Combined Production and Conversion of Energy in an Urban Integrated System

Within the framework of the European Combined Efficient Large Scale Integrated Urban Systems (CELSIUS) project, the Genoa demonstrator involves the insertion of a turbo expander (TE) to substitute the standard throttling process in a natural gas expansion station. In this way, the currently wasted m...

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Main Authors: Davide Borelli, Francesco Devia, Ermanno Lo Cascio, Corrado Schenone, Alessandro Spoladore
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2016-10-01
Series:Energies
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/9/10/817
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author Davide Borelli
Francesco Devia
Ermanno Lo Cascio
Corrado Schenone
Alessandro Spoladore
author_facet Davide Borelli
Francesco Devia
Ermanno Lo Cascio
Corrado Schenone
Alessandro Spoladore
author_sort Davide Borelli
collection DOAJ
description Within the framework of the European Combined Efficient Large Scale Integrated Urban Systems (CELSIUS) project, the Genoa demonstrator involves the insertion of a turbo expander (TE) to substitute the standard throttling process in a natural gas expansion station. In this way, the currently wasted mechanical energy will be recovered, while an internal combustion combined heat and power (CHP) unit will be used to meet the heating requirements of the gas before the expansion and to serve a small district heating network (DHN). Both TE and CHP are capable of delivering electric power (EP) up to 1 MW. In order to match the EP production vs demand is highly desirable to use the EP extra capacity for local EP final users, such as a nearby public school and a gas refueling station (RS). For limiting the school’s consumption of fossil fuel, it is possible to use the EP surplus generated by the demonstrator to feed a heat pump in parallel to the heating conventional system. With regard to the RS, the compressors are currently driven by electric motors, with a high-energy consumption. The integrated system gives the possibility of exploiting the surplus of electricity production and of recovering heat, which would be otherwise wasted, from the intercooling of compressed gas, thus powering the DHN through a preheating system. The result expected from this strategy is a relevant energy and emissions saving due to an integrated use of the electricity generated by the Genoese demonstrator for feeding the nearby school and RS.
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spelling doaj.art-1645bbea12854aa38b123cde5a43535c2022-12-22T04:25:11ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732016-10-0191081710.3390/en9100817en9100817Combined Production and Conversion of Energy in an Urban Integrated SystemDavide Borelli0Francesco Devia1Ermanno Lo Cascio2Corrado Schenone3Alessandro Spoladore4DIME—Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica, Energetica, Gestionale e dei Trasporti, Università degli Studi di Genova, Via All’Opera Pia 15/A, 16145 Genova, ItalyDIME—Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica, Energetica, Gestionale e dei Trasporti, Università degli Studi di Genova, Via All’Opera Pia 15/A, 16145 Genova, ItalyDIME—Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica, Energetica, Gestionale e dei Trasporti, Università degli Studi di Genova, Via All’Opera Pia 15/A, 16145 Genova, ItalyDIME—Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica, Energetica, Gestionale e dei Trasporti, Università degli Studi di Genova, Via All’Opera Pia 15/A, 16145 Genova, ItalyDIME—Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica, Energetica, Gestionale e dei Trasporti, Università degli Studi di Genova, Via All’Opera Pia 15/A, 16145 Genova, ItalyWithin the framework of the European Combined Efficient Large Scale Integrated Urban Systems (CELSIUS) project, the Genoa demonstrator involves the insertion of a turbo expander (TE) to substitute the standard throttling process in a natural gas expansion station. In this way, the currently wasted mechanical energy will be recovered, while an internal combustion combined heat and power (CHP) unit will be used to meet the heating requirements of the gas before the expansion and to serve a small district heating network (DHN). Both TE and CHP are capable of delivering electric power (EP) up to 1 MW. In order to match the EP production vs demand is highly desirable to use the EP extra capacity for local EP final users, such as a nearby public school and a gas refueling station (RS). For limiting the school’s consumption of fossil fuel, it is possible to use the EP surplus generated by the demonstrator to feed a heat pump in parallel to the heating conventional system. With regard to the RS, the compressors are currently driven by electric motors, with a high-energy consumption. The integrated system gives the possibility of exploiting the surplus of electricity production and of recovering heat, which would be otherwise wasted, from the intercooling of compressed gas, thus powering the DHN through a preheating system. The result expected from this strategy is a relevant energy and emissions saving due to an integrated use of the electricity generated by the Genoese demonstrator for feeding the nearby school and RS.http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/9/10/817integrated energy gridswaste energy recoverydistrict heating network (DHN)turbo expander (TE)natural gasfueling stationpublic schoolmultigridscombined heat and power (CHP)
spellingShingle Davide Borelli
Francesco Devia
Ermanno Lo Cascio
Corrado Schenone
Alessandro Spoladore
Combined Production and Conversion of Energy in an Urban Integrated System
Energies
integrated energy grids
waste energy recovery
district heating network (DHN)
turbo expander (TE)
natural gas
fueling station
public school
multigrids
combined heat and power (CHP)
title Combined Production and Conversion of Energy in an Urban Integrated System
title_full Combined Production and Conversion of Energy in an Urban Integrated System
title_fullStr Combined Production and Conversion of Energy in an Urban Integrated System
title_full_unstemmed Combined Production and Conversion of Energy in an Urban Integrated System
title_short Combined Production and Conversion of Energy in an Urban Integrated System
title_sort combined production and conversion of energy in an urban integrated system
topic integrated energy grids
waste energy recovery
district heating network (DHN)
turbo expander (TE)
natural gas
fueling station
public school
multigrids
combined heat and power (CHP)
url http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/9/10/817
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AT ermannolocascio combinedproductionandconversionofenergyinanurbanintegratedsystem
AT corradoschenone combinedproductionandconversionofenergyinanurbanintegratedsystem
AT alessandrospoladore combinedproductionandconversionofenergyinanurbanintegratedsystem