Click on image to enlarge in new window. Image courtesy of Hurst Boiler

To minimize reliance on foreign fossil fuels and to reduce carbon emissions, John Cressy, the facilities director for Sullivan County, New Hampshire, conducted extensive research into biomass fuel technology. After looking at almost two dozen plants with the help of Cressy and his team, the county purchased a biomass boiler district heating system with a backpressure steam turbine/generator manufactured by Hurst Boiler, Coolidge, Ga., a provider of industrial-scale solid fuel, solid waste, biomass, gas coal and oil-fired steam and hot water boilers.

The Hurst system will serve the County’s 166-bed nursing home and 168-bed prison complex as well as two smaller onsite buildings in Unity, New Hampshire.

The biomass combined heat and power (CHP) district energy system constructed at the Unity Complex is almost entirely fueled by locally sourced, renewable wood chips, which are provided by Cousineau Forest Products of Henniker, N.H.. Producing inexpensive heat and electricity for the over 215,000 ft2 of conditioned space, the system has replaced 95 percent of fuel oil purchases and 10 percent electric purchases in the nursing home.

“Even though it’s still a new system, I’m very pleased with the Hurst equipment,” Cressy says. “It’s robust, which is important in New Hampshire, as we put heating systems through a lot up here.” The system, which has been in place since December 2014, is credited with saving the county approximately $100,000.

Authorized Hurst Boiler representative Bob Waller and his company, Thermal Systems Inc., coordinated and performed all specification and procurement services for the project. Waller and TSI oversaw the development of the equipment specifications, the equipment arrangement design, and the procurement of the components necessary to meet the requirements of the county initiative.