Abstract
The development of district heating systems of corn straw densified fuel (CSDF-DHS) is an important option to promote the use of bioenergy on a large scale for sustainable development, especially in China. At present, China’s biomass densified solid fuel (BSDF) development lags behind previously planned target, main barriers of which are economic and policy support problems. Accurate case studies are key to analyze these problems. This manuscript takes Nong’an County in Jilin Province of China as an example to establish a techno-economic model to evaluate the economic performance of a CSDF-DHS under two policy scenarios. It calculates the economic performance under a benchmark market scenario (BMS) and the current policy scenario (CPS) and analyzes the influence of various policy instruments, including subsidies, carbon trading, and preferential taxation. The results indicate that: (1) The CSDF-DHS option is not competitive under the BMS or CPS compared to the traditional energy system based mainly on coal and liquefied petroleum gas; (2) Comparatively, the economic performance of corn straw briquette fuel (CSBF) is better than that of corn straw pellet fuel (CSPF); and (3) further policy support can make CSDF-DHSs competitive in the market, especially with subsidies for concentrated heating services and CSDF, carbon trading, and economic compensation to reduce the profit margin of enterprises, which can make both CSPF-DHSs and CSBF-DHSs competitive. The research results could provide scientific basis for relevant policy making and project decision.
Highlights
The use of biomass for the production of low carbon energy is recognized as an important goal of sustainable development [1]
The first stage model includes 4 sub-stages from corn straw to corn straw solid densified fuel (CSDF), and the cost is calculated by Equation (8), where C f uel is the total cost from corn straw to CSDF, Ccollect is the cost of corn straw collection, Ctrans is the cost of corn straw bale transportation, C prod is the cost of CSDF production, and Ctrans is the cost of CSDF transportation: C f uel = Ccollect + Ctrans + C prod + Ctrans
Under the benchmark market scenario oriented by a market without policy support, service prices of corn straw pellet fuel (CSPF) and CSPF as rural residents’ heating and cooking fuels are $275/household·a and $229/household·a, which are higher than that of traditional energy of $181/household·a
Summary
The use of biomass for the production of low carbon energy is recognized as an important goal of sustainable development [1]. To promote the energy use of biomass and reduce the field incineration of corn straw, the development of corn straw solid densified fuel (CSDF) for heating should be prioritized in the development of China’s BSDF industry. Madlener [25] investigated the innovation diffusion, public policy, and local initiative of using biomass for energy production, taking the case of wood-fueled district heating systems in Austria as an example. Few studies have been published on the economic and policy analysis methods and case studies of CSDF for district heating systems, especially in China The aim of this manuscript is to develop a techno-economic model to evaluate the economic performance of a corn straw densified fuel-district heating system (CSDF-DHS) and analyze the influence of polices using a case study of Nong’an County in Jilin Province, China.
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