Energetic, economic, and greenhouse gas emissions assessment of biomass and solar photovoltaic systems for an industrial facility

The industrial sector is responsible for nearly 25% of direct and more than 35% of cumulative global energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study evaluates the feasibility and comparative analysis of on-site solar photovoltaic (PV) and biomass-fed boilers based on historical energy consumption and demand to reduce dependence on grid-supplied electricity and coal-fired boiler for a rice processing industrial plant. The analysis includes energetic, economic, and GHG emissions assessments and covers (a) Solar PV systems, (b) Biomass fuels, and (c) Co-firing scenarios. Financial analysis of solar PV considers both company-owned and bank-financed systems of fixed and double axis tracking technologies. Biomass fuels include 100% wood, 100% rice husk, and a 50%-50% wood-rice husk mix. Historical energy consumption shows that annual electricity demand is 4,479 MWh, costing $537,480 and producing 2,307 tCO(2) emissions. Feasibility of 1MW, company-owned fixed axis solar PV plant shows a yearly electricity production of 1,544 MWh with 0.031 $/kWh levelized cost and reducing 733 tCO(2) with a payback period of 2.8 years. The base case scenario for boiler operations consists of 3,746 tons of coal burning, costing $427,075 and producing 11,840 tCO(2) emissions. Rice husk fuel study shows a 19% fuel cost savings, a 1.7-year payback period, and 11,612 tCO(2) GHG emission reductions. It is concluded that biomass-based rice husk fuel feedstock is the most suitable renewable energy source (RES) for this industrial facility and can reduce 82% of cumulative annual GHG emissions. Furthermore, energy efficiency improvements and off-site carbon credits provide additional opportunities to achieve net-zero GHG emissions for plant operations. (c) 2022 National University of Sciences and Technology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).