NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHONOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERING AND APPLIED GEOPHYSICS

Natural Gas in Trigeneration

Generation of Electricity, Heat and Cooling

Fuel

Heat

CHP
unit

Cold

chiller

Electricity

Oluwatosin Ajayi
Lorenzo Angelo Veronelli
Davide Genini
Hui-Gyeongiang
Ho Jung Jung

TPG414O Natural gas

Trondheim, November 2011

Abstract
This work presents a technical illustration of the operation of trigeneration systems using
Natural Gas as fuel and outlines the possibilities for future trigeneration systems powered by
fuel cells. It demonstrates these possibilities by comparing the feasibility of trigeneration
systems based on fuel cell with trigeneration systems using conventional fossil fuel. Primary
Energy Saving index and first law efficiency were solved to demostrate that trigeneration
Systems are visible solutions to the spiralling demand for energy across the globe. Although
not well explored at present but with many developed plans and new researches for
trigeneration underway, Trigenration systems signal themselves as a viable energy solution
in the very near future.

Content
Abstract
1.

Introduction

2.

Reasons for trigeneration

3.

How it works

4.

Gas turbine

4.1

Operating principle

4.2

Technical components

4.3

Emissions

4.4

State-of-art

5.

Internal combustion engine

5.1

Operating principle

5.2

Technical Components

6.

Absorption chiller
6.1

7.

Compressor chiller and absorption chiller

Fuel cell

7.1

Operating principle

7.2

High temperature fuel cell

10

7.3

Hybrid systems: gas turbine and fuel cell

10

7.4

Solid Oxide Fuel Cell

11

7.5

Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell

11

7.6

Internal reforming

11

7.7

Fuel cells versus traditional combustion engines and small gas turbines in cogeneration

...

12

8.

Exergy analysis

12

9.

Indices for trigeneration and cogeneration

13

10. Trigeneration and cogeneration now and in the future

10.1

Pfizer Singapore API manufacturing facility

16
17

11. Conclusions

18

12. References

19

13. Tables

21

14. Figures

23

1. Introduction
Trigeneration is the combined generation of electricity, heat and cooling, all simultaneously
produced from a fuel source often referred to as Combined Heat Power and Cooling CHCP.
Trigeneration takes cogeneration of heat and electricity further with the utilization of waste
heat for cooling purposes through an absorption chiller. A trigeneration system is an
integration of two major technologies: The combined heating and power CHP or
cogeneration technology and cooling technology through compression or absorption
systems. CHP technologies based on gas reciprocating engines and combustion turbines are
the most mature technologies. Fuel cells are entering into the market of trigeneration.
Natural Gas is the most appealing fuel for driving trigeneration Systems because of its
reliability, efficiency, low environmental effects and low maintenance costs. It burns
efficiently in the combustor ensuring lower emissions of local pollutants than heavier fuels.
Natural Gas contains mainly methane, a gas with high hydrogen to carbon ratio which leads
to lower C02 emissions per unit of energy produced. According to the U.S. Department of
Energy in the year 2009, 2.5 billion tons of C02 were emitted by power plants in the U.S.,
which correspond to 576g of C02 per kwh. A wide use of trigeneration would reduce the
amount of green- house gases emitted per unit of electricity.
The most intriguing development in the quest for efficient and cost saving trigeneration
systems to match Energy Demand is the possibility of using Fuel Cells as alternative engine
for trigeneration systems. A technical analysis shows that fuel cells provide the next
possibility for making trigeneration System at a very low operating cost, maintained high
efficiency, with no waste nuisance to the environment (Casalegno 2010). It presents an
environmentally clean technology for the future trigeneration Applications. Fuel cells can be
fed via syngas produced with steam reforming CH
0
2
4+H
+H
C0
.
H
O
2
- 2

CO

2 and Water gas shift CO +

3H

2. Reasons for trigeneration

Energy cost is growing, and trigeneration technology in the long term offers a cheaper and
affordable technology for producing energy when compared to other conventional energy
generating technologies. The reduction in cost in trigeneration is achieved with higher
overall cycle efficiency which decreases the amount of fuel used to produce one unit of
usable energy. Governments also offer subsidies to energy made in cogeneration
comparable to the ones given to renewable energy, making the investment more profitable.

Microtrigeneration is becoming common in warm countries that are developing the idea of
distributed power generation (small machines placed close to the consumers). The
application of cogeneration and trigeneration as well, in residential places has always been
obstructed by the high variability of loadings and humongous costs of long thermal energy
networks. Distributed power generation and microtrigeneration go together because the
trigenerative application compensates the inevitable lower efficiency of the small machines
and the higher costs. Distributed generation can be applied in crowded places where the
structures are shared by many people, and the cost of the insulated pipes to transport heat
is acceptable because they do not have to be too long.
Distributed power generation diminishes the transport losses, since electric energy does not
have to travel long distances to reach the customers. With the increased need of energy in
populated areas new power lines have to be built to transfer the power from the generation
sites in a business as usual scenario. Dispersed power generation can avoid the invasion of
pristine areas by new power lines, preserving the environment and saving money.
The technology challenge in developed countries is the reduction of air pollution and
greenhouse gases. The application of trigeneration in cities is an effective way to solve this
challenge because of the use of clean fuel such as natural gas and the high efficiency of the
system. Pollution in populated areas of developing countries is a huge problem which at the
moment is not taken into account, but it will be in the near future.
Trigeneration systems have usually very short start-up times because of their small
dimensions and low thermal inertia. Therefore, they can also be used for peak shaving to
help the grid to handle the rising amount of renewable energy connected to the net. Such
dispersed systems can be remotely controlled, operated by the network management
2

company as an integration of the grid. The ability of the system to store thermal energy
allows a flexible management of electricity production, giving the opportunity to make
electrical power when it is required by the grid.

3. How it works
Trigeneration is a new form of power generation that is becoming common in numerous
countries placed in the warm regions of the world. In these countries the heating required
during the year is mainly concentrated in the winter season, while in summer the demand of
refrigeration is no more negligible (for air conditioning

household or industry), as shown in

figure 3. A constant demand of electrical power, heating and cooling comes from different
structures such as hospitals, public buildings, universities, shopping malls and gyms.

A trigeneration system can produce contemporaneously heat, electricity and cold depending
on the needs. A household usually does not require the three energy forms at the same
time, but a supermarket might require them simultaneously.

A trigeneration plant is similar to a cogeneration power plant plus an absorption chiller to

produce a cold flow with the heat recovered from the hot flue gases. Regarding the electric
power generation, it can be provided by different kind of engines: internal combustion
engines, gas turbine cycles, and Stirling engines (to name a few). They can be evaluated
according to cost, efficiency and environmental effects.

4. Gas turbine
4.1 Operating principle

In micro turbines, electricity comes from a common Joule-Brayton cycle fitted with a
regenerator. Air is sucked up by a compressor that can work with a lower pressure ratio than
usual, just between 2 and 12 (G. Lozza, 2006). A combustor burns the fuel and presents flue
gas at 1000 C to the first stage of the expander. After the expander, the exhaust gas enters
to a regenerator to recover some heat by warming the air coming out of the compressor.
This is a practice that is required to elevate the efficiency, which is deeply affected by the
temperature of exhausted gas that is again affected by the pressure ratio. If the pressure
ratio goes down, the temperature of the flue gas goes up and the efficiency lessens. A
Pressure-Volume and a Temperature-Entropy graph are attached (Figures 4.la-4.lb).
3

The heating is obtained by cooling the exhausted gas coming from the regenerator in a gasfluid heat exchanger. Here water can be heated to 90 C-115 C (M. Sileo, 2006), so the
ability of producing steam is not very high in micro turbines with regenerators. It is evident
that this heat is useful where the thermal demand is at low temperature like in residential
buildings, hotels and sport structures. The thermal efficiency is around 50 %, while the
electrical efficiency is approximately 30% considering the energy coming from the Low
Heating Value of the fuel used. Therefore, approximately 80% of the energy in the fuel is
used.
The cooling is provided by an absorption chiller. This device is based on the phase change of
water together with a specific salt. The low temperature that the water can reach when is
heated by the exhausted gas is enough in order to make this system working properly.
4.2 Technical components
Micro turbines could be still out of the market if the design of the machine had not been
completely altered. They are characterized by radial machines that work at impressively high
RPMS to ensure good performances keeping the dimensionless parameters in an optimal
range.
The turbo machines (expander and compressor) have been dramatically modified to face
different needs in respect of common large gas turbines (G. Lozza, 2006). They have to
rotate at 70000-120000 RPM, sustained by magnetic bearings because the low power
produced requires treating low flow rates of air and exhaust gas (0.2-0.5 kg/s). These radial
velocities are a consequence of the peripheral speed (u

w*r) which is limited by material

resistance: if the radius(r) is small, then the angular speed (w) has to be high. Furthermore,
from performance optimization analysis, it is understandable that a high RPM is necessary.
The small radius forces to choose a centrifugal compressor and a centripetal expander that
are able to cope with high pressure ratios (4-6) with a single stage, providing good
performances with small rotors. Considering the relatively low temperatures (950 C), the
rotors can be made of nickel alloys with no need of cooling systems.
Small pressure ratio causes a high temperature of the exhaust gas released in the
atmosphere while the inlet temperature of the combustor is low: the efficiency is negatively
affected. The adoption of radial single stage machines implies smaller pressure ratio than
usual. For example, with a pressure ratio of 4, the outlet temperature of the flue gas is 710

C and the inlet temperature of the combustor only 184 C

with an efficiency of 16, 45 %. To
overcome this problem, a common solution is the regenera
tor, which is a decisive device in
the development of a micro turbine. Regenerator can be
of two types: a surface regenerator
or a rotary matrix regenerator. The former is a common exch
anger with a physical
separation between pressurized air and exhausted gas;
it has a particular geometry
optimized to improve forced convection. The latter is
based on a package of metal or
ceramic material rotating slowly, that acquires heat when
is on the hot side and releases
heat to the air in the cold side. This system provides a high
thermal exchange efficiency (8590 %), reduced costs (because of compact surfaces and long
life) and space, but it must be
taken into account that the high pressure flow could seep
into the low pressure stream.
The combustor is not very different from the combust
or of a common gas turbine cycle. The
only difference from usual combustors comes from the
opportunity of reaching low NOx
emissions, since lower combustion temperatures reduce
the NOx formation. This helps to
save money because no emissions treatment system is
required. Usually the combustor of a
micro turbine emits lO-lSppmvd
of NOx which is ten times lower than a common gas
15% 02
turbine (G. Lozza, 2006).
The generator is designed in order to avoid the use of gear
-reducers to improve the
efficiency. For these reasons, it is usually equipped with
permanent magnets incorporated in
carbon fiber matrices, and it rotates together with the shaft
of the expander producing
electrical energy at high frequency (for example 3000 Hz
AC with 90000 RPM 4 poles). Then
this energy is converted in a static rectifier and carried to
50 Hz (or 60 Hz) tn-phase 400V by
a static inverter (G. Lozza, 2006). Usually the generator can
work at variable speeds: this
peculiarity prevents the remarkable decline of performan
ce typical of gas turbines at partial
loads. This is a noticeable property of a trigeneration syste
m, because it makes easier to
follow the loads imposed by consumers. The efficiency of
the generator is usually close to
92-94%.
4.3 Emissions
Combustion in a gas turbine cycle is designed for reducing
NOx emissions. The combustor
works with a great excess of air that quenches down the
flame temperature. A low
temperature inhibits the formation of nitrogen oxides, whil
e the excess of air prevents the
formation of CO and unburned gas (G. Lozza, 2006). Acco
rding to this condition the gas

1.

turbine does not need any other device to reduce emissions, but catalysts to improve the
environment effect are being studied. (Table 4.3)
4.4 State-of-art
Some international-famed societies have been developing micro turbines for some years
with good results. General Electric, Honeywell and Siemens have commercialized machines
for 30-250 kW, with an electrical efficiency of 24-30 % and Turbine Inlet Temperature of

1000 C (Table 4.4). At the moment these turbines offer a good availability and reliability
even after long working time. According to Capstone one of the most important companies
-

in the field a micro turbine costs about 1300$ per kW installed. The forecasts are for a
-

sharp decrease in prices.

5. Internal combustion engine

5.1 Operating principle

For trigenerative applications only a four-stroke engine can be used, that can be based both
on an Otto cycle or Diesel cycle. The Otto cycle is made of four transformations: two
isochoric and two isentropic processes. The piston goes from the bottom dead centre to the
top dead centre causing a high increase of pressure, so combustion takes place. Then the
piston does the opposite movement of before producing work and finally the exhausted gas
goes out from the cylinder. In reality, two other operations take place: the exhausted gases
are expelled through a drain valve and the fuel-air mixture is sucked up by an inlet valve.
The Diesel cycle ideally differs from the Otto cycle only because the combustion should
occur at constant pressure instead of constant volume.
The Otto cycle engines fuelled with natural gas have pressure ratios oscillating between 9:1
and 12:1 similar to gasoline engines, even if natural gas has a higher antiknock (M. Sileo,
2006) The gas is injected into the carburetor forming required stoichiometric mixture which
.

is compressed in the cylinder.

The Diesel cycle engines are dual fuel, they are mainly fed with methane with a small
addition of gas oil to avoid detonation. The gas oil is usually injected at high pressure. The
gas can follow two ways: direct injection at high pressure, or injection in the collector and
then compression as in an Otto cycle. The choice among the two solutions depends on the
gas pressure in the distribution network: if it is at low pressure the direct injection is better
to avoid expenses and maintenance related to a compressor to pressurize gas.
6

5.2 Technical Components

The internal combustion engines can use a wide variety of fuels both liquid (gas oil, gasoline,
heavy oil) and gas (natural gas, propane, and biogas). It is not easy modeling the emissions
coming from an internal combustion engine. This is because of numerous parameters that
affect emissions in different ways: piston movement, passage of the combustion from
laminar to turbulent, low wall temperature. Generally, the main pollutants emitted are NOx,
HC, soot and Co.
An internal combustion engine fueled with natural gas ensures low emissions, but the
environmental norms are actually very strict and will get stricter in the future. Therefore,
this engine requires proper devices to reduce emissions. These devices are different
according to the type of cycle used.
Inside the exhaust pipes, it is common practice using systems that react with catalysts to
reduce the emissions. When air and fuel are mixed in a stoichiometric ratio, like in Ottos
cycles, trivalent catalysts are used. They are called trivalent, because they can reduce
contemporaneously emissions of three pollutants: NOx, CO, HC. To guarantee that this
catalyst works, a strong control of stoichiometry is necessary. To do that a lambda sensor
measures the percentage of 02 in the exhaust gases, and a feedback control system
regulates the percentage of 02.

6. Absorption chiller
Absorption chillers are a practical alternative to compression chillers. Their main advantage
is that they do not require any electrical power consumption except for the pump moving
the solutes.
An absorption chiller works with a mixture of two fluids. The fluid with the lowest vapor
pressure is the solvent; the fluid with the highest vapor pressure is the solute. Usually the
couple of fluids used can be water (solvent) and ammonia (solute) or lithium bromide
(solvent) and water (solute).
There are different kind of absorption chillers that can be chosen according to the
constraints of the project and the type of heat source available. They can use directly the
exhausted gases that pass through a heat exchanger integrated with the chiller. An
alternative is to use the fluid flowing in the engine jacket, or a combination of the options.
7

An absorption chiller is made of four main parts: evaporator, absorber, generator, and
condenser. (Figure 6)
The evaporator is the heat exchanger in which the refrigerant absorbs the heat from the
source at low temperature and becomes vapor. Considering that the refrigerant it is at low
pressure, its boiling point is low and evaporates absorbing heat from the stream which
needs to be cooled.
The absorber is the device in which the vapor, produced in the evaporator, turns back into a
liquid solution at constant pressure. The solute is absorbed by the liquid mixture coming
from the generator. The absorption process takes place here because of the affinity between
solute and solvent, producing heat. The pump raises the pressure of the rich solution coming
from the absorber. The generator receives this mixture and separates solute from solvent in
a process similar to distillation using the heat source available. The condenser is the heat
exchanger in which the vapor, produced from the generator, condenses releasing heat to the
environment. The two lamination valves cause an isenthalpic expansion of the fluid: water
from the condenser passes through one of them, the solution coming out the generator
passes through the other. A regenerator is used to improve the performance of the system,
exchanging heat from the flows between the absorber and the generator.
The cooling effect is usually provided between 7 C and 12 C when water is used as
refrigerant. When temperatures under 0 C are required, mixtures of glycol-water or other
mixtures are used.
An absorption chiller uses refrigerants which are known not to have a high Green House Gas
potential or to cause harm to the ozone layer. It does not require to run a compressor, so
there are no emissions coming from power generation.
6.1 Compressor chiller and absorption chiller
The comparison between an absorption chiller and a compression chiller is not easy. Looking
at the investment, an absorption chiller is 30 % to 100 % more expensive than a compression
chiller. This comes from cooling towers for an absorption chiller that must be 2 or 2.5 larger
than the ones for a compression chiller. But, according to M. Sileo (2006), an absorption
chiller offers evident management advantages: no problems during blackout, silent
operation, 20 years of lifetime (it has no moving parts), recovers heat that otherwise would
have been wasted. A good way of comparing should be the cost of energy, but considering
8

that the prices of natural gas and electricity are variable, it is hard to say which device is
better. A careful analysis should be made for each case to find the best solution that suits
the situation.

7. Fuel cell
7.1 Operating principle
A fuel cell is a device capable of converting directly the chemical energy in the fuel into
electrical energy. Normal energy systems, which involve combustion, have first to pass
through thermal, mechanical and finally electrical energy conversion. The combustion of the
fuel is the biggest source of inefficiency of the energy converting system (Pedrocchi, 2011).
This is due to the fact that the combustion is never done at adiabatic temperature and the
heat exchange between the flue gas and the fluid is done with high temperature differences.
Heat transfer under high temperature gradient destroys huge amounts of exergy (the ability
of a system to make work). Fuel cells provide solutions to these challenges.
ADVANTAGES

High efficiency, not limited by Carnots theorem.

Efficiency independent from dimension and just slightly dependent from the load,
modular system and flexible working condition.

High availability and reliability, no moving mechanical parts, gradual performance

decline (predictable).

Low environmental impact, no emissions of secondary pollutants.

DISADVANTAGES

Cost, depending on the type, on average not less than 5000$/kW.

Short life cycle.

Most of the fuel cells work with expensive high quality and purity fuel such as
hydrogen.

LOSSES
A fuel cell has an intrinsic efficiency depending on the type and the boundary conditions of
operations, above all the current output (Groppi, 2010). Fuel cells skip all the passages of

energy conversions but they pay different energy tolls from normal energy converting
systems (Figure 7.1), such as:

Activation losses: due to kinetic reasons at the electrodes.

Ohmic losses: they increase with the increase of current flowing and they are due to
resistivity.

Mass transport losses: they occur when high current is flowing through the cell
during high loads.

Crossover: the un-reacted fuel passes through the membrane and it is oxidized on
the cathode without any real benefit for electrical production.

72 High temperature fuel cell

High temperature fuel cells are perfect to be combined with a cogeneration plant for
industrial purposes, giving high temperature heat as a byproduct. They can work with
different fuels such as Natural Gas converted by an internal reformer into hydrogen, carbon
monoxide and dioxide. This kind of fuel cell can run with dirty fuels containing a lot of
impurities, for example there has been studies at the Georgia Institute of Technology
regarding the possibility to run SOFC (Solid Oxide Fuel Cells) with gasified coal. Other
advantages of this type of fuel cells are the higher efficiencies, lower costs and longer term
stability when compared with low temperature fuel cells.
Working at high temperatures brings some serious problems concerning long startup times
and hard thermal stresses on the components. For these reasons high temperature fuel cells
are more suited for power generation combined with high temperature (high exergy)
cogeneration (Galliani et a!, 2006). Instead low temperature fuel cells find better
applications in portable electronic devices, automotive and small stand-alone micro-power
generation systems.
7.3 Hybrid systems: gas turbine and fuel cell
Another interesting application of high temperature fuel cells is their combination in gas
turbines, replacing the normal combustor. Fuel cells need a source of cooling in all cases and
the use of the excess heat to generate power in a Joule Brayton cycle is a natural
consequence. This system is designed to reduce the losses due to normal combustion with
high air excess, taking complete advantage of the chemical exergy in the fuel. To increase
even more the efficiency of the plant the heat can be recovered from the flue gases coming
from the turbine with a Heat Recovery Steam Generator. The steam produced can be used
10

both to run a steam turbine and make more power, as a source of heat or to cool down a
fluid with an absorption cycle. This kind of complex plant working at full electric generation
reaches efficiencies close to 70%, 10% more than the best available technology for normal
combined cycle (Campanari S. et al, 2002).
7.4 Solid Oxide Fuel Cell
These types of fuel cells are characterized by the use of a solid oxide as electrolyte usually

made of ceramic material such as YSZ (Yttria Stabilized Zirconia). Instead the anode is made
with zirconia nickel ceramic-metal, with the first component promoting the internal
-

reforming and the second one inhibiting the nickel sinterization at high temperature. They
can work flexibly with a wide range of sulphur-free fuels ranging from hydrogen to light
hydrocarbons. With a pre-reformer they can even work with normal heavy fuels such as
gasoline, diesel or biofuels. Normal sandwich geometry Solid Oxide Fuel Cell stacks require
a few hours of start-up time, but new tubular geometries Solid Oxide Fuel Cell promise to
lower this time down to a few minutes. The main advantage of these classes of fuel cells is
that they do not require expensive platinum based catalyst since they work at temperatures
approaching 1000C and consequently they do not have problems with carbon monoxide
poisoning, though materials working at such high temperature are expensive (Groppi, 2011).
7.5 Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell

The electrolyte used in this fuel cell is a molten mixture of alkali metal carbonate held in a
ceramic matrix. At low temperature the electrolyte is not conductive, when the temperature
rises above 600-700C the material becomes highly ionic conductive. The unique feature,
and disadvantage, of this fuel cell is the necessity of having C02 at the cathode side to make
carbonate ions. Carbon dioxide is recycled from the anode side and the flue gas from the
anode is mixed with air to preheat it and oxidize the unreacted carbon monoxide and
hydrogen.
7.6 Internal reforming
The fuel fed to the fuel cells is usually natural gas which has to be converted to hydrogen

and carbon monoxide via a steam reforming reaction. For example considering a natural gas
made with just methane:
4+H
CH
0
2

-*

11

CO + 3H
2

We can have direct reforming where the catalyst, usually nickel, is spread directly on the
anode, and indirect reforming where the reaction takes place separately close to the anode.
Since this reaction is endothermic we need to provide thermal heat, this is usually done with
the excess heat from the fuel cell itself. The steam needed comes from the combustion of
hydrogen. Fuel cells with internal reforming are a technology which is still in a developing
phase, white external reformers are a mature technology.
7.7 Fuel cells versus traditional combustion engines and small gas turbines in cogeneration
Presently, the open window for fuel cell as a commercial application in cogeneration is for
systems under 2 MW, in this case fuel cells can be a great alternative to conventional power
generation units. Combustion engines have great characteristics: they are cheap, reliable
and efficient even at partial loads, but they are noisy and they make great amounts of
pollutants. Small gas turbines with centrifugal compressor are not efficient and noise-free. A
great advantage of fuel cells used in residential areas is the ability to produce electric power
and heat with virtually zero-emissions of local pollutants such as carbon monoxide, NOx and
soot. Fuel cells are stationary machines which require only pumps and fans as moving
components, this unique characteristic enables them to work practically noiseless. Having
high efficiencies Fuel Cells produce less carbon dioxide per energy unit produced. At the
moment costs and lifetime limit the application of fuel cells but it is definitely a promising
technology for the future.
According to Casalegno (2010), fuel cells around 1-100 MW to be competitive in power
generation, have to cut down their costs from 12 Ms/MW to 1.5 M$/MW, which is very hard
to achieve. More research has to be done on fuel cells to get these systems on the market at
a reasonable price. In contrary gas turbine, intrinsically more complicated from a thermo
fluid-dynamic point of view, took the advantage of extensive research for military aviation
(heavily financed by governments in the past).

8. Exergy analysis
Exergy combines the concept of energy and entropy. Exergy expresses the idea of the
amount of work theoretically extractable from a fuel in a given environment at a certain
temperature, pressure and composition. A system in equilibrium with the environment has
an exergy equals to zero. Theoretically it would be possible from a fuel to produce an
amount of work nearly equal to its calorific value with a reversible process where entropy is
12

not generated. The real amount of work which can

be produced has to take into account
exergy losses:
W

r
1

4
ev

EXiossesj

Teiiv

j
911
LXS

A very basic example regarding the use of 1kg of natu

ral gas (chemical exergy approximately
50Mi/kg) to heat a house at 20C with an ambient temp
erature of 0C can be made (Table
8). Concluding:

Burning natural gas in a gas-fired power plant making

electricity to heat a house with
an electric resistance is a thermodynamic disaster. smar
A
ter way to use electricity to
produce heat consists of a heat pump.

Burning the same amount of gas in a cogeneration

unit close to the customer to
produce heat as a by-product and electricity to run
a heat pump is the most efficient
way to accomplish the same task.

Burning the natural gas in a boiler on site to make heat

is the cheapest way in terms
of overall investment costs but it is very inefficient.

The amount of exergy delivered in the cogenerative

case is 3.6 times higher than the case
with no cogeneration and no heat pump. This can be
easily explained with an exergy
analysis, taking into consideration that the heat is prod
uced at a temperature close to the
environment one. The greatest inefficiency is the one
generated in the resistance,
downgrading valuable electricity into low temperature
heat. With a reversible process one
unit of electricity can be transformed in nearly 15 units
of heat, though heat pumps do not
reach such great conversions.

Exergy losses are much easier to understand than entro

py loss since it is something that can
affect directly the ability of the system to produce work
. Exergy is closely related to the
money that will be spent for fuel. It is a useful tool to
understand where improvement can
be made, measuring the efficiency of each power conv
ersion step.

9. Indices for trigeneration and cogeneration

A trigeneration system can save energy (and money)
to produce the same amount of
electricity, heat and cold from the same source as com
pared to a separated generation of
13

these forms of energy. To evaluate this saving, it is common to use two specific indices: PES
and first law efficiency (according to the European Ministry of Economic Development). PES
stands for Primary Energy Saving index. it quantifies the energy saving obtained by a
cogeneration system producing the same amount of electric and thermal energy as an
electric power generation plant and a boiler

tic

PES

)XjO()

(I
+

1 ci. rd 1 trrid. rcf

11 th. r

In which:
Efuel = energy coming from the fuel consumed

electrical energy produced

Eei

thermal energy produced

Qrec
eI
lt

reference electrical efficiency

flgrid,ref

flth,ref

reference grid efficiency

reference thermal efficiency

If the PES index of a cogeneration (or trigeneration) plant is greater than a certain value ( 10
% in Italy), that plant gets the right of being considered cogenerative, then gets subsidies. A
high efficiency utilization allows to produce some surplus energy (which is comparable as a
renewable source) that otherwise would be wasted in a normal plant. This index can change
for the same plant according to the reference efficiencies decided by the government. In
fact, the reference electrical efficiency can be the efficiency of the Best Reference
Technology (almost 60 % for Combined Cycles) or a national average among the power
generation plants available (usually lower than 40%). Using high reference electrical
efficiency lowers the value of PES. The reference grid efficiency is taken into account

14

because a trigeneration system saves the energy relat

ed to the transport of electricity, since
it is really close to the users. The reference thermal effic
iency is usually fixed over 90 %.
The first law efficiency comes from thermodynamic conc
ept. It is computed as follows:
PME + QIJ
PF

In which:
PME=total useful electric (or mechanical) power
QU= total thermal power, net of losses due to heat transmiss
ion
PF= total power coming from the primary energy sour
ce
This is mainly for cogeneration systems, but can be appl
ied to trigeneration systems as well.
Of course it underestimates the overall efficiency of the
trigenerative system, because it
does not take into account the cooling part of the cycle
.
In Italy (AEEG, 2002), another index has to be compute
d before a plant can be considered
cogenerative: the Thermal Limit. It considers the ratio
between thermal and total energy
produced:

LT

Ee+Et
+

In which:
E= thermal energy sent to the users
Ee electrical energy produced
thermal energy sent to the civil use
thermal energy sent to the industrial use
In order to be considered as an effective cogeneration plan
t, the LT of the system has to be
greater than 15 %.

15

10.

Trigeneration and cogeneration now and in the future

Trigeneration is not widely spread in the world at the moment because of costs and climate
conditions. The investment necessary for such a technology is higher compared to other
power plants (G. Lozza, 2006), because all the machines are more complicated than the
usual sized ones. In cold countries a trigenerative system does not appear an interesting
solution, because the requirement of cold is negligible. But even in these countries
application of trigeneration could take place: in systems requiring comparable amounts of
heat, electricity and cold, such as supermarkets.

Trigeneration benefits the same subsidies given to cogeneration, because their development
is strongly linked together. The support given by the government can be classified into four
categories: special taxation, low interest loan, investment subsidy, and subsidy for new
technology development. This reduction in taxation and subsidy policies will help
trigeneration to become more cost competitive (Environment and Development Division,
2000).
Each country has a different policy to promote the application of cogeneration and
trigeneration. For example, E. ON which is one of the worlds largest investor-owned power
and gas companies in Germany supports cogeneration and trigeneration. According to their
own press, under a nationwide support program, E. ON gives buyers of micro-CHP units a
subsidy of 1000EUR, if they sign a gas supply contract with E.ON. UK also has subsidy policies
for supporting cogeneration which can be applied to trigeneration market as well. It is
estimated that about 1000 micro-CHP systems were in operation in the UK in 2002. Since
2005, the UK government has cut the taxation from 17.5% to 5% for micro-CHP systems (E.
ON, 2011).
The National Energy Plan by the American Council for an Energy Efficiency Economy (ACEEE)
has a specific chapter to promote CHP. This association estimates that an additional 95GW of
cogeneration capacity could be added before 2020. It is expected that cogeneration and
trigeneration will cover 29% of total power generation capacity according to ACEEE (Monty
Goodell, 2006).
In ASIA, many countries have also policies and plans to support cogeneration and
trigeneration in the electrical network. For example, Japan supports 30% of the installation
16

costs, and provides loans with low interest (2.3% per year). In large
scale trigeneration and
Cogeneration plant, the government pays 15% of the investment,
up to a maximum of
US$5million (Environment and Development Division, 2000).
Australia, a country in which coal has a large share in electricity
production, has energy plans
to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases. For example, The Citys
Sustainable Sydney
2030 plan commits the city to produce by 2030 70% of the electric
ity from trigeneration
using natural and waste gas. Many projects have been undertaken
to achieve the goal, and
even the city of New York is interested in this experiment (Sydne
y 2030 Plan, 2011).
Governments are interested in promoting trigeneration to achiev
e Renewable penetration in
power generation. Europe, particularly Germany and England, are
experiencing a huge
increase in electricity production from wind energy which require
s strong back up power in
periods of low wind (Eurostat, 2006). Remotely controlled distributed
trigeneration
applications fuelled with natural gas will help this country to achiev
e high penetration of
renewable sources in the grid.
10.1

Pfizer Singapore API manufacturing facility

In the past years Singapore has had problems caused by energy

shortage increases in sea
level and sudden changes in climate. Therefore, many companies
in Singapore changed their
traditional energy plants to cogeneration or trigeneration system
s. Pfizer is also one of those
companies which, due to plant expansion, adopted a trigeneration
system in 2008 (Figure
-

10.1). This facility used a conventional system whose average power

consumption was: 6.5
MW Electricity bought from the grid, 5MW heat to produce steam
with a gas fired boiler, and
8.8MW of refrigeration power subtracted from chilled water via a
normal refrigeration cycle.
This systems first law efficiency was 65%, given by: the boilers therma
l efficiency 85% and
an average efficiency of 45% in a common gas fired generation plant
(Pfizer Asia Pacific Pte
Ltd, 2008).

Now, this facility adopts a single integrated trigeneration system

(Figure 10.2) which
comprises: Gas Fired Turbine (5MW), Waste Heat Recovery Boiler
(8MW) and Absorption
Chiller (9.1MW). Trigeneration improved energy efficiency compared
to the old system, and
its energy efficiency is almost 83% now. Figure 10.3 shows the compa
rison of thermal
efficiency between these two systems.

17

Using trigeneration system brought two more good impacts: reduction of electricity
consumption adopting an absorption chiller and lower greenhouse gas emissions. 17 %
reduction in C02 emissions, which corresponds to 5976 ton/year when compared to the old
system. The higher efficiency is responsible for saving 587000 $/year in fuel cost, as shown in
Table 10.1.

11.

Conclusions

Trigeneration can be considered as one of the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel
utilization. The overall efficiency is high, meaning that the ratio emissions/kWh is lower than
other fossil fuel plants. Distributed power generation reduces the environmental impact
caused by power lines. The application of trigeneration can easily help renewable energy to
get into the market, supplying energy when the sun, wind or other are not available.
Furthermore, with the improvement in fuel cell technology trigeneration will be even more
appealing.

The economic good point of a trigeneration system is represented by its operational costs.
Its efficiency reduces the fuel required to produce the same amount of heat, electricity and
cold compared to separate generation. In this way it offers a sort of surplus of energy from
the same source with a resultant cost saving. This also brings to a low impact of a C02 tax on
the economic balance of the plant. Even if natural gas is not the cheapest fuel, trigeneration
will become more and more spread in the power generation market.

18

12.

References

1.

AEEG, Delibera n. 42, AEEG, Italy, 19.03.2002

2.

Baldini M., Simeoni P, Mattiussi A., Trigenerazion

e,farefreddo con ii ca/ore di
scarto, Supplemento deIIinformatore agrario, 40/2
008

3.

B.C. Chung

Century Corporation Korea, Trend and application of

absorption

chiller

4.

5.

6.

http://www.eurocooling.com/indexl.htm, read 20.1

0.2011
Campanari S., Macchi E. Future potentials of MTGs
: hybrid CyCle5 and tn
generation, in Micro Turbine Generators, ISBN
1-86058-391-1, pp. 43-66,
Institution of Mechanical Engineers, England, 2002
Campanari S. microcogenerazione e trigenerazion
e:come trasformare le opportunIt
in un mercato reale., Energy Department, Politecnico
di Milano, 2007
Casalegno Andrea, Fuel cell technology, Energy
department, Politecnico di Milano,
2010

7.

Chwieduk D, Pomierny W, Restuccia G, Freni A, De

Boer R, Smeding S.F., Malvicino C.,
Trigeneration in the tertiary sector, paper prese
nted at the world renewable energy
congress VIII, USA, 2004

8.

Environment and Development Division (EDD), Guide

book on Co generation as a
Means of Pollution Control and Energy Efficiency
in Asia, pp. 49-63, 2000
E.ON, E.ON supports micro cogeneration,

9.

http://www.eon.com/en/media/news-detail.jsp?

id=10452, 22.07.2011

10.

European Environment Agency, EN2O Combined

Heat and Power,
http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indic

ators/en2O-combined-heat-and-

power-chp, 01.04.2007 read

11.

12.
13.

14.

th
25

September

European Ministry of Economic Development, Regu

latory framework for high
efficiency co generation, Department of Energy, 2004
Galliani A., Pedrocchi E., Exergy analasys, Polipre
ss, ISBN 8873980252, 2006.
Groppi Gianpiero Fuel cells, hand-outs from the
course Fundamentals of Chemical
Processes, Energy Department, Politecnico di Milano
, 2010
Malico I., Carvalhinho A.P., Tenreiro J., Design of a trige
nereration system using
high-temperature fuel cell, International Journal of
Energy Research, pp. 144-151,
2009

19

15.

Monty Goodell, M.B.A., Trigeneration, 2006

http://cogeneration.net/Trigeneration.htm,, read 17.11.2011

16.

Pfizer Asia Pacific Pte Ltd. Trigeneration facility at Pfizer,

roject_in_Pfize

http ://www. e2si ngapore.gov.sg/docs/Case_Study_of_Trigeneration_P

r.pdf, 2008, read 1.11.2011
17.

18.

19.

2011
PolyGeneration in Europe (Front Page Image), Trigeneration,
read 11.11.2011
http://www.polygeneration.org/cms/front_content.php?idcat=77,
Department of
Rayment C., Sherwin S.,lntroduction to Fuel Cell Technology,
Dame, IN 46556, 2003
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Notre
A new way for
Sileo Michele, The micro-combined heat and power production:
energy saving, Ambiente e diritto, 2006

20.

Sydney 2030 Plan website,

http://www.sydney2030.com.au/, 2011

21.

at Conventional
U.S. Department of Energy, Emissions from Energy Consumption
Power Plants and Combined-Heat-and-Power Plants,
2011
http://www.eia.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epat3p9.html, read 25.09.

20

13.

Tables

;Buijder and model

Flue gas
NOx
Co
Noise
Power
flow rate
ppm
ppm
dB (A)
(kW)
(kg/s) (15% 02) (15% O) (10 m)

Capstone C30

30

0.31

<9

n.d.

58

Capstone C60

60

0.49

<9

n.d.

65

TurbecTlOO

100

0.81

<15

<15

70(lm)

IngersollRand MT7O
nge rsol I Rand
MT250

70

0.73

<9

<9

58

250

2.0

<9

<9

n.d.

100

0.79

14

<24

<65

Elliott TA 100

Table 4.3 Emissions from Gas Turbines (M. Sileo, 2006)

Electrical
Power
(kW)

Thermal
Power
(kW)

Capstone C30

30

Capstone C60
TurbecTlOO

Manufacturer

qe

rlt

rg

55

24

50

74

60

115

28

54

82

100

167

30

48

78

IngersollRand MT7O
IngersollRand MT2SO

70

112

29

46

75

250

383

30

46

76

Elliott TA8O

80

135

28

47

75

Elliott TA 100

100

165
Table 4.4 Gas Turbines Efficiencies (M. Sileo, 2006)

29

46

75

no-cog
Hcycle
Hline
Hres
Ex(kJ/kg)

Cog
Hel
Hth
COP hp
Ex(ki/kg)

0,55
0,9
1
1689,42

0,4
0,45
3,5

no-cog
hp
qcycle
rjline
COP hp
Ex(kJ/kg)

0,55
0,9
3,5
5912,969283

boiler
qboiler
Ex(kJ/kg)

0,9
3071,672355

6313,993

Table 8 Exergy Use of 1kg of Natural Gas (Lozza G., 2006)

21

Conventional System
Package Boiler

Steam Pressure

Bar

Steam Output

T/h

NG Used(boiler@85% efficiency)

15120

mmBtu/mt
h

2 Emission
CO

0.19

kg/kWh

2 Emission per month(Boiler)

CO

826

T/mth

Power from Power Station

65

MW

2 Emission (Average Power Station)

CO

0.45

kg/kWh

2 Emission per month (Power Station)

CO

2106

T/mth

2 Emission per month

Total CO

2932

T/mth

Power from power station

(Conventional)
Trigeneration System
Power generated

4.6

MW

Steam generated from Trigen

11

T/h

12.4

MW

0.22

Kg/kWh

TriGen Output (Electricity

Steam)

2 Emission
CO

9
2045

T/mth

1.2

MW

2 Emission (Average Power Station)

CO

0.45

kg/kWh

2 Emission per month (Power Station)

CO

389

T/mth

2 Emission per month

Total CO

2434

T/mth

2 Emission per month(Trigeneration)

CO
Power from Power Station

Power from Power Station (less 0.7MW

from Absorption Chiller)

(Trigeneration)

Table 10.1 Pfizer C02 emissions (Pfizer Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, 2008)

22

14.

Figures
Energy demand

(U

-4

rJ.

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Month
Heat Load

Electricity

o Coldness

Figure 3 Typical annual energy demand for a warm country (S.

Campanari, 2007)
p

JH

ii

Figure 4.la: Pressure Volume chart Joule Brayton cycle (M. Sileo,
2006)
-

23

Dec

4
0 regenerated

I
1
S

Figure 4.lb Temperature

Entropy chart Joule Brayton cycle(M. Sileo, 2006)

Condenser

pup,

tooling Mode
Figure 6 Absorption Chiller Cycle (B.C. Chung)

24

Absorber

Voltage
EV

ccv

Ideal colt voltage

Actual no-current cell voltage

-__--.

Kinetic Losses

Ohmic Losses

Ass transport
tosses

II*

Figure 7.1 Fuel Cell Losses (Casalegno, 2010)

Figure 10.1 Pfizer Facility (Pfizer Asia Pacific Pte

Ltd, 2008)

25

Current

Figure 10.2 Pfizer Trigeneration System (Pfizer Asia Pacific Pte Ltd. 2008)

Fuel Input

Figure 10.3 Efficiency comparison between conventional and trigeneration system in Pfizer
(Pfizer Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, 2008)

26