Reduction in Fuel Consumption in Biomass-Fired Power Plant Using Hybrid Drying System

Fuels used in biomass power plants usually have high moisture contents. Two methods of fuel drying that have been proposed are steam drying and flue gas drying. Steam drying requires extracted steam as its energy source, whereas flue gas drying requires flue gas leaving the boiler as its energy sour...

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Main Author: Somchart Chantasiriwan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-08-01
Series:Energies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/17/6225
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author Somchart Chantasiriwan
author_facet Somchart Chantasiriwan
author_sort Somchart Chantasiriwan
collection DOAJ
description Fuels used in biomass power plants usually have high moisture contents. Two methods of fuel drying that have been proposed are steam drying and flue gas drying. Steam drying requires extracted steam as its energy source, whereas flue gas drying requires flue gas leaving the boiler as its energy source. Previous works have mostly been concerned with the integration of either dryer in a power plant. There have been a few investigations on the integration of both dryers. This paper proposes a novel hybrid drying system that uses a steam dryer to dry a portion of the fuel. Exhaust vapor from the steam dryer is then used for the heating of combustion air, which increases the flue gas temperature. The higher flue gas temperature increases the potential of the flue gas dryer, which is used to dry another portion of the fuel. It is shown that the hybrid drying system is capable of reducing fuel consumption to 7.76% in a 50 MW power plant. Furthermore, the integration of hybrid drying is shown to be economically justified because the simple payback period is 4.28 years.
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spelling doaj.art-c80007c387174b609ed82d32c8367ef92023-11-19T08:04:58ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732023-08-011617622510.3390/en16176225Reduction in Fuel Consumption in Biomass-Fired Power Plant Using Hybrid Drying SystemSomchart Chantasiriwan0Faculty of Engineering, Thammasat School of Engineering, Thammasat University, Pathum Thani 12120, ThailandFuels used in biomass power plants usually have high moisture contents. Two methods of fuel drying that have been proposed are steam drying and flue gas drying. Steam drying requires extracted steam as its energy source, whereas flue gas drying requires flue gas leaving the boiler as its energy source. Previous works have mostly been concerned with the integration of either dryer in a power plant. There have been a few investigations on the integration of both dryers. This paper proposes a novel hybrid drying system that uses a steam dryer to dry a portion of the fuel. Exhaust vapor from the steam dryer is then used for the heating of combustion air, which increases the flue gas temperature. The higher flue gas temperature increases the potential of the flue gas dryer, which is used to dry another portion of the fuel. It is shown that the hybrid drying system is capable of reducing fuel consumption to 7.76% in a 50 MW power plant. Furthermore, the integration of hybrid drying is shown to be economically justified because the simple payback period is 4.28 years.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/17/6225thermodynamicswaste heatregenerationflue gas dryersteam dryer
spellingShingle Somchart Chantasiriwan
Reduction in Fuel Consumption in Biomass-Fired Power Plant Using Hybrid Drying System
Energies
thermodynamics
waste heat
regeneration
flue gas dryer
steam dryer
title Reduction in Fuel Consumption in Biomass-Fired Power Plant Using Hybrid Drying System
title_full Reduction in Fuel Consumption in Biomass-Fired Power Plant Using Hybrid Drying System
title_fullStr Reduction in Fuel Consumption in Biomass-Fired Power Plant Using Hybrid Drying System
title_full_unstemmed Reduction in Fuel Consumption in Biomass-Fired Power Plant Using Hybrid Drying System
title_short Reduction in Fuel Consumption in Biomass-Fired Power Plant Using Hybrid Drying System
title_sort reduction in fuel consumption in biomass fired power plant using hybrid drying system
topic thermodynamics
waste heat
regeneration
flue gas dryer
steam dryer
url https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/17/6225
work_keys_str_mv AT somchartchantasiriwan reductioninfuelconsumptioninbiomassfiredpowerplantusinghybriddryingsystem