Exergoenvironmental analysis of a waste-based Integrated Combined Cycle (WICC) for heat and power production

This paper investigates the exergoenvironmental aspects of a Municipal Solid Wastes (MSW)-fueled Gasification Integrated Combined Cycle (WICC). Accordingly, the environmental impacts associated to exergy destruction, total environmental impact, exergoenvironmental factor and the electricity environm...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of cleaner production 2017-10, Vol.164, p.187-197
Main Authors: Casas-Ledón, Yannay, Spaudo, Freddy, Arteaga-Pérez, Luis E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Exergoenvironmental analysis
Exergy efficiency
Gasification
Life cycle assessment
Municipal solid wastes
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Summary:This paper investigates the exergoenvironmental aspects of a Municipal Solid Wastes (MSW)-fueled Gasification Integrated Combined Cycle (WICC). Accordingly, the environmental impacts associated to exergy destruction, total environmental impact, exergoenvironmental factor and the electricity environmental impacts (EEI) are studied. A sensitivity analysis is carried out in order to have a good insight into WICC plant performance, focusing on MSW environmental impacts (0.1–0.9 millipoints (mPts)/kg MSW) and considering only CO2 emissions as pollutant formation. The results show that the largest environmental impacts are associated to gasification and are mainly caused by chemical exergy destruction (44%) and pollutants formation (61%). The highest total environmental impact (Btot) corresponds to the highest MSW impact, due to the impacts produced by the changes in the specific exergy of the streams. Discarding CH4 and CO from pollutants formation, reduced the Btot and EEI by nearly 55%. Furthermore, the calculated EEI values (13.5 mPts/kWh) are lower than that reported for conventional energy systems (i.e. Natural gas: 22–26 mPts/kWh). Therefore, this technology could be a promising alternative for energetic valorization of MSW in the Chilean conditions. •A detailed exergoenvironmental model of a waste-based combined cycle is presented.•Lower exergoenvironmental impacts are obtained at lower MSW impact.•Exergoenvironmental cost of electricity is lower than conventional energy systems.•Electricity environmental impact decreased by 50% when CO2 is the unique pollutant.
ISSN:0959-6526
1879-1786
DOI:10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.06.211