NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHONOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERING AND APPLIED GEOPHYSICS

Natural Gas in Trigeneration

Generation of Electricity, Heat and Cooling

Oluwatosin Ajayi Lorenzo Angelo Veronelli Davide Genini Hui-Gyeong Jang Ho Jung Jung

TPG4140 Natural gas Trondheim, November 2011

Abstract
This work presents a technical illustration of the operation of Trigeneration systems using Natural Gas as fuel and outlines the possibilities for future Trigeneration systems powered by fuel cells. It demonstrates these possibilities by comparing the feasibility of Trigeneration systems based on fuel cell with Trigeneration systems using conventional fossil fuel. Primary Energy Saving index and first law efficiency were solved to demostrate that Trigeneration Systems are visible solutions to the spiralling demand for energy across the globe. Although not well explored at present but with many developed plans and new researches for trigeneration underway, Trigenration systems signal themselves as a viable energy solution in the very near future.

Content
Abstract ..................................................................................................................................i 1. 2. 3. 4. Introduction ....................................................................................................................1 Reasons for trigeneration ...............................................................................................2 How it works ...................................................................................................................3 Gas turbines ....................................................................................................................3
4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Operating principle ..............................................................................................................3 Technical components .........................................................................................................4 Emissions.............................................................................................................................5 State-of-art ..........................................................................................................................6

5.

Internal combustion engine ............................................................................................6

5.1 5.2 Operating principle ..............................................................................................................6 Technical Components ........................................................................................................7

6.

Absorption chiller ...........................................................................................................7

6.1 Compressor chiller and absorption chiller ............................................................................8

7.

Fuel cell application ........................................................................................................9

7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 Operating principle ..............................................................................................................9 High temperature fuel cells................................................................................................ 10 Hybrid systems: gas turbine and fuel cells.......................................................................... 10 Solid Oxide Fuel Cell .......................................................................................................... 11 Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell ............................................................................................... 11 Internal reforming ............................................................................................................. 11 Fuel cells versus traditional combustion engines and small gas turbines in cogeneration ... 12

8. 9.

Exergy analysis..............................................................................................................12 Indices for trigeneration and cogeneration ..................................................................13

10. Trigeneration and cogeneration now and in the future................................................15

10.1 Pfizer Singapore API manufacturing facility ........................................................................ 17

11. Conclusions ...................................................................................................................18 12. References ....................................................................................................................19 13. Tables ...........................................................................................................................21 14. Figures ..........................................................................................................................23

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1. Introduction
Trigeneration is the combined generation of electricity, heat and cooling, all simultaneously produced from a fuel source often referred to as Combined Heat Power and Cooling CHCP. Trigeneration takes cogeneration of heat and electricity further with the utilization of waste heat for cooling purposes through an absorption chiller. A Trigeneration system is an integration of two major technologies: The combined heating and power CHP or cogeneration technology and cooling technology through compression or absorption systems. CHP technologies based on gas reciprocating engines and combustion turbines are the most mature technologies. Fuel cells are entering into the market of Trigeneration. Natural Gas is the most appealing fuel for driving Trigeneration Systems because of its reliability, efficiency, low environmental effects and low maintenance costs. It burns efficiently in the combustor ensuring lower emissions of local pollutants than heavier fuels. Natural Gas contains mainly methane, a gas with high hydrogen to carbon ratio which leads to lower CO2 emissions per unit of energy produced. According to the U.S. Department of Energy in the year 2009, 2.5 billion tons of CO2 were emitted by power plants in the U.S., which correspond to 576g of CO2 per kWh. A wide use of Trigeneration would reduce the amount of green- house gases emitted per unit of electricity. The most intriguing development in the quest for efficient and cost saving Trigeneration systems to match Energy Demand is the possibility of using Fuel Cells as alternative engine for Trigeneration systems. A technical analysis shows that fuel cells provide the next possibility for making Trigeneration System at a very low operating cost, maintained high efficiency, with no waste nuisance to the environment (Casalegno 2010). It presents an environmentally clean technology for the future Trigeneration Applications. Fuel cells can be fed via syngas produced with steam reforming CH4 + H2O CO + 3 H2 and Water gas shift CO +
H2O CO2 + H2.

2. Reasons for trigeneration

Energy cost is growing, and trigeneration technology in the long term offers a cheaper and affordable technology for producing energy when compared to other conventional energy generating technologies. The reduction in cost in trigeneration is achieved with higher overall cycle efficiency which decreases the amount of fuel used to produce one unit of usable energy. Governments also offer subsidies to energy made in cogeneration comparable to the ones given to renewable energy, making the investment more profitable.

Microtrigeneration is becoming common in warm countries that are developing the idea of distributed power generation (small machines placed close to the consumers). The application of cogeneration and trigeneration as well, in residential places has always been obstructed by the high variability of loadings and humongous costs of long thermal energy networks. Distributed power generation and microtrigeneration go together because the trigenerative application compensates the inevitable lower efficiency of the small machines and the higher costs. Distribute generation can be applied in crowded places where the structures are shared by many people, and the cost of the insulated pipes to transport heat is acceptable because they dont have to be too long. Distributed power generation diminishes the transport losses, since energy does not have to travel long distances to reach the customers. With the increased need of energy in populated areas new power lines have to be built to transfer the power from the generation sites in a business as usual scenario. Dispersed power generation can avoid the invasion of pristine areas by new power lines, preserving the environment and saving money. The technology challenge in developed countries is the reduction of air pollution and greenhouse gases. The application of Trigeneration in cities is an effective way to solve this challenge because of the use of clean fuel such as natural gas and the high efficiency of the system. Pollution in populated areas of developing countries is a huge problem which at the moment is not taken into account, but it will be in the near future. Trigeneration systems have usually very short start-up times because of their small dimensions and low thermal inertia. Therefore, they can also be used for peak shaving to help the grid to handle the rising amount of renewable energy connected to the net. Such dispersed systems can be remotely controlled, operated by the network management
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company as an integration of the grid. The ability of the system to store thermal energy allows a flexible management of electricity production, giving the opportunity to make electrical power when its required by the grid.

3. How it works
Trigeneration is a new form of power generation that is becoming common in numerous countries placed in the warm region of the world. In these countries the heating required during the year is mainly concentrated in the winter season, while in summer the demand of refrigeration is no more negligible (for air conditioning household or industry), as shown in figure 3. A constant demand of electrical power, heating and cooling comes from different structures such as hospitals, public buildings, universities, shopping malls and gyms.

A Trigeneration plant is similar to a cogeneration power plant plus an absorption chiller to produce a cold flow with the heat recovered from the hot flue gases. Regarding the electric power generation, it can be provided by different kind of engines: internal combustion engines, gas turbine cycles, and Stirling engines (to name a few). They can be evaluated according to cost, efficiency and environmental effects.

4. Gas turbines
4.1 Operating principle In micro turbines, electricity comes from a common Joule-Brayton cycle fitted with a regenerator. Air is sucked up by a compressor that can work with a lower pressure ratio than usual, just between 2 and 12 (G. Lozza, 2006). A combustor burns the fuel and presents flue gas at 1000 C to the first rotator of the expander. After the expander, the exhaust gas enters to a regenerator to recover some heat by warming up the air coming out of the compressor. This is a practice that is required to elevate the efficiency, which is deeply affected by the temperature of exhausted gas that is again affected by the pressure ratio. If the pressure ratio goes down, the temperature of the flue gas goes up and the efficiency lessens. A Pressure-Volume and a Temperature-Entropy graph are attached (Figures 4.1a4.1b).

The heating is obtained by cooling down the exhausted gas coming from the regenerator in a gas-fluid heat exchanger. Here water can be warmed up to 90 C-115 C (M. Sileo, 2006), so the ability of producing steam is not very high in micro turbines with regenerators. It is evident that this heat is useful where the thermal demand is at low temperature like in residential buildings, hotels and sport structures. The thermal efficiency is around 50 %, while the electrical efficiency is approximately 30% considering the energy coming from the Low Heating Value of the fuel used. Therefore, approximately 80% of the energy in the fuel is used. The cooling is provided by an absorption chiller. This device is based on the phase change of water together with a specific salt. The low temperature that the water can reach when is warmed up by the exhausted gas is enough in order to make this system working properly. 4.2 Technical components Micro turbines could be still out of the market if the design of the machine had not been completely altered. They are characterized by radial machines that work at an impressively high RPM to ensure good performances keeping the dimensionless parameters in an optimal range. The turbo machines (expander and compressor) have been dramatically modified to face different needs in respect of common large gas turbines (G. Lozza, 2006). They have to rotate at 70000-120000 RPM, sustained by magnetic bearings because the low power produced requires treating low flow rates of air and exhausted gas (0.2-0.5 kg/s). These radial velocities come out considering that the peripheral speed (u = *r) is limited by material resistance: if the radius(r) is small, then the angular speed () has to be high. Furthermore, from performance optimization analysis, its understandable that a high RPM is necessary. The small radius forces to choose a centrifugal compressor and a centripetal expander that are able to cope with high pressure ratios (4-6) with a single stage, providing good performances even with a small rotor. Considering the relatively low temperatures (950 C), the rotators can be made up of nickel alloys and they dont need any cooling systems. Small pressure ratio causes a high temperature of the exhausted gas released in the atmosphere while the inlet temperature of the combustor is low: the efficiency is negatively affected. The adoption of radial single stage machines implies smaller pressure ratio than

usual. For example, with a pressure ratio of 4, the outlet temperature of the flue gas is 710 C and the inlet temperature of the combustor only 184 C with an efficiency of 16, 45 %. To overcome this problem, a common solution is the regenerator, which is a decisive device in the development of a micro turbine. Regenerator can be of two types: a surface regenerator or a rotary matrix regenerator. The former is a common exchanger with a physical separation between pressurized air and exhausted gas; it has a particular geometry optimized to improve forced convection. The latter is based on a package of metal or ceramic material rotating slowly, that acquires heat when is on the hot side and releases heat to the air in the cold side. This system provides a high thermal exchange efficiency (8590 %), reduced costs (because of compact surfaces and long life) and space, but it must be taken into account that the two fluids could contact each other. The combustor is not very different from the combustor of a common gas turbine cycle. The only difference from usual combustors comes from the opportunity of reaching low NOx emissions, since lower combustion temperatures reduce the NOx formation. This helps save money because no emissions treating system is required. Usually the combustor of a micro turbine emits 10-15 (G. Lozza, 2006). The generator is designed in order to avoid the use of gear-reducers to improve the efficiency. For these reasons, it is usually equipped with permanent magnets incorporated in carbon fiber matrices, and it rotates together with the shaft of the expander producing electrical energy at high frequency (for example 3000 Hz AC with 90000 RPM 4 poles). Then this energy is converted in a static rectifier and carried to 50 Hz (or 60 Hz) tri-phase 400V by a static inverter (G. Lozza, 2006). Usually the generator can work at variable speeds: this peculiarity prevents the remarkable decline of performance typical of gas turbines at partial loads. This is a noticeable property of a trigeneration system, because it makes easier to follow the loads imposed by consumers. The efficiency of the generator is usually close to 92-94 %. 4.3 Emissions Combustion in a gas turbine cycle is designed for reducing NOx emissions. The combustor works with a great excess of air that quenches down the flame temperature. A low temperature inhibits the formation of nitrogen oxides, while the excess of air prevents the formation of CO and unburned gas (G. Lozza, 2006). According to this condition the gas
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of NOx which is ten times lower than a common gas turbine

turbine doesnt need any other device to reduce emissions, but catalysts to improve the environment effect are being studied. (Table 4.3) 4.4 State-of-art Some international-famed societies have been developing micro turbines for some years with good results. General Electric, Honeywell and Siemens have commercialized machines for 30-250 kW, with an electrical efficiency of 24-30 % and Turbine Inlet Temperature of 1000 C (Table 4.4). At the moment these turbines offer a good availability and reliability even after long working time. According to Capstone- one of the most important companies in the field, a micro turbine costs about 1300$ per kW installed. And the forecasts are for a sharp decrease in prices.

5. Internal combustion engine

5.1 Operating principle For trigenerative applications only a four-stroke engine can be used, that can be based both on an Otto cycle or Diesel cycle. The Otto cycle is made up of four transformations: two isochoric and two isentropic processes. The piston goes from the bottom dead center to the top dead center causing a high increase of pressure then combustion takes place. Then the piston does the opposite movement of before producing work and finally the exhausted gas goes out from the cylinder. In reality, two other operations take place: the exhausted gases are expelled through a drain valve and the fuel-air mixture is sucked up by an inlet valve. The Diesel cycle ideally differs from the Otto cycle only because the combustion should occur at constant pressure instead of constant volume. The Otto cycle engines fuelled with natural gas have pressure ratios oscillating between 9:1 and 12:1 similar to gasoline engines, even if natural gas has a higher antiknock (M. Sileo, 2006) . The gas is injected into the carburetor forming required stoichiometric mixture which is compressed in the cylinder. The Diesel cycle engines are dual fuel, they are mainly fed with methane with a small addition of gas oil to avoid detonation. The gas oil is usually injected at high pressure. The gas can follow two ways: direct injection at high pressure, or injection in the collector and then compression as in an Otto cycle. The choice among the two solutions depends on the gas pressure in the distribution network: if its at low pressure the direct injection is better to avoid expenses and maintenance related to a compressor to pressurize gas.
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5.2 Technical Components The internal combustion engines can use a wide variety of fuels both liquid (gas oil, gasoline, heavy oil) and gas (natural gas, propane, and biogas). Its not easy modeling the emissions coming from an internal combustion engine. This is because of numerous parameters that affect emissions in different ways: piston movement, passage of the combustion from laminar to turbulent, low wall temperature. Generally, the main pollutants emitted are NOx, HC, soot and CO. An internal combustion engine for a trigeneration system using natural gas ensures low emissions, but the environmental norms are actually very strict and will get stricter in the future. Therefore, this engine requires proper devices for reduction of emissions. These devices are different according to the type of cycle used. Inside the exhaust pipes, its common practice using systems that react with catalysts to reduce the emissions. When air and fuel are mixed in a stoichiometric ratio, like in Ottos cycles, trivalent catalysts are used. They are called trivalent, because they can reduce contemporaneously emissions of three pollutants: NOx, CO, HC. To guarantee that this catalyst works, a strong control of stoichiometry is necessary. To do that a lambda sensor measures the percentage of O2 in the exhaust gases, and a feedback control system regulates the percentage of O2.

6. Absorption chiller
Absorption chillers are a practical alternative to compression chillers. Their main advantage is that they dont require any electrical power consumption except for the pump moving the solutes. An absorption chiller works with a mixture of two fluids. The fluid with the lowest vapor pressure is the solvent; the fluid with the highest vapor pressure is the solute. Usually the couple of fluids used can be water (solvent) and ammonia (solute) or lithium bromide (solvent) and water (solute). There are different kind of absorption chillers that can be chosen according to the constraints of the project and the type of heat source available. They can use directly the exhausted gases that pass through a heat exchanger integrated with the chiller. An alternative is to use the fluid flowing in the engine jacket, or a combination of the options.
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An absorption chiller is made of four main parts: evaporator, absorber, generator, and condenser. (Figure 6) The evaporator is the heat exchanger in which the refrigerant absorbs the heat from the source at low temperature and becomes vapor. Considering that the refrigerant its at low pressure, its boiling point is low and evaporates absorbing heat from the stream which needs to be cooled. The absorber is the device in which the vapor, produced in the evaporator, turns back into a liquid solution at constant pressure. The solute is absorbed by the liquid mixture coming from the generator. The absorption process takes place here because of the affinity between solute and solvent, producing heat. The pump raises the pressure of the rich solution coming from the absorber. The generator receives this mixture and separates solute from solvent in a process similar to distillation using the heat source available. The condenser is the heat exchanger in which the vapor, produced from the generator, condenses releasing heat to the environment. The two lamination valves cause an isenthalpic expansion of the fluid: water from the condenser passes through one of them, the solution coming out the generator passes through the other. A regenerator is used to improve the performance of the system, exchanging heat from the flows between the absorber and the generator. The cooling effect is usually provided between 7 C and 12 C when water is used as refrigerant. When temperatures under 0 C are required, mixtures of glycol-water or other mixtures are used. An absorption chiller uses refrigerants which are known not to have a high Green House Gas potential or to cause harm to the ozone layer. It doesnt require to run a compressor, so there are no emissions coming from power generation. 6.1 Compressor chiller and absorption chiller The comparison between an absorption chiller and a compression chiller is not easy. Looking at the investment, an absorption chiller is 30 % to 100 % more expensive than a compression chiller. This comes from cooling towers for an absorption chiller that must be 2 or 2.5 larger than the ones for a compression chiller. But, according to M. Sileo (2006), an absorption chiller offers evident management advantages: no problems during blackout, silent operation, 20 years of lifetime (it has no moving parts), recovers heat that otherwise would have been wasted. A good way of comparing should be the cost of energy, but considering
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that the prices of natural gas and electricity are variable, its hard to say which device is better. A careful analysis should be made for each case to find the best solution that suits the situation.

7. Fuel cell application

7.1 Operating principle A fuel cell is a device capable of converting directly the chemical energy in the fuel into electrical energy. Normal energy systems, which involve combustion, have first to pass through thermal, mechanical and finally electrical energy conversion. The combustion of the fuel is the biggest source of inefficiency of the energy converting system (Pedrocchi, 2011). This is due to the fact that the combustion is never done at adiabatic temperature and the heat exchange between the flue gas and the fluid is done with high temperature differences. Heat transfer under high temperature gradient destroys huge amounts of exergy (the ability of a system to make work). Fuel cells provide solutions to these challenges. ADVANTAGES High efficiency, not limited by Carnots theorem. Efficiency independent from dimension and just slightly dependent from the load, modular system and flexible working condition. High availability and reliability, no moving mechanical parts, gradual performance decline (predictable). Low environmental impact, no emissions of secondary pollutants.

DISADVANTAGES Cost, depending on the type, on average not less than 5000$/kW. Short life cycle. Most of the fuel cells work with expensive high quality and purity fuel such as hydrogen. LOSSES A fuel cell has an intrinsic efficiency depending on the type and the boundary conditions of operations, above all the current output (Groppi, 2010). Fuel cells skip all the passages of

energy conversions but they pay different energy tolls from normal energy converting systems (Figure 7.1), such as: Activation losses: due to kinetic reasons at the electrodes. Ohmic losses: they increase with the increase of current flowing and they are due to resistivity. Mass transport losses: they occur when high current is flowing through the cell during high loads. Crossover: the un-reacted fuel passes through the membrane and it is oxidized on the cathode without any real benefit for electrical production. 7.2 High temperature fuel cells High temperature fuel cells are perfect to be combined with a cogeneration plant for industrial purposes, giving high temperature heat as a byproduct. They can work with different fuels such as Natural Gas converted by an internal reformer into hydrogen, carbon monoxide and dioxide. This kind of fuel cell can run with dirty fuels containing a lot of impurities, for example there has been studies at the Georgia Institute of Technology regarding the possibility to run SOFC (Solid Oxide Fuel Cells) with gasified coal. Other advantages of this type of fuel cells are the higher efficiencies, lower costs and longer term stability when compared with low temperature fuel cells. Working at high temperatures brings some serious problems concerning long startup times and hard thermal stresses on the components. For these reasons high temperature fuel cells are more suited for power generation combined with high temperature (high exergy) cogeneration(Galliani et al, 2006). Instead low temperature fuel cells find better applications in portable electronic devices, automotive and small stand-alone micro-power generation systems. 7.3 Hybrid systems: gas turbine and fuel cells Another interesting application of high temperature fuel cells is their combination in gas turbines, replacing the normal combustor. Fuel cells need a source of cooling in all cases and the use of the excess heat to generate power in a Joule Brayton cycle is a natural consequence. This system is designed to reduce the losses due to normal combustion with high air excess, taking complete advantage of the chemical exergy in the fuel. To increase even more the efficiency of the plant the heat can be recovered from the flue gases coming from the turbine with a Heat Recovery Steam Generator. The steam produced can be used
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both to run a steam turbine and make more power, as a source of heat or to cool down a fluid with an absorption cycle. This kind of complex plant working at full electric generation reaches efficiencies close to 70%, 10% more than the best available technology for normal combined cycle (Campanari S. et al, 2002). 7.4 Solid Oxide Fuel Cell These types of fuel cells are characterized by the use of a solid oxide as electrolyte usually made of ceramic material such as YSZ (Yttria Stabilized Zirconia). Instead the anode is made with nickel zirconia ceramic-metal, with the first component promoting the internal reforming and the second one inhibiting the nickel sinterization at high temperature. They can work flexibly with a wide range of sulphur-free fuels ranging from hydrogen to light hydrocarbons. With a pre-reformer they can even work with normal heavy fuels such as gasoline, diesel or biofuels. Normal sandwich geometry SOFCs stacks require a few hours of start-up time, but new tubular geometries SOFCs promise to lower this time down to a few minutes. The main advantage of these classes of fuel cells is that they dont require expensive platinum based catalyzer since they work at temperatures approaching 1000C and consequently they dont have problems with carbon monoxide poisoning, though materials working at such high temperature are expensive (Groppi, 2011). 7.5 Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell The electrolyte used in this fuel cell is a molten mixture of alkali metal carbonate held in a ceramic matrix. At low temperature the electrolyte is not conductive, when the temperature rises above 600-700C the material becomes highly ionic conductive. The unique feature, and disadvantage, of this fuel cell is the necessity of having CO2 at the cathode side to make carbonate ions. Carbon dioxide is recycled from the anode side and the flue gas from the anode is mixed with air to preheat it and oxidize the unreacted carbon monoxide and hydrogen. 7.6 Internal reforming The fuel fed to the fuel cells is usually natural gas which has to be converted to hydrogen and carbon monoxide via a steam reforming reaction. For example considering a natural gas made with just methane:

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We can have direct reforming where the catalyzer, usually nickel, is spread directly on the anode, and indirect reforming where the reaction takes place separately close to the anode. Since this reaction is endothermic we need to provide thermal heat, this is usually done with the excess heat from the fuel cell itself. The steam needed comes from the combustion of hydrogen. Fuel cells with internal reforming are a technology which is still in a developing phase, while external reformers are a mature technology. 7.7 Fuel cells versus traditional combustion engines and small gas turbines in cogeneration Presently, the open window for fuel cell as a commercial application in cogeneration is for systems under 2 MW, in this case fuel cells can be a great alternative to conventional power generation units. Combustion engines have great characteristics: they are cheap, reliable and efficient even at partial loads, but they are noisy and they make great amounts of pollutants. Small gas turbines with centrifugal compressor are not efficient and noise-free. A great advantage of fuel cells used in residential areas is the ability to produce electric power and heat with virtually zero-emissions of local pollutants such as carbon monoxide, NOx and soot. Fuel cells are stationary machines which require only pumps and fans as moving components, this unique characteristic enables them to work practically noiseless. Having high efficiencies Fuel Cells produce less carbon dioxide per energy unit produced. At the moment costs and lifetime limit the application of fuel cells but it is definitely a promising technology for the future. According to Casalegno (2010), fuel cells around 1-100 MW to be competitive in power generation, have to cut down their costs from 12 M$/MW to 1.5 M$/MW, which is a very hard to achieve. More research has to be done on fuel cells to get these systems on the market at a reasonable price. In contrary gas turbine, intrinsically more complicated from a thermo-fluid-dynamic point of view, took the advantage of extensive research for military aviation (heavily financed by governments in the past).

8. Exergy analysis
Exergy combines the concept of energy and entropy. Exergy expresses the idea of the amount of work theoretically extractable from a fuel in a given environment at a certain temperature, pressure and composition. A system in equilibrium with the environment has an exergy equals to zero. Theoretically it would be possible from a fuel to produce an amount of work nearly equal to its calorific value with a reversible process where entropy is
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not generated. The real amount of work which can be produced has to take into account exergy losses:

A very basic example regarding the use of 1kg of natural gas (chemical exergy approximately 50MJ/kg) to heat a house at 20C with an ambient temperature of 0C can be made (Table 8).Concluding: Burning natural gas in a gas-fired power plant making electricity to heat a house with an electric resistance is a thermodynamic disaster. A smarter way to use electricity to produce heat consists of a heat pump. Burning the same amount of gas in a cogeneration unit close to the customer to produce heat as a by-product and electricity to run a heat pump is the most efficient way to accomplish the same task. Burning the natural gas in a boiler on site to make heat is the cheapest way in terms of overall investment costs but it is very inefficient.

The amount of exergy delivered in the cogenerative case is 3.6 times higher than the case with no cogeneration and no heat pump. This can be easily explained with an exergy analysis, taking into consideration that the heat is produced at a temperature close to the environment one. The greatest inefficiency is the one generated in the resistance, downgrading valuable electricity into low temperature heat. With a reversible process one unit of electricity can be transformed in nearly 15 units of heat, though heat pumps do not reach such great conversions.

Exergy losses are much easier to understand than entropy loss since its something that can affect directly the ability of the system to produce work. Exergy is closely related to the money that will be spent for fuel. It is a useful tool to understand where improvement can be made, measuring the efficiency of each power conversion step.

9. Indices for trigeneration and cogeneration

A trigeneration system can save lots of energy (and money) to produce the same amount of electricity, heat and cold from the same source as compared to a separated generation of
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these forms of energy. To evaluate this saving, it is common to use two specific indices: PES and first law efficiency (according to the European Ministry of Economic Development). PES stands for Primary Energy Saving index, and it quantifies the energy saving obtained by a cogeneration system providing the same amount of electrical and thermal energy of two separated plants:

In which: Efuel = energy coming from the fuel consumed Eel = electrical energy produced Qrec = thermal energy produced el = reference electrical efficiency grid,ref = reference grid efficiency th,ref = reference thermal efficiency If the PES index of a cogeneration (or trigeneration) plant is greater than a certain value ( 10 % in Italy), that plant gets the right of being considered cogenerative, then gets subsidies. A high efficiency utilization allows to produce some surplus energy (which is comparable as a renewable source) that otherwise would be wasted in a normal plant. This index can change for the same plant according to the reference efficiencies decided by the government. In fact, the reference electrical efficiency can be the efficiency of the Best Reference Technology (almost 60 % for Combined Cycles) or a national average among the power generation plants available(usually lower than 40%). Using high reference electrical efficiency lowers the value of PES. The reference grid efficiency is taken into account because a trigeneration system saves the energy related to the transport of electricity, since its really close to the users. The reference thermal efficiency instead is usually fixed over 90 %. The first law efficiency comes from thermodynamic concept. Its computed as follows:
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In which: PME=total useful electric (or mechanical) power QU= total thermal power, net of losses due to heat transmission PF= total power coming from the primary energy source This is mainly for cogeneration systems, but can be applied to trigeneration systems as well. Of course it underestimates the overall efficiency of the trigenerative system, because it doesnt take into account the cooling part of the cycle. In Italy (AEEG, 2002), another index has to be computed before a plant can be considered cogenerative: the Thermal Limit. It considers the proportion between electrical and thermal energy:

In which: = thermal energy sent to the users = electrical energy produced = thermal energy sent to the civil use = thermal energy sent to the industrial use In order to be considered as an effective cogeneration plant, the LT of the system has to be greater than 15 %.

10. Trigeneration and cogeneration now and in the future

Trigeneration is not so spread in the world at the moment because of costs and climate conditions. The investment necessary for such a technology is higher compared to other power plants (G. Lozza, 2006), because all the machines are more complicated than the
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usual sized ones. In cold countries a trigenerative system cant appear as an interesting solution, because the requirement of cold is negligible. But even in these countries application of Trigeneration could take place: in systems requiring comparable amounts of heat, electricity and cold, such as supermarkets. Trigeneration benefits the same subsidies given to cogeneration, because their development is strongly linked together. The support given by the government can be classified into four categories: special taxation, low interest loan, investment subsidy, and subsidy for new technology development. This reduction in taxation and subsidy policies will help trigeneration to become more cost competitive. (Environment and Development Division , 2000) Each country has a different policy to promote the application of cogeneration and trigeneration. For example, E. ON which is one of the world's largest investor-owned power and gas companies in Germany supports cogeneration and trigeneration. According to their own press, under a nationwide support program, E. ON gives buyers of micro-CHP units a subsidy of 1000EUR, if they sign a gas supply contract with E.ON. UK also has subsidy policies for supporting cogeneration which can be applied to Trigeneration market as well. It is estimated that about 1000 micro-CHP systems were in operation in the UK in 2002. Since 2005, the UK government has cut the taxation from 17.5% to 5% for micro-CHP systems (E. ON, 2011). The National Energy Plan by the American Council for an Energy Efficiency Economy (ACEEE) has a specific chapter to promote CHP. This association estimates that an additional 95GW of cogeneration capacity could be added before 2020. It is expected that cogeneration and trigeneration will cover 29% of total power generation capacity according to ACEEE (Monty Goodell, 2006).

In ASIA, many countries have also policies and plans to support cogeneration and Trigeneration in the electrical network. For example, Japan supports 30% of the installation costs, and provides loans with low interest (2.3% per year). In large scale Trigeneration and Cogeneration plant, the government pays 15% of the investment, up to a maximum of US$5million (Environment and Development Division, 2000). Australia, a country in which coal has a large share in electricity production, has energy plans to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases. For example, The Citys Sustainable Sydney
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2030 plan commits the city to produce by 2030 70% of the electricity from trigeneration using natural and waste gas. Many projects have been undertaken to achieve the goal, and even the city of New York is interested in this experiment (Sydney 2030 Plan, 2011). Governments are interested in promoting trigeneration to achieve Renewable penetration in power generation. Europe, particularly Germany and England, are experiencing a huge increase in electricity production from wind energy which requires strong back up power in periods of low wind (Eurostat, 2006). Remotely controlled Distributed Trigeneration applications fuelled with natural gas will help this country to achieve high penetration of renewable sources in the grid. 10.1 Pfizer Singapore API manufacturing facility In the past years Singapore has had problems caused by energy shortage - increases in sea level and sudden changes in climate. Therefore, many companies in Singapore changed their traditional energy plants to cogeneration or trigeneration system. Pfizer is also one of those companies which, due to plant expansion, adopted a trigeneration system in 2008 (Figure 10.1). This facility used a conventional system whose average power consumption was: 6.5 MW Electricity bought from the grid, 5MW heat to produce steam with a gas fired boiler, and 8.8MW of refrigeration power subtracted from chilled water via a normal refrigeration cycle. This systems first law efficiency was 65%, given by: the boilers thermal efficiency 85% and an average efficiency of 45% in a common gas fired generation plant (Pfizer Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, 2008).

Now, this facility adopts a single integrated Trigeneration system (Figure 10.2) which comprises: Gas Fired Turbine (5MW), Waste Heat Recovery Boiler (8MW) and Absorption Chiller (9.1MW). Trigeneration improved energy efficiency compared to the old system, and its energy efficiency is almost 83% now. Figure 10.3 shows the comparison of thermal efficiency between these two systems.

Using trigeneration system brought two more good impacts: reduction of electricity consumption adopting an absorption chiller and lower greenhouse gas emissions. 17 % reduction in CO2 emissions, which corresponds to 5976 ton/year when compared to the old system. The higher efficiency is responsible for saving 587000 $/year in fuel cost, as shown in Table 10.1.

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11. Conclusions
Trigeneration can be considered as one of the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel utilization. The overall efficiency is so high that emissions/kWh is much lower than other fossil fuel plants. Distribute power generation reduce the environmental impact caused by power lines. The application of Trigeneration can easily help renewable energy to get into the market, supplying energy when the sun, wind or other are not available. Furthermore, with the improvement in fuel cell technology trigeneration will be even more appealing.

The economic good point of a Trigeneration system is represented by its operational costs. Its efficiency reduces the fuel required to produce the same amount of heat, electricity and cold as other power generation plants. In this way it offers a sort of surplus of energy from the same source with a resultant cost saving. This also brings to a low impact of a CO2 tax on the economic balance of the plant. Even if natural gas is not the cheapest fuel, Trigeneration system will be economically competitive.

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12. References
1. 2. AEEG, Delibera n. 42, AEEG, Italy, 19.03.2002 Baldini M., Simeoni P, Mattiussi A., Trigenerazione, fare freddo con il calore di scarto, Supplemento dellinformatore agrario, 40/2008 3. B.C. Chung - Century Corporation Korea, Trend and application of absorption chiller http://www.eurocooling.com/index1.htm, read 20.10.2011 4. Campanari S., Macchi E. Future potentials of MTGs: hybrid cycles and trigeneration, in Micro Turbine Generators, ISBN 1-86058-391-1, pp. 43-66, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, England, 2002 5. Campanari S. microcogenerazione e trigenerazione:come trasformare le opportunit in un mercato reale., Energy Department, Politecnico di Milano, 2007 6. Casalegno Andrea, Fuel cell technology, Energy department, Politecnico di Milano, 2010 7. Chwieduk D, Pomierny W, Restuccia G, Freni A, De Boer R, Smeding S.F., Malvicino C., Trigeneration in the tertiary sector, paper presented at the world renewable energy congress VIII, USA, 2004 8. Environment and Development Division (EDD), Guidebook on Cogeneration as a Means of Pollution Control and Energy Efficiency in Asia, pp. 49-63, 2000 9. E.ON, E.ON supports micro cogeneration, http://www.eon.com/en/media/news-detail.jsp?id=10452, 22.07.2011 10. European Environment Agency, EN20 Combined Heat and Power, http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/en20-combined-heat-andpower-chp, 01.04.2007 read 25th September 11. European Ministry of Economic Development, Regulatory framework for high efficiency cogeneration, Department of Energy, 2004 12. 13. Galliani A., Pedrocchi E., Exergy analasys, Polipress, ISBN 8873980252, 2006. Groppi Gianpiero Fuel cells, hand-outs from the course Fundamentals of Chemical Processes, Energy Department, Politecnico di Milano, 2010 14. Malico I., Carvalhinho A.P., Tenreiro J., Design of a trigenereration system using high-temperature fuel cell, International Journal of Energy Research, pp. 144-151, 2009

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15.

Monty Goodell, M.B.A., Trigeneration, 2006 http://cogeneration.net/Trigeneration.htm, , read 17.11.2011

16.

Pfizer Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, Trigeneration facility at Pfizer, http://www.e2singapore.gov.sg/docs/Case_Study_of_Trigeneration_Project_in_Pfize r.pdf, 2008, read 1.11.2011

17.

PolyGeneration in Europe (Front Page Image), Trigeneration, 2011 http://www.polygeneration.org/cms/front_content.php?idcat=77, read 11.11.2011

18.

Rayment C., Sherwin S.,Introduction to Fuel Cell Technology, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, IN 46556, 2003

19.

Sileo Michele, The micro-combined heat and power production: A new way for energy saving, Ambiente e diritto, 2006

20.

Sydney 2030 Plan website, http://www.sydney2030.com.au/, 2011

21.

U.S. Department of Energy, Emissions from Energy Consumption at Conventional Power Plants and Combined-Heat-and-Power Plants, http://www.eia.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epat3p9.html, read 25.09.2011

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13. Tables
Flue gas NOx CO Noise Power flow rate ppm ppm dB (A) (kW) (kg/s) (15% O2) (15% O2) (10 m) 30 60 100 70 250 100 0.31 0.49 0.81 0.73 2.0 0.79 <9 <9 <15 <9 <9 14 n.d. n.d. <15 <9 <9 <24 58 65 70 (1m) 58 n.d. <65

Builder and model Capstone C30 Capstone C60 Turbec T100 IngersollRand MT70 IngersollRand MT250 Elliott TA 100

Table 4.3 Emissions from Gas Turbines (M. Sileo, 2006) Electrical Power (kW) 30 60 100 70 250 80 100 Thermal Power (kW) 55 115 167 112 383 135 165 e % 24 28 30 29 30 28 29 t % 50 54 48 46 46 47 46 g % 74 82 78 75 76 75 75

Manufacturer Capstone C30 Capstone C60 Turbec T100 IngersollRand MT70 IngersollRand MT250 Elliott TA80 Elliott TA 100

Table 4.4 Gas Turbines Efficiencies (M. Sileo, 2006) no-cog hp cycle line COP hp Ex(kJ/kg)

no-cog cycle line res Ex(kJ/kg)

0,55 0,9 1 1689,42

0,55 0,9 3,5 5912,969283

Cog el th COP hp Ex(kJ/kg)

0,4 0,45 3,5 6313,993

boiler boiler Ex(kJ/kg)

0,9 3071,672355

Table 8 Exergy Use of 1kg of Natural Gas (Lozza G., 2006)

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Conventional System Package Boiler Steam Pressure Steam Output NG Used(boiler@85% efficiency) 8 8 15120 Bar T/h mmBtu/mt h CO2 Emission CO2 Emission per month(Boiler) Power from power station Power from Power Station CO2 Emission (Average Power Station) CO2 Emission per month (Power Station) Total CO2 Emission per month (Conventional) Trigeneration System Power generated Steam generated from Trigen TriGen Output (Electricity + Steam) CO2 Emission 4.6 11 12.4 0.22 9 CO2 Emission per month(TriGeneration) Power from Power Station Power from Power Station (less 0.7MW from Absorption Chiller) CO2 Emission (Average Power Station) CO2 Emission per month (Power Station) Total CO2 Emission per month (Trigeneration) 0.45 389 kg/kWh T/mth 1.2 MW 2045 T/mth MW T/h MW Kg/kWh 6.5 0.45 2106 2932 MW kg/kWh T/mth T/mth 0.19 826 kg/kWh T/mth

2434 T/mth

Table 10.1 Pfizer CO2 emissions (Pfizer Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, 2008)

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14. Figures

Energy demand

Load (kW) Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Month Heat Load Electricity Coldness

Figure 3 Typical annual energy demand for a warm country (S. Campanari, 2007)

Figure 4.1a: Pressure - Volume chart Joule Brayton cycle (M. Sileo, 2006)

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Figure 4.1b Temperature Entropy chart Joule Brayton cycle(M. Sileo, 2006)

Figure 6 Absorption Chiller Cycle (B.C. Chung)

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Figure 7.1 Fuel Cell Losses (Casalegno, 2010)

Figure 10.1 Pfizer Facility (Pfizer Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, 2008)

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Figure 10.2 Pfizer Trigeneration System (Pfizer Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, 2008)

Figure 10.3 Efficiency comparison between conventional and trigeneration system in Pfizer (Pfizer Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, 2008)

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