Combined heat and power from the intermediate pyrolysis of biomass materials:performance, economics and environmental impact

Abstract

Combined heat and power from the intermediate pyrolysis of biomass materials offers flexible, on-demand renewable energy with some significant advantages over other renewable routes. To maximise the deployment of this technology an understanding of the dynamics and sensitivities of such a system is required. In the present work the system performance, economics and life-cycle environmental impact is analysed with the aid of the process simulation software Aspen Plus. Under the base conditions for the UK, such schemes are not currently economically competitive with energy and char products produced from conventional means. However, under certain scenarios as modelled using a sensitivity analysis this technology can compete and can therefore potentially contribute to the energy and resource sustainability of the economy, particularly in on-site applications with low-value waste feedstocks. The major areas for potential performance improvement are in reactor cost reductions, the reliable use of waste feedstocks and a high value end use for the char by-product from pyrolysis.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.08.020
Dataset DOI: https://doi.org/10.17036/researchdata.aston.ac.uk.00000198
Divisions: College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > School of Infrastructure and Sustainable Engineering > Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry
College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute (EBRI)
College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School > Operations & Information Management
Additional Information: © 2016, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Funding: EPSRC SUPERGEN Programme under the Bioenergy Challenge Project (EP/K036793/1); FP7/2007-2013/IAPP (286244). ERRATUM: Yang, Y., Brammer, J. G., Wright, D. G., Scott, J. A., Serrano, C., & Bridgwater, A. V. (2017). Erratum to "Combined heat and power from the intermediate pyrolysis of biomass materials: Performance, economics and environmental impact" [Appl. Energy 191 (2017) 639-652]. Applied Energy. DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.08.020
Uncontrolled Keywords: bioenergy system,combined heat and power,environmental Life-cycle Analysis,intermediate pyrolysis,techno-economic evaluation,Civil and Structural Engineering,Energy(all)
Publication ISSN: 1872-9118
Last Modified: 22 Jan 2024 08:11
Date Deposited: 22 Feb 2017 13:05
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2017-04-01
Published Online Date: 2017-02-10
Accepted Date: 2017-02-01
Submitted Date: 2016-11-02
Authors: Yang, Y. (ORCID Profile 0000-0003-2075-3803)
Brammer, J.G.
Wright, D.G.
Scott, J.A.
Serrano, C. (ORCID Profile 0000-0001-9503-3558)
Bridgwater, A.V. (ORCID Profile 0000-0001-7362-6205)

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