TROUBLES WITH UNIVERSITY BOILER COUNTINUE

Operation of the fluidized bed boiler continues to move along in halting fashion.

The fluidized bed boiler was running at Southeast Missouri State University earlier this week, even as physical plant officials scrambled to find a new source of limestone for the high-tech equipment.

"We've had it on and running since last Thursday," Bill Moon, physical plant director, said Monday.

But on Tuesday, the boiler was shut down again. "We had some clamps that failed in the bag house," Moon said Wednesday, referring to some of the filtering equipment.

The bag house, he said, basically serves the same purpose as vacuum cleaner bags.

"We are satisfied that the boiler itself is going to run," said Moon.

Late last month, the designer of the pollution-reducing, coal-burning boiler was called in to help finetune the equipment.

Alex Wormser of Marblehead, Mass., spent four days working to get the computer-controlled boiler running at peak efficiency. "I think we owe him about $4,000," said Moon.

A number of adjustments were made, but the boiler was tested only briefly because seals on the coal crushing equipment were leaking.

"It was blowing coal dust all over the place, which besides being dirty can be dangerous," said Moon. "If you get the right mix, it can explode."

That problem was corrected and the boiler fired up. It had been running 24 hours a day since last Thursday, until it was shut down Tuesday.

Moon said he hopes to have it back in operation today.

"It seems to be burning clean and reacting the way it should be," said Moon. "There have been a few glitches, but I think that has just been an operational thing."

During the few days it was up and running, the boiler had been providing all the steam needed for air conditioning and hot water heating on campus.

But Moon said, "We won't be able to test it under a full load, of course, until this winter when the temperatures drop."

As of last Thursday when the boiler was started up, the university had a 10-day supply of limestone.

The limestone is used to help reduce sulfur-dioxide emissions from the burning of high-sulfur coal.

Moon said sulfur dioxide emissions from the boiler currently are well below the allowable limits.

The quarry, which had previously supplied the special limestone, has closed, forcing the university to look for a new supplier.

"There is a lot of this type of limestone around, but the processing capabilities aren't there with most of the quarries," he said.

Moon said, however, that the university is looking at several prospective suppliers. "I think it is out there. What it is going to boil down to now is a question of economics."

He said he hopes some supply of the limestone can be obtained soon. "If I can get it, we would probably just keep it (the boiler) on line 90 percent of the time so we can work on the other (main) boiler." That boiler is a standard unit.

The $4.7 million fluidized bed boiler, one of only 14 such units worldwide, has had a history of problems since being put into operation at Southeast 3 years ago.

As a result, the university had been operating the boiler only about 30-40 percent of the time.