Biogas Hybrid Research Articles

Performance investigation of a hybrid solar dryer with electric and biogas backup air heaters for chilli drying

Solar drying is an efficient, low-cost, and environmentally-friendly post-harvesting process. This work presents the experimental investigation on drying of red chili using two different types of hybrid mode solar dryers: Electric Hybrid Mode Solar Dryer (EHMSD) and Biogas Hybrid Mode Solar Dryer (BHMSD). In both modes, a cabinet-type drying chamber is integrated with two different auxiliary backup air heaters that can operate with electricity and biogas. From initial no-load experiments, the optimized mass flow rate of the dryer was estimated as 0.03 kg/s. Then, red chilli was dried from an initial moisture content of 70.2% (w.b.) to a final moisture content of 17.7% (w.b.) within 16 hr in the EHMSD and 14 hr in the BHMSD. However, in Open Sun Drying (OSD) experiments, the red chilli samples reached only 40.2% (w.b.) requiring twice the drying time compared to the dryer. Moreover, the variation in drying rate and exergy were estimated for chilli drying in both the dryers. The maximum value of the effective moisture diffusivity (2.73 × 10−9 m2/s) was observed in BHMSD samples, which was four times higher than that of the OSD samples. Moreover, the efficiency of BHMSD was found to be 6% higher than that of EHMSD.The estimated exergy destruction in BHMSD and EHMSD was 26.7% and 30.8% of the net input exergy. BHMSD also offers energy savings by utilizing biogas as an auxiliary heating source instead of electricity. Therefore, the novel BHMSD can be an eco-efficient and sustainable alternative to the traditional EHMSD from the perspective of energy sustainability.

Assessing the utilization of palm oil mill effluent in photovoltaic and biogas hybrid energy system for off-grid village

The increasing demand for electricity, high prices, and lack of fossil fuels are forcing local community to look for renewable energy sources. Villages in palm oil mills have large volumes of biomass waste, especially palm oil mill effluent (POME), which causes environmental and health issues. This study proposed a hybrid renewable energy system consisting of solar photovoltaic (PV) and biogas to provide sustainable electrification for an off-grid village. To minimize the environmental impact and availability of the applied technology, the PV panels were incorporated with a biogas-fueled generator. Simulation experiments were carried out using the HOMER software for an average daily demand of about 159.65 kWh/day and a peak load of 20 kW. The investigation was emphasized to find the optimal PV/biogas system to serve the village community considering electrical, economical, and environmental aspects. Subsequently, a standalone biogas system was used as the base case. The proposed configuration consisted of a biodigester, a biogas-fueled generator, PV panels, an inverter, and batteries with 8.5 hours of autonomy to produce electricity of around 67,216 kWh/year. The results demonstrated the technical and economic feasibility, as well as the environmental benefits of a PV/biogas system for generating electricity for the off-grid village community.

A Sustainable Wind–Biogas Hybrid System for Remote Areas in Jordan: A Case Study of Mobile Hospital for a Zaatari Syrian Refugee Camp

Access to reliable and sustainable energy in remote areas remains a pressing global challenge, significantly affecting economic development and the quality of life. This study focuses on the implementation of fully off-grid wind–biogas hybrid power systems to address this issue, with a focus on remote healthcare camp facilities. This paper investigates the performance of a hybrid renewable energy system within the context of one of Jordan’s northern remote areas, the Zaatari Syrian Refugee Camp, assessing its efficiency and environmental impact by taking the Zaatari hospital as the case study. Simulations were conducted to evaluate system components, including wind turbines, biogas generators, and diesel generators. A comprehensive evaluation was conducted, encompassing both the operational efficiency of the system and its impact on the environment. This study also considered various scenarios (SC#), including grid availability and autonomy levels, to optimize system configurations. The techno-economic assessment employed the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) as a key performance indicator, and sensitivity analyses explored the impact of diesel costs and wind power fluctuations on the system. Additionally, environmental assessment was conducted to evaluate the environmental effects of hybrid systems, with a specific focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This investigation involved an examination of emissions in three different scenarios. The results indicate that the lowest LCOE that could be achieved was 0.0734 USD/kWh in SC#1 with 72.42% autonomy, whereas achieving 100% autonomy increased the LCOE to 0.1756 USD/kWh. Additionally, the results reveal that in scenarios SC#2 and SC#3, which have a higher proportion of diesel generator usage, there were elevated levels of NOx and CO2 emissions. Conversely, in SC#1, which lacks diesel generators, emissions were notably lower. The proposed hybrid system demonstrates its potential to provide a reliable energy supply to healthcare facilities in remote regions, emphasizing both economic feasibility and environmental benefits. These findings contribute to informed decision making for sustainable energy solutions in similar contexts, promoting healthcare accessibility and environmental sustainability.

Modeling, Simulation, and Experimental Analysis of a Photovoltaic and Biogas Hybrid Renewable Energy System for Electrification of Rural Community

This research is a numerical study, with simulation and experimental investigation of a novel photovoltaic and biogas hybrid renewable energy system. PVSYST simulation software is used to evaluate the energy generation of photovoltaic (PV) systems installed at optimum tilt angle and interrow spacing, as well as measure the performance ratio and system losses. The results obtained from simulations show that annual energy production from designed PV system is 16 654.80 kWh year−1 and its annual specific energy production is 1556.5 kWh kWp year−1. The average annual performance ratio is about 84.3%, normalized array production is 3.23 kWh kWp day−1, normalized system losses are 0.07 kWh kWp day−1, and normalized system production is 3.16 kWh kWp day−1. With SuperPro Designer software, a model is developed for simulating anaerobic digestion for treating animal manure to produce biogas. The simulation yields 88.13% of CH4 and 6.49% of CO2. The performance of the installed experimental setup is examined for 30 d. The maximum load demand of all houses is 46.902 kWh, whereas maximum energy produced by a hybrid PV/biogas system is 61.06 kWh. The payback period for a hybrid photovoltaic/biogas system is estimated to be 4.47 years and levelized cost of energy is 0.0186 USD kWh−1. The hybrid PV/biogas system results in net CO2 mitigation of 20.45 tCO2(e).

A novel approach for sizing and optimization of hybrid solar-PV, biogas-generator, and batteries system for rural electrification: case study

A new approach for sizing a hybrid solar-PV-battery and biogas generator for power generation was suggested in this study, based on the variation of energy resources and the load profile. Biogas has enormous potential and numerous economic and social advantages. In this respect, the monthly solar radiation, temperature, and biogas produced from biomass resources were used as model inputs. This study considers the total annualized of the components for the feasibility analysis. HOMER Pro® software-based outcomes in the proposed methodology revealed that the proposed solar biogas hybrid system was sufficient to meet the load requirements of the village (Ain Farba village in the Hodh El Gharbi area located in the northeast of the Mauritania country) with a net present cost over the 25-year lifespan of 61,144 $ and the energy cost was determined to be 0.0473 $/kWh.

Energy, exergy, and economic analysis of a centralized solar and biogas hybrid heating system for rural areas

Although solar energy and biogas have the advantages of clean and sustainable supply when used to drive heating systems, they still face major issues of intermittency, unstable fluctuations, and vulnerability to the environment. To make use of the advantages of solar energy and biogas and to improve the stability and economy of the system, a centralized solar and biogas hybrid heating system is proposed in this study to satisfy the demands in rural areas. First, the energy and exergy analysis mathematical model of the solar and biogas hybrid heating system was established. Then, the developed dynamic simulation model was compiled and constructed in the MATLAB/Simulink platform. The corresponding operation control strategy of the solar and biogas hybrid heating system is proposed. In addition, the energy and exergy performance of the solar and biogas hybrid heating system are calculated and analyzed by using the simulation model. Furthermore, the influence of system component capacity parameters on its thermodynamic performance is analyzed. Finally, the energy conservation and economy of the hybrid system and the single solar or biogas system are compared and discussed. The results show that the energy efficiency of the hybrid heating system is much higher than the exergy efficiency, reporting an energy efficiency of 29.7% and an exergy efficiency of 4.5%. In terms of the exergy losses in the system, the solar collector, the biogas digester, and the biogas boiler are the major contributors to such losses. In the case of limited biomass raw materials, the heating growth rate of the hybrid system is larger compared to a single solar or biogas system, where the proportion of renewable energy exceeds 95% in the hybrid system case. It was shown that the economic feasibility of the hybrid heating system is better than that of the conventional single solar heating system, with a reduction of around 50% in the payback period.

Intelligent power management based on multi-objective cost function for plug-in biogas hybrid vehicles under uncertain driving conditions

This paper presents a new intelligent power management strategy based on multi-objective cost function for plug-in biogas hybrid vehicles (PBHVs). This strategy consists of long-term power management and a short-term controller. The long-term power management depends on an improved generalized particle swarm optimization algorithm (IGPSO) to obtain the globally optimal values of motor and biogas engine torques. To reduce the computation time, five-mode rule-based control is used, where the IGPSO estimates the optimal values for the motor and engine torques in a hybrid mode depending on a multi-objective cost function. This cost function aims to reduce fuel consumption and the drawn current from the battery and takes into consideration the battery ageing. The short-term controller is designed using an interval type-2 Takagi–Sugeno-Kang (IT2TSK) fuzzy algorithm, which depends on human experts to overcome the uncertainties of the driving conditions. Lyapunov stability theory for the online controller is proved. The proposed technique improves the energy consumption compared to other techniques. The simulation results using real data for the engine, motor and battery illustrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach with comparative results.

Integration of renewable energy into the copper mining industry: A multi-objective approach

This paper proposes a methodology for designing a solar–biogas hybrid renewable energy system considering the integration of renewable energy’s variability and its intermittency nature. It also studies for the first time the use of biogas to complement the unreliability of solar energy for a large-scale industry like mining, considering its unique characteristics. The proposed model minimizes annual costs and greenhouse gas emissions, configuring a hybrid renewable system that optimizes its usual economic benefits and defines its topology to improve the environmental impact while ensuring the energy demand. The results indicate that solar energy and biogas are attractive options to supply the electrical requirements of a copper mining process, as they bring economic and environmental benefits. However, a deeper environmental evaluation of the system is needed. The findings also show a trade-off between costs and greenhouse gas emissions; therefore, to promote the minimization of emissions in the system studied, the carbon tax price should be between 100–1,000 USD/ton CO2-eq. Finally, installing the proposed hybrid energy system could help reduce between 30% and 80% of the emissions compared to the actual scenario, and it could reduce around 50% of the total emissions in the next 30 years.

Performance Analysis of a Solar–Biogas Hybrid Micro Gas Turbine for Power Generation

Abstract A performance assessment was conducted for a solar–biogas hybrid micro gas turbine integrated with a solar power tower technology. The considered system is a solar central receiver integrated with a micro gas turbine hybrid with biogas fuel as a backup. The Brayton cycle is designed to receive a dual integrated heat source input that works alternatively to keep the heat input to the system continuous. The study considered several key performance parameters including meteorological condition effects, recuperator existence and effectiveness, solar share, and gas turbine components performance. This study shows a significant reduction in CO2 emissions due to the utilization and hybridization of the renewable energies, solar, and biogas. The study reveals that the solar–biogas hybrid micro gas turbine for 100-kW power production has a CO2 emission less than a conventional fossil fuel gas turbine. Finally, the study shows that the method of power generation hybridization for solar and biogas gas turbines is a promising technique that leads to fuel-savings and lower CO2 emissions.

Powering communities using hybrid solar–biogas in Ghana, a feasibility study

Abstract This study ascertained the possible use of a hybrid power system as an alternative sustainable energy source through hybridization of biogas and solar Photovoltaic (PV) system, in Ghana. A simple Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) method was used in selecting the three (3) representative renewable energy (RE) businesses based on registered energy projects by the Energy Commission (EC) of Ghana. The analysis compared the 3 business sites with regard to generating power: (1) feeding to the national grid (FiT) (2) for self-consumption (prosumers) and (3) for agricultural use (through irrigation). The result showed that hybridization of solar and waste to energy systems is feasible with the use of manual change over for small and non-critical applications and smart energy control systems for community based and critical applications. It also revealed that integrating solar PV system with an existing biogas plant is both feasible in terms of technical and cost-effective wise to boost the power production for daily usage. However, the hybrid power system would be viable at an operational cost of 40% revenue and at a FiT unit price of $0.17/kWh. Further, the study found that adding a biogas plant to an existing solar PV plant would be more expensive. In all, solar–biogas hybrid power system has a great future through its operational flexibility of mitigating potential shortfall in power, both seasonally and diurnally, and assuring a more secure and efficient supply of energy for communities both grid and non-grid connected. The use of energy from renewable sources, by its efficiency and reduction of carbon footprints, will contribute to the attainment of the core objectives of some key global protection and socio-economic development initiatives/programs including Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) - namely SDGs 7,13.

Techno-economic evaluation and technology roadmap of the MWe-scale SOFC-PEMFC hybrid fuel cell system for clean power generation

This paper proposes a novel hybrid fuel cell power generation system with high efficiency. The thermo-economic modeling of the MWe-scale systems using different fuels is conducted to evaluate the economic feasibility under the subsidy policy of Eastern China. This work aims to develop the technology roadmap for this kind of clean power system. It is found that the energy efficiency of the natural gas and biogas fed systems could reach up to 64% and 63.5% respectively, thus they are efficient and cost-optimal for the hybrid system while liquefied petroleum gas and water gas yield low efficiency and high electricity cost. Moreover, under the subsidy policy, the biogas-fed hybrid system is more suitable for a small-scale power system, while the natural gas-fed system is preferable for the large-scale case. The specific electricity cost of small-scale biogas hybrid fuel cell power plant is 0.365 CNY/kWh, lower than the present feed-in-tariff price 0.475–0.704 CNY/kWh of other biogas plants in China. Also, the cost of 0.345–0.347 CNY/kWh of large-scale natural gas-fed hybrid system is much lower than the on-grid electricity price 0.7655 CNY/kWh in Shanghai. These results reveal that the proposed hybrid fuel cell power system is efficient and economically feasible. The payback period and annual return on investment are 0.8–1.2 year and 11–12%, respectively.

Control of a Concentrated Solar Power– Biogas Hybrid Unit

This work presents the design of a robust decentralized PI control system for a small scale, grid isolated concentrated solar power (CSP) – biogas hybrid unit. The biogas is readily available in remote and rural areas in the developing countries and its hybridization with a CSP unit as a supplementary source of heat for enhanced power backup is an attractive option. The considered system utilizes an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) for power generation. The control system is designed to supply the user demanded power to the extent possible with appropriate override controllers to ensure safe and stable operation as the thermal energy storage (TES) approaches the high or low limits. These overrides encompass shutdown and start-up of the biogas burner firing and the ORC at low TES level as well as appropriate reduction in the captured solar flux at high TES level. Closed loop results demonstrate the robustness of the control system to very severe disturbance scenarios with the TES storage never breaching the full or empty limits. Results also show that the hybridization with biogas heating gives extra back-up varying from 1.1 h to 6 h depending on the power demand.

Design of Standalone Photovoltaics (PV) / Biogas Hybrid Power System with Hydrogen Storage: Case of Northern Nigeria

Design of Standalone Photovoltaics (PV) / Biogas Hybrid Power System with Hydrogen Storage: Case of Northern Nigeria - written by Ismail Abubakar Jumare published on 2019/10/24 download full article with reference data and citations

Research of the Photovoltaic/Thermal with Biogas Unit Power Generation System

The solar energy and biogas energy are clean universal and renewable energy. a single solar photovoltaic power generation, solar thermal power generation and biogas power generation is still dependent on fossil energy to achieve stable. It is the national green energy plan to comprehensively use solar energy and biogas and carry out the solar- biogas hybrid generating technique. The photovoltaic/thermal with biogas unit power generation system is a combination of CPC-PV/T (as electric-thermal device), biogas boiler and ORC generator device. which is composed of CPC-PV/T, biogas boiler, controller ,battery, inverter, AC and DC load, Heat storage tank, ORC generator, steam generator. The composition and characteristics of solar- biogas hybrid generating system are demonstrated, several problems worthy of note in system design and application prospect of the system are also put forward.

Optimal sizing of a biomass–biogas hybrid system for sustainable power supply to a commercial agricultural farm in northern Odisha, India

Renewable energy is clean, reliable and is the best alternatives for supplying electricity to remote and inaccessible areas. A study was conducted to optimise the components of biomass–biogas system to meet the electrical need of a remote agricultural farm in Mayurbhanj district of northern Odisha, India (Latitude 21°41′N, Longitude 86°47′E). The technoeconomics of the biomass–biogas hybrid system was studied by using a software tool HOMER and compared with the calculation made by straightline method. It was found from HOMER that a 12 kW biomass system in combination with a 3 kW biogas system is the optimum combination for the farm. The levelised cost of energy of the system was found to be $1.204/kWh with net present cost of $244,263.

Stand-alone hybrid energy system for sustainable development in rural India

Renewable energy system such as solar, wind, small hydro and biogas generators can be used successfully in rural off-grid locations where grid connection is not possible. The main objectives of this study are to examine which configuration is the most cost-effective for the village. One renewable energy model has been developed for supplying electric power for 124 rural households of an off-grid rural village in eastern India. The load demand of the village was determined by the survey work, and the loads were divided into three sub-heads such as primary load I, primary load II and deferred load. Locally available energy sources such as solar radiation and biogas derived from cow dung and kitchen wastes were used as sensitivity variables. This study is unique as it has not considered any diesel generator for supplying unmet electricity to the households; rather it completely depends on locally available renewable resources. Here in this paper, two different models were taken and their cost and environmental benefit were discussed and compared. The net present cost, levelised cost of energy and operating cost for various configurations of models were determined. The minimum cost of energy of $0.476/kWh with lowest net present cost of $386,971 and lowest operating cost ($21,025/year) was found with stand-alone solar–biogas hybrid system.

Cost-benefit analysis of grid-connected wind–biogas hybrid energy production, by turbine capacity and site

The impacts of a recently launched community feed-in tariff (COMFIT) scheme on renewable energy production, with energy prices differentiated by renewable energy technology type, have not been adequately understood. The knowledge gap is addressed by applying the Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewables (HOMER) decision tool to investigate the economic feasibility and effects of selected energy policy schemes on wind–biogas hybrid energy production, by taking into consideration geographic location (Greenwood, Sydney, Caribou Point), and wind turbine capacity (including 20, 35, and 50 kW). The biogas energy production component reflected a representative Nova Scotia, Canada dairy farm with 100 cows. Wind–biogas hybrid energy systems were generally not economically feasible without COMFIT scheme financial incentives. Locating the hybrid energy system one km away from a utility grid increased cost of energy produced by about $0.06 per kWh. Under current government COMFIT scheme with guaranteed energy prices, economic feasibility improved relative to a base scenario, with NPV per kWh increasing from -$0.51 to $0.83 for a system with the 50 kW turbine at Caribou Point, compared with -$0.51 to -$0.14 for a similar 50 kW turbine at Sydney. Wind–biogas power production was economically viable under COMFIT scheme prices only for Caribou Point.

Design and simulation of a solar–wind–biogas hybrid system architecture using HOMER in India

The renewable energy sources are accompanied by certain constraints as reliability, availability and continuous generation. In India, biomass is considered as the second best suitable combination with other renewable energy sources. Both solar and wind are undependable renewable energies as they are unpredictable. Now the key to successful renewable energy harvesting lies in the selection of hybrid system architecture for power generation. In rural areas, light is usually unavailable and if it does, it is mostly an incandescent light used for household lighting instead of fluorescent. System reliability, economy and environmental issues are the three major issues for decentralised electrification. So, finding the best suited hybrid system configuration to overcome these constraints is the need of the hour. It is at this stage that HOMER comes into the picture. HOMER, abbreviated name of hybrid optimization model for electric renewable, successfully realises system configuration before its installation and works for on-grid, off-grid and stand-alone systems, which make it useful for rural to urban applications. It simulates and optimises the best suitable solution for a hybrid system and generates reports incorporating all the aspects in designing a system. Here, a typical hybrid system is considered and the implementation of HOMER software has been incorporated.

Thermal modelling of hybrid photovoltaic thermal (HPVT) integrated-biogas plants

In this paper, the energy balance equations for the different components of hybrid photovoltaic thermal integrated-biogas plant have been written for quasi-steady state conditions to develop a thermal model. An analytical expression for slurry temperature has been obtained as a function of design and climatic parameters namely mass of the slurry, mass flow rate of fluid in collector, number of collectors, solar intensity, ambient temperature etc. Numerical computations have been carried out for climatic conditions of Srinagar, India. Based on mathematical computations it has been observed that the optimum slurry temperature (∼37°C) is achieved for a given set of design parameters of biogas plant and hybrid collectors (MS = 2000, \(\dot m_f = 0.05 kg/s\), L = 25 m). It is also observed that the peak slurry temperature decreases with increase in mass of the slurry as expected. Equivalent CO2 credits earned by hybrid biogas plant for optimised parameters have also been evaluated.