Iranian Journal of Mechanical Engineering Transactions of ISME

Iranian Journal of Mechanical Engineering Transactions of ISME

Energy conversion modelling of municipal waste applying hybrid gasifier-molten carbonate fuel cell system

Authors
Abstract
Biomass is one of the most commonly used renewable energy sources. Using synthesis gas that is generated from gasification of municipal solid waste in a high temperature fuel cell system can lead to an increase in the contribution of biomass in the future global energy supply. In addition it can cause a significant reduction in waste disposal costs and adverse environmental effects. In this paper municipal solid waste of Tehran is considered as the main feed of the proposed system. The proposed system can be considered as a new idea for using the municipal waste of Tehran. In this study, a thermodynamic equilibrium model was developed based on hybrid gasifier-molten carbonate fuel cell to evaluate the effect of waste moisture content on synthesis gas composition. In addition, equilibrium temperature and heating value of synthesized gas have been analyzed. Then, a thermodynamic model is presented for MCFC. The modeling results showed reasonable agreement with the experiment. The results showed a promising performance based on the heating value of synthesized gas, power production and economic analysis for gasification-MCFC power plant in Iran. Finally, an economic analysis for gasification-MCFC power plant with a capacity of 14 MW and 20 MW is presented.
Keywords

1[ عمرانی، قاسمعلی، مواد زائد جامد، مرکز انتشارات دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی، جلد 1 و 2، تهران، (1383).
 
]2[ فصلنامه آماری مدیریت مواد زائد جامد شهر تهران، سازمان بازیافت و تبدیل مواد، شماره دوم، تابستان (1382).
 
 
[4] Visvanathan, C., Trankler, J., Kuruparan, P., Basnayake, B.F., Chiemchaisri, C., Kurian, J., and Gonming, Z., “Asian Regional Research Programme on Sustainable Solid Waste Landfill Management in Asia”, Proceedings Sardinia, Tenth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium, Environmental Sanitary Engineering Center, Italy, (2005).
 
[5] Puig Arnavat, M., Coronas, A., and Carless Bruno, J., “Performance Modeling and Validation of Biomass Gasifiers for Trigeneration Plants”, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universitat Rovirai Virgili, Tarragona, October, (2011).
 
[6] Kirill, V.L., and Horst, J.R., “An Advanced Integrated Biomass Gasification and Molten Fuel Cell Power System”, Energy Conversion and Management, Vol. 39, No. 16-18, pp. 1931-1943, (1988).
 
[7] Bang Moller, C., and Rokni, M., “Thermodynamic Performance Study of Biomass Gasification, Solid Oxide Fuel Cell and Micro Gas Turbine Hybrid Systems”, Energy Conversion and Management, Vol. 51, Issue. 11, pp. 2330-2339, (2010).
 
 [8] Aloui, T., and Halouani, K., “Analytical Modeling of Polarizations in a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell using Biomass Syngas Product as Fuel”, Applied Thermal Engineering, Vol. 27, Issue. 4, pp. 731-737, (2007).
 
[9] Morita, H., Yoshiba, F., Woudstra, V., Hemmes, K., and Spliethoff, H., “Feasibility Study of Wood Biomass Gasification/Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell Power System-comparative Characterization of Fuel Cell and Gas Turbine Systems”, Journal of Power Sources, Vol. 138, pp. 31-40, (2004).
 
[10] Kumar Sharma, V., “Research and Development Activities on Biofuels”, Expert Group Meeting on Biofuels and Bio Based Chemicals: An Opportunity for Developing Countries? Organized by ICS-UNIDO, Trieste, Italy, 9-11 May 2011, Enea Research Center Trisaia, Trieste, Italy, (2011).
 
[11] Jarungthammachote, S., and Dutta, A., “Thermodynamic Equilibrium Model and Second Law Analysis of a Downdraft Waste Gasifier”, Energy Journal, Elsevier, Vol. 32, No. 6, pp. 1660-1669, (2007).
 
[12] Smith, W.R., and Missen, R.W., “Chemical Reaction Equilibrium Analysis:Theory and Algorithms”, Wiley, New York, USA, (1982).
 
[13] Perlack, R.D., Wright, L.L., and Turhollow, A.F., “Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply”, The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the United States Department of Energy (DOE) Prepared by Oak Ridge National Lab, Oak Ridge, The Technical Feasibility, (2005).
 
[14] Zainal, Z.A., Ali, R., Lean, C.H., and Seetharamu, K.N., “Prediction of the Performance of a Downdraft Gasifier using Equilibrium Modeling for Different Biomass Materials”, Energy Conversion and Management, Vol. 42, pp. 1499-1515, (2001).
 
[15] Higman, C., and Van Der Burgt, M.J., “Gasification, USA: Gulf Professional Pub”, (2003).
 
[16] Rashidi, R., Berg, P., and Dincer, I., “Performance Investigation of a Combined MCFC System”, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Vol. 34, pp. 4395-4405, (2009).
 
 [17] Gomez-Barea, A., and Leckner, B., “Modeling of Biomass Gasification in Fluidized Bed”, Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, Vol. 36, pp. 444–509, (2010).
 
[18] Subramanian, N., Haran, B.S., White, R.E., and Popov, B.N., “Full Cell Mathematical Model of a MCFC”, Journal of the Electrochemical Society, Vol. 150,No. 10, pp. 1360-1367, (2003).
 
[19] Donolo, G., De Simonb, G., and Fermeglia, M., “Steady State Simulation of Energy Production from Biomass by Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells”, Journal of Power Sources, Vol. 158, pp. 1282–1289, (2006).
 
[20] Stauft, C., Heynen, Ch., Gregory, J., Abernethy, J., and Krishnamoorthy, A., “Green Lane Landfill Waste Reduction Proposal”, The University of Western Ontario, Faculty of Engineering, GPE 4484A-Green Fuels and Chemicals, Industrial Proposal, (2011).
 
[21] Au, B., McPhail, S., Woudstra, N., and Hemmes, K., “The Influence of Operating Temperature on the Efficiency of a Combined Heat and Power Fuel Cell Plant”, Journal of Power Sources, Vol. 122, pp. 37-46, (2003). 
Volume 16, Issue 4 - Serial Number 37
Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer
Winter 2015
Pages 98-122

  • Receive Date 01 September 2014