Dover Textiles - A Case History on Retrofitting Factories with a Boiler System Fueled on Coal, Wood and Waste

Abstract

The shortage of affordable gas and oil boiler fuels and the recent Iran/Iraq war underscores the urgent need for the American industrial system to convert to domestically controlled fuels and particularly coal, wood, and waste. More talk than action has been present. However, Dover Textiles, Shelby, North Carolina, is a major textile concern which has aggressively addressed the high cost and vulnerability of oil, as well as the increasing cost of natural gas, for their boiler system by purchasing a coal, wood, and waste fired boiler system to serve two plants. This case history will document payback periods of less than three years; return on investments of 20% plus; benefits of North Carolina and federal investment tax credits; EPA considerations, which in this case required no additional capital investment; fuel supply; material handling; ash removal; and other design considerations.