Biogas beyond CHP: The HPC (heat, power & chemicals) process

Andre Furtado Amaral, Daniele Previtali, Andrea Bassani, Cristina Italiano, Alessandra Palella, Lidia Pino, Antonio Vita, Giulia Bozzano, Carlo Pirola and Flavio Manenti

Energy, 2020, vol. 203, issue C

Abstract: The techno-economic feasibility of three biogas utilization processes was assessed through computer simulations on commercial process simulator Aspen HYSYS: HPC (biogas to methanol), BioCH4 (biogas to biomethane) and CHP (biogas to heat & electricity). The last two processes are already used commercially with the aid of subsidy policies. The economic analysis indicates that, without these policies, none of these attain economic self-sustainability due to high overall manufacturing costs. The estimated minimum support cost (MSCs) were 108, 62 and 109 €/MWh for the HPC, BioCH4 and CHP processes, respectively. The model could explain currently practised government subsidies in Italy and Germany. It was seen that the newly proposed HPC process is economically comparable to the traditional CHP process. Therefore, the HPC process is a possible alternative to biogas usage. A support policy was proposed: 50, 66, 158 and 148 €/MWh for available heat, methane, electricity and methanol (respectively); the proposed energy policy results in a 10% OpEx rate of return for any of the processes, thus avoiding a disparity in the production of different products.

Keywords: Biogas; Reforming; Methanol; Biomethane; CHP (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:203:y:2020:i:c:s0360544220309270

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2020.117820

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