In the current global development of sustainable energy resources, the waste management and the energy storage from intermittent renewable sources are considered to have a strategic role in the field of the energy production and environmental protection according to the promotion of the renewable power plants and to the waste treatment with low pollutant emissions In this paper novel power plant configurations, based on plasma gasification arc torch fed by MSW (Municipal Solid Waste) integrated with combined cycle power plants are proposed and analyzed. In order to evaluate the energy feasibility of the integrated systems, air enriched with oxygen or hydrogen are considered as plasma gases. Oxygen and hydrogen are produced by electrolysis from renewable electric energy. Thus, the integrated power plants consist of three main sections: i) the hydrogen/oxygen production island; ii) the gasification island; iii) the power island based on a gas turbine combined cycle. The analysis has been carried out by using numerical models that have allowed to evaluate the systems performance in term of efficiency and ability to realize the storage of the renewable energy source. The electric efficiency of the IPGCC plants, in both configurations, IAPGCC and IHPGCC, are very high (0.30-0.37) in comparison with the efficiency of the gasification-based WtE units (0.24) which are the conventional reference technologies. The coefficient of storage, that estimates the effectiveness of the chemical storage realized by the IPGCC plants, reaches values very high, greater than those of conventional high efficiency energy storage systems such as CAES systems (0.89-0.91 for IAPGCC vs. 0.7) or chemical storage systems based on the coupling between an Electrolysis Unit and a Fuel Cell (0.44 for IHPGCC vs. 0.35)
From waste to energy: performance analysis of plasma gasification systems integrated with combined cycle power plants
PERNA, Alessandra;
2015-01-01
Abstract
In the current global development of sustainable energy resources, the waste management and the energy storage from intermittent renewable sources are considered to have a strategic role in the field of the energy production and environmental protection according to the promotion of the renewable power plants and to the waste treatment with low pollutant emissions In this paper novel power plant configurations, based on plasma gasification arc torch fed by MSW (Municipal Solid Waste) integrated with combined cycle power plants are proposed and analyzed. In order to evaluate the energy feasibility of the integrated systems, air enriched with oxygen or hydrogen are considered as plasma gases. Oxygen and hydrogen are produced by electrolysis from renewable electric energy. Thus, the integrated power plants consist of three main sections: i) the hydrogen/oxygen production island; ii) the gasification island; iii) the power island based on a gas turbine combined cycle. The analysis has been carried out by using numerical models that have allowed to evaluate the systems performance in term of efficiency and ability to realize the storage of the renewable energy source. The electric efficiency of the IPGCC plants, in both configurations, IAPGCC and IHPGCC, are very high (0.30-0.37) in comparison with the efficiency of the gasification-based WtE units (0.24) which are the conventional reference technologies. The coefficient of storage, that estimates the effectiveness of the chemical storage realized by the IPGCC plants, reaches values very high, greater than those of conventional high efficiency energy storage systems such as CAES systems (0.89-0.91 for IAPGCC vs. 0.7) or chemical storage systems based on the coupling between an Electrolysis Unit and a Fuel Cell (0.44 for IHPGCC vs. 0.35)I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
