Quick Glimpse
BACKGROUND
Established in 1900, Unity Point Methodist is a 330-bed hospital founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church.
PROBLEM
The 1,014,000 square foot hospital is partially served by a boiler running at 80 percent efficiency. Energy could be recovered by preheating the boiler feed water. The current system was wasting 61,320 therms of natural gas a year.
SOLUTION
Ruyle installed a properly engineered flash economizer tank to capture boiler skimmer blowdown. The flash tank economizer recovers heat and steam, which can then be recycled to be used as-is or used to heat new feedwater, thus saving fuel and money. It captures waste water from the boiler surface blowdown to increase make-up water temperature (sensible heat) and provide low pressure flash steam (latent heat) to the feedwater tank.
RESULTS
Working with the Ameren Illinois ActOnEnergy program, UnityPoint Methodist was able to receive $29,750.50 in incentives to help pay for a portion of the project cost. In addition, saving energy saves money. UnityPoint Methodist saved:
Existing Equipment
Total Therms per Hour: 153
Estimated Annual Operating Hours: 8,760
Estimated Annual Therms 1,340,280
Installed Equipment
Total Therms per Hour: 146
Estimated Annual Operating Hours: 8,760
Estimated Annual Therms 1,278,960
TOTAL THERMS SAVED 61,320
TOTAL ANNUAL SAVINGS $29,640.69
Project impact calculated using the EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator
