Abstract
In January 2011, the introduction of high-efficiency cogeneration in Europe radically modified the incentive scheme for combined heat and power (CHP) plants. Since then, the techno-economic feasibility of new cogeneration plants in different areas of application (industry, service, residential, etc.), along with the definition of their optimal operation, have inevitably undergone a radical change. In particular, with reference to the Italian case and according to the most recent ministerial guidelines following the new EU regulation, in the event that cogeneration power plants do not reach an established value in terms of overall efficiency, their operation has to be split into a CHP and a non-CHP portion with incentives proportional to the energy quantities pertaining to the CHP portion only. In the framework of high-efficiency cogeneration, the present study compares different CHP solutions to be coupled with the paper industry that, among all the industrial processes, appears to be the best suited for cogeneration applications. With reference to this particular industrial reality, energy, environmental, and economic performance parameters have been defined, analysed, and compared with the help of GateCycle software. Among the proposed CHP alternatives, results show that gas turbines are the most appropriate technology for paper industry processes.
Highlights
The term “cogeneration” refers to the simultaneous production of process heat and electricity from a single energy input
The simulated plant displays an overall efficiency of 73.4%: this value is lower than the threshold efficiency, an high-efficiency cogeneration (HEC) portion must be extracted from the combined heat and power (CHP) unit (β = 0.1813)
It is clear that the change in terms of performance of the individual technology is because performance slightly improves for gas turbine (GT) and steam power plant with back-pressure turbine (SPP-BPT), and stays constant for steam power plant with condensing turbine (SPP-CT) and even overall negligible, precisely because performance slightly improves for SPP-BPT, and stays somewhat worsens for internal combustion engine (ICE): this is caused by the growth of the maximum net present value (NPV)/I ratio, which is faster
Summary
The term “cogeneration” refers to the simultaneous production of process heat and electricity from a single energy input. Kong et al [24] reviewed different energy-efficient technologies to be implemented in the paper industry, creating a data collection useful to assess the most suited ones to each process: CHP systems are perfectly placed in this context, having the ability to improve the global efficiency of the plant. Cogeneration systems, with their improved overall efficiency, can be a solution to the problems raised by Posch et al [25]. Results can be compared to those achieved by Shabbir et al [26], taking into account the different production processes considered
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