How Switchgrass Transformed Heating at a Virginia Hospital | Agriculture Business & Agritourism News | lancasterfarming.com

Oct 29, 2024

Three thousand acres of switchgrass have been planted in Virginia for a project that uses the material as a heat source in a hospital.

In 2017, a hospital in Virginia made a switch that had a ripple effect of benefits throughout agriculture.

For decades, the Piedmont Geriatric Hospital in Burkeville, Va., relied on sawdust and fuel oil to provide heat and hot water for the facility. Volatile fuel oil prices and fluctuating supplies of sawdust forced the facility to look in another direction - the fields.

In search of a more sustainable alternative, the hospital began experimenting with switchgrass for its boiler. While the change held promise, there were also challenges.

Getting the material to feed into the boiler properly was a big obstacle at first, especially if it wasn’t the right length.

A hospital in Virginia is using chopped switchgrass in its boiler to provide heat and hot water.

According to Roger Cushwa, a boiler mechanic at the hospital, the early days of the switchgrass experiment - which was spearheaded by his father, Charlie - resulted in a lot of trial and error.

Not only was the length of the chopped grass an issue, but finding the right temperature to burn the material in the boiler was another learning curve.

When sawdust was used, it was burned at a temperature of 1,500 degrees because it has a moisture content of 30%, Cushwa said. Higher heat was needed to burn off the moisture.

With switchgrass, the moisture content was less than 15%. That wasn’t an issue, according to Cushwa, but the silicate in the grass was a problem.

“If you burned it too high, the silicate liquefies and coats everything inside the boiler. It’s very hard to remove,” he said.

The solution was simple: burn the switchgrass at no higher than 1,100 degrees to prevent the silicate from liquefying.

When it was all figured out, the benefits were enormous, according to Cushwa.

The resulting BTU value from switchgrass - which was being burned at a lower heat - was extremely good and calculated to be cheaper than heating oil, he said. Plus, the cost of the switchgrass remained constant, which helped the hospital’s budget.

Today, in addition to the hospital, the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation, which is next door, is also using chopped switchgrass for its steam plant.

Together, boilers in both facilities are producing between 45 and 55 million pounds of steam per year while burning 3,000 to 4,000 tons of switchgrass annually, depending on the severity of the winter.

While the benefits at the boiler were apparent, the facilities needed a permanent source of switchgrass to keep it all working. The switchgrass is provided by FDC Enterprises, a bioenergy company that contracts with farmers to plant switchgrass on their fields.

According to Cushwa, FDC has 3,000 acres of switchgrass planted in Virginia, and they bring the baled material to the hospital. In order for it to work in the boiler, he said, it needs to be chopped at a length of 1 1/2 to 2 inches.

“They have harvest equipment that provides exactly what we needed for the boilers,” Cushwa said. “It basically looks like hay but it’s shorter.”

The chopped switchgrass is transported to the hospital in a wagon with a walking floor. A series of augers and an elevator feed it into a 96-foot tall silo, which provides enough storage for up to four days. At times wood chips are mixed with the chopped switchgrass to give it enough weight to be carried by the augers.

“In the last five years, the price per ton from FDA hasn’t changed,” Cushwa said. “Plus, you also get carbon sequestration from the grass being planted on all these acres, and in the end it’s more efficient with the BTU and steam value.”

According to Cushwa, there aren’t many facilities utilizing switchgrass to feed boilers, but that could change.

Will Brandau, chairman of the Association of Warm Season Grass Producers, said states like Pennsylvania and others in the northeast should embrace the technology.

A prior attempt to utilize densified switchgrass in boilers at two schools in Columbia and Fulton counties a few years ago had drawbacks, he said, but the new concept is different.

“With the schools, you had 6,000 acres of switchgrass planted, but the problem was we couldn’t produce the densified material fast enough to keep up with the boilers,” Brandau said. “This is different and proven to work.

“We have so much land sitting idle in Pennsylvania that could be planted with switchgrass to grow our own fuel.”

Cushwa added there’s another benefit in that farmers who retired but didn’t want their fields to go to subdivisions now had an option. By renting their fields for switchgrass production, the land remained green and the farmer received a financial benefit.

“With the technology where it is, I don’t understand why more people aren’t looking at this,” he said.

But Cushwa hopes to change that as well.

He is currently starting up CRC Biofuel Solutions with other family members in the hopes of expanding the switchgrass technology across the country. Any facility with a solid fuel boiler system can make the switch to switchgrass without much alteration of the equipment in the plant, Cushwa said.

“This benefits everything from the environment to the farmer who owns the land,” he said. “We’re excited to expand and share this technology.”

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Staff Reporter

Tom Venesky is a staff reporter for Lancaster Farming. You canreach him at [email protected].

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