HomeMy WebLinkAboutTexas Energy & Mineral Resources Vol 6 No. 5 1980 VOLUME 6 NUMBER 5 APRIL 1980
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Texas A &M University and Mineral Resources
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Today's energy self- sufficiency at iversity' was constructed during with a seventh added in 1930. All
Texas A &M University is a natural 1915 -17. generators were connected to the
outgrowth of the school's early days Located on the northeast side of main 2300 volt bus which fed all
on the Texas Prairie when it de- the college campus, it contained a campus lighting and power circuits
veloped without the benefit of a city boiler room, engine room and base- as well as the residential community
large enough to provide basic ment. At the time of completion, new that had begun to develop in College
municipal services and utilities. Thus, generating equipment was added Station.
the Texas A &M power plant and the original generator was trans- A strategic factor in the operati
pioneered and came to rely on a ferred to Prairie View A &M Universi- of the early power plant was its
co- generation system to provide mul- ty. In 1929 a concrete heater room location near a spur track of the
tiple utilities which consisted of light- was added to the east side of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Originally,',
ing, steam heat, ice, water works basement. the power plant was fueled by lignit `
plant and eventually air conditioning which was delivered by rail from a
for the entire campus. Equipment coal mine at Rockdale and was un-
Although there were two separate Mechanical equipment for generat loaded by means of a Jeffrey fuel
power plants erected at different conveyer.
periods in the very early ing electricity consisted of three
p ry y years, the generators, and steam generating In those early days of coal -
power plant facility which contributed powered generation, the coal was
the most toward development and equipment consisted of six boilers dumped from cars in a pit under the
expansion of power generation to At this time it was known as A &M railroad track at the west side of the
meet the needs of the growing Un - College of Texas. (continued on page 5)
= — — — - -- temperature rise of 140 degrees F."
CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS N .
IN EARLY DEVELOPMENT Tunnels
OF TEXAS A &M'S Two steam tunnels led from the
POWER PLANT (32y'J -- power plant to the southwest and the
southeast sides of the campus. The
1890 — Installation of first electric first tunnel had three steam heating
lighting system. lines which led to the dormitories on
1893 — Erection of first power The heating plant at Texas A &M in the southwest side; the mechanical
plant. Cost $10,000. the early 1930's consisted of two hot engineering shops and the high
1900 — Construction of sewage water radiation circulating systems school; and the Mess Hall (Sbisa),
disposal plant. and two steam heating systems, in Hotel (Aggieland Inn), Alpha Hall and
1901 — Erection of new power contrast with the heat exchangers of the Hospital.
plant. Cost $17,000. Razed, today which make use of waste The second tunnel which fed the
1933. steam from steam turbines. southeast side of the campus had
1915 -1917 — Erection of new pow- Pumping equipment and water steam lines to provide steam for hot
er plant. Cost of buildings heaters were located in the heater water heaters in the laundry and
and equipment $175,000. room at the mouth of the steam radiation heat for the Chemistry
1922 — Erection of College Utilities tunnel. Hot water for radiation heat- Building, the new Library and the
Building. Cost $20,000. ing was produced through two closed Main Building (Academic Building).
1930 — Installation of first steam hot water heaters in the heater In 1930 the first steam turbine
turbine generator for extract- room. Early records provided the fol- generator with the capacity to extract
ing exhaust steam to heat lowing description of the hot water exhaust steam for heating campus
water for warming campus heaters: "One Sims heater with heat- buildings was installed. Thereafter,
buildings. ing capacity of 12,000 gallons per the co- generation system experienc-
1934 — Enlarged building program hour, temperature rise of 140 de- ed rapid growth. Today low pressure
begun in 1932, completed, grees F from 40 to 180 degrees F, steam is used in limited quantities
including extensive campus one Patterson heater with heating primarily in laboratories and the din -
Improvements, new water capacity of 10,000 gallons per hour, ing halls. • 4,,...., ‘,. mains and sewer system, ilii
new power lines, new heat
r.14,„ , i4. lines and steam tunnel.
-
,
Texas A &M University has been
involved in power generation re- 1
search experimentation, and innova-
tion since its early days on the
Texas Prairie. This issue of Texas ' ' 4 t
Energy is a look back at a part of j
Texas A &M's energy history. We
hope that you will enjoy sharing with Asa
us a little Aggie ingenuity and a few
anecdotes. A ( so-,ry
Special credit for this issue goes
to Dr. Charlene Clark, energy infor-
mation specialist at the Texas A &M
Fa
Center for Energy and Mineral Re-
sources, and Gerald Scott, engineer-
ing design and energy manager at
the Texas A &M Physical Plant, who ` 4
researched and compiled the infor -
At
mation for this issue. . ,
—The Editor �
Special thanks go to Howard
Badgett, former Director of the Phys ` w' �"
ical Plant, for his valuable assistance e � (
in providing technical information " , , . 3
(and anecdotes) on the development
of the physical plant and power gen- a -4..aGrl eti4.��� fit`
eration during his tenure there.
2
gineering shops. The No. 2 well, a All wells discharged into a nearby
shallow well located east of the Mis- reservoir where the water
souri Pacific Railroad, was known as was aerated with spray nozzles be-
"the old zoo well. "' cause of its strong sulphur smell and
The No. 3 well, also a shallow taste. Water was then pumped from
well, was located 1 /4 -mile west of the the reservoir to the stand pipe by
water works plant. The No. 4 well, a means of a motor driven centrifugal
shallow well, was located 300 yards pump where chlorine gas was add -
4 The early water works plant at northwest of the plant. The water ed. Capacity of the reservoir was
Texas A &M consisted of six wells, from the No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4 approximately 900,000 gallons.
three of which were deep and three wells was described as "good and Other pumping equipment consist -
shallow. The water was generally clear." ed of one De Laval steam turbine
characterized as soft water. Water centrifugal pump, one Manistee boiler
from the three deep wells was de- Other Wells pump, and one Worthington duplex
scribed as having a high degree of fire pump.
sulphur while water from the three The No. 5 well was located about
shallow wells was said to have some 3 /4 -mile north of the plant with the No. A Challenge
soda. 6 well located just across the street
The No. 1 well was a deep well from it. Both were deep wells con- Just east of the mechanical en-
located near the old mechanical en- taining a large amount of sulphur. gineering shops was the water tower.
Measuring about 160 feet in height,
Fr ,. '11 r ilir .1 its storage capacity was 152,000 gal-
lons. In addition to storing the water
supply, the water tower served
another purpose. It offered a chal-
- j > . ' lenge to daring cadets who wished
i to paint their Class year at the top.
,� Even in those days before soaring
+ t construction and equipment costs,
--~^ erecting and maintaining facilities
r It, $' y was an expensive undertaking. Ap-
`° proximate cost given for the water
,' ti r tower constructed in 1920 was
F , i $17,000. Costs for drilling a well
� � ,, ,, varied according to the depth of the
well. The cost given for drilling the
No. 3 well was $9235.04 including
,� the well house, cable, wire rope,
4
` drilling and the pump unit. Typical
cost recorded for drilling a deep well
was considerably more with records
listing the cost of the No. 6 well as
'// $16,125.89.
.*a' i1t 7o--,g: Q ,�ac ocu° - 0 - , 2 7 , .. 7`: £ il *r' As the University expanded, the
. 4 - ° " 4 1 Z . 7i afe . a 4/ p � wells were unable to supply enough
"`'� ,, ' water and the quality of water de-
graded because of increased pump-
. ing. In addition, the system could not
aerate water enough to remove the
1 < hydrogen sulfide and sulfur taste.
- - The wells were finally abandoned
when Texas A &M began buying its
Ft „ water supply from Bryan. In 1950 -51
` new wells were dug in the vicinity of
the Research Annex with the water
being pumped to the campus by
pipe lines. At the present Texas
- - ' A &M also supplies some water to
k ir*„4" .,,,, the City of College Station. •
6P.4.44.72/
'The No. 2 well acquired this named
7s (elostA /v because it was located near the zoo
which had been started by President
W. B. Bizzell.
3
compressor and five ammonia con- sures were 185 pounds discharge and
.9 densers located on the roof, one about 22 pounds suction.
ammonia receiver located in the
CLJ4od.if44____ basement, cooling tower, one 110 Cooling Tower
K.V.A. synchronous drive motor for
the compressor, one circulating water Another major part of the ice plant
pump, two water supply pumps, a facility was the baffled cooling tower.
circulating brine tank pump, agitator, Located several feet northwest of the
In the early days energy self -suffi- core pump, air blower, and freezing power plant, it stood 29 feet from
ciency in providing utilities and ser- tank. floor to top platform.
vices also meant that Texas A &M The compressor was used to sup- The total capacity of the ice plant
had to produce its own ice. Most of ply refrigeration for the Mess Hall consisted of 135 three hundred
the ice plant equipment was located (Sbisa) located about a block south- pound cans and daily ice making
in the northeast corner of the engine west of the plant, as well as for capacity of ten tons. Refrigeration
room and the basement. making ice for sale to the general provided for the Mess Hall was used
Records kept in the 1930's listed public in College Station. Driven by a to cool the meat box and the vege-
the following ice plant equipment: 100 horsepower synchronous motor, table box. The ice water tank was
one 10 x 10 Y -15 York ammonia the refrigeration compressor's pres- also connected for serving the pantry
'Pr' in an emergency.
The total refrigeration capacity of
d ' the ice plant was 39 tons with about
20 tons of refrigeration used in the
freezer tank and about 19 tons avail-
111 i ii
11 able for refrigeration at the Mess
I Hall.
a . . 4 „ � i Homemade ice
€ Badgett recalls one of the plea-
d I� y su enjoyed by upperclassmen dur-
ing the days of "homemade" ice was
0( 'i a fresh pitcher of ice water carried
daily to their rooms by freshmen.
1 , �` The ice water came from a
{ gazebo -like structure with a shed
roof known as the drinking fountain
� � � which was located near Ross and
L Q,a �� ,
Leggett Halls. Blocks ice were
���EZ� -c� depositsit da at t d ed daily at the drinknk ing foun-
, tain, and cold water was piped out
,m ��P¢.O through fountains for drinking or col-
(/ / lecting in water pitchers.
A significant move toward
r ` * :: mechanization of the ice plant took
place in 1931 when the old hand
.'°�! „ operated hoist was replaced with a I -�.�� �. Shepard Electric hoist, capacity 1000
,+ ; .4. , �' ;` { • pounds. Other changes in equipment
. ' 1 t
.. at that time included installation of
Ail
i an air blower with headers and later-
t _ { " al for agitation of water in the ice
r.. cans and installation of a core suck-
• er pump.
, ' , The ice plant served Texas A &M
and the surrounding community for
1 ,
`{ -' '- many years until the advent of elec-
i tric refrigeration in 1956 which ren
II , dered the ice plant obsolete. The
dining halls and hospitals acquired
� their own refrigeration units, and the
? 4844i C r f C / i2Lddii°4 power plant got rid of the ice making
(11/44^e-Z:17,) equipment to make room for new
a s ∎ _ generating equipment.
4
(continued from front cover) buildings fully launched the co- gener- History of the Agricultural and
ation system at Texas A &M. A new Mechanical College of Texas, enroll -
power plant. From there it was era in energy self- sufficiency had be- ment increased substantially, and
moved by means of a pressure slide gun. Years later, in 1962, the energy along with it faculty and staff. This
to the crusher rollers where it was efficient co- generation concept would necessitated an expanded building
crushed to a two -inch diameter and be taken a step further with waste program which saw the construction
conveyed by means of bucket con- steam used to cool buildings through of several buildings during 1932 -34
veyers to an overload coal bunker at the use of adsorption chillers that including the veterinary group, the
the rate of approximately 30 to 35 operate on steam. athletic stadium (Kyle Field), new
tons an hour. Total capacity of the dormitories, a new library, and a new
coal bunker was 320 tons. Growth administration building (the Systems
The power plant converted from Building). The estimated value of the
coal to natural gas about 1928, but The 1930's was a vital period of physical plant at that time was
the vital link with Rockdale coal con- growth and development for the $10,000,000.
tinues even today. Rockdale is cur- overall physical plant at Texas A &M. More buildings and more people
rently the site of an in -situ coal According to Clarence Ousley in his meant a required expansion of the
gasification research project spun- (continued on back page)
sored by private industry with the
assistance of the Texas Engineering
Experiment Station and operated by
P
the Department of Petroleum En
gineering at Texas A &M. .rah
Fuel Supplies ° '
In addition to the regular natural
gas supply, an emergency oil supply
was maintained for back -up. Oil was
stored in a circular underground tank
located southwest of the boiler room
with a storage capacity of 146,880 %,..,..
gallons. .
According to Howard Badgett, for s� . 4 . ' i 4 r ,
mer Director of the Physical Plant, � � � i t. ,0-"
the oil supply was used occasionally
LI .
--------_�
during extremely cold weather to
supplement the natural gas supply. n�����
Today fuel oil is still held in reserve
/!� PPS
in case of an emergency gas shor-
tage.
Whether or not Texas A &M will
r _,..
come full circle and return to coal for
fuel remains to be seen; however, a 4
shift from gas to coal would be very
costly because it would require new , • O
k
boilers. • is
The conversion from coal to natu -!
�
ral gas was the first in a series of i
,
major moves which signaled the
growth and development of utilities , ` ' ' '
♦ • '
generation at Texas A &M. Another of '
the prime moves in the development
of the power plant occurred with a , i } ', !t ► a " "`
decision in 1929 to make major °.°
changes in power equipment. Be- 4°" s
cause of the large amount of steam ,,.„,,,,,p.......„„„, ,, - .t
I being used, a 750 KW extraction —
and condensing turbine - generator /
was ordered in 1929. t, 4.2 71K,9t9t/t. 4& - 7 '
In 1930 the installation of this first s _ _ e , _
steam turbine generator with the
– 1 fC�'��'' /J
capacity of extracting exhaust steam
to heat water for warming campus
Fifty Years of
Co- Generation
(continued from page 5) Got A Question? Need Some Information?
power plant to meet the growing
energy needs of the University. By The following publications are available from the Texas
1934, expansion of utilities included Energy Extension Service. You may order by checking the
additions to power lines, water sys boxes and sending with your return address. Bulk quantities
tem, sewer system, heat lines and of these publications are available to groups interested in
steam tunnel. promoting home energy conservation.
This period was marked by re - • Efficient Home Air Conditioning Units
search, experimentation, and innova- • Heat Pumps for Homes and Businesses
tion in the generation of power since • Insulation — How Much and What Kind
various departments and agencies, • Reducing Energy Loss Through Windows
notably the College of Architecture • Reduce Hot Water Usage to Save Energy
and the Texas Engineering Experi- • The Facts of Light
ment Station worked closely with the • Solar Water Heating — Is It For You?
Building and College Utilities Depart • Automatic Thermostat Controls Can Save Energy
ment, as it was then known. In • Energy- Efficient Appliances: How to Calculate the
particular, research on heating and Savings
air conditioning was important to the
development of these facilities at the The Texas Energy Extension Service also has available for
power plant.2 loan a 10- minute 16 mm film dealing with energy- efficient
That same power plant has be - features that can be incorporated into a home when it is built.
come the core of a greatly expanded For additional information about the film, check the box
network of energy generation below.
facilities which is still working hard to • The Energy Efficient Home Film
meet the energy needs of Texas Readers are welcome to submit energy- related questions
A &M in the most efficient way pons to the Texas Energy Extension Service. If you have specific
ible as it moves into the 1980's. questions about energy conservation equipment and tech -
•
2 A more innovative idea of the time was niques, energy research, solar energy or any other area,
the use of methane gas from the sewer write or call:
plant for use in heating. Although the Texas Energy Extension Service
idea was not implemented, Texas A &M's Center for Energy and Mineral Resources
continued interest in the idea is evident
from the methane generation project on Texas A &M University
a chicken farm at Tarleton State Univer- College Station, Texas 77843
sity which is currently sponsored by the Telephone (713) 845 -8025
Center for Energy and Mineral Re-
sources at Texas A &M. •
Texas Energy and Mineral Resources (USPS107690) is published 10 times a year (monthly except for combined issues for August -
September and November - December) by the Center for Energy and Mineral Resources (CEMR) at Texas A &M University. This material
was prepared with the support of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Grant No. EC- 77 -G -01 -5095. However, any opinions, findings,
conclusions or recommendations expressed herein are those of the CEMR or Texas Energy Extension Service and'do not necessarily
reflect the views of DOE. Subscriptions available free upon written request. Address all requests and inquiries to Editor, Center for Energy
and Mineral Resources, Texas A &M University, College Station, Texas 77843. Requests to reprint articles also should be addressed to
the Editor.
Dr. Spencer R. Baen, Director, Center for Energy and Mineral Resources; Nancy Campbell Hawkins, Editor.
� S e cond Second-class postage
paid at
College Station, Texas 77840
and Mineral Resources
Texas A &M University
College Station, Texas 77843
Address correction requested