Thermoeconomic comparison between the performance of small-scale internal combustion engines and gas turbines integrated with a biomass gasifier

Recently, many countries have paid substantial attention to power generation from biomass gasification, particularly through small-scale plants. A number of powerplant models have been suggested and analyzed; however, certainly, desirable configurations have not been identified yet. Moreover, their performances areordinarily difficult to compare, especially owing to the fact that working hypotheses are often inconsistent. The objective of this research is to provide anoverview on small-scale technologies regarding woody biomass syngas utilization for power production, with the purpose of introducing the most promising solutionsfrom both thermodynamic and economic viewpoints. Existing technologies or those possibly anticipated to be available on the market in the near future have been taken into consideration. Three plant scales have been investigated including 100kWel, 1 MWel and 5 MWel. As small-scale power plants, internal combustion engines and internal (micro) gas turbines have been taken into account, while gasificationhas been focused for biomass. Simulations demonstrate that internal combustion engine integrated with an ambient pressure gasifier and regenerative gas turbineintegrated with a pressurized gasifier are the most favorable technologies at all the three sizes from a thermodynamic point of view. However, among these two solutions, the former configuration is the most promising one at all the scales from an economic point of view as well.

Keywords:

Biomass gasification , Electrical efficiency , Gas turbine , Internal combustion engine , Thermoeconomic analysis