Techno-Economic Analysis of Biofuel, Solar and Wind Multi-Source Small-Scale CHP Systems

Algieri, Angelo; Morrone, Pietropaolo; Bova, Sergio

doi:10.3390/en13113002

Cited by 18 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Since this component is not necessary for geothermal application, the algorithm considers only a single heat exchanger that transfers the heat input from the geofluid to the organic fluid directly. The model integrates the Refprop database to define the working fluid properties [92], whereas steady state conditions were imposed [93] and pressure losses in the ORC components were neglected [94], in line with the literature.…”

Section: Organic Rankine Cycle (Orc) Unitmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated Geothermal Energy Systems for Small-Scale Combined Heat and Power Production: Energy and Economic Investigation

Morrone

Algieri

2020

Applied Sciences

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In recent years, an increasing interest in geothermal energy has been registered in both the scientific community and industry. The present work aims to analyse the energy performance and the economic viability of an innovative high-efficiency geothermal-driven integrated system for a combined heat and power (CHP) application. The system consists of a heat exchanger (HEX) and a transcritical organic Rankine cycle (ORC) that work in parallel to exploit a high-temperature geothermal source (230 °C) and satisfy the energy demand of a commercial centre located in Southern Italy. The ORC and HEX sub-units can operate at partial load to increase the system flexibility and to properly react to continuous changes in energy request. A lumped model was developed to find the proper operating conditions and to evaluate the energy production on an hourly basis over the whole year. In particular, a multi-variable optimisation was implemented to find the most suitable configuration and a 101.4 kWel ORC was selected while the HEX nominal power was 249.5 kWth. The economic viability of the integrated system was evaluated in terms of net present value and payback period and different operating strategies were compared: thermal-driven, electric-driven, and a mixed strategy. The latter turned out to be the best solution according to both energy and economic criteria, with electric and thermal self-consumptions larger than 90%, with no heat dumping and a payback time close to five years.

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Section: Organic Rankine Cycle (Orc) Unitmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated Geothermal Energy Systems for Small-Scale Combined Heat and Power Production: Energy and Economic Investigation

Morrone

Algieri

2020

Applied Sciences

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“…Table 2 summarises the main assumptions adopted for the investigation. The electromechanical efficiency (η em ) of the alternator was set to 90%, and the heat exchangers' effectiveness was equal to 95% [61,62]. The reference electric (η el,ref ) and thermal (η th,ref ) efficiencies for the biodiesel-fired cogeneration unit were fixed to 44.2% and 85.0%, respectively, according to the harmonised reference values for separate energy production of the European Commission Delegated Regulation 2015/2402 [60].…”

Section: Chp Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The specific cost of the cogeneration unit was set to 1260 €/kW [68,69], and the biodiesel cost was equal to 70 c€/L [70]. The specific rates of the thermal and electric energy were 0.10 and 0.20 €/kWh, respectively, whereas the revenues from the electricity injected into the grid were equal to 0.10 €/kWh [61]. It is wortfh noting that renewable small and micro scale units and high-efficiency cogeneration systems have a surplus electricity priority dispatch according to national and European directives [71][72][73].…”

Section: Economic Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy and Economic Investigation of a Biodiesel-Fired Engine for Micro-Scale Cogeneration

et al. 2021

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The work aims at investigating the techno-economic performance of a biodiesel micro combined heat and power (CHP) system for residential applications. The CHP unit is based on a direct-injection compression ignition engine providing 6.7 kWel and 11.3 kWth. A 0D model is developed and validated to characterise the behaviour of the biodiesel-fired engine at full and partial load in terms of efficiency, fuel consumption, and emissions. Furthermore, non-dimensional polynomial correlations are proposed to foresee the performance of biodiesel-fuelled engines for micro-CHP applications at partial loads. Afterwards, the CHP system is adopted to satisfy the electric and thermal demand of domestic users in Southern Italy. To this purpose, a parametric analysis is performed considering a different number of apartments and operating strategies (electric-driven and thermal-driven). A bi-variable optimisation based on the primary energy saving (PES) index and payback period (PBT) permits selecting the thermal-driven strategy and five apartments as the most suitable solution. The optimal PBT and PES are equal to 5.3 years and 22.4%, respectively. The corresponding annual thermal self-consumption reaches 81.3% of the domestic request, and the thermal surplus is lower than 8%. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is adopted to define the influence of the costs of energy vectors and a cogeneration unit on the economic feasibility of the biodiesel CHP system. The analysis highlights that the investigated apparatus represents an attractive option to satisfy the energy requests in micro-scale applications, providing valuable energy and economic advantages compared to traditional energy production.

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“…85 The incoming from the electricity sold to the grid is €0.10/kWh el. 86 3 | RESULTS AND DISCUSSION…”

Section: A Possible Small-scale Application For the Commercial Sectormentioning

confidence: 99%

Integration of biodiesel internal combustion engines and transcritical organic Rankine cycles for waste‐heat recovery in small‐scale applications

Falbo

Perrone

Morrone

et al. 2021

Intl J of Energy Research

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The aim of the work is the analysis of a novel integrated energy system for small-scale combined heat and power (CHP) generation. The system consists of a topping biodiesel-fired internal combustion engine (ICE) and a bottoming transcritical organic Rankine cycle (TORC) for waste-heat recovery. Specifically, the engine exhaust gas provides energy to the TORC sub-system, while the energy contribution of the ICE cooling circuit assures low-temperature heat generation. Furthermore, a thermal energy storage (TES) unit for the exploitation of the thermal surplus and an auxiliary boiler are present. A mathematical model is developed to evaluate the main performances at full and partial load in terms of thermal and electric production, efficiency, fuel consumption, and primary energy saving. A preliminary analysis is carried out to find the proper organic working fluid for the TORC sub-system. Afterwards, the biodiesel ICE-TORC combined system is adopted to satisfy thermal and electric requests of a commercial centre. To this purpose, hourly energy balances are evaluated, and a techno-economic analysis is performed on an annual basis. The investigated system guarantees a 16.7% primary energy saving and an 8.4 years payback time.

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Techno-Economic Analysis of Biofuel, Solar and Wind Multi-Source Small-Scale CHP Systems

Cited by 18 publications

References 61 publications

Integrated Geothermal Energy Systems for Small-Scale Combined Heat and Power Production: Energy and Economic Investigation

Integrated Geothermal Energy Systems for Small-Scale Combined Heat and Power Production: Energy and Economic Investigation

Energy and Economic Investigation of a Biodiesel-Fired Engine for Micro-Scale Cogeneration

Integration of biodiesel internal combustion engines and transcritical organic Rankine cycles for waste‐heat recovery in small‐scale applications

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