Techno-economic-environmental investigation of various biomass types and innovative biomass-firing technologies for cost-effective cooling in India

• Published in: Energy (Oxford) Vol. 219; p. 119561
• Main Authors: Sadi, Meisam, Chakravarty, Krishna Hara, Behzadi, Amirmohammad, Arabkoohsar, Ahmad
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 15.03.2021; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Biomass; Biomass-firing heaters; Building design; Cooling; Cooling systems; Cost-effective cooling; Economics; Environmental aspects; Environmental performance; Green production; Heat-driven chillers; Prosopis; Various biomass sources; Wood chips; India; Green production; Biomass-firing heaters; Various biomass sources; Cost-effective cooling; Heat-driven chillers
• ISSN: 0360-5442; 1873-6785
• DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2020.119561

In the present study, a novel design of large-scale biomass-based heat-driven building cooling system is proposed and investigated for different regions of India. The study is enriched by a thorough benchmarking analysis of various scenarios (24 scenarios in total) for assessing the influence of different types of biomass, various configurations of the cooling system, and different biomass heater layouts on thermodynamic, economic, and environmental aspects of the proposed solution. For this, developing a MATLAB code, hourly, monthly, and annual comparisons are made to ascertain the best scenario from different aspects. The economic investigations reveal the superiority of the scenario comprising a specific design of biomass-heater using Prosopis and double-effect chiller with the lowest levelized cost of cooling (LCOC) of 0.031 $/kWh. The integration of a double-effect chiller with this heater using wood chips leads to the lowest emission index of 0.19 kg/kWh. The results further demonstrate that the LCOC is highly sensitive to the fluctuation of the cost of the biomass type, which is a function of availability in different regions of India. Therefore, the study is a secure reference indicating which scenario would result in the best techno-economic-environmental performance among all possibilities in different areas of the country. •Cost-effective, green and accessible cold supply solutions for India is studied.•Innovative designs of biomass-fired heaters integrated with chillers are proposed.•The sensitivity of the heaters for a large number of biomass sources are examined.•A transient model of several scenarios in different areas of India is presented.•The results are demonstrated in terms of techno-economic-environmental facets.