Cayuga Nature Center is known in the Ithaca area for their children’s educational programs on local science and nature. Now, they are taking on a new project and reducing their carbon footprint at the same time. Cayuga Nature Center has just become one of two U.S. organizations to test new wood-gasification boilers. This system will replace their old propane system and use wood-chips to heat their facilities.
The company Advanced Climate Technologies has brought a project to the United States in which two facilities (Clarkson University and Cayuga Nature Center) are receiving these new boilers to test out. Cayuga Nature Center hopes to have this system up and running in the next week or two. These systems have proven to be very successful in Europe, and should spread throughout the United States quickly pending the success of the program at Cayuga Nature Center.
Tom Trencansky, Executive Director of Cayuga Nature Center says he can’t see any reason not to install this new boiler. By burning woodchips instead of fossil fuels, greenhouse gas emissions are significantly reduced Also, the boiler is 90 percent efficient, meaning there is very little waste. Trencansky said “It would be nice to be a model for bettering the earth.”
In addition, this system should save Cayuga Nature Center a substantial amount of money. The installation of the system was not free, but there was a significant grant given to Cayuga Nature Center by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. Trencansky anticipates that a considerable amount of money will be saved by using the system itself. The current propane systems are expensive, and while woodchips are not free, they are not nearly as costly. Cayuga Nature Center is anticipating saving around $6,000 per year on heating. Also, Trencansky said they will be purchasing the woodchips from local sources to help support local business.
This system is described by Trencansky as cutting edge technology. Tony Nekut has been helping Cayuga Nature Center install their new system and explained how it works. Woodchips are sent through an auger, and a wood-gasification process takes place. This produces a clean fuel. When the fuel is burned, water runs through the system and the water is heated. Water then runs through the building and distributes heat.
David Dungate, President of Advanced Climate Technologies Bioenergy, explained this process in more technical detail. ”In the main combustion chamber there are three zones. In the primary zone the fuel is heated to gasify the organic components in the fuel, the gases then go through secondary and tertiary zones where air is introduced to completely combust all the gases. The heat from the gases makes through three heat exchange zones where the heat from the gases is transferred to water flowing through the boiler. The rates of fuel feeding and air introduction are modulated by the boiler control system based on the water temperature, exhaust gas temperature and oxygen level in the exhaust to ensure efficiencies between 85-90% are constantly maintained.”
Since this technology is brand new in the United States, Cayuga Nature Center is going to be testing this equipment through the winter. The boiler has been installed with a fully operating computer system so it can be easily monitored. Several students from Cornell University as well as other organizations are going to keep tabs on the boiler. They will be testing it’s efficiency, it’s production of greenhouse gases and also the potential for wear-and-tear costs over the years.
Cayuga Nature Center certainly will not be abandoning it’s roots as an educational organization with this new boiler. Trencansky said they will be having many demonstrations for the public to see the new system. “We will have an open door policy. We want to be a model to show other companies this new technology” Trencansky said.
Cayuga Nature Center hopes to have this up and running by next week. They will be holding a ribbon cutting ceremony in celebration of this accomplishment.
For more information:
www.cayuganaturecenter.org
www.actbioenergy.com
