
The system utilizes wood chips as its fuel, stored in an underground bin. The fuel is fed up by conveyor to a 6.8 Million BTUH (2,000 kW) Messersmith Biomass Boiler where the chips are burned and produce up to 700 gpm of hot water that is pumped through insulated piping to the buildings, where it keeps the teachers and ~1500 students warm all winter. Computerized control optimizes efficiency of fuel use, while automatic ash removal keeps system maintenance to a minimum. A new oil-fired boiler was also installed, to provide peak load assistance as well as backup redundancy that is expected of modern institutional heating systems. This is all housed in a new boiler building on the south end of the campus. The McClure Company coordinated the project as part of a "GESA", or "Guaranteed Energy Savings Agreement", that guarantees reduced and predictable energy costs for the school district, thus making it easier to plan future budgets.
The biomass facility did not occur overnight. In fact, the planning process began about 10 years ago when the US Forest Service provided a feasibility study that analyzed the potential for using biomass at Mifflinburg, including expected costs and savings. School Business Administrator Tom Caruso steadily promoted the idea to the school board until shifts in the school district's facility use patterns and availability of financing made the project an obvious choice. The biomass boiler was part of a larger facilities upgrade effort at the school, and is projected to more than pay back over its lifetime, without any government grants or subsidies.
In addition to cost savings, biomass boilers provide renewable heat that supports local jobs and provides a much needed market for wood products. Pennsylvania's forest heritage is such that many people like the idea of being part of the ongoing care of our forests via use of biomass fuel from professionally managed forests. Mifflinburg's biomass system joins a growing group of schools, businesses and institutions that use biomass heat in large-scale, high efficiency heating systems.
Construction of the biomass boiler system at Mifflinburg School District began in April of 2020, finishing in time for the start of the heating season. "The COVID shutdown allowed us to get an early start on work inside the buildings" said McClure Company’s account executive Alyssa Wingenfield, "and we were careful to follow all health protocols to ensure a quality project and safe environment". Permitting was all handled on schedule, and was processed by the Williamsport office of the Department of Environmental Protection. "The DEP was easy to work with" said project engineer Jeremy Shughart.
If you would like to see the facility, a ribbon cutting ceremony will be held on November 17 (rain date 11/19) at 4:30. The Intermediate School is at 250 Mabel Street in Mifflinburg, and all are welcome. If you are interested in biomass heat for your school, business or institution, Penn State Extension's renewable energy team or the PA Fuels for Schools and Communities collaborative will be happy to help.
Source : psu.edu