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Evaluation of the Electrical Energy Potential of Woody Biomass in the Near Region of the Hydropower Plant Tucuruí-Brazil

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Abstract

This paper determines the potential of installing power plants fired with wood residues generated at the sawmills located in the region of a 8 GW hydropower complex in the Amazon. Two different scenarios were considered: (i) the residues are converted locally at the mills or (ii) transported to a centralized power plant. To evaluate the existing electricity potential, sawmills were contacted and the amount and type of generated residues assessed. The LHV (lower heating value) of wood of native species processed at the mills was experimentally determined. Data from real biomass power plants was fitted to calculate efficiencies versus power. With LHV data and conversion efficiency, the potential of installing micro to large-scale biomass-fired power plants was estimated. In 2004 and 2014, sawmills around the Tucuruí dam generated 404 × 103 t of wood residues, showing that in the region there is a large untapped potential for energy valorization. If the residues were converted at the mills, 57 GWhe could be annually produced. The energy production would be around two times higher in the centralized scenario. The importance of the efficiency in determining biomass potentials or optimizing biomass supply chains is quantified. Ignoring the dependency of efficiency with power leads to erroneous conclusions.

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(Adapted from [13,14,15])

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Cláudio Duarte and Jesse Padilha from University of Pará for the partnership on collecting the wood residues of the sawmills and LHV analysis. António Brasil Jr. would like to acknowledge ELETRONORTE that funded the project TUCUNARÉ, making this work possible. Isabel Malico acknowledges the funding provided by FCT, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Project UID/EMS/50022/2013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Energy Engineering, University of Brasília at Gama, Setor Especial de Industria Projeção A, Brasília, DF, 72444-240, Brazil

    A. C. M. Brasil

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Brasília, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, Brasília, DF, 70910-900, Brazil

    A. Brasil Jr.

  3. Departamento de Física, Escola de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade de Évora, Rua Romão Ramalho, 59, Évora, Portugal

    I. Malico

  4. LAETA, IDMEC, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, Lisbon, 1049-001, Portugal

    I. Malico

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  1. A. C. M. Brasil
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Correspondence to I. Malico.

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Brasil, A.C.M., Brasil, A. & Malico, I. Evaluation of the Electrical Energy Potential of Woody Biomass in the Near Region of the Hydropower Plant Tucuruí-Brazil. Waste Biomass Valor 11, 2297–2307 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-018-0407-6

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