Cogeneration is the ability to generate electricity and heat side by side. This process creates a more energy efficient system since frequently heat is a byproduct of electricity generation. Net energy savings through the use of cogeneration facilities can be as high as 40%.
Within the United States, cogeneration is frequently used in conjunction with coal, natural gas, nuclear, and oil power plants. Smaller scale cogeneration facilities are being conceived to maximize energy efficiency of small-scale producers as well residential and commercial building owners.
There are multiple methods of achieving cogeneration used today. Essentially, they all rely on harnessing the excess heat that passes through the flue exhaust of a power plant and using this heat for an ulterior purpose. The heat can be harnessed through solid heat exchangers such as metal plates or through circulating fluids. From there, the heat is either used in heating application such as centralized steam, or is used to channel a secondary steam generator.
Cogeneration practices have been applied to waste-to-energy facilities around the globe. This is because waste-to-energy plants often have very high thermal operating temperatures to efficiently burn the municipal solid waste fuel. As a consequence, there is significant excess heat that can be channeled in cogeneration facilities.
Pushing the frontier of cogeneration is technology known as trigeneration. This technology uses the cooling capacity associated with some electrical generation to cool subjects (as well as the heat and electricity discussed earlier). Since industrial cooling is an important and energy intensive process in the food industry, trigeneration could cut down on large energy costs required for commercial chilling.
Examples of cogeneration facilities include:
University of North Carolina (NC)
http://www.energy.unc.edu/cogeneration-systems-documents/cogeneration-systems
ConEdison (NY)
http://www.coned.com/steam/whysteam.asp
Cummins Power Generation:
http://cumminspower.com/en/solutions/cogeneration/
More information:
No comments:
Post a Comment