Computer based evaluation of environmental impact of co-generation system of Distileria Bago, Inc.

• Main Author: Lu, Rofuat L.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2006
• Subjects: Cogeneration of electric power and heat > Philippines; Cogeneration of electric power and heat; Product life cycle > Environmental aspects; Distileria Bago, Inc; Environmental impact evaluation
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/3431; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etd_masteral/article/10269/viewcontent/CDTG004192_P.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

An existing cogeneration power plant facility in a private distillery located in Southern Philippines was evaluated with respect to environmental performance using a simplified Environmental Life Cycle Analysis (ELCA) methodology. In order to carry out ELCA, a computer simulation model of the cogeneration plant operation was developed and tested using Microsoft Visual Basic programming language and Access Database Engine for database operations. Data requirements for the ELCA model were gathered from company records and actual measurements. The simulation model generates cogeneration performance data for various scenarios and also computes the corresponding environmental impacts. The Simulation Model consisted of the following: (1) Material and Energy Flow an animated graphic simulation of the main Processes of the Co-generation plant particularly material and energy flows, (2) Inventory database Access database file containing values of material and energy flow accounting or balance for the major processes of the Co-generation plant (3) Impact Assessment computes the impact of inventoried Emissions, material and energy inputs based on the GREET Model iv (4) Impact Summary computes the summary of normalized and weighted equivalents of the environmental impacts that were evaluated (5) Combustion module computes of the products of combustion for bunker oil and biogas based on Skrotzki and Vopat method (6) Emission factors database Access database file that contains emission factors for various fuels and applications based on the GREET V. 1.5 model. This is used to generate Emissions data for process components that had no measured data (7) Steam tables database contains standard steam tables used in computing the energy content of the steam and liquid flows in the Co-generation process Results demonstrated the effectiveness of the simplified ELCA model in assessing the environmental impacts of co-generation plant operations. Fuel mix scenarios were fed to the model which showed that the most significant impacts of co-generation operations are in the acidification and global warming categories. It was further shown that a fuel mix which maximizes biogas usage will have the least environmental impacts. The program is also able to determine the impact of the co-generation process at various loads, while maximizing use of biogas fuel in the boiler fuel mix ratio. It was recommended that the model be further utilized for evaluating the environmental impacts of other performance strategies and scenarios.