Abstract
This paper presents techno-economic assessment of a biomass-based combined power and cooling plant suitable for off-grid rural areas. The proposed plant employs an indirectly heated air turbine cycle drawing heat from combustion of biomass-derived producer gas. The installation capacity of 50 kW is determined based on the present electricity demand and taking into account the possible demand growth over next 10 years. The gas turbine operating condition is optimized at pressure ratio 10 and turbine inlet temperature 1100 °C, where it shows maximum efficiency. Waste heat of the power generation unit is utilized by a 120 metric ton (MT) cold storage facility that runs on NH3–water vapour absorption refrigeration cycle. Both electrical and thermal storage units are included in the plant to cater to the hourly variations in power and heat demands. Lithium-ion battery is chosen for electrical storage, and Hitec salt-based phase change material is chosen for thermal storage, their storage capacities being estimated at 250 kWh and 220 kWh, respectively. The paper proposes a new method of determining effective cost of electricity, taking into account the avoided electricity for conventional cooling. The effective price of electricity is found to be 0.08 USD/kWh. Estimated payback period of the plant, without subsidy, is 14.4 years, and with 50% capital subsidy this is reduced to 6.6 years. Cost of storage as well as the discount rate is seen to influence the plant economy and payback period considerably. Based on the analysis, a policy recommendation has also been outlined in the paper.
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Abbreviations
- AD:
-
Average demand, kW
- AL:
-
Average load, kW
- COP:
-
Coefficient of performance
- DCL:
-
Daily cooling load, kWh
- ESBC:
-
Electrical specific biomass consumption, kg/kWh
- H :
-
Capacity of thermal energy storage, kWh
- IC:
-
Installed capacity, kW
- LH:
-
Latent heat of fusion, kJ/kg
- LHV:
-
Lower heating value, kJ/kg
- LF:
-
Load factor
- m :
-
Mass flow rate, kg/s
- P :
-
Annualized electricity, kWh
- PCF:
-
Plant capacity factor
- PD:
-
Peak demand, kW
- PR:
-
Pressure ratio of gas turbine cycle
- Q :
-
Rate of heat transfer, kW
- T :
-
Temperature, °C
- TIT:
-
Turbine inlet temperature, °C
- W :
-
Power, kW
- Z :
-
Cost, USD
- η :
-
Efficiency
- ρ :
-
Density, kg/m3
- ∆:
-
Change of quantity
- bm:
-
Biomass
- con:
-
VAR condenser
- e:
-
Electrical
- EES:
-
Electrical energy storage
- EPCC:
-
Engineering, procurement and construction cost
- evp:
-
VAR Evaporator
- G:
-
Generator
- gen:
-
VAR generator
- i:
-
Isentropic
- LiB:
-
Lithium-ion battery
- ss:
-
Strong solution
- sp:
-
VAR solution pump
- TOC:
-
Total overnight capital
- TPC:
-
Total plant cost
- std:
-
Standard
- w:
-
Heat carrier water
- ws:
-
Weak solution
- ABS:
-
Absorber
- AC:
-
Air compressor
- AHX:
-
Air heat exchanger
- CHX:
-
Combustor–heat exchanger
- CC:
-
Combustor
- EFGT:
-
Externally fired gas turbine
- G:
-
Electricity generator
- GT:
-
Gas turbine
- NPV:
-
Net present value
- PCF:
-
Plant capacity factor
- PCM:
-
Phase change materials
- REV:
-
Refrigerant expansion valve
- RHX:
-
Refrigerant heat exchanger
- SEV:
-
Solution expansion valve
- SP:
-
Solution pump
- VAR:
-
Vapour absorption refrigeration
- WHRS:
-
Waste heat recovery and storage
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Acknowledgements
The first author acknowledges the support provided by the Thermal Simulation and Computation (TSC) Laboratory at Mechanical Engineering Department of IIEST, Shibpur, for carrying out the research work and also acknowledges the support provided by the MHRD, Government of India, for the research fellowship.
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Chattopadhyay, S., Ghosh, S. Techno-economic assessment of a biomass-based combined power and cooling plant for rural application. Clean Techn Environ Policy 22, 907–922 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-020-01832-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-020-01832-z