Techno-economic assessment of a small-scale biomass ORC-CHP for district heating

•Detailed techno-economic assessment of 1000 kWth biomass ORC for district heating.•Maximum nominal electric efficiency ranges between 4.30% and 5.89%.•Specific investment cost ranges between 19,914 €/kWe and 26,835 €/kWe.•Investigated concept potentially feasible for peak heat demand above 10,000 k...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energy conversion and management 2021-11, Vol.247, p.114705, Article 114705
Main Authors: Braimakis, Konstantinos, Charalampidis, Antonios, Karellas, Sotirios
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biomass
CHP
Cogeneration
Cost analysis
District heating
Economics
Electric power generation
Electrical loads
Electricity
Energy efficiency
Expanders
Heat recovery
Heating load
ORC
Payback periods
Peak load
Rankine cycle
Refrigerants
Small-scale
Technoeconomic
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Summary:•Detailed techno-economic assessment of 1000 kWth biomass ORC for district heating.•Maximum nominal electric efficiency ranges between 4.30% and 5.89%.•Specific investment cost ranges between 19,914 €/kWe and 26,835 €/kWe.•Investigated concept potentially feasible for peak heat demand above 10,000 kWth.•Significant influence of biomass and heating selling price on economics. The present work focuses on the techno-economic assessment of a small-scale (1000 kWth) biomass-fired Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) plant for combined heat and power (CHP) generation coupled to a district heating network. The ORC is designed to maximize its nominal installed power for several natural refrigerants and R1233zd. A part-load model is developed to determine the plant’s annual electrical energy and heating output when covering the heating loads of energy-efficient buildings of communities of various sizes in three cities representing the main climate zones of Europe, namely Athens, Berlin and Helsinki, with a peak load of up to about 10,200 kWth. A series of parametric analyses are carried out to investigate the plant cost-effectiveness under different assumptions. The plant’s economic performance is very low, as only under the combined existence of multiple favorable factors (high electricity and heat prices, low biomass cost) and long operating hours it is possible to achieve discount payback periods of at least 5–7 years. Three factors that result in the unsatisfactory economic performance of the plant are its high specific cost, reduced operating hours and reduced electricity production, which is caused by the maximum temperature limitation of screw expanders at the investigated scale.
ISSN:0196-8904
1879-2227
DOI:10.1016/j.enconman.2021.114705