Techno-economic analysis of a trigeneration system based on biomass gasification

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2019.01.008Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Biomass gasification is a key technology to fulfil the goal of sustainable energy systems.

  • Relevant studies on the use of biomass gasification in trigeneration and polygeneration systems are reviewed.

  • The potential use of biomass gasification in an existing Portuguese trigeneration natural gas-fired plant is analysed.

  • There is an environmental and energy added value of this type of systems, nevertheless, the investment costs are still too high.

Abstract

Biomass is one of the renewable energy sources (RES) with highest potential to contribute to the world's energy needs and can thereby play a key role in the path towards smart energy systems. Smart energy systems aim to integrate all energy sectors to increase the penetration of RES in the energy supply. Biomass gasification is a key technology to fulfil the goal of sustainable RES systems. Its main product (syngas) can be used as fuel, in various conversion technologies, to produce different products, including electricity, heat, cooling, biofuels and chemicals, which makes this technology an important tool for the energy system flexibility. Initially, the present manuscript reviews the relevant studies on the use of biomass gasification in trigeneration and polygeneration systems. Subsequently, it presents a case study that assesses the potential of the use of biomass gasification in an existing Portuguese trigeneration natural gas-fired plant located in Lisboa. The literature review revealed that most of the studies analysed are based on modelling data and not on experimental and/or pilot installations data. These studies show the environmental and energy added value of this type of system but stress the system's complexity and high investment costs. As for the case study, all scenarios considered show a negative net present value; nevertheless, the decrease of the biomass cost or the increase of the natural gas cost can turn financially feasible some scenarios.

Introduction

To face climate changes, the European Union (EU) is committed to reduce carbon emissions by 80–95% in 2050, when compared to 1990. To reach this ambitious objective, a shift in energy consumption towards low carbon, locally produced energy and Renewable Energy Sources (RES) is needed [1]. However, the worldwide current energy infrastructure was designed for conventional technologies, based on fossil fuels that provide large and cheap energy storage [2]. This flexibility of fossil fuels contrasts with the non-flexibility of fluctuating RES as wind and solar [2]. The intermittent nature of these RES introduces barriers to their high penetration into electricity supply systems, like the struggle to match the demand with the supply [3]. To tackle this problem, different approaches need to be taken, namely the development and improvement of energy storage technologies, the enhancement of the demand side management and the diversification of RES. Biomass is one of the RES with highest potential to contribute to the world's energy needs [4] due to its flexibility and availability worldwide. It is currently the most widely used RES for heating in the EU, representing about 90% of all renewable heating [5]. In 2015, about 73.8% of the biomass consumed for energy purposes in EU was used to produce heat, 13.6% to generate electricity and 12.6% for biofuels production for transport [6]. Smart energy systems have been pointed as a solution to improve interactions between the different energy supply chains. In this approach, electricity, thermal and gas grids are integrated to achieve an optimal solution for each individual sector as well as for the overall energy system. They are used to identify the least cost solutions for the integration of RES into current and future energy systems [7], [8].

Biomass includes a great variety of waste materials from plants or animals. There are also several biomass conversion technologies available that can be used to obtain many products, such as electricity, heat, biofuels, charcoal and chemicals, amongst others. These two facts make biomass a vital solution to increase the integration of endogenous and RES in smart energy systems [9], [10]. Biomass can be converted into energy through thermochemical or bio-chemical conversion technologies, as shown in Figure [11]. The thermochemical processes include combustion, gasification and pyrolysis. Biomass combustion is currently the most used and most mature conversion technology, but gasification can improve the energy system sustainability and flexibility. In contrast with combustion processes, gasification technologies are able to process lower grade fuels, which extends the range of fuels that can be used [12]. Moreover, the conversion of a solid fuel into a gas fuel, like syngas, is the most efficient thermochemical process [13], [14]. Finally, syngas can be used as a fuel in different conversion technologies (cf. Fig. 1) to produce several products (electricity, heat, biofuels, chemicals, …) or can be injected into the gas network and help to balance the system [12], [15].

Heidenreich and Foscolo [13] emphasized the advantages to integrate biomass gasification technologies in global processes, like trigeneration or polygeneration, to increase the system efficiency through the production of various products according to the market needs.

Since biomass gasification is a key technology for the integration of RES in smart energy systems, a review of studies on trigeneration and polygeneration systems based on biomass gasification is crucial to understand the current status of research in this field. Such a review is not currently available in the literature.

In this context, the present manuscript starts with a very brief introduction on biomass gasification, followed by a review of the relevant studies on the use of biomass gasification in trigeneration and polygeneration systems. Subsequently, this manuscript presents a case study that assesses the technical and financial feasibility of the integration of a biomass gasification system in an existing Portuguese trigeneration natural gas-fired plant located in Lisboa.

Section snippets

Biomass gasification

Gasification is the thermochemical conversion of carbon based feedstocks, like natural gas (NG), coal, petroleum, petcoke, biomass and industrial wastes, at high-temperature involving partial oxidation of the fuel elements [16], [17]. Fig. 2 shows the capacity of gasification systems by feedstock around the world [17]. It is seen that the biomass/waste gasification represents only ~0.5% of the total, with coal being by far the most important fuel used in these systems.

The gasification process

Use of biomass gasification in trigeneration and polygeneration systems

In this section, a review of the relevant studies on the use of biomass gasification in trigeneration and polygeneration systems is carried out. Sub-Section 3.1 is focused on trigeneration systems, where the studies are classified according to the power generating unit (PGU) used, namely, internal combustion engine (ICE), gas turbine and solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). Sub-Section 3.2 is focused on polygeneration systems and sub-Section 3.3 briefly discusses the main aspects considered.

Case study

The CCHP plant analysed in this study was built by Climaespaço to provide heat and cooling to a relatively new district in Lisboa with an area of 330 ha. The plant has different types of clients, namely, buildings in the residential sector, tertiary sector and equipment buildings [64]. The plant is composed by a TUMA Turbomach gas turbine and an ABB alternator with 4.7 MWe of nominal power. The heat recovery boiler is installed downstream of the turbine and is provided with an afterburner that

Conclusions

This manuscript reviews the relevant studies on the use of biomass gasification in trigeneration and polygeneration systems, and presents a case study that assesses the potential of the use of a biomass gasification system in an existing Portuguese trigeneration natural gas-fired plant located in Lisboa.

The literature review revealed that most of the studies analysed are based on modelling data and not on experimental and/or pilot installations data. This is due to several factors, namely the

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, through IDMEC, under LAETA, project UID/EMS/50022/2013. The authors would also like to thank Shaghaygh Akhtari, Taraneh Sowlati and Ken Day for the permission to use Fig. 1 and the American Chemical Society for the permission to use Fig. 6.

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