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Title: Simulated performance of biomass gasification based combined power and refrigeration plant for community scale application

Journal Article · · AIP Conference Proceedings
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4958399· OSTI ID:22608554
 [1]; ;  [2]
  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, NIT, Agarpara, Kolkata – 700109, West Bengal (India)
  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIEST, Shibpur, Howrah – 711103, West Bengal (India)

Thermal performance analysis and sizing of a biomass gasification based combined power and refrigeration plant (CPR) is reported in this study. The plant is capable of producing 100 kWe of electrical output while simultaneously producing a refrigeration effect, varying from 28-68 ton of refrigeration (TR). The topping gas turbine cycle is an indirectly heated all-air cycle. A combustor heat exchanger duplex (CHX) unit burns producer gas and transfer heat to air. This arrangement avoids complex gas cleaning requirements for the biomass-derived producer gas. The exhaust air of the topping GT is utilized to run a bottoming ammonia absorption refrigeration (AAR) cycle via a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG), steam produced in the HRSG supplying heat to the generator of the refrigeration cycle. Effects of major operating parameters like topping cycle pressure ratio (r{sub p}) and turbine inlet temperature (TIT) on the energetic performance of the plant are studied. Energetic performance of the plant is evaluated via energy efficiency, required biomass consumption and fuel energy savings ratio (FESR). The FESR calculation method is significant for indicating the savings in fuel of a combined power and process heat plant instead of separate plants for power and process heat. The study reveals that, topping cycle attains maximum power efficiency of 30%in pressure ratio range of 8-10. Up to a certain value of pressure ratio the required air flow rate through the GT unit decreases with increase in pressure ratio and then increases with further increase in pressure ratio. The capacity of refrigeration of the AAR unit initially decreases up to a certain value of topping GT cycle pressure ratio and then increases with further increase in pressure ratio. The FESR is found to be maximized at a pressure ratio of 9 (when TIT=1100°C), the maximum value being 53%. The FESR is higher for higher TIT. The heat exchanger sizing is also influenced by the topping cycle pressure ratio and GT-TIT.

OSTI ID:
22608554
Journal Information:
AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1754, Issue 1; Conference: ICME 2015: 11. international conference on mechanical engineering, Dhaka (Bangladesh), 18-20 Dec 2015; Other Information: (c) 2016 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English