Emission characterization and evaluation of natural gas-fueled cogeneration microturbines and internal combustion engines

Abstract The increasing diffusion of small-scale energy systems within the distributed generation (DG) paradigm is raising the need for studying the environmental impact due to the different DG solutions in order to assess their sustainability. Addressing the environmental impact calls for building specific models for studying both local and global emissions. In this framework, the adoption of natural gas-fueled DG cogeneration technologies may provide, as a consequence of cogeneration enhanced overall energy efficiency and of natural gas relatively low carbon content, a significant reduction of global impact in terms of CO 2 emissions with respect to the separate production of electricity and heat. However, a comprehensive evaluation of the DG alternatives should take into account as well the impact due to the presence of plants spread over the territory that could increase the local pollution, in particular due to CO and NO x , and thus could worsen the local air quality. This paper provides an overview on the characterization of the emissions from small-scale natural gas-fueled cogeneration systems, with specific reference to the DG technologies nowadays most available in the market, namely, microturbines and internal combustion engines. The corresponding local and global environmental impacts are evaluated by using the emission balance approach. A numerical case study with two representative machines highlights their different emission characteristics, also considering the partial-load emission performance.

[1]  Francis Meunier,et al.  Environmental assessment of biogas co- or tri-generation units by life cycle analysis methodology , 2005 .

[2]  Ibrahim Dincer,et al.  Air pollution reduction via use of green energy sources for electricity and hydrogen production , 2007 .

[3]  I. Dincer.  Environmental impacts of energy , 1999 .

[4]  Walter Klöpffer,et al.  Life cycle assessment , 1997, Environmental science and pollution research international.

[5]  Adwin Martens,et al.  The energetic feasibility of CHP compared to the separate production of heat and power , 1998 .

[6]  Jan F. Kreider,et al.  Handbook of Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning , 2000 .

[7]  Antonio Piacentino,et al.  Cogeneration: a regulatory framework toward growth , 2005 .

[8]  János M. Beér,et al.  Combustion technology developments in power generation in response to environmental challenges , 2000 .

[9]  S. Arya.  Air Pollution Meteorology and Dispersion , 1998 .

[10]  Ian Boustead,et al.  LCA — how it came about , 1996 .

[11]  Yvonne Andersson-Sköld,et al.  Photochemical Ozone Creation Potentials: A study of Different Concepts , 1992 .

[12]  Juliann Emmons Allison,et al.  Encouraging distributed generation of power that improves air quality: can we have our cake and eat it too? , 2002 .

[13]  Ronnie Belmans,et al.  Distributed generation: definition, benefits and issues , 2005 .

[14]  Pierluigi Mancarella.  From cogeneration to trigeneration: energy planning and evaluation in a competitive market framework , 2006 .

[15]  V. I. Ugursal,et al.  Residential cogeneration systems: Review of the current technology , 2006 .

[16]  J. A. Sonibare,et al.  A theoretical prediction of non-methane gaseous emissions from natural gas combustion , 2004 .

[17]  Silvia Bargigli,et al.  Life cycle assessment and energy pay-back time of advanced photovoltaic modules : CdTe and CIS compared to poly-Si , 2007 .

[18]  Ryuji Matsuhashi,et al.  Model analyses for sustainable energy supply taking resource and environmental constraints into consideration , 1996 .

[19]  D W Pennington,et al.  Life cycle assessment: Part 1: Framework, goal and scope definition, inventory analysis, and applications , 2004 .

[20]  W. Graus,et al.  Effects of SO2 and NOx control on energy-efficiency power generation , 2007 .

[21]  Hiroki Hondo,et al.  Life cycle GHG emission analysis of power generation systems: Japanese case , 2005 .

[22]  Neil Strachan,et al.  Emissions from distributed vs. centralized generation: the importance of system performance , 2006 .

[23]  Angelo Riva,et al.  Natural gas and the environmental results of life cycle assessment , 2006 .

[24]  Robert Burch.  Low NOx options in catalytic combustion and emission control , 1997 .

[25]  Francis Meunier,et al.  Co- and tri-generation contribution to climate change control , 2002 .

[26]  Christopher J. Koroneos,et al.  LCA of Multicrystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Systems - Part 1: Present Situation and Future Perspectives (8 pp) , 2006 .

[27]  Walter G. Scott,et al.  Distributed Power Generation Planning and Evaluation , 2000 .

[28]  Malvina Baica,et al.  Regarding the relation between the NOx content and CO content in thermo power plants flue gases , 2005 .

[29]  Francesco Gullí,et al.  Social choice, uncertainty about external costs and trade-off between intergenerational environmental impacts: The emblematic case of gas-based energy supply decentralization , 2006 .

[30]  Umberto Desideri,et al.  LCA of a molten carbonate fuel cell system , 2004 .

[31]  M. Pehnt.  Life-cycle assessment of fuel cell stacks , 2001 .

[32]  S. Sillman.  The relation between ozone, NOx and hydrocarbons in urban and polluted rural environments , 1999 .

[33]  Forman A. Williams,et al.  A small detailed chemical-kinetic mechanism for hydrocarbon combustion , 2006 .

[34]  Christopher J. Koroneos,et al.  Life cycle assessment of hydrogen fuel production processes , 2004 .

[35]  Silvia Bargigli,et al.  A multi-criteria life cycle assessment of molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFC)—a comparison to natural gas turbines , 2005 .

[36]  Pierluigi Mancarella,et al.  Environmental impact of small-scale distributed cogeneration systems , 2006 .

[37]  J. A. Barnard,et al.  Flame and Combustion , 1984 .

[38]  Mircea Cârdu,et al.  Regarding the greenhouse gas emissions of thermopower plants , 2002 .