Steam Boiler Goes Green Burning Alternate Fuel

One of our customers contacted us with a need for a central dust collector to handle fly ash and calcium oxide emissions from a new steam boiler at one of their manufacturing facilities. What makes this project unique is the fuel for this power generating steam boiler is discarded carpet flooring that would have been sent to a landfill.

A regional program had been implemented to transport several types of used carpet and carpet materials to our customer’s manufacturing facility. Any of the materials that could not be reconstituted and recycled were to be used as a fuel source for the steam boilers that are a part of the facility’s power generation systems.

Griffin’s Solutions

Griffin application engineers specified and sold a single four-compartment baghouse system based on initial air flow requirements. After one year of operation, an additional three-compartment system was added to meet increased air flow rates. The combined seven-compartment baghouse system is complete with automatic isolation dampers and controls for on-line service and maintenance. Each compartment incorporates an on-demand pulse panel with local differential pressure indication as well as 4-20 mA output and Ethernet communication for monitoring and control by a remote PLC.

The expanded system went on line in December 2012 and it was soon evident that the expansion was well worth the effort and expense. Since starting up the new boiler and baghouse, the customer has realized significant annual savings in conventional fossil fuels, even after accounting for transportation and reconstitution costs. And, the environment is protected by eliminating landfill material and air pollution.

Additional Advantages of Griffin’s Baghouse

• With few moving parts, maintenance is reduced.
• On-demand pulse control means longer filter life and energy savings due to less compressed air use for the cleaning cycle.
• Compartmentalized control optimizes service & maintenance, resulting with minimal down time.

We are very excited to be part of a “Green Technology” initiative. Hopefully projects like this one will act as a template for similar projects, both nationally and internationally