Integrated Micro-Turbine and Rotary-Kiln Pyrolysis System as a Waste to Energy Solution for a Small Town in Central Italy: Cost Positioning and Global Warming Assessment

Author(s):  
Francesco Fantozzi ◽  
Francesco Di Maria ◽  
Umberto Desideri

Solid waste, and bio-residuals in general, are usually disposed of or alternatively converted into energy by means of medium to big scale power plants. For isolated communities, usually in protected natural areas, this turns into high energy and waste management costs because of their intrinsic distance from landfills and power plants. Considering also the electric dependency from the grid, small towns are commonly showing low sustainability. This paper focuses on both problems by evaluating the economic feasibility and the global warming contribution of an innovative micro scale waste to energy system based on a microturbine fuelled by waste pyrolysis gas. The plant reaches high efficiency, considering the scale, because of its high regenerative rate and is tailored to the waste disposal needs of Giano Dell’Umbria a small town in central Italy. The economic analysis was carried out, with the Net Present Value method, to determine the expected capital cost of the plant considering that the innovative technology utilized does not allow a reliable cost evaluation. The global warming contribution was calculated considering CO2 and CH4 avoided emission from landfilling and the better CO2 emission rate of such a technology with respect to the status quo. Results obtained show an acceptable cost positioning for the plant that makes it an interesting solution for distributed waste to energy systems. Executive projecting and construction of the proposed technology was funded and a pilot plant will be built and tested in 2002, in a laboratory facility of the University of Perugia.

2021 ◽  
Vol 280 ◽  
pp. 05016
Author(s):  
Waleed K. Al-Nassar ◽  
S. Neelamani ◽  
Teena Sara William

The worldwide environmental concern and awareness created a way towards the generation of pollution-free wind and solar renewable energies. Wind and Photovoltaic (PV) power plants of each 10 MW capacity located in the Shagaya area, west of Kuwait, were compared after one year of operation. The wind power plants recorded high capacity factors resulting in a yearly power production of 42.59 GWh, 21% higher than expected (contractual 31.160 GWh). It will reduce the emission of CO2 throughout the projected lifetime of 25 years by 118,303 tons. CAPEX (capital Expenditure) and OPEX (operation expenditure) were taken into consideration throughout the life of the plants along with investment costs resulting in a levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for wind of 0.015 KWD/kWh or 0.046 USD/kWh, compared to 0.027 KWD/kWh or 0.082 USD/kWh for solar PV (44% lower than PV). Offshore, Boubyan Island, Northern Kuwait territorial waters, were found to be the foremost appropriate for wind energy generation, with Wind Power Density of more than 500 Watt/m2 in summer which is ideal for the high energy demanding season in Kuwait. The LCOE for offshore wind energy was 27.6 fils/kWh, compared to 39.3 fils/kWh for thermal power plants.


2020 ◽  
Vol 190 ◽  
pp. 00027
Author(s):  
Mohammad Soleh ◽  
Hadiyanto Hadiyanto ◽  
Jaka Windarta ◽  
Olga Anne ◽  
Roy Hendroko Setyobudi ◽  
...  

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is still a serious problem in Indonesia. As well as following up on the Indonesian Government’s commitment to reduce carbon emissions, a Presidential decree Perpres Number 18 of 2016 concerning the Acceleration of the Development of Waste-Based Power Plants was made. It is expected that the construction of Waste-Based Power Plants from landfills can reduce the budget deficit in handling municipal waste while maintaining environmental preservation. This research calculates the potential of landfill gas that can be produced from the landfill waste dumps of Jatibarang, as well as the capacity of electrical energy that can be produced. Furthermore, with several types of plant scenarios used, it can be seen the economic feasibility of the construction of a Waste Based Power Plant in Jatibarang landfill. The landfill gas potential and economic feasibility for this study are calculated using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Inventory Software and LFG-CostWeb from LandGEM. The results showed that only from the electricity sale Standard Reciprocating Engine-Generator Set project may generate a break even in the 6 yr after the operation begins and value of the net present value is USD 755 664 for 15 yr project lifetime.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Gambini ◽  
Michela Vellini ◽  
Tommaso Stilo ◽  
Michele Manno ◽  
Sara Bellocchi

In January 2011, the introduction of high-efficiency cogeneration in Europe radically modified the incentive scheme for combined heat and power (CHP) plants. Since then, the techno-economic feasibility of new cogeneration plants in different areas of application (industry, service, residential, etc.), along with the definition of their optimal operation, have inevitably undergone a radical change. In particular, with reference to the Italian case and according to the most recent ministerial guidelines following the new EU regulation, in the event that cogeneration power plants do not reach an established value in terms of overall efficiency, their operation has to be split into a CHP and a non-CHP portion with incentives proportional to the energy quantities pertaining to the CHP portion only. In the framework of high-efficiency cogeneration, the present study compares different CHP solutions to be coupled with the paper industry that, among all the industrial processes, appears to be the best suited for cogeneration applications. With reference to this particular industrial reality, energy, environmental, and economic performance parameters have been defined, analysed, and compared with the help of GateCycle software. Among the proposed CHP alternatives, results show that gas turbines are the most appropriate technology for paper industry processes.


Author(s):  
Francesco Fantozzi ◽  
Bruno D’Alessandro ◽  
Umberto Desideri

A massive effort towards sustainability is necessary to prevent global warming and energy sources impoverishment: both biomass and waste to energy conversion may represent key actions to reach this goal. At the present State Of the Art (SOA) available technologies for biomass and waste to energy conversion are similar and include low to mid efficiency grate incineration or fluidised bed combustion with steam power cycles or mid to high efficiency Gas Turbine based cycles through integrated gasification technology. Nevertheless these plants are all available from mid-to-high scale range that can be highly intrusive on protected areas and socially unacceptable. This paper proposes an innovative, low cost, high efficiency plant in which the residue is gasified in absence of oxygen (pyrolysis), in a rotary kiln, by means of a highly regenerative gas turbine based cycle. Pyrolysis is preferred to gasification, because the syngas obtained has a higher LHV and produces char or tar as a by-product with an interesting energy content to be re-utilized inside the cycle. Different plant configurations are proposed and discussed through principal thermodynamic variables parametric analysis. Results show that very interesting efficiencies are obtainable in the 30%–40% range, at every scale range therefore presenting an interesting alternative especially to small size (below 5 MW) grate incineration and steam power plant technology. Moreover, the IPRP plant provides a unique solution for micro-scale (below 500 kW) power plants, opening a new and competitive possibility for distributed biomass or waste to energy conversion systems where low environmental and social impact turns into higher interest and positive dissemination effect.


Author(s):  
Mohamed S. El-Genk ◽  
Jean-Michel P. Tournier

This paper presents and analyzes the performance of high efficiency, high total energy utilization, static converters, which could be used in conjunction with small nuclear reactor plants in remote locations and in undersea applications, requiring little or no maintenance. The converters consist of a top cycle of Alkali Metal Thermal-to-Electric Conversion (AMTEC) units and PbTe thermoelectric (TE) bottom cycle. In addition to converting the reactor thermal power to electricity at 1150 K or less, at a thermodynamic efficiency in the low to mid thirties, the heat rejection from the TE bottom cycle could be used for space heating, industrial processing, or sea water desalination. The results indicated that for space heating applications, where the rejected thermal power from the TE bottom cycle is removed by natural convection of ambient air, a total utilization of the reactor thermal power of > 80% is possible. When operated at 1030 K, potassium AMTEC/TE converters are not only more efficient than the sodium AMTEC/TE converters but produce more electrical power. The present analysis showed that a single converter could be sized to produce up to 100 kWe and 70 kWe, for the Na-AMTEC/TE units when operating at 1150 K and the K-AMTEC/TE units when operating at 1030 K, respectively. Such modularity is an added advantage to the high-energy utilization of the present AMTEC/TE converters.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Kosowski ◽  
Karol Tucki ◽  
Marian Piwowarski ◽  
Robert Stępień ◽  
Olga Orynycz ◽  
...  

An analysis was carried out for different thermodynamic cycles of power plants with air turbines. A new modification of a gas turbine cycle with the combustion chamber at the turbine outlet has been described in the paper. A special air by-pass system of the combustor was applied, and in this way, the efficiency of the turbine cycle was increased by a few points. The proposed cycle equipped with an effective heat exchanger could have an efficiency higher than a classical gas turbine cycle with a regenerator. Appropriate cycle and turbine calculations were performed for micro power plants with turbine output in the range of 10–50 kW. The best arrangements achieved very high values of overall cycle efficiency, 35%–39%. Such turbines could also work in cogeneration and trigeneration arrangements, using various fuels such as liquids, gaseous fuels, wastes, coal, or biogas. Innovative technology in connection with ecology and the failure-free operation of the power plant strongly suggests the application of such devices at relatively small generating units (e.g., “prosumers” such as home farms and individual enterprises), assuring their independence from the main energy providers. Such solutions are in agreement with the politics of sustainable development.


2005 ◽  
Vol 127 (2) ◽  
pp. 348-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Fantozzi ◽  
Bruno D’Alessandro ◽  
Umberto Desideri

A massive effort towards sustainability is necessary to prevent global warming and energy sources impoverishment: both biomass and waste to energy conversion may represent key actions to reach this goal. At the present, state of the art available technologies for biomass and waste to energy conversion are similar and include low to mid efficiency grate incineration or fluidized bed combustion with steam power cycles or mid to high efficiency gas turbine based cycles through integrated gasification technology. Nevertheless, these plants are all available from mid-to-high scale range that can be highly intrusive on protected areas and socially unacceptable. This paper proposes an innovative, low cost, high efficiency plant in which the residue is gasified in the absence of oxygen (pyrolysis), in a rotary kiln, by means of a highly regenerative gas turbine based cycle. Pyrolysis is preferred to gasification, because the syngas obtained has a higher low heating value and produces char or tar as a by-product with an interesting energy content to be re-utilized inside the cycle. Different plant configurations are proposed and discussed through principal thermodynamic variables parametric analysis. Results show that very interesting efficiencies are obtainable in the 30–40% range for every plant scale. This fact shows how IPRP technology can provide an interesting alternative to traditional technologies, especially for the small size (below 5MW). Moreover, the IPRP technology provides a unique solution for microscale (below 500 kW) power plants, opening a new and competitive possibility for distributed biomass or waste to energy conversion systems where low environmental and social impact turns into higher interest and positive dissemination effect.


Author(s):  
O. M. Salamov ◽  
F. F. Aliyev

The paper discusses the possibility of obtaining liquid and gaseous fuels from different types of biomass (BM) and combustible solid waste (CSW) of various origins. The available world reserves of traditional types of fuel are analyzed and a number of environmental shortcomings that created during their use are indicated. The tables present the data on the conditional calorific value (CCV) of the main traditional and alternative types of solid, liquid and gaseous fuels which compared with CCV of various types of BM and CSW. Possible methods for utilization of BM and CSW are analyzed, as well as the methods for converting them into alternative types of fuel, especially into combustible gases.Reliable information is given on the available oil and gas reserves in Azerbaijan. As a result of the research, it was revealed that the currently available oil reserves of Azerbaijan can completely dry out after 33.5 years, and gas reserves–after 117 years, without taking into account the growth rates of the exported part of these fuels to European countries. In order to fix this situation, first of all it is necessary to use as much as possible alternative and renewable energy sources, especially wind power plants (WPP) and solar photovoltaic energy sources (SFES) in the energy sector of the republic. Azerbaijan has large reserves of solar and wind energy. In addition, all regions of the country have large reserves of BM, and in the big cities, especially in industrial ones, there are CSW from which through pyrolysis and gasification is possible to obtain a high-quality combustible gas mixture, comprising: H2 + CO + CH4, with the least amount of harmful waste. The remains of the reaction of thermochemical decomposition of BM and CSW to combustible gases can also be used as mineral fertilizers in agriculture. The available and projected resources of Azerbaijan for the BM and the CSW are given, as well as their assumed energy intensity in the energy sector of the republic.Given the high energy intensity of the pyrolysis and gasification of the BM and CSW, at the present time for carrying out these reactions, the high-temperature solar installations with limited power are used as energy sources, and further preference is given to the use of WPP and SFES on industrial scale.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias May ◽  
Kira Rehfeld

Greenhouse gas emissions must be cut to limit global warming to 1.5-2C above preindustrial levels. Yet the rate of decarbonisation is currently too low to achieve this. Policy-relevant scenarios therefore rely on the permanent removal of CO<sub>2</sub> from the atmosphere. However, none of the envisaged technologies has demonstrated scalability to the decarbonization targets for the year 2050. In this analysis, we show that artificial photosynthesis for CO<sub>2</sub> reduction may deliver an efficient large-scale carbon sink. This technology is mainly developed towards solar fuels and its potential for negative emissions has been largely overlooked. With high efficiency and low sensitivity to high temperature and illumination conditions, it could, if developed towards a mature technology, present a viable approach to fill the gap in the negative emissions budget.<br>


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias May ◽  
Kira Rehfeld

Greenhouse gas emissions must be cut to limit global warming to 1.5-2C above preindustrial levels. Yet the rate of decarbonisation is currently too low to achieve this. Policy-relevant scenarios therefore rely on the permanent removal of CO<sub>2</sub> from the atmosphere. However, none of the envisaged technologies has demonstrated scalability to the decarbonization targets for the year 2050. In this analysis, we show that artificial photosynthesis for CO<sub>2</sub> reduction may deliver an efficient large-scale carbon sink. This technology is mainly developed towards solar fuels and its potential for negative emissions has been largely overlooked. With high efficiency and low sensitivity to high temperature and illumination conditions, it could, if developed towards a mature technology, present a viable approach to fill the gap in the negative emissions budget.<br>


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