Decarbonization of Low Power Applications through Methanation Facilities Integration

Technological developments in the field of renewable energy sources (RES) enable their progressively higher penetration into power systems. However, RES intermittency strongly impacts electric networks' behavior. To overcome this issue, additional flexibility sources need to be complimentary included to permanently ensure the energy balance. A fully controllable power source (such as a diesel group) is a very good option to this end. To reduce the CO2 emissions level in the exhaust gas (for a diesel group performing the uninterruptible power supply function), a decarbonization unit integration in a RES-based microgrid is addressed in this paper. More in detail, fuel flows and emissions levels are determined for a diesel group having a rated power equal to 29% of the installed capacity of a particular hybrid RES-based system configuration. Two types of fuel (diesel fuel and CH4) are taken into account and emissions concentrations are compared. Further, three catalyst alternatives are considered and the possibility to supply the diesel group with the CH4 generated by the methanation unit is evaluated. It is highlighted that coupling a decarbonization facility to the diesel generator (acting as a reserve power supply), allows reducing CO2 emissions while enhancing supply continuity. Moreover, if the diesel group employs CH4, fuel supply requirements could be satisfied up to 99% based on the methanator production.

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