Simulation and evaluation of a biomass gasification-based combined cooling, heating, and power system integrated with an organic Rankine cycle

A biomass gasification-based combined cooling, heating, and power system integrated with an organic Rankine cycle is investigated. The energetic, economic, and environmental performances of the system in cooling mode and heating mode are analyzed. Based on the electrical and thermal demands of a large office building in Shanghai, the monthly and annual operation of the system is simulated and its performance is evaluated. Results show that the system has a better performance in its heating mode than in its cooling mode. Meanwhile, the advantage of this system over the system without the ORC module decreases with the increase of the thermal demand. The annual primary energy saving ratio, cost saving ratio, and CO2 emission reduction ratio are 20.7%, 11.1%, and 43.7%, respectively. The increments of the above criteria owing to installation of the ORC module are 3.2%, 7.1%, and 1.4%, respectively. Sensitivity analysis shows that the equivalence ratio of biomass gasification has a relatively greater influence of the system on all aspects, which can increase the above criteria by up to 6.6%, 6.3%, and 3.6%, respectively. In addition, the parameters of the biomass feedstock and the public grid on different aspects affect the system performance on the corresponding aspect significantly.