Research Team Studies Harvested Rainwater for Boiler Use

Could rainwater collected from campus rooftops help save energy?  That’s the question that a research team of students and faculty in Illinois State University’s Department of Health Sciences is hoping to answer by collecting rainwater to determine if it could be used in campus steam boilers in place of tap water.

The team has placed a collection system outside Edwards Hall to capture rainwater for testing to see if it is suitable for use in boilers.  Projections indicate that using rainwater in a typical boiler could save up to $75,000 per year in energy, water, and chemicals; and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by almost one million pounds per year. Illinois State has four steam boilers, though not all of them are used year-round.

The research is being conducted by undergraduate Environmental Health students Lucy Loftus and Valerie Scola and Health Sciences faculty members Guang Jin and Tom Bierma.  The equipment set up by the team will collect the first 105 gallons of rainwater during a rainfall event, filling three tanks in sequence. The objective is to determine how much “first flush” water should be by-passed before high quality water can be collected. Water samples will be analyzed for dissolved solids, pH, bacteria, organic carbon, and other critical quality parameters.

Rainwater is naturally distilled and low in dissolved minerals. Steam boilers used by the University, and by many other schools, hospitals, and industries, operate more efficiently when using water low in dissolved minerals.