As part of the ongoing working relationship (MOA) between Penn State and GRT, Ltd., headed by William Bang of Seoul, Korea, Penn State has received one of the company’s plastic-fueled boilers to test. It was scheduled to arrive on Dec 19 for installation in January and February of 2004, to heat a high tunnel and a greenhouse at the Penn State Horticulture Research Farm. ASP member James Garthe, Agricultural Engineer with Penn State’s Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, is working on the project. He reports, “We will initially fire it with a few tons of pelletized waste plastic from Korea along with some granulated plastic pesticide drums from here in Pennsylvania. Later, we will modify it to burn our Plastofuel fuel nuggets, which are made from all types of waste thermoplastics (mainly ag plastics, but also waste #4-#7 household containers). If / whenever we receive funding, we will do air emissions testing through our Energy Institute to confirm the favorable results found from emissions testing completed in Korea last year. Over the next few years, we plan to have numerous field days centered around this novel heating system at the Hort Farm."

This series of photos shows a new hot water boiler technology, manufactured by GRT Company, Ltd. of Seoul, Korea. The system is currently being set up in a building at the Penn State University Horticulture Research Farm. This hot water boiler is fueled by pellets made from all types of waste plastics, initially from agricultural sources. Eventually the system will be modified to burn Penn State’s Plastofuel fuel nuggets, which are significantly larger than the pea-sized pellets currently being used.

Testing of the unit in Korea showed the system meets US EPA emissions standards, however to verify results in a field setting, further testing will begin late winter 2004, continuing for the next several years. Penn State’s Energy Institute and College of Agricultural Sciences researchers will investigate combustion characteristics and efficiencies, air emissions, and overall system heat transfer using a wide array of waste plastic fuels.

Mike Orzolek of the Penn State Center for Plasticulture inspects the boiler that arrived January 7, 2004 at the Horticulture Research Farm. This is the insulated hot water boiler, shown without the burner installed.

The waste plastic burner and associated parts are shown still on the shipping pallet. The burner (shown still wrapped on left) is designed to combust plastic pellets, yielding in the neighborhood of 500,000 Btus/hr of heat. The dark blue tank in the background is for kerosene used to bring the system up to temperature.

The waste plastic burner and associated parts are shown still on the shipping pallet. On the left is the burner, the control module (center), and on the right is the fuel pellet transfer pump.

Sometimes back ends are interesting too!

Two tons of waste agricultural plastic fuel pellets arrived from Korea along with the boiler and burner units. These pellets will be used for setup of the unit, and for air emissions testing at a later date. In the background is the 30’x 96’ high tunnel frame which will be heated with the waste plastic. The 30’x 100’ glass greenhouse in the background will also be heated by the system.

In the foreground is the gravel pad site for the 14’x18’ boiler building, due to arrive the week of January 12, 2004. In the background is the 30’x 96’ high tunnel frame.

The hot water boiler heating system shown in its new building. The building is being wired for electricity to run the burner and associated pumping equipment. The burner portion is on the right, and the hot water boiler containing 0.8 tons of water is the orange portion on the left.

The burner is fed with plastic pellets from the gray-colored hopper, which in turn is fed automatically from bulk storage bins via transfer tubes and a pellet transfer pump (not shown). The transfer tubes are temporarily snaked through the trusses above to keep them from being in the way.

The gray-colored control panel beneath the pellet hopper makes sure all fuel is metered as needed and all hot water is circulated as necessary.

The back end of the boiler, where a sampling port (round, black pipe cap) and an ash cleanout (behind yellow piece of tape) can be seen.

Shown still under construction on a lovely January day is the 30 x 96 foot high tunnel (left) to be heated with waste plastic. The blue building in the background houses the hot water boiler, while plans call for the greenhouse to the right to eventually be heated with the boiler.