Energy and Economic Investigation of a Biodiesel-Fired Engine for Micro-Scale Cogeneration

Diego Perrone, Angelo Algieri, Pietropaolo Morrone and Teresa Castiglione
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Diego Perrone: Department of Mechanical, Energy and Management Engineering, University of Calabria, Via P. Bucci, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende CS, Italy
Angelo Algieri: Department of Mechanical, Energy and Management Engineering, University of Calabria, Via P. Bucci, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende CS, Italy
Pietropaolo Morrone: Department of Mechanical, Energy and Management Engineering, University of Calabria, Via P. Bucci, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende CS, Italy
Teresa Castiglione: Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 2, 1-28

Abstract: The work aims at investigating the techno-economic performance of a biodiesel micro combined heat and power (CHP) system for residential applications. The CHP unit is based on a direct-injection compression ignition engine providing 6.7 kW el and 11.3 kW th . A 0D model is developed and validated to characterise the behaviour of the biodiesel-fired engine at full and partial load in terms of efficiency, fuel consumption, and emissions. Furthermore, non-dimensional polynomial correlations are proposed to foresee the performance of biodiesel-fuelled engines for micro-CHP applications at partial loads. Afterwards, the CHP system is adopted to satisfy the electric and thermal demand of domestic users in Southern Italy. To this purpose, a parametric analysis is performed considering a different number of apartments and operating strategies (electric-driven and thermal-driven). A bi-variable optimisation based on the primary energy saving ( PES ) index and payback period ( PBT ) permits selecting the thermal-driven strategy and five apartments as the most suitable solution. The optimal PBT and PES are equal to 5.3 years and 22.4%, respectively. The corresponding annual thermal self-consumption reaches 81.3% of the domestic request, and the thermal surplus is lower than 8%. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is adopted to define the influence of the costs of energy vectors and a cogeneration unit on the economic feasibility of the biodiesel CHP system. The analysis highlights that the investigated apparatus represents an attractive option to satisfy the energy requests in micro-scale applications, providing valuable energy and economic advantages compared to traditional energy production.

Keywords: biodiesel; CHP; economic assessment; emissions; energy performance; internal combustion engine; multi-objective optimisation; numerical model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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