Development of a cost optimization model for power generation from agricultural residual biomass in Thailand

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

Open burning of agricultural residues as a means of disposal causes massive atmospheric air pollution in northern Thailand. Converting this agricultural residual biomass to clean energy can help reduce this problem. They may be utilized as solid fuel for electrical power generation, where cost is one of the major factors affecting long term success in the use of biomass and bioenergy. In this work, a cost optimization model was developed for Thailand scenario by considering two parts of total cost: biomass and transportation costs. Ten potential agricultural residual biomass materials which were the most abundant in Thailand were taken into account. For transportation cost, K-means clustering was applied to group a number of supplies and demands, and to identify centroids of each cluster to use them as representatives in calculating the transportation cost from a supply to a demand point. Each kind of biomass was gathered into six different types of power plant. It was transported by 10-wheel trucks. A wide range of input data (biomass and transportation costs) from a supply to demand was also evaluated. From a case study considered, it was demonstrated that reduction of the total costs by more than 50% could be achieved. These results were from only biomass and transportation costs without taking other factors such as seasonal conditions or process limitations into consideration. Different input parameters can change the finalized total cost.