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Author:Kalita, Saurav
Title:Investigation of small scale power generation and briquette production from biomass, involving cases from Bolivia
Publication type:Master's thesis
Publication year:2016
Pages:112 s. + liitt. 10      Language:   eng
Department/School:Insinööritieteiden korkeakoulu
Main subject:Innovative and Sustainable Energy Engineering   (IA3025)
Supervisor:Järvinen, Mika
Instructor:Bauner, David ; Andersson, Kjell
Electronic version URL: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-201612226212
OEVS:
Electronic archive copy is available via Aalto Thesis Database.
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Location:P1 Ark Aalto  6812   | Archive
Keywords:biomass
ORC
gasification
techno-economic
CHP
briquetting
Abstract (eng):Fossil fuels are still the major source of power in the world.
The unabated increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the years has accelerated climate change.
Various international agreements and treaties like the Paris Agreement in 2015 have aimed at reduction of emissions.
But to effectively combat climate change, collective efforts at every scale are required.
On the other hand, there are communities who are financially insecure and suffer from energy poverty.
Incidentally, many of these communities are also the people who are most prone to the effects of climate change.
Providing renewable power to these communities will make communities more resilient and also create opportunities for financial and social development.

The focus of the work in this thesis has been the investigation of production of decentralised power and briquettes in the context of settler communities living on the edge of the Bolivian Amazon forest.
The needs of such communities are oftentimes ignored by institutions, and the challenging geographic conditions further complicate matters.
Agroforestry plantations have been established as a means for reforestation and poverty alleviation.
The residues available from local forestry plantations are considered as the feedstock.
Different biomass energy conversion pathways were examined and compared.
A CHP plant of 50 kW electric output and a briquetting facility of 200 kg/hour capacity have been proposed.
Gasification and combustion with ORC turbine were found to be technologically feasible and commercially available for a plant of this scale.

The technical parameters, performance characteristics and economics of a plant based on both selected conversion methods were analysed.
The overall electric efficiency for a gasifier power plant was higher at 21 % compared to 10% for an ORC power plant.
However, the recovered heat is higher in an ORC plant, leading to a total efficiency of 73%.
The gasifier plant was slightly deficient in terms of providing the thermal energy needed for drying, hence the output of briquettes was lower.
The daily biomass consumption (at 40% MC) for briquetting, and power production for gasifier and ORC based plants, were about 3.5 tons and 4.2 tons respectively.
According to estimates, the biomass supply requirement is easily met from the plantations, and leaves potential for scaling up of operations.

The total investment cost, annual recurring costs and revenues earned for both systems were computed.
The indicators of NPV, IRR and discounted payback period were utilised to compare the economic feasibility.
The initial costs associated with a gasifier powered plant was lower.
At a small scale, the gasifier option seems to be an economically suitable option.
However, on an operational and performance basis, ORC systems are more reliable.
The economic feasibility was found to be heavily reliant on the selling price of briquettes.
By ensuring an appropriate selling price for briquettes, both the ORC and gasifier configurations of the plant are economically feasible.

A plant like this is expected to provide employment and alternative economic benefits to the local communities which can lead to positive change in society and development of services.
Moreover, the project will lead to savings of over 1000 tons of CO2 equivalent GHG emissions over a 20-year lifespan.

There exist certain barriers in the path of such projects, especially due to low prices of electricity and fossil fuels.
The government is in the process of developing policies and regulations to support renewable energy production which can incentivise such projects and decrease the payback period.
ED:2017-01-08
INSSI record number: 55251
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