Analysis of a novel power plant based on tars from biomass gasifier as fuel gas

Abstract

The lack of comprehensive analysis and comparison of a novel process for combined heat and power production and liquified natural gas regasification using lignocellulosic biomass is a motivation to design a novel process for combined heat and power production and liquefied natural gas regasification based on lignocellulosic biomass. This process consists of a tar reforming unit, first power plant, second power plant, organic Rankine cycle, water cycle units, and liquified natural gas cold energy utilization. The whole process is simulated using Aspen Hysys software; accordingly, energy, exergy, economic, and environmental analyses are performed, and the outcomes of each part are compared with those of previous studies. The results showed that the total energy and exergy efficiencies of the proposed process are 83.3% and 42.6%, respectively. According to the exergy analysis, the total exergy destruction of the cycle is 20080 kW, in which the highest contributions belong to Power Plant 2 units (48%) and heat exchangers (72%). In addition, it is demonstrated that Tar Reforming and water cycle units have the highest (97.44%) and lowest (69%) exergy efficiencies, respectively. The environmental analysis illustrated that the Carbon dioxide emission of the proposed process is lower compared to other technologies and equals 57.52 kgCO2/MWh, and the indirect emission has an 11.02% contribution. Based on the simulation results, the total net produced power of the proposed process is 124 MWh, the production cost of which was estimated at 47.78 $/MWh.