bustion turbine/heat recovery steam
generator.
To achieve this, the heat recovery
steam generator and large package boilers
are equipped with both selective catalytic
reduction and oxidation catalyst technologies. The boilers and gas turbine will
burn either natural gas or very low sulfur
fuel oil and are, therefore, not subject to
sulfur dioxide standards. The gas turbine
NOx emission technology was not commercially demonstrated on a 10 MW
machine when the air permits were
negotiated with the MA DEP. The UMass
air operating permit allows the facility
to demonstrate what it can achieve given
the state-of-the-art technology. The NOx
standards will be set once a performance
test period is completed, but the target
is as published: 2. 5 ppmvd on gas and
6.0 ppmvd on oil.
The electricity is produced at
one-third the cost of electricity
purchased off the grid.
Off-site noise will be limited to a 3-dbA
increase over background ambient noise
levels, and the noise levels in the plant
won’t exceed 85 dBA. Noise mitigation
goals included preventing noise on the
adjacent playing fields or in the surrounding neighborhoods. Designs were
tested with the noise model used for the
air permit to ensure that noise abatement
standards assumed in the model were
carried forward into specifications for
components such as stack silencers, intake
and exhaust ductwork, building fan outlets,
glass curtain wall performance and
building louvers.
An effluent treatment facility using
US Filter© reverse osmosis technology
recycles up to 180,000 gal of Amherst
wastewater treatment plant effluent daily
to meet boiler makeup water demand.
After treatment and sterilization, the
reverse osmosis skids pump the treated
effluent to the adjacent CHP facility, and
up to the campus for use as makeup water
in cooling towers. UMass negotiated a fee
with the town of Amherst for the effluent
that is one-fourth the cost of potable water.
Wastewater effluent had a price. In the
end, the price partially made up for losses
in town revenues used to underwrite the
fixed costs of its public water supply
system, caused by water-demand reduction strategies by UMass.
The new CHP facility is 3,500 ft from
the center of the campus. Steam and
electric power are fed by underground
steam trench/tunnels and duct banks to
a new two-story Steam and Condensate
Building (SCB). The SCB sits adjacent to
the existing heating plant where it is close
to connection points for the existing
underground utility systems feeding the
campus. At the SCB, steam is reduced in
pressure from 200 psig to 90 and 25 psig
for campus distribution. Electricity is fed
at 13. 8 kV from the new CHP plant to load
centers throughout campus, including a
2,400-kV load center in the SCB.
“The UMass CHP project is a highly
efficient and environmentally constructive cogeneration project design – one
that other public and private operators
could use as a model for development,”
Cahill stresses. The CHP facility satisfies
the energy needs of a campus population
of 30,000 people, while being more than
twice as efficient as a central electric
power plant. It extracts almost the ideal
optimum energy per pound of fuel burned,
using the energy to produce electricity
from a combustion turbine generator
and a steam turbine generator.
The electricity is produced at one-third the cost of electricity purchased
off the grid. The plant produces steam
from the exhaust heat of a gas turbine,
and with that steam creates electricity.
The turbine exhaust steam is then sent
out for use in heating and cooling campus
buildings and providing domestic hot
water, in-laboratory autoclaves and food
processing. The condensate is returned
and reused in the process again. The water
used to make the steam does not come
from limited supplies of ground water,
but from the municipal wastewater of
residential homes and town businesses.
John A. Mathews, PE, MPA, is the
assistant director, campus projects,
for facilities and campus planning at
the University of Massachusetts
Amherst. He worked in the electric
power and waste-to-energy industries before coming to UMass 12 years ago. Also
project manager for the central heating plant,
Mathews manages a staff of other project managers and resident engineers and oversees capital
construction and major renovation projects. He
can be reached at jmathews@admin.umass.edu.
Garen Demirchian, PE, managing
partner, leads Vanderweil Engineers’
Power & Utility Engineering group,
overseeing all business related to
central plants, utility distribution,
and electrical transmission and distribution. He began his career in nuclear engineering and has become increasingly involved in energy
production and distribution. A registered professional engineer in 14 states, Demirchian is integrally
involved in client projects and firm management. He
can be reached at gdemirchian@vanderweil.com.
Michael Marion, PE, is an associate
principal and senior project manager
at Vanderweil Engineers. He has 37
years of experience in the engineering, design and construction administration of fossil fuel power plants,
combined-cycle plants, cogeneration facilities,
central heating and cooling plants, and site distribution. Marion has been involved in all aspects
of plant design and construction including master
planning and programming, feasibility studies,
design development, contract documents, procurement and startup. His email is mmarion@
vanderweil.com.
USPS
Mail
Statement
