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Thermodynamic and economic analyses of a coal and biomass indirect coupling power generation system

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Abstract

The coal and biomass coupling power generation technology is considered as a promising technology for energy conservation and emission reduction. In this paper, a novel coal and biomass indirect coupling system is proposed based on the technology of biomass gasification and co-combustion of coal and gasification gas. For the sake of comparison, a coal and biomass direct coupling system is also introduced based on the technology of co-combustion of coal and biomass. The process of the direct and the indirect coupling system is simulated. The thermodynamic and economic performances of two systems are analyzed and compared. The simulation indicates that the thermodynamic performance of the indirect coupling system is slightly worse, but the economic performance is better than that of the direct coupling system. When the blending ratio of biomass is 20%, the energy and exergy efficiencies of the indirect coupling system are 42.70% and 41.14%, the internal rate of return (IRR) and discounted payback period (DPP) of the system are 25.68% and 8.56 years. The price fluctuation of fuels and products has a great influence on the economic performance of the indirect coupling system. The environmental impact analysis indicates that the indirect coupling system can inhibit the propagation of NOx and reduce the environmental cost.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 30919012104) and the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFB0600100).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MIIT Key Laboratory of Thermal Control of Electronic Equipment, and Advanced Combustion Laboratory, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210094, China

    Buqing Ye, Rui Zhang, Jin Cao, Bingquan Shi, Xun Zhou & Dong Liu

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  1. Buqing Ye
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  2. Rui Zhang
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  3. Jin Cao
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  4. Bingquan Shi
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  5. Xun Zhou
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Correspondence to Rui Zhang or Dong Liu.

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Ye, B., Zhang, R., Cao, J. et al. Thermodynamic and economic analyses of a coal and biomass indirect coupling power generation system. Front. Energy 14, 590–606 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-020-0809-6

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