Assessment of combined heat and power (CHP) integrated with wood-based ethanol production

A techno-economic assessment is made of wood-based production of ethanol, where the by-products are used for internal energy needs as well as for generation of electricity, district heat and pelletised fuel in different proportions for external use. Resulting ethanol production costs do not differ much between the options but a process where electricity generation is maximised by use of the solid residues as fuel for a combined cycle is found to give 20% more reduction of green-house gas emissions per liter of ethanol produced than the other options. Maximising electricity generation at the expense of district heat generation also allows more freedom when suitable sites for ethanol plants are looked for. Use of gasified biofuel for a combined cycle power plant is a demonstrated technology, however, the low ash and alkali content of the hydrolysis residue may allow direct combustion in the gas turbine topping cycle. This would reduce the necessary investment considerably. The potential advantages of using a combined cycle for maximising the electric power output from an energy combinate, producing ethanol and electricity from biomass, justifies further exploration of the possibilities for using hydrolysis residue directly as gas turbine fuel.