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Biomass is any organic
material that can be produced on a renewable basis and can be used as a
feedstock for the generation of fuels, electricity, materials, chemicals,
and many other products. Biomass has been utilized in the past on a very
limited basis, but due to current economic conditions within the country it
has become a concept undergoing development to potentially move the nation
forward towards self sufficiency.
The Benton Area School District is moving
forward with the concept of utilizing biomass as a source of energy and
reducing it’s reliance on fossil fuels. Currently the school district’s
heating system is a hot water boiler that is fueled with oil. The school
district has an approximate average heating load requirement over the past
five years of 3 billion btu’s per year, which translates into approximately
45,000 gallons of oil or more per year needed to heat the schools. Through
this project the district is going to be installing a biomass boiler system
that will be able to produce approximately 80% or more of the schools
heating requirements throughout the entire heating season. The boiler
system will able to utilize biomass as the feedstock for the heating system
which will offset almost 36,000 gallons of oil that will not be needed. It
will not only reduce the amount of fossil fuel used, but it will also reduce
air pollution by 93% as compared to the current fuel source of oil (Samson,
2000). The biomass that will be used as a feedstock for the system will be
pelletized material such as warm season grasses or wood pellets, and it will
also be able to burn corn. This allows the school district to have a system
that will be able to accommodate multiple fuel sources which provides added
flexibility for the schools to utilize other feedstocks depending on
availability, accessibility, and cost.
This will help to provide the District
with a locally raised and harvested product that will be able to supply the
District with approximately 80% or more of its heating requirements. This
project will be a huge benefit to the local economy because the local
economy is driven by and thrives on agriculture. It will allow local
farmers to produce the biomass to supply the schools, which will provide the
opportunity for producers to establish another value-added opportunity for
marketing their products. The project will also include a large educational
component that will be used within the schools, but also to the local
community and other local school districts within the county and the state.
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