ARK-O-Hol Community Experiment Group: A Cooperatively Operated Greenhouse Heated with Low-Grade Waste Heat from an Adjacent Alcohol Distillation Plant. Final Report

摘要

In order to prove that low-grade waste heat (from an alcohol distillation plant, in this case) could successfully be transported and recycled, a 28' x 60' greenhouse was designed and constructed adjacent to and connected by plumbing with an operating alcohol distillation plant. Hot water in the return lines of heat exchangers in the distillation column of the alcohol plant was emptied into a 20' x 20' in ground heat storage tank within the greenhouse. This heated water was then circulated throughout the greenhouse by means of 7' x 10' floor plates (surplus reefer heat exchangers). The heat-storage tank, drawing its heat from the distillation column waste-heat, in addition to daytime solar gain, maintained a temperature of 62 to 65 degrees by day, dropping to 60 degrees at night, provided the greenhouse with an average of 60,000 Btu's per hour of nighttime usable heat. The greenhouse was operated throughout the winter 1982/1983 which had unpredictable temperatures climbing to 85 degrees, followed immediately by a week of 18 degrees. In April 1983, 18,500 tomato plants and more than 5000 other vegetables and house plants, were ready for harvest, although no supplemental heater was used, the only heat being distillation plant waste heat and daytime solar gain. (ERA citation 09:006103)