Energy Conversion and Management, Vol.38, No.15-17, 1665-1670, 1997
Integration of biomass gasification and evaporative gas turbine cycles
The use of biomass for power and heat production is a growing business with vast possibilities. To make it profitable, it is necessary to design and build power plants with a low capital cost, a high degree of efficiency, even in the case of small ones, and little impact on the environment. Integration of the evaporative gas turbine cycle (EvGT) with gasification of biomass is an interesting technology that may be able to meet these demands in the future. In this paper the feasibility of integrating drying and gasification of biomass with the EvGT has been examined. Different power plant systems for cogeneration have been designed and evaluated. The systems are a combination of either atmospheric or pressurised gasification of biomass, integrated with either a steam dryer or one driven by flue gases and an EvGT. This study shows that it is thermodynamically feasible to integrate the gasification of biomass with an EvGT cycle. The systems show an electric efficiency of between 38 and 45% (LHV) and 50% moisture in fuel (initially). The total efficiency for the modelled systems ranges from 84 to 92% when the powerplants are used for cogeneration.