Cogeneration from forest industry wastes gasification with the use of internal combustion engines

Cuba cuenta con una planta de gasificación de residuos de la industria forestal en la “Empresa Forestal Integral Gran Piedra Baconao” de Santiago de Cuba que incluye un gasificador, motor de combustión interna y un secador de madera que utiliza la energía residual del motor. El objetivo del presente trabajo consiste en realizar una evaluación teórica experimental de los índices de cogeneración de la instalación. La evaluación se realizó a partir de balances de masa y energía en los equipos que conforman la instalación a partir de una base de datos experimental resultante de 1194 h de trabajo de la instalación, generando energía eléctrica para el aserrío y la red eléctrica nacional. La evaluación mostró una eficiencia de producción de energía eléctrica del 11,07 %, una eficiencia eléctrica de cogeneración total del 41,94 % y una eficiencia neta de producción de energía eléctrica del 20,30 %. Otros indicadores de cogeneración determinados fueron: índice de calor neto de 4,93 kW/kW y relación energía renovable producida-energía fósil consumida de 4,18.Cuba has forestry industry residues gasification plant for at the "Gran Piedra Baconao Integral Forestry Company" in Santiago de Cuba, which includes a gasifier, internal combustion engine, and a wood dryer, that uses residual energy from the engine. In this work, an experimental theoretical evaluation of the cogeneration indices of the installation is carried out. The evaluation was carried out from mass and energy balances in the equipment that make up the installation from an experimental database resulting from 1194 hours of work of the, electrical energy generating for the sawmill and the national electrical network. The evaluation showed an electrical energy production efficiency of 11,07 %, a total cogeneration electrical efficiency of 41,94 %, and a net electrical energy production efficiency of 20,30 %. Other cogeneration indicators determined were net heat index of 4,93 kW/KW and renewable energy produced-fossil energy consumed ratio of 4,18.Fil: Lesme Jaen, René. Universidad de Oriente; CubaFil: Martínez González, Aldemar. Universidad de Itajubá; BrasilFil: Silva Lora, Electo Eduardo. Universidad de Itajubá; BrasilFil: Rodriguez Ortiz, Leandro Alexei. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Ingeniería Química; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ingeniería de Procesos, Biotecnología y Energías Alternativas. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ingeniería de Procesos, Biotecnología y Energías Alternativas; Argentin

Programming The Inverse Thermal Balance For A Bagasse-Fired Boiler, Including The Application Of A Optimization Method In MATLAB

Thermal balance of steam boilers can be done by two ways, the direct or indirect method; the direct method is not accurate. The reason why it is not accurate is that some operating parameters of biomass boilers cannot be obtained by direct measurements, like the measurement of fuel flow. These facts make it difficult to apply the direct method in the heat balance and force to use indirect one to determine these parameters and the boiler efficiency; hence, the indirect method is generally used for heat balance. Indirect method provides more accurate values and additionally, quantifies each of the energy losses, allowing to determinate causes of low efficiency of the equipment. Large amount of data involved implies the use of more affective calculation means; being iterative, assumed values for fuel flow must be compared with a value calculated until both match. In this work, the indirect method has been programmed in MATLAB; and for the preliminary fuel flow evaluation an optimization method could be used to prevent having to assume a value. Calculation details and a MATLAB algorithm are also presented

A methodology to estimate baseline energy use and quantify savings in electrical energy consumption in higher education institution buildings: Case study, Federal University of Itajubá (UNIFEI)

Accurately forecasting energy consumption in a building is an important strategy for achieving the goal of reducing energy demand and improving energy efficiency. University campuses represent specific groups of diverse buildings with significant energy consumption. Therefore, they provide an excellent testbed to characterize and understand the energy consumption of a group of mixed-use buildings. This paper presents a novel methodology that considers the recommendations of ISO 50001: 2011 and ISO 50006: 2014 for establishing energy baselines and energy performance indicators in higher education institution buildings to identify electrical energy consumption reduction potentials in buildings and establish energy management strategies related to electricity use. The study was implemented in three buildings at the Federal University of Itajubá (José Rodrigues Seabra Campus). Several methods and indicators were evaluated to monitor and measure energy performance in buildings. A wide range of factors that influence operating system energy consumption in the buildings were studied and taken into account, such as the types of activities carried out in the building, weather conditions, building materials, air conditioning system and occupancy, since these contribute directly and indirectly to the difficulty of accurately measuring the building’s energy consumption. The results showed that potential annual savings in electric energy consumption for the campus could be around 9.6%, which translates into a R$ 93,647.2 economic value and a 20.3 tCO2eq emissions reduction without economic investment. It was concluded that the methodology proposed for establishing and monitoring an energy efficiency indicator can be applied to any institute of higher education because it is flexible and adaptable since each institute can define the period of analysis for the indicator. This research is expected to provide theoretical guidance and a practical data reference for relevant evaluations of building energy efficiency

Leilões em Recursos Energéticos Renováveis (RER) e seu impacto na matriz de energia elétrica no Peru

As Energias Renováveis são tecnologias cuja utilização vem-se tornando de muita importância devido aos problemas de mudança climática no mundo. O presente artigo faz uma revisão e analises do efeito que os leilões em Recursos Energéticos Renováveis (RER) têm na matriz energética no pais de Perú. Para isto é necessário compreender a legislação existente que enquadra o uso de energias renováveis e conhecer dados de produção de energia por fontes, para avaliar o comportamento da matriz energética. Observa-se que as mudanças na matriz energética na atualidade ainda são limitadas devido aos projetos que não entrarem em fase comercial, mais, estes projetos irão gerar mudanças na matriz energética no Peru nos anos seguinte. Além disso, as tecnologias que estão mais desenvolvidos e que tem um preço menor dentro do mercado de energias renováveis são os projetos em energia hídrica e eólica.

CFD modeling of combustion of sugarcane bagasse in an industrial boiler

In this study, a CFD model is developed to evaluate the performance of an industrial boiler furnace running on sugarcane bagasse. The model was developed in the commercial software ANSYS FLUENT and includes user-defined functions programmed in C language defining devolatilization phenomenon as well as combustion on the grate. The simulation results suggests that devolatilization is the dominant phenomenon through the largest portion of the particle trajectory, and hence an important factor in predicting the thermal fields. On the other hand, the char is burned on the grate or entrained through the furnace outlet. The general efficiency indicators obtained from particle combustion description could then allow us to compare different design and operational alternative

Environmental assessment of pyrolysis in biorefineries based on palm oil wastes

The oil palm industry is one of the largest producers of residual biomass, leading to environmental and economic concerns. For this reason, the concept of biorefinery is emerging as a means to create new ways of converting biomass into new types of renewable products bioenergetics that can contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases. In this context, this document presents a study that consisting of a biorefinery configuration in a Palm Oil Mill (POM), considering the fast pyrolysis process to produce bio-oil and biochar, and an extraction / trans-esterification stage to produce biodiesel and glycerin in the POM. The environmental impacts associated with a production process of a biorefinery system were calculated using the life cycle assessment methodology through the IMPACT 2002+ method, which analyzes the environmental impacts in four categories of damage (human health, ecosystem quality, climate change and resources). Therefore, to produce bio-oil, biodiesel and electricity were obtained 52 mPt, 120 mPt and 127 mPt of total impacts, respectively, demonstrating that the fast pyrolysis process to obtain bio-oil it does not generate considerably high environmental impacts compared with the other products obtained in the biorefinery in any of the categories of damage assessed

Thermal Analysis of a Parabolic Trough Collectors System Coupled to an Organic Rankine Cycle and a Two-Tank Thermal Storage System: Case Study of Itajubá-MG Brazil

settingsOrder Article Reprints Open AccessArticle Thermal Analysis of a Parabolic Trough Collectors System Coupled to an Organic Rankine Cycle and a Two-Tank Thermal Storage System: Case Study of Itajubá-MG Brazil by Gaylord Carrillo Caballero 1,2,Yulineth Cardenas Escorcia 3,Luis Sebastián Mendoza Castellanos 4,Ana Lisbeth Galindo Noguera 4,Osvaldo José Venturini 2,Electo Eduardo Silva Lora 2,Elkin I. Gutiérrez Velásquez 5 andAnibal Alviz Meza 6,*ORCID 1 Research Group en Energías Alternativas y Fluidos (EOLITO), Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar (UTB), Cartagena 130002, Colombia 2 Excellence Group in Thermal Power and Distributed Generation-NEST, Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Universidade Federal de Itajubá, Itajubá 37500-000, Brazil 3 Research Group GIOPEN, Energy Department, Universidad de la Costa (CUC), Barranquilla 080016, Colombia 4 Research Group in Resources, Energy and Sustainability (GIRES), Faculty of Energy Engineering, Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga (UNAB), Bucaramanga 680008, Colombia 5 Faculty of Mechanic, Electronics and Biomedical Engineering, Universidad Antonio Nariño, Medellin 050005, Colombia 6 Research Group en Deterioro de Materiales, Transición Energética y Ciencia de datos DANT3, Facultad de Ingeniería, Arquitectura y Urbanismo, Universidad Señor de Sipán, Chiclayo 14002, Peru * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Energies 2022, 15(21), 8261; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15218261 Received: 5 October 2022 / Revised: 28 October 2022 / Accepted: 31 October 2022 / Published: 4 November 2022 Download Browse Figures Versions Notes Abstract This study examined an Organic Rankine Cycle powered by a parabolic trough collector and a two-tank thermal storage system based on the development of a mathematical model, for the conditions of the city of Itajubá in Brazil. First, geometrical optics and heat transfer models of the collector–receiver set were used to determine the thermal equilibrium of the solar thermal collector system and parameters such as the efficiency of the solar field, heat and optical losses, and thermal energy of the outlet fluid. Next, the thermal equilibrium of the Organic Rankine Cycle was found in order to establish its operational parameters. Finally, the behavior of the thermal storage system was analyzed through its modeling. Once the characterization of the storage system was completed, the integrated operation of the proposed system was evaluated. Given Itajubá’s weather conditions, the results indicate that an electricity generation system can be implemented with the Solel UVAC Cermet selective coating for the absorber tube, water as the heat transfer fluid, and R-245fa as the working fluid. Based on the solar irradiation profile (1 March 2019), the parabolic trough collectors provided 63.3% of the energy required by the Organic Rankine Cycle to generate 7.4 kW, while the thermal storage system provided 36.4% of the energy demanded by the power generation block. Additionally, the results demonstrate the main conclusions that the turbine’s efficiency was influenced by parameters such as rotational speed, which is affected by the turbine inlet temperature, which, in turn, depends on the behavior of the solar irradiation profile onsite

Energy, economic, and environmental assessment of the integrated production of palm oil biodiesel and sugarcane ethanol

The key objective of this study was to evaluate and compare, within the concept of integrated biorefining, the potential environmental gains of the life cycle, economic feasibility and energy balance of the production of bioenergetics from palm and sugarcane. In this context, the research model developed in this work involved several assessment techniques; in terms of environmental assessment, the tool used was the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) from the Well-To-Tank perspective, which is based on the LCA “cradle-to-gate” assignment method. The environmental assessment was performed using SimaPro v.8.0.3 software and the impacts were quantified using the IMPACT 2002+ method. On the other hand, energy performance evaluation was based on the 1st law indicators. Likewise, economic feasibility was based on the evaluation of the fixed capital investment index and the estimate of investment costs for the entire integrated system. Two different scenarios were proposed in order to compare and evaluate traditional systems with the integrated biorefinery. The first conversion scenario (baseline scenario) consisted of a traditional palm oil extraction plant in addition to an ethanol and sugar plant, concerning the use of fossil fuels in all stages of production. The second conversion scenario (improved scenario) explored the substitution of fossil energy sources as well as the energy recovery of residual biomass in more efficient energy conversion systems. The results indicated significant reductions of 29.5% and 29.1% in the global warming impact category when the baseline scenario was compared to the improved scenario. Additionally, the improved scenario achieved a reduction of 2.1 g CO2eq MJ−1 (ethanol) and 2.61 g CO2eq MJ−1 (biodiesel). On the other hand, the improved scenario presented better energy rates since it showed an increase of 3.82% in the global efficiency of the system and produced 106.32 kWh more per ton of processed raw material. Finally, when considering the Life Cycle Energy Efficiency, an increase of 83% was observed and in the case of the Renewability Factor showed an increase of 7.12 energy units. Integration is also economically feasible; however, it could be significantly improved through fiscal incentives founded on the reduction of fossil energy use, enhanced conversion yielding, and improvements in conversion technologies

Analysis of labour market needs for engineers with enhanced knowledge in renewable energy in some European and Latin-American Countries

One of the main challenges related to the renewable energy labour market is that of human capital and as a consequence the educational profile of future employees is of paramount importance. Unfortunately, the skill level gained at University does not always fit with the practical needs of industry thus reducing the benefit-cost ratio of new employees and slowing down the transition to a green economy. Within this context, ‘The Crux’ project co-funded by EU under the framework of the Erasmus + programme aims at improving the renewable energy engineering curriculum at different university levels in several Universities of Latin America and Europe. In order to better appreciate the potential impact of the project, a survey on the labour market need for specialists with enhanced knowledge and skills in renewable and sustainable energy technologies has been conducted in the related EU and Latin America countries. More precisely, 60 organizations have been interviewed and almost 70% of them are interested in employing engineers with enhanced knowledge on renewable energy in the next three years. The analysis has shown significant discrepancies between EU and Latin American organizations. In fact, while future employees in EU countries will be mainly related to solar energy and management, the former together with wind and biomass will represent the main renewable energy working sector in Latin American countries. Moreover, MSc level will be the most demanded in EU while bachelor education seems to satisfy the future industry requirements in Latin America. Despite each country having its own needs, the research carried out under this EU project confirms the potential of renewable energy education on the global labour market in the near future

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for use on renewable sourced hydrogen fuel cell buses vs diesel engines buses in the city of Rosario, Argentina

The purpose of this paper is to build the first Energy and Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) comparison between buses with internal combustion engine currently used in the city of Rosario, Province of Santa Fe, Argentina, and some technological alternatives and their variants focusing on buses with an electrical engine powered by compressed hydrogen that feet fuel cells of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM). This LCA comprehend raw material extraction up to its consumption as fuel. Specifically, hydrogen production considering different production processes from renewable sources called “green hydrogen” (Velazquez Abad and Dodds, 2020) [1] and non-renewable sources called “grey hydrogen” (Velazquez Abad and Dodds, 2020) [1]. Renewable sources for hydrogen production are rapid cut densified poplar energy plantation, post-industrial wood residues such as chips pallets, and maize silage. For non-renewable hydrogen production sources are the local electrical power grid from water electrolysis and natural gas from the steam methane reforming process. Buses whose fuel would be renewable hydrogen, produced near the City of Rosario, Province of Santa Fe, Argentina, meet one of the main criteria of sustainability biofuels of the European Union (EU) taken into account Renewable Energy Directive (RED) 2009/28.Instituto de Ingeniería RuralFil: Iannuzzi, Leonardo. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Hilbert, Jorge Antonio. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Ingeniería Rural; ArgentinaFil: Silva Lora, Electo Eduardo. Universidad Federal de Itajubá. Instituto de Ingeniería Mecánica. Excellence Group in Thermal Power and Distributed Generation; Brasi