IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v13y2020i7p1835-d343770.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Life Cycle Assessment of a Commercially Available Organic Rankine Cycle Unit Coupled with a Biomass Boiler

Author

Listed:
  • Anna Stoppato

    (Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy)

  • Alberto Benato

    (Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy)

Abstract

Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) turbogenerators are a well-established technology to recover from medium to ultra-low grade heat and generate electricity, or heat and work as cogenerative units. High firmness, good reliability and acceptable efficiency guarantee to ORCs a large range of applications: from waste heat recovery of industrial processes to the enhancement of heat generated by renewable resources like biomass, solar or geothermal. ORC unit coupled with biomass boiler is one of the most adopted arrangements. However, despite biomass renewability, it is mandatory to evaluate the environmental impact of systems composed by boilers and ORCs taking into account the entire life cycle. To this purpose, the authors perform a life cycle assessment of a commercially available 150 kW cogenerative ORC unit coupled with a biomass boiler to assess the global environmental performance. The system is modelled in SimaPro using different approaches. Results show that the most impacting processes in terms of CO 2 equivalent emissions are the ones related to biomass production and organic fluid leakages with 71% and 19% of the total. Therefore, being fluid release in the environment high impacting, a comparison among three fluids is also performed. Analysis shows that adopting a hydrofluoroolefin fluid with a low global warming potential instead of the hydrocarbon fluid as already used in the cycle guarantees a significant improvement of the environmental performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Stoppato & Alberto Benato, 2020. "Life Cycle Assessment of a Commercially Available Organic Rankine Cycle Unit Coupled with a Biomass Boiler," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-17, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:7:p:1835-:d:343770
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/7/1835/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/7/1835/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Benato, Alberto & Stoppato, Anna & Mirandola, Alberto, 2015. "Dynamic behaviour analysis of a three pressure level heat recovery steam generator during transient operation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P2), pages 1595-1605.
    2. Benato, Alberto & Stoppato, Anna, 2018. "Heat transfer fluid and material selection for an innovative Pumped Thermal Electricity Storage system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 155-168.
    3. Benato, Alberto, 2017. "Performance and cost evaluation of an innovative Pumped Thermal Electricity Storage power system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 419-436.
    4. Vélez, Fredy & Segovia, José J. & Martín, M. Carmen & Antolín, Gregorio & Chejne, Farid & Quijano, Ana, 2012. "A technical, economical and market review of organic Rankine cycles for the conversion of low-grade heat for power generation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 4175-4189.
    5. Pezzuolo, Alex & Benato, Alberto & Stoppato, Anna & Mirandola, Alberto, 2016. "The ORC-PD: A versatile tool for fluid selection and Organic Rankine Cycle unit design," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 605-620.
    6. Stougie, Lydia & Tsalidis, Georgios A. & van der Kooi, Hedzer J. & Korevaar, Gijsbert, 2018. "Environmental and exergetic sustainability assessment of power generation from biomass," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 128(PB), pages 520-528.
    7. Chiaramonti, David & Rizzo, Andrea Maria & Spadi, Adriano & Prussi, Matteo & Riccio, Giovanni & Martelli, Francesco, 2013. "Exhaust emissions from liquid fuel micro gas turbine fed with diesel oil, biodiesel and vegetable oil," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 349-356.
    8. Alberto Benato & Alarico Macor, 2019. "Italian Biogas Plants: Trend, Subsidies, Cost, Biogas Composition and Engine Emissions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-31, March.
    9. Hung, T.C. & Wang, S.K. & Kuo, C.H. & Pei, B.S. & Tsai, K.F., 2010. "A study of organic working fluids on system efficiency of an ORC using low-grade energy sources," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 1403-1411.
    10. Cavazzini, G. & Bari, S. & Pavesi, G. & Ardizzon, G., 2017. "A multi-fluid PSO-based algorithm for the search of the best performance of sub-critical Organic Rankine Cycles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 42-58.
    11. Liu, Chao & He, Chao & Gao, Hong & Xie, Hui & Li, Yourong & Wu, Shuangying & Xu, Jinliang, 2013. "The environmental impact of organic Rankine cycle for waste heat recovery through life-cycle assessment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 144-154.
    12. Boschiero, Martina & Kelderer, Markus & Schmitt, Armin O. & Andreotti, Carlo & Zerbe, Stefan, 2015. "Influence of agricultural residues interpretation and allocation procedures on the environmental performance of bioelectricity production – A case study on woodchips from apple orchards," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 235-245.
    13. Stoppato, A., 2008. "Life cycle assessment of photovoltaic electricity generation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 224-232.
    14. Lin, Yi-Pin & Wang, Wen-Hsian & Pan, Shu-Yuan & Ho, Chang-Ching & Hou, Chin-Jen & Chiang, Pen-Chi, 2016. "Environmental impacts and benefits of organic Rankine cycle power generation technology and wood pellet fuel exemplified by electric arc furnace steel industry," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 369-379.
    15. Pereira, Roberto G. & Oliveira, Cesar D. & Oliveira, Jorge L. & Oliveira, Paulo Cesar P. & Fellows, Carlos E. & Piamba, Oscar E., 2007. "Exhaust emissions and electric energy generation in a stationary engine using blends of diesel and soybean biodiesel," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(14), pages 2453-2460.
    16. Alberto Benato & Alarico Macor, 2017. "Biogas Engine Waste Heat Recovery Using Organic Rankine Cycle," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-18, March.
    17. Bianchi, M. & De Pascale, A., 2011. "Bottoming cycles for electric energy generation: Parametric investigation of available and innovative solutions for the exploitation of low and medium temperature heat sources," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(5), pages 1500-1509, May.
    18. Laleman, Ruben & Albrecht, Johan & Dewulf, Jo, 2011. "Life Cycle Analysis to estimate the environmental impact of residential photovoltaic systems in regions with a low solar irradiation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 267-281, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Andrea De Pascale, 2021. "Organic Rankine Cycle for Energy Recovery System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-3, August.
    2. Al-Dahidi, Sameer & Alrbai, Mohammad & Al-Ghussain, Loiy & Alahmer, Ali, 2024. "Maximizing energy efficiency in wastewater treatment plants: A data-driven approach for waste heat recovery and an economic analysis using Organic Rankine Cycle and thermal energy storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 362(C).
    3. Maria Milousi & Athanasios Pappas & Andreas P. Vouros & Giouli Mihalakakou & Manolis Souliotis & Spiros Papaefthimiou, 2022. "Evaluating the Technical and Environmental Capabilities of Geothermal Systems through Life Cycle Assessment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-30, August.
    4. Semmari, Hamza & Bouaicha, Foued & Aberkane, Sofiane & Filali, Abdelkader & Blessent, Daniela & Badache, Messaoud, 2024. "Geological context and thermo-economic study of an indirect heat ORC geothermal power plant for the northeast region of Algeria," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    5. Orumiyehei, Aida & Ameri, Mehran & Nobakhti, Mohammad Hasan & Zareh, Masud & Edalati, Saeed, 2022. "Transient simulation of hybridized system: Waste heat recovery system integrated to ORC and Linear Fresnel collectors from energy and exergy viewpoint," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 172-186.
    6. Kallis, George & Roumpedakis, Tryfon C. & Pallis, Platon & Koutantzi, Zoi & Charalampidis, Antonios & Karellas, Sotirios, 2022. "Life cycle analysis of a waste heat recovery for marine engines Organic Rankine Cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    7. Flavio Scrucca & Grazia Barberio & Laura Cutaia & Caterina Rinaldi, 2023. "Woodchips from Forest Residues as a Sustainable and Circular Biofuel for Electricity Production: Evidence from an Environmental Life Cycle Assessment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-16, December.
    8. Menberg, Kathrin & Heberle, Florian & Uhrmann, Hannah & Bott, Christoph & Grünäugl, Sebastian & Brüggemann, Dieter & Bayer, Peter, 2023. "Environmental impact of cogeneration in binary geothermal plants," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alarico Macor & Alberto Benato, 2020. "Regulated Emissions of Biogas Engines—On Site Experimental Measurements and Damage Assessment on Human Health," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-38, February.
    2. Yu, Guopeng & Shu, Gequn & Tian, Hua & Wei, Haiqiao & Liu, Lina, 2013. "Simulation and thermodynamic analysis of a bottoming Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) of diesel engine (DE)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 281-290.
    3. Alberto Benato & Anna Stoppato, 2019. "An Experimental Investigation of a Novel Low-Cost Photovoltaic Panel Active Cooling System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-24, April.
    4. Wang, Huarong & Xu, Jinliang & Yang, Xufei & Miao, Zheng & Yu, Chao, 2015. "Organic Rankine cycle saves energy and reduces gas emissions for cement production," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 59-73.
    5. Hoang, Anh Tuan, 2018. "Waste heat recovery from diesel engines based on Organic Rankine Cycle," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C), pages 138-166.
    6. Zhao, Yongliang & Song, Jian & Liu, Ming & Zhao, Yao & Olympios, Andreas V. & Sapin, Paul & Yan, Junjie & Markides, Christos N., 2022. "Thermo-economic assessments of pumped-thermal electricity storage systems employing sensible heat storage materials," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 431-456.
    7. Alberto Benato & Alarico Macor, 2021. "Costs to Reduce the Human Health Toxicity of Biogas Engine Emissions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-17, October.
    8. Benato, Alberto & Stoppato, Anna, 2018. "Heat transfer fluid and material selection for an innovative Pumped Thermal Electricity Storage system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 155-168.
    9. Gerbinet, Saïcha & Belboom, Sandra & Léonard, Angélique, 2014. "Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of photovoltaic panels: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 747-753.
    10. Wang, Liang & Lin, Xipeng & Chai, Lei & Peng, Long & Yu, Dong & Chen, Haisheng, 2019. "Cyclic transient behavior of the Joule–Brayton based pumped heat electricity storage: Modeling and analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 523-534.
    11. Alberto Benato & Chiara D’Alpaos & Alarico Macor, 2022. "Possible Ways of Extending the Biogas Plants Lifespan after the Feed-In Tariff Expiration," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-23, October.
    12. Satanphol, K. & Pridasawas, W. & Suphanit, B., 2017. "A study on optimal composition of zeotropic working fluid in an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) for low grade heat recovery," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 326-339.
    13. Xue, X.J. & Zhao, C.Y., 2023. "Transient behavior and thermodynamic analysis of Brayton-like pumped-thermal electricity storage based on packed-bed latent heat/cold stores," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 329(C).
    14. Yu, Haoshui & Eason, John & Biegler, Lorenz T. & Feng, Xiao, 2017. "Simultaneous heat integration and techno-economic optimization of Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) for multiple waste heat stream recovery," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 322-333.
    15. Alijanpour sheshpoli, Mohamad & Mousavi Ajarostaghi, Seyed Soheil & Delavar, Mojtaba Aghajani, 2018. "Waste heat recovery from a 1180 kW proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system by Recuperative organic Rankine cycle (RORC)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 353-366.
    16. Osman Özkaraca & Pınar Keçebaş & Cihan Demircan & Ali Keçebaş, 2017. "Thermodynamic Optimization of a Geothermal- Based Organic Rankine Cycle System Using an Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-28, October.
    17. Khatita, Mohammed A. & Ahmed, Tamer S. & Ashour, Fatma. H. & Ismail, Ibrahim M., 2014. "Power generation using waste heat recovery by organic Rankine cycle in oil and gas sector in Egypt: A case study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 462-472.
    18. Cho, Soo-Yong & Cho, Chong-Hyun, 2015. "An experimental study on the organic Rankine cycle to determine as to how efficiently utilize fluctuating thermal energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 73-79.
    19. Cho, Soo-Yong & Cho, Chong-Hyun & Choi, Sang-Kyu, 2015. "Experiment and cycle analysis on a partially admitted axial-type turbine used in the organic Rankine cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P1), pages 643-651.
    20. Youcef Redjeb & Khatima Kaabeche-Djerafi & Anna Stoppato & Alberto Benato, 2021. "The IRC-PD Tool: A Code to Design Steam and Organic Waste Heat Recovery Units," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-37, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:7:p:1835-:d:343770. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.