State of the art of thermal storage for demand-side management

Sewage sludge, the inevitable by-product of municipal wastewater treatment plant operation, is a key issue in many countries due to its increasing volume and the impacts associated with its disposal. Thermochemical processing offers a new way of managing sewage sludge, not only by providing effective volume reduction, but also enabling transformation of carbon-rich organic fraction into valuable energy and fuel. Owing to some unique properties, sewage sludge differs from other solid fuels such as lignocellulosic biomass and coal, making its thermochemical conversion application somewhat complicated and challenging. This paper reviews the options of converting sewage sludge to energy and fuel via three main thermochemical conversion processes namely pyrolysis, gasification and combustion. The fundamental aspects of sewage sludge and its behaviour in each of thermochemical process are summarised. The challenges in adopting thermochemical conversion technology in sewage sludge management are addressed, and various alternative approaches deserving further consideration, such as the incorporation of pre-processing and co-utilisation, are discussed.

Thermochemical processing of sewage sludge to energy and fuel: Fundamentals, challenges and considerations

https://isiarticles.com/bundles/Article/pre/pdf/7950.pdf

Feasibility of CHP-plants with thermal stores in the German spot market

Exergoeconomic analysis and optimization of basic, dual-pressure and dual-fluid ORCs and Kalina geothermal power plants: A comparative study

There is rising concern on the increasing trend of global warming due to anthropogenic CO₂ emission which steers progress of carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects worldwide. However, due to high cost and uncertainties in long term geological storage, there is a growing inclination to include utilization, which re-use the CO2, hence carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS). Additionally, it is expected to generate income to offset the initial costs. This study methodically review patents on CO₂ utilization technologies for CCUS application published between year 1980–2017. It was conducted using the Derwent Innovation patent database and more than 3000 number of patents was identified. The patents identified are in the field of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and enhanced coal-bed methane (ECBM), chemical and fuel, mineral carbonation, biological algae cultivation and enhanced geothermal system (EGS). Over 60% of these patents were published since the last 10 years, and a sharp increase in patents were seen in the last 5 years (∼38%). The top major patent types are patents granted in the United States (US), China (CN) and Canada (CA) which makes of 3/5 of the overall patent type found. Recent patents published include enhancements to the state-of-the-art technologies and hybrid concepts such as in photo-bioreactor in algae cultivation, chemical reaction and EGS. From this study, it was found that further research for the best CO₂ utilization method which fulfil the need of an economic, safe, non-location dependent and environmentally friendly whilst efficiently mitigate the worldwide global warming issue is much needed.

Wojciech Kostowski

Papers

Thermo-ecological assessment of CCHP (combined cold-heat-and-power) plant supported with renewable energy

Thermoeconomic assessment of a natural gas expansion system integrated with a co-generation unit

Comparative evaluation of a natural gas expansion plant integrated with an IC engine and an organic Rankine cycle

Thermoecological cost of electricity production in the natural gas pressure reduction process

Applying waste heat recovery system in a sewage sludge dryer – A technical and economic optimization