Facility Boiler Unit Recommendation Estimated 

Capital Cost

Estimated 

Yearly Cost 

Savings

Estimated 

Efficiency 

Improvement

PVT-1 Boiler 5

Boiler 9

Reduce start-up times on all boilers. Utilize natural 

gas as a start-up fuel to reduce levels or organic 

toxics. 

$50,000 NA 0

PVT-2 General Revise SO2 limit in existing air permit to reduce the 

need for multiple start-ups caused by SO2 limitations. 

$10,000 to 

$15,000 NA 0

PVT-5 General Improve shut down procedures for unneeded boilers $0 $1,500 <1%

PUB-3 General Reduce start-up times to reduce levels of toxics 

emitted during start-up procedures. NA NA 0

PVT-1 General Fuel dry bark to improve combustion of bark fuel 

source. 

$100,000 fuel 

dryer capable of 

treating bark at a 

rate of 6 tons 

per hour .

Up to $300,000 

per year savings 

in coal use by 

increasing Btu 

value of wood 

fuel.

1 to 2%

PVT-1 General Cover bark fuel storage area to reduce moisture and 

improve combustion of bark. 

$50,000 to 

$100,000

Up to $300,000 

per year savings 

in coal use by 

increasing Btu 

value of wood 

fuel.

0.50%

PVT-2 Boiler 9

Reinject ash to reduce the amount of ash (and cost) 

for disposal. Operators stated that reworking the ash 

removal system on this unit would greatly reduce 

maintenance requirements. 

$75,000 $13,300 to 

$26,600 1 to 2%

PVT-2 Boiler 9 Install sootblowers to improved heat transfer and 

reduce back-end temperatures. $100,000 NA

Additional 

assessment 

needed by vendor.

Fuel Management

Table 3-2: Recommendation Summary

Start-up/Shut-down Procedures

Page 1 of 6
Facility Boiler Unit Recommendation Estimated 

Capital Cost

Estimated 

Yearly Cost 

Savings

Estimated 

Efficiency 

Improvement

Table 3-2: Recommendation Summary

PVT-2 General

Re-use bottom boiler ash to take advantage of Btu 

value. Bottom boiler ash has been analyzed and 

contains up to 8000 BTU/lb (better than dry wood). 

$75,000 

Fuel cost saving: 

$8,200 to 

$27,900. 

Disposal Cost 

saving: $48,000

1 to 2%

PVT-2 General

Modify limestone conveying system to improve delivery 

of correctly sized limestone and minimize quantity of 

limestone used.

$100,000 

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

PVT-3 General Tarp rail cars to reduce excess moisture to coal and 

bark fuel sources to improve combustion process. 

10 tarps at $500 

per tarp: $5,000 $5,800 

0.2% overall 

improvement for 

three boiler system

PUB-2 General

Replacing fuel feeders with newer, more modern 

design to improve opacity and decrease toxic 

emissions.

$123,000 per 

boiler $128,000 0.25%

PUB-3 General Co-fire (or over-fire) up to 20% natural gas to reduce 

criteria and toxic pollutant emissions. 

$35,000 to 

$45,000 to install 

one gas burner

Dependent on 

the price of 

natural gas.

0

PVT-2 General Automated boiler conductivity blowdown and feedwater 

monitoring instrument systems. 

$50,000 to 

$100,000

$29,000 to 

$58,000 1-2%

PVT-2 General Upgrade water clarifier to minimize the amount of 

blowdown required and reduce boiler fouling.

$100,000 to 

$200,000 $29,000 1%

PVT-3

Boiler 1

Boiler 2

Boiler 10

Upgrade water cleaning system to reduce tube fouling. <$100,000 $14,400 

0.5% overall 

improvement for 

three boiler system

PVT-5 Plant 1 Return condensate to boiler units for reuse. $48,000 $10,480 4%

PVT-1 General Preheating inlet combustion air to reduce the amount 

of heat needed for combustion process. 

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

0.5 to 2%

Water Treatment

Combustion air pre-heating

Page 2 of 6
Facility Boiler Unit Recommendation Estimated 

Capital Cost

Estimated 

Yearly Cost 

Savings

Estimated 

Efficiency 

Improvement

Table 3-2: Recommendation Summary

PUB-1 General

Preheat inlet combustion air using heat exhaust and/or 

air preheaters to reduce the amount of heat needed for 

the combustion process. 

$12,000 to 

$75,000 $146,700 2%

PUB-4 General

Increase temperature in the condensate (feed water) 

using boiler exhaust heat and/or to preheat the inlet air 

with the spent condensate. 

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

0.5 to 1%

PVT-2 Boiler 6

Boiler 8

Retrofitting two boilers with underthrow feeders and 

variable frequency drive (VFD) grate drives. $150,000 $45,400 (2 boilers) 1% per boiler

PVT-2 Boiler 7 Convert boiler control to computer based distributed 

control system to improve overall combustion process. $50,000 $114,700 2%

PVT-2 General

Improved monitoring/metering of the specific paper mill 

steam and electrical usage to refine power plant 

operation.

$30,000 

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

PVT-3 Boiler 10 Updgrade O2 controls to maintain outlet 

temperatures. 

$50,000 to 

$100,000

$33,300 to 

$83,200 1% to 2.5%

PVT-4

Boiler 3

Boiler 4

Boiler 9

Improve burner tip workmanship to improve 

combustion of fuel oil. 

$5,000 to 

$10,000 per year

$36,200 to 

$72,500

1% to 2% overall 

improvement for 

three boiler system

PVT-5 General Setting combustion on all boilers $5,780 $3,145 1%

PUB-2 General

Conduct a “NOx vs. % overfire air” study to assess 

potential NOx reductions. 

$20,000 for 

study

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

PUB-3 General

 Conduct a “NOx vs. % overfire air” study to assess 

potential NOx reductions. 

$20,000 for 

study

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

PUB-1 General Install CO/VOC catalyst unit to reduce toxics. $150,000 NA 0

PUB-3

Boiler 1

Boiler 2

Boiler 3

Replace old baghouses for three boiler units. This 

would reduce the metals portion of the toxic pollutants 

by, conservatively, 98%. 

$250,000 per 

boiler NA 0

Controls

Flue gas treatment

Page 3 of 6
Facility Boiler Unit Recommendation Estimated 

Capital Cost

Estimated 

Yearly Cost 

Savings

Estimated 

Efficiency 

Improvement

Table 3-2: Recommendation Summary

PVT-2 Boiler 6 Install new forced draft fan and improve overfire air 

flow measurement. <$100,000 $49,000 2%

PVT-2

Boiler 6

Boiler 7

Boiler 8

Chemically clean three boilers to remove scale and 

improve heat exchange. $30,000 

$170,600 for 

three boiler 

system

5%

PVT-2 General Conduct regular maintenance of 300 to 400 steam 

traps. 

$50,000 to 

$60,000 per year $1,200,000 10% to 20% (1)

PVT-5 General Conduct steam pressure profiling on 2 boilers $11,900 

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

PVT-5 General Insulate steam and condensate lines. $42,300 $21,100 8%

PVT-5 Plant 1 Conduct flash steam loss study to reduce utilizable 

steam lost to the atmosphere $2,900 

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

PVT-5 Plant 2 Reduce utilizable flash steam currently vented to the 

atmosphere $13,000 $29,400 11%

PVT-5 Plant 1 Reduce operational steam pressure $3,000 $5,200 2%

PVT-3 Boiler 10

Relatively high outlet temperature (489oF to the 

precipitator) indicate that some excess heat still 

available. No immediate potential process uses were 

apparent. 

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

PUB-1

Boiler 1

Boiler 2

Boiler 3

Relatively high outlet temperatures for three boilers 

(530oF) indicate some excess heat is available. No 

immediate process uses for the excess heat were 

identified; however, a study should be completed to 

assess potential. 

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

Steam systems

Heat Recovery

Associated equipment

Page 4 of 6
Facility Boiler Unit Recommendation Estimated 

Capital Cost

Estimated 

Yearly Cost 

Savings

Estimated 

Efficiency 

Improvement

Table 3-2: Recommendation Summary

PUB-2

Boiler 1

Boiler 2

Boiler 3

Relatively high outlet temperatures for three boilers 

(450oF) indicate some excess heat is available. No 

immediate process uses for the excess heat were 

identified; however, a study should be completed to 

assess potential since ductwork combines the exit 

gases into one plant stack.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

PUB-3

Boiler 1

Boiler 2

Boiler 3

The boilers are all designed to produce 425 psi steam. 

In reality they generate steam at only 175 psi. No 

immediate uses were identified. Consideration should 

be given to purchasing a larger steam turbine that can 

accept the higher pressure steam and, in turn, 

generate (20% to 30%) more megawatts using the 

same amount of fuel.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

PVT-1 General

Install activated carbon filters to collect vapors from the 

paper rolling/process rooms. Organic vapors are 

generated from the steam injection process.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

PVT-2 General

Redesign the turbines for efficiency improvements. 

Turbines with less extracting ability and more 

condensing ability would result in more efficient units, 

but not without significant cost. 

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

PVT-2 General

Consider installing a new boiler and removing two old 

boilers from service. This would prolong the life of the 

existing baghouse and eliminate the need for costly 

installation of additional additional modules while 

upgrade to new, higher efficiency boiler units.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

Further 

assessment by 

vendor needed.

PVT-5 General

Connect boilers in Plants 1 and 2. Two boilers would 

be sufficient to meet the steam needs of the facility. 

Connecting the systems would remove redundency 

and excess energy use.

$64,700 $23,600 9%

Facility specific Recommendations

Page 5 of 6
Facility Boiler Unit Recommendation Estimated 

Capital Cost

Estimated 

Yearly Cost 

Savings

Estimated 

Efficiency 

Improvement

Table 3-2: Recommendation Summary

(1) SIP Energy Efficiency Renewables Catalog 9Draft), Jaunary 5, 1999, Table C-1.

Page 6 of 6