chilled water.) During the primary heating
months, the university baseloads one of
its large boilers and allows the modular
boilers to handle the swing production.
Source: Miura North America Inc.
Besides helping the U of A
better meet its variable heating
demands, the modular boilers
support the university’s climate
action plan.
The new Miura LX-300 steam boilers at the University of Arkansas are installed in two banks of three
units each, headered together as a single point of discharge into the steam system.
Like many campuses, the U of A has
significant variation in its steam loads,
both seasonally and throughout the
day. Peak steam demand swings from
a high of 120,000 lb/hr in winter to a
low of 15,000 lb/hr in summer, with a
non-degree-day baseload of 24,000 lb/
hr. On days when classes are in session,
the university hits high morning warmup
loads as students are getting up and tak-
ing showers, then sees the load drop off
as the day goes on.
The U of A also considered another
advantage of a modular boiler system:
If one unit were out of service for some
reason, it would mean the loss of only a
small portion of the plant’s production
capacity, rather than the whole output
of a large conventional boiler.
For all these reasons, the universi-
ty chose to complement its heat pump
with a modular boiler array from Miura
consisting of six 10,000-lb/hr natural
gas-fired units, which began operation
in February 2008. Other equipment was
added to the plant as well: a deaera-
tor, feed water pumps, softeners, a
chemical feed system and a condensate
polisher. The upgrade also involved
installation of a digital control system
that will eventually incorporate more
of Miura’s existing control technology
for monitoring and optimizing boiler
operation. The total investment for
these boiler house improvements was
just over $2.9 million.
Evolutionary Approach
While the U of A now has hot water
heating capability, it has no plans to aban-
don its steam system anytime soon. Says
Turley: “Steam is hard to beat in terms of
moving a lot of energy over long distance,
and our system has historically done that
well. We also have a tremendous capital
investment in our steam infrastructure.”
Instead, the university is taking an ‘evo-
lutionary’ approach, developed out of the
original ESPC project, to extend steam
service from the existing district system
to a number of heating hot water produc-
tion nodes or ‘mini plants’ around the
rapidly growing campus.
As called for in the ESPC, a new
nanotechnology building recently joined
the first 13 campus buildings served by
the new hot water loop. Unlike those 13
buildings, however, the nanotechnology
facility was designed without a connec-
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