Straw Energy saving Solution: Power Plant Based on a Hot Air Turbine

Straw is an agricultural byproduct of the harvest of crop plants and one of the most significant biomass resources. It is considered a non-hazardous material, environmentally harmless and not dangerous for human health. In spite of this, straw still represents a big problem because requires disposal solutions. Nowadays, traditional field burning is no longer accepted, so other solutions must be found. The most attractive is the recovery of the straw energetic potential. In this view, an interesting solution consisting in a straw fueled power system with hot air turbine and based on a semi-closed cycle is presented in the paper. The study is focused on parametric optimization of the system in order to get maximum performance, which is described by output power, thermal efficiency, fuel consumption and specific fuel consumption. Influence of the compression ratio and air mass flow distribution over the performance of the power system is analyzed.