Abstract
The building sector consumes a great deal of energy and generates organic waste, and thus has been a cause of considerable environmental concern. One distributed-energy technique, solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC)-based biogas-from-waste generation, has shown promise for waste treatment as well as energy saving in buildings. This study proposes a high-efficiency cooling, heating and electricity-generation system with an SOFC-absorption water-cooled tri-generation configuration. Operations data from a typical high-rise commercial building in Shanghai were analyzed as a case study of the proposed system’s economic, environmental, and social feasibility in China. The results indicated that its economic performance was satisfactory, with a short payback period of less than one year if subsidized. Additionally, the system was found to achieve high efficiency: i.e., 85%, as compared to approximately 40% achieved by conventional combustion-powered systems. Finally, in terms of social feasibility, survey respondents not only expressed positive overall attitudes towards the application of the system, but also raised concerns about its long-term operating costs. Given that foreseeable technological advancements promise greater flexibility and reduced space requirements, these results imply that the proposed integrated SOFC multi-generation system will be well-suited to future infrastructure and building projects in China.
Highlights
The environmental impacts of the building sector can be divided into two broad categories: (1) waste production, and (2) energy consumption
In China, the amount of food waste generated per year is approximately 90 million tons, and 98% of all organic waste is treated using unsustainable traditional methods [1]
In 2016, China’s total primary energy consumption reached 4.36 billion tons of standard coal equivalent [6], of which the building sector accounted for 15–16% [6]
Summary
The environmental impacts of the building sector can be divided into two broad categories: (1) waste production, and (2) energy consumption. Biogas generation is an established DWT–DER technique for urban organic waste treatment in China It has suffered from operational issues such as low methane content, high levels of impurities, and instability, especially in relation to food waste [1]. The present study proposes a SOFC-based multi-generation system for converting food waste into biogas, designed as an integrated energy system for green buildings, with the wider aim of solving the apparent contradiction between the system’s high energy consumption and environmental protection. Because little or no research has focused on the application of SOFCs in China, let alone their combination with waste-to-biogas systems, the application of the proposed system in China was deemed a useful topic for investigation As such, it utilized operations data from a typical high-rise commercial building in Shanghai as a case study of the proposed system’s economic, environmental, and social feasibility in China
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