Polygeneration using agricultural waste: Thermodynamic and economic feasibility study

Kuntal Jana and Sudipta De

Renewable Energy, 2015, vol. 74, issue C, 648-660

Abstract: Agricultural wastes vary widely in composition. Presently, these are either of no use or remain under-utilized in absence of available technology. Many of these have useful calorific values and can be used more efficiently with the development of suitable technology. Availability of these also varies widely in places and over the year. Polygeneration is the delivery of multiple utility outputs efficiently from a single unit through proper system integration. Combining suitable utility outputs with local agricultural wastes as inputs to polygeneration can be efficient future sustainable solution for rural people. Preliminary feasibility and performance estimation using thermodynamic model in Aspen Plus® for such polygeneration with electricity, refrigeration, utility heat and ethanol as outputs is reported in this paper. Also economic feasibility of the polygeneration plant is reported in this paper. Rice straw, sugarcane bagasse and coconut fiber dust are three typical different agricultural wastes and are considered as inputs. Results show that such polygeneration is highly promising as decentralized efficient option, specifically for rural people.

Keywords: Polygeneration; Agricultural waste; Power; Utility heat; Refrigeration; Ethanol (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:74:y:2015:i:c:p:648-660

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2014.08.078

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