Influence of mixed-use neighborhood developments on the performance of waste-to-energy CHP plant

Abstract

In this work, the influence of residential and commercial buildings on the performance of waste-to-energy (WtE) combined heat and power (CHP) plant, within a mixed-use neighborhood is quantified. The waste incinerator-based single and double stage CHP plants considered in study are modeled and simulated in Matlab-Simulink. The performance of WtE-CHP plant is evaluated based on hourly electricity and heat generations, heat extraction temperatures, and GHG emissions. The key results indicate that the use of single or double stage CHP plant is decided by various types commercial buildings, commercial land fraction, and commercial land to total area ratio. Considering a commercial land to total land area fraction of 0.25, two stage WtE-CHP plant can be used irrespective to varying proportions of residential buildings types and their unit densities. The heat extraction temperatures of 100–112 °C can be yielded for two stage CHP, whereas, for single stage CHP it lies between 170 and 180 °C. The GHG emissions for WtE-CHP plants decreases with the increase in proportions of offices, single detached houses, and townhouses. However, it increases with the increase fraction of retails and apartments. The energy generation to consumption fraction lies between 17 and 57% for conventional neighborhoods, whereas, for the high-performance neighborhoods it varies between 22 and 65%.