Professional Documents
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“Cogeneration”
DEPT EEE
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Cogeneration
ABSTRACT
Cogeneration or Combined heat and power (CHP) is the simultaneous production of useful
heat and power in an integrated process with common fuel or energy source. By integrating heat
and power production, it is possible to use the energy source in a more efficient way and by that
to reduce the environmental impact including CO2 emissions.
The basic process of a CHP plant can be a thermal energy process based on heat engines or a fuel
cell process based on electrochemical energy conversion. The capacity can range from several
hundreds of megawatts of fuel input to plants delivering electricity and heat through a district
heating network of a whole city down to micro CHP plants on kilowatt level supplying a one‐
family house. The operating load is determined by the heat demand. For systems using a district
heating network as the heat load, introducing also other heat demanding processes can be a way to
increase the full‐load operating time and the yearly production of electricity from biomass.
The balance between the output of power and the heat supply is an important parameter for the
performance of the plant. This is described by the ratio between the electric power and the heat
power.
Several barriers, related both to the market and regulations, exist for implementation of CHP and
policies are necessary to be able to develop the potential in the world. The CHP is a cost effective
and important solution for reduction of CO2 emissions.
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Cogeneration
CONTENTS
Acknowledgement……………………………………………………..i
Abstract ………………………………………………………………..ii
1) Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….6
2) History…………………………………………………………………………………..7
4) Cogeneration fuels……………………………………………………………………..9
5) Categories of CHP…………………………………………………………………….10-12
9) Benefits ……………………………………………………………………………….17-21
10) Disadvantages…………………………………………………………………………22
11) Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….23
12) References…………………………………………………………………………….24
DEPT EEE
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Cogeneration
1: INTRODUCTION
Cogeneration is more thermally efficient use of fuel than producing process heat alone because in
electricity production some energy must be rejected as waste heat, but in cogeneration some of
this thermal energy is put to good use.
Many industries require energy input in the form of heat, called process heat. Process heat in these
industries is usually supplied by steam at 150 to 200°C.
Energy is usually transferred to the steam by burning coal, oil, natural gas, or another fuel in a
furnace.
Industries that use large amounts of process heat also consume a large amount of electric power.
It makes sense to use the already-existing work potential to produce power instead of letting it go
to waste.
The result is a plant that produces electricity while meeting the process-heat requirements of
certain industrial processes (cogeneration plant).
DEPT EEE
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Cogeneration
2:HISTORY
At the beginning of the twentieth century, steam was the main source of mechanical power.
However, as electricity became more controllable, many small “power houses” that produced
steam realized they could also produce and use electricity, and they adapted their systems to
cogenerate both steam and electricity. Then from 1940–1970, the concept developed of a
centralized electric utility that delivered power to the surrounding area. Large utility companies
quickly became reliable, relatively inexpensive sources of electricity, so the small power houses
stopped cogenerating and bought their electricity from the utilities.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, interest in cogeneration began to revive, and by the late
1970s the need to conserve energy resources became clear. In the United States, legislation was
passed to encourage the development of cogeneration facilities. Specifically, the Public Utilities
Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) of 1978 encouraged this technology by allowing cogenerators
to connect with the utility network to purchase and sell electricity. PURPA allowed cogenerators
to buy electricity from utility companies at fair prices, in times of shortfall, while also allowing
them to sell their electricity based on the cost the utility would have paid to produce that power,
the so-called “avoided cost.” These conditions have encouraged a rapid increase in cogeneration
capacity in the United States.
In Europe, there has been little government support because cogeneration is not seen as new
technology and therefore is not covered under “Thermie,” the European Community’s (EC) energy
program. Under Thermie, 40% of the cost for capital projects is covered by the EC government.
However, some individual European countries, like Denmark and Italy, have adopted separate
energy policies. In Denmark, 27.5% of their electricity is produced by cogeneration, and all future
energy projects must involve cogeneration or some form of alternative energy. In Italy, low-
interest loans are provided to cover up to 30% of the cost of building new cogeneration facilities.
DEPT EEE
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Cogeneration
A major focus of the current energy debate is how to meet the future demand for electricity
.One of the most promising commercially available technologies is cogeneration. Cogeneration
systems produce both electrical (or mechanical) energy and thermal energy from the same primary
energy source.
Increased efficiency of energy conversion and use. Cogeneration is the most effective and efficient
form of power generation.
Fuel consumption is also less it is very necessary to consume the nonrenewable sources such as
coal, oil, etc. so that we can use in future by using cogeneration we can consume the fuel because
we know that in cogeneration by using one fuel we can generate both steam as well as electricity.
Large cost savings, providing additional competitiveness for industrial and commercial users, and
offering affordable heat for domestic users.
An opportunity to move towards more decentralized forms of electricity generation, where plants
are designed to meet the needs of local consumers, providing high efficiency, avoiding
transmission losses and increasing flexibility of system use. This will particularly be the case if
natural gas is the energy carrier.
Improved local and general security of supply – local generation, through cogeneration, can reduce
the risk of consumers being left without supplies of electricity and/or heating.
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Cogeneration
4:COGENERATION FUELS
Coal
Waste gas
Renewable gases
Bagasse
14%
Coal
14%
Natural gas
Waste gas 55%
10%
Liquid fuels
Renew able gases
6%
1%
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Cogeneration
The above Pie chart represents the percentage of fuels which are used in cogeneration.
Cogeneration is still common in pulp and paper mills, refineries and chemical plants. In this
"industrial cogeneration/CHP", the heat is typically recovered at higher temperatures (above 100
deg C) and used for process steam or drying duties. This is more valuable and flexible than low-
grade waste heat, but there is a slight loss of power generation. The increased focus
on sustainability has made industrial CHP more attractive, as it substantially reduces carbon
footprint compared to generating steam or burning fuel on-site and importing electric power from
the grid.
Industrial cogeneration plants normally operate at much lower boiler pressures than utilities.
Among the reasons are: 1) Cogeneration plants face possible contamination of returned
condensate. Because boiler feed water from cogeneration plants has much lower return rates than
100% condensing power plants, industries usually have to treat proportionately more boiler make
up water. Boiler feed water must be completely oxygen free and de-mineralized, and the higher
the pressure the more critical the level of purity of the feed water.2) Utilities are typically larger
scale power than industry, which helps offset the higher capital costs of high pressure. 3) Utilities
are less likely to have sharp load swings than industrial operations, which deal with shutting down
or starting up units that may represent a significant percent of either steam or power demand.
Example for industrial plants are sugar cane industry petroleum refining, petrochemical, pulp and
Paper Making industries.
DEPT EEE
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Cogeneration
In DES it Distribute steam, hot water, and/or chilled water from central plant to individual
buildings through a network of pipes.
Provide space heating, air conditioning, domestic hot water, and industrial process energy. The
core element of many district heating systems is a heat-only boiler station. Additionally
a cogeneration plant (also called combined heat and power, CHP) is often added in parallel with
the boilers. Both have in common that they are typically based on combustion of primary energy
carriers. The difference between the two systems is that, in a cogeneration plant, heat and
electricity are generated simultaneously, whereas in heat-only boiler stations – as the name
suggests – only heat is generated.
In the case of a fossil fueled cogeneration plant, the heat output is typically sized to meet half of
the peak heat load but over the year will provide 90% of the heat supplied. The boiler capacity will
be able to meet the entire heat demand unaided and can cover for breakdowns in the cogeneration
plant. It is not economic to size the cogeneration plant alone to be able to meet the full heat load.
In the New York City steam system, that is around 2.5 GW. Germany has the largest amount of
CHP in Europe.
The combination of cogeneration and district heating is very energy efficient. A simple thermal
power station can be 20–35% efficient, whereas a more advanced facility with the ability to recover
waste heat can reach total energy efficiency of nearly 80%.Some may exceed 100% based on
the lower heating value by condensing the flue gas as well.
Waste heat from nuclear power plants is sometimes used for district heating. The principles for a
conventional combination of cogeneration and district heating applies the same for nuclear as it
does for a thermal power station Examples for DES are universities, hospitals, and government
complexes.
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Cogeneration
Combined heat and power (CHP) systems for homes or small commercial buildings are often
fueled by natural gas to produce electricity and heat. A micro-CHP system usually contains a
small fuel cell or a heat engine as a prime mover used to rotate a generator which
provides electric power , while simultaneously utilizing the waste heat from the prime mover
for an individual building's heating, ventilation, and air conditioning . A micro-CHP generator
may primarily follow heat demand, delivering electricity as the by-product, or may follow
electrical demand to generate electricity and use heat as the by-product. When used primarily
for heating, micro-CHP systems may generate more electricity than is instantaneously being
demanded in circumstances of fluctuating electrical demand.
The heat engine version is a small scale example of cogeneration schemes which have been
used with large electric power plants. The purpose of cogeneration is to utilize more of the
energy in the fuel. The reason for using such systems is that heat engines, such as steam power
plants which generate the electric power needed for modern life by burning fuel, are not very
efficient. Due to Carnot's theorem, a heat engine cannot be 100% efficient; it cannot convert
anywhere near all the heat produced from the fuel it burns into organized forms of energy such
as electricity. Therefore, heat engines always produce a surplus of low-temperature waste heat,
called "secondary heat" or "low-grade heat". Modern plants are limited to efficiencies of about
33–63% at most, so 37–67% of the energy is exhausted as waste heat. In the past this energy
was usually wasted to the environment. Cogeneration systems, built in recent years in
cold-climate countries, utilize the waste heat produced by large power plants for heating by
piping hot water from the plant into buildings in the surrounding community.
However, it is not practical to transport heat long distances due to heat loss from the pipes.
Since electricity can be transported practically, it is more efficient to generate the electricity
near where the waste heat can be used. So in a "micro-combined heat and power system"
(micro-CHP), small power plants are instead located where the secondary heat can be used, in
individual buildings.
DEPT EEE
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Cogeneration
DEPT EEE
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Cogeneration
These are essentially small gas turbines that employ modified processes and structures to generate
power and heat.
DEPT EEE
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Cogeneration
The gas turbine compresses air and mixes it with fuel that is heated to a very high temperature.
The hot air-fuel mixture moves through the gas turbine blades, making them spin. The fast-
spinning turbine drives a generator that converts a portion of the spinning energy into electricity.
Heat recovery system captures exhaust.
A Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG) captures exhaust heat from the gas turbine that would
DEPT EEE
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Cogeneration
otherwise escape through the exhaust stack. The HRSG creates steam from the gas turbine exhaust
heat and delivers it to the steam turbine. Steam turbine delivers additional electricity. The steam
turbine sends its energy to the generator drive shaft, where it is converted into additional electricity.
Energy recovery from the combustion of municipal solid waste is a key part of the non-hazardous
waste management hierarchy, which ranks various management strategies from most to least
environmentally preferred. Energy recovery ranks below source reduction and recycling/reuse but
above treatment and disposal. Confined and controlled burning, known as combustion, can not
only decrease the volume of solid waste destined for landfills, but can also recover energy from
the waste burning process. This generates a renewable energy source and reduces carbon emissions
by offsetting the need for energy from fossil sources and reduces methane generation from
landfills.
At an MSW combustion facility, MSW is unloaded from collection trucks and placed in a trash
storage bunker. An overhead crane sorts the waste and then lifts it into a combustion chamber to
be burned. The heat released from burning converts water to steam, which is then sent to a turbine
generator to produce electricity.
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Cogeneration
9:Benefits of Cogeneration
Increased competitiveness:
Energy bill savings and additional revenue streams provided by CHP systems can be reinvested in
facilities (or companies at large) to support facility expansion and other capital projects, to hire or
retain workers, or in other initiatives that enhance competitiveness. CHP systems can also earn
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) recognition and Energy Star CHP
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Cogeneration
awards. Companies could use this recognition to differentiate themselves in the marketplace and
help fulfil corporate social responsibility goals.
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Cogeneration
9.2Benefits to Utilities
Meeting standards:
CHP systems can potentially help facilities and utilities meet their compliance obligations under
local, state, and federal emissions standards, such as the recently announced air toxin standards for
boilers and power plants. While these systems on their own may not bring facilities into
compliance, they can potentially help reduce the cost of meeting those standards and reduce the
emission of CO2 and other pollutants. CHP and WER systems also qualify for clean energy
portfolio standards (e.g., energy efficiency resource standard, alternative energy portfolio standard,
renewable portfolio standard) in 24 states that specifically include them as eligible resources in
some form.
As demand for energy rises because of increased industrial and commercial activity and a growing
population, and as our energy mix shifts to cleaner sources—including energy efficiency and an
increasing penetration of renewables—our transmission system and infrastructure will need to be
enhanced to provide the flexibility necessary to accommodate a changing suite of resources while
Maintaining reliability and avoiding congestion. “Non-wires” alternatives, including demand
response, distributed generation systems such as CHP, and other energy-efficiency solutions, can
offer a far less capital intensive route than building new fossil-fuel power plants to meet this
growing demand; accordingly, they provide greater flexibility in transmission and distribution
planning.13 These benefits could save consumers money on their energy bills and allow regions
to more cost effectively plan new generation and transmission infrastructure. In particular, CHP
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Cogeneration
systems may reduce the need to invest in transmission infrastructure as power is generated close
to where it is needed. CHP systems may also assist in the integration of renewables. Furthermore,
as they generate power with greater overall efficiency, CHP systems may also reduce the need to
build more power-generation capacity.
9.3Benefits to Communities
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Cogeneration
Job creation:
The use of CHP systems creates direct jobs in manufacturing, engineering, installation, ongoing
operation and maintenance, and many other areas. In addition, CHP projects create indirect jobs
in the CHP industry’s supply chain and other supporting industries. Workers employed as a result
of these direct and indirect jobs can spend their received income on other goods and services, and
businesses and consumers can reinvest the energy-bill savings they receive from CHP systems into
other projects, goods, and services. All this activity creates and retains jobs and induces economic
growth in local communities. Preliminary work suggests that each GW of installed CHP capacity
may be reasonably expected on net to create and maintain between 2,000 and 3,000 full-time
equivalent jobs throughout the lifetime of the system. These jobs would include direct jobs in
1.4
1.2
CO 2 Emissions (t/MWh)
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
Brown coal Black coal Natural gas Combined Cogeneration
cycle
manufacturing, construction, operation and maintenance, as well as other indirect and induced jobs
(net of losses in other sectors), both from redirection of industrial energy expenditures and re-
spending of commercial and household energy-bill savings.
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Cogeneration
10:Disadvantages Cogeneration
The main disadvantages of combined heat and power are that it is capital intensive and that it is
not a sustainable energy source unless used with renewable fuels.
Financially Intensive
The initial costs for a CHP system can be high without funding. Which can make it prohibitive
for smaller scale (non-domestic) installations.
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Cogeneration
Not all CHP systems run on environmentally friendly fuels. Though at Here we always
recommend systems run on environmentally friendly or sustainable fuels.
11:CONCLUSION
Cogeneration is a key element in the energy conservation .When converting a building to
cogeneration there are several benefits as well as drawbacks. Benefits include increased reliability,
and lower emissions from the production of energy. The biggest engineering concerns when
designing a data centre with sensitive equipment are reliability and redundancy. This system takes
care of both concerns. Though it may not be a concern of the owner, the lower emissions from the
cogenerator as opposed to using electricity from the grid is also a benefit. The main drawback is
first cost. In order to build a building using cogeneration, the owner must have a sufficient capital.
Though some states give incentives for cogeneration, there are none for the state of Delaware for
a facility of this size. Payback periods may not be evident given the larger cost of natural gas
compared with electricity. Savings in reliability, however, do provide a significant payback though
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Cogeneration
quantifying the specific uptime/ power quality is beyond the scope of this case study. Though
Cogeneration facilities have a significant first cost and payback may not be readily evident, the
reliability of the system may be attractive enough for the owner to make the initial investment.
It significantly improves the efficiency of energy generation which results in lower energy costs.
Cogeneration have many types thus various plants can be constructed depending on the thermal
and electrical demands. It is also a great source of distributed generation which enhances the
reliability of the power system and lowers the transmission losses because there is no need to
transport power on large distances. However cogeneration does not fit in everywhere. There have
to be precise surveys done to check if there is a proper demand for both electricity and heat.
Otherwise such a operation would be uneconomic.
12:REFERENCES
1. Energy Cogeneration handbook Criteria for Central Plant Desing by George Polimeros,
Industrial Press Inc, N.Y.
2. Combined Heat and Power Systems: Improving the Energy Efficiency of Our
Manufacturing Plants, Buildings, and Other Facilities , nrdc issue paper by Vignesh
3. U.S. Department of Energy, Midwest CHP Application Center, Northeast Missouri
Grain, LLC & City of Macon, Missouri, Project Profile, available at
http://www.midwestcleanenergy.org/profiles/ProjectProfiles/NortheastMissouriGrain.pdf
(accessed March 2013).
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4. Petchers, Neil (2003) Combined heating, cooling and power handbook: technologies and
applications: an integrated approach to energy conservation/resource optimization,
Fairmont Press, Marcel Dekker.
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