The VPI plant has met the load situation of the 1935-1936 heating season with a small margin of capacity. Should it have been considered necessary, as a matter of policy, to carry reserve through this heating season, 20,751 pounds per hour of steam capacity would have been lacking. To meet the maximum possible hourly-load anticipated for the 1936- 1937 heating season, it would require an increase in the present capacity of the plant of 11 percent. Considering the carrying of ample reserve, an increase of 117 percent would be necessary. In that the load has reached and passed the most economical output from the standpoint of fuel consumption, forcing of present equipment will now involve economic losses that may be used to offset the costs of a new boiler installation. The load duration curve shown in Fig. 11 will be valuable in economic studies of this type. In conclusion, the authors suggest the possibility of using capacity now latent in the plant. The building of a storage place to make dry coal available tor No.4 boiler would release approximately 6,700 pounds per hour of latent steam capacity. Further gains could be made by forcing boilers 1, 2, and 3 to higher ratings with excess air during the peak hours, while the use of a higher grade bituminous coal during the heavy heating season would also show substantial gains in capacity. / Master of Science

The purpose of this thesis was to study the economical aspects of the present boiler feed water treating system at the VPI Power Plant. In carrying out the investigation, two testing periods were conducted, each lasting for four weeks and the first period was preliminary in nature. The experimental results revealed that the cost on caustic soda(NaOH) could be reduced by improving the performance of the mechanical degasifier; the cost on neutralizing amines (Nalco 35) was insufficient to insure maximum protection against corrosion; the cost of blowdown was too high; and the cost on sodium orthophosphate and ligin derivatives (Nalco 728) could be reduced. Recommendations are made based on the test results and plan for future expansion of plant capacity. It is recommended that the degasifier be overhauled; the optimum blowdown quantity be studied; the Boiler No. 5 be inspected for leaks; a better method found for feeding Nalco 35; and the installation of an automatic pH meter and a continuous conductivity recorder for the main condensate return line. The average cost for feedwater treatment at the VPl Power Plant from March 25 to April 20, 1958, was $ 1.334 per thousand gallons of New River water demineralized. / Master of Science

In 1939, a fifth steam generating unit was added to the Virginia Polytechnic Institute Central Heating and Power Plant. This unit was an E. Keeler, 500 horsepower, three drum, bent water tube type boiler, fired by a Westinghouse five retort underfeed stoker with link-grate section. Soon after the installation of this unit, W.F. Diamond and C.F. DeBush made an investigation to determine the effects of various fuel bed depths on the efficiency of the unity. Approximately 6 1/2 years have elapsed since their investigation was completed. No other tests have been conducted on the unit up to now. Consequently, its performance characteristics and maximum thermal efficiency at the present time are not accurately known. Even though Diamond and DeBusk made their investigation to determine the effect of various depths of fuel bed on the performance of the unit, the optimum percentage C0₂, and the range of load for maximum thermal efficiency, there is at the present time, a decided difference of opinion among the power plant personnel regarding these facts. It is contemplated that a sixth unit will shortly be installed in the V.P.I. Power Plant. Therefore, it is necessary to know what maximum continuous load and what peak loads for short periods of time the No. five until can be expected to carry now that it has been in operation for almost seven years. During the past two or three years, the operation of the stoker on the No. five unit has not been satisfactory. Large coke trees (see Discussion of Results, page 67) are formed in the fuel bed at the front end of the stoker where coal enters the furnace. There coke trees ride on the fuel bed as it moves from the front end of the furnace to the ash discharge orifice (see Fig 18), and are only partially consumed during combustion. When they reach the ash discharge orifice clogging results. This necessitates cleaning the orifice and ash discharge plates with a firing iron. Actual cases have been known to occur when a complete loss of load and a 50 per cent reduction in steam pressure have resulted from the clogging of the orifice. / Master of Science

A number of investigations have been undertaken with the object of replacing the present water treatment system at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute Power Plant. / Master of Science