Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony Held for EMD-Millipore Biomass Plant

Biomass Plant, interior / © Mike Sears/RDK Engineers

Jaffrey, NH – June 4 saw the ribbon cutting of the new energy-efficient, 20 MMBtu Biomass Central Heating Plant at EMD-Millipore’s Jaffrey campus, a project that had been in planning since 2007. Designed and managed by RDK Engineers, the $9 million project’s focus on sustainable energy has revolutionized the Jaffrey facility’s cost-effectiveness. As the largest plant of its type in New Hampshire serving an industrial facility, the Biomass Central Heating Plant really is, as EMD Millipore’s Kate Cingolani puts it, “a model to look to” in the state.

(l-r) Dan Wall and Gi Martin, RDK principals / © Mike Sears / RDK Engineers

Led by RDK principal and project manager, Dan Wall, PE, LEED AP, the project involved replacing the 14 oil-fired boilers for steam, heating, and process loads, and transitioning them to a biomass system for sustainable energy. The biomass plant saves on both heating and cooling, controls emissions, and enables future on-site turbine-generated electricity production. The project also greatly improves “firm, fixed capacity” to ensure uninterrupted manufactory.

According to Mark Leach, president of AFS Energy Systems (the manufacturer of the biomass boilers) the new system can produce steam from a number of different fuels including green wood chips, wood residues, wood pellets, and propane back-up. It was designed to be highly efficient while meeting very stringent air quality standards. The system is integrated into Millipore’s Building Automation System where it can be monitored throughout the main plant.

EMD Millipore’s Kate Cingolani, business partner for operations/communications with Don Macisaac, chairman, Jaffrey Board of Selectman / © Mike Sears/RDK Engineers

Gary Blanchette, PE, from H.L. Turner Group, Inc., that provided architectural, structural and civil engineering for RDK, stated, “We needed to design a facility with high aesthetic and functional qualities that Millipore’s medical and pharmaceutical customers come to expect. The Biomass Project achieved that goal and in the process, the nearly 300,000sf facility also eliminated the use of fossil fuel boilers and significantly reduced Millipore’s production of greenhouse gasses.”

Maura Adams, the wood heat program director of the Northern Forest Center, described the project as an “extraordinary investment” boasting clean, efficient heat and “epitomizing the concept of sustainable energy.” The new biomass plant is expected to save 500,000 gallons of fuel oil annually.