Results in Engineering (Sep 2024)
Environmental, economic and energy evaluation of alternative fuels for a steam power plant: Focus on biodiesel-nanoparticles utilization
Abstract
Power plants are among the largest producers of GHGs. The fuel used in power plants is the main factor in the production of the emissions. Therefore, choosing a fuel that is environmentally optimal while being energy-efficient and economical is a key way to reduce GHG emissions. The addition of nanoparticles to biodiesel fuel not only improves the combustion efficiency of the fuel but also reduces the undesirable products. In this research, three supplementary fuels - fuel oil, diesel, and biodiesel-nanoparticles - are compared in terms of environmental, economic, and energy efficiency in a steam power plant. The changes in the power plant's self-consumption were measured by calculating the power consumption of the pump that delivers the fuel to the boiler. The results showed that diesel reduced the plant's efficiency by 0.00022 compared to using natural gas, which was the least of the other alternatives. The environmental analysis revealed that diesel produced the least amount of CO2 eq, but biodiesel-nanoparticle had a better CO2 footprint due to the higher absorption of CO2 in the cultivation phase of the raw material for biodiesel. The economic analysis for the fuels was carried out over ten years and based on the lifetime of the equipment purchased. Consequently, the total cost over the ten years for diesel was $967332.5161, which was $124475.8381 less than that for biodiesel-nanoparticle and $240935.3341 less than that for fuel oil. Finally, an overall comparison was made between the fuels using the AHP method. As the environmental criterion was the most important decision criterion, biodiesel-nanoparticle fuel was chosen with a marginal difference compared to diesel.
