Techno-economic Assessment of a Solar-Assisted Biomass Gasification Process

Integrated biomass gasification and solar energy systems, which use solid particles as a transport and storage medium for solar energy, are capable of providing a stable energy supply. However, it is necessary to evaluate the economic feasibility of the integrated system and the impact with introduction of carbon trading system. The economic feasibility of an eco-friendly solar-assisted biomass gasification combined heat and power plant that produce a constant amount of electricity and heat continuously using 100 tons of biomass per day is assessed. The analysis indicated that the levelized cost of energy for the solar-assisted biomass process was lower by $0.0035/kWh than that of a biomass-only process. The solar-assisted biomass process showed higher economic feasibility than the biomass-only process, as the net present value and internal rate of return were 2.41 times and 1.3 times higher in the former system. An additional annual income of $3.201 million attributable to carbon credit pricing acted as an important influencing factor for the solar-assisted biomass combined heat and power processes. Therefore, it is possible to realize an eco-friendly electricity and heat production through the solar-assisted biomass combined heat and power plant to which the emissions trading systems is applied as it helps to increase the economic feasibility by adjusting the heat sales price and woodchip price which are the most sensitive parameters.