Hospital goes green with biomass boiler
The installation of a biomass at Whitchurch Community Hospital in Shropshire is expected to halve its carbon emissions, while providing space heating and hot water. The Hamworthy Biomatic boiler has an output of 250 kW and was installed during a period of cold weather last Winter, so it immediately had to work round the clock using up to 20 t of wood a week. The hospital has 38 beds.
The boiler uses wood pellets purchased from a local company through NHS Purchasing. During Winter, the storage silo was filled every two to three weeks — reducing as the weather warmed up.
The fuel feed from the silo to the boiler is fully automatic via a mechanical auger and intermediate hopper system with infra-red sensor for fuel level.
Unlike many biomass boiler that require continuous burning and trickle fuel feed, the Biomatic has fully automatic ignition with self-extinguish and auto-restart during periods of no demand to save fuel and reduce carbon emissions.
The cost of installing the boiler falls to the PCT capital budget, and the Renewable Heat Incentive money will go directly to the hospital.
