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With the worldwide rapidly increasing urbanization, the demand for heating increases too. To meet the substantially higher heating-demand, traditionally, the number of gas-fired boilers is simply increased. Unfortunately, this also causes severe air pollution. A viable alternative is solar heating systems that could be added to the existing gas-fired boilers system. This study investigates a heating system, which combines solar heating and existing gas-fired boiler heating into one system. The optimal individual capacity of the system is determined and the operation characteristics, energy saving, and economics are analyzed. The results showed that the combined heating system has a clear advantage with respect to both energy saving and economics over the traditional solution (gas-fired boiler-capacity expansion). For an expansion rate of 20%, for example, the average energy-saving rate is as high as 69%. With increasing capacity, the difference per unit heating-area cost between the two systems increases. This means that the combined heating system is even more beneficial when the capacity increase is high. This study shows a new way to meet increased heating demand effectively, which is especially useful for cities that require a significantly-increased heating capacity.

The electrochemical CO2 reduction (ECR) to produce value-added fuels and chemicals using clean energy sources (like solar and wind) is a promising technology to neutralize the carbon cycle and reproduce the fuels. Presently, the ECR has been the most attractive route to produce carbon-building blocks that have growing global production and high market demand. The electrochemical CO2 reduction could be extensively implemented if it produces valuable products at those costs which are financially competitive with the present market prices. Herein, the electrochemical conversion of CO2 obtained from flue gases of a power plant to produce diesel and formic acid using a consistent techno-economic approach is presented. The first scenario analyzed the production of diesel fuel which was formed through Fischer-Tropsch processing of CO (obtained through electroreduction of CO2) and hydrogen, while in the second scenario, direct electrochemical CO2 reduction to formic acid was considered. As per the base case assumptions extracted from the previous outstanding research studies, both processes weren’t competitive with the existing fuel prices, indicating that high electrochemical (EC) cell capital cost was the main limiting component. The diesel fuel production was predicted as the best route for the cost-effective production of fuels under conceivable optimistic case assumptions, and the formic acid was found to be costly in terms of stored energy contents and has a facile production mechanism at those costs which are financially competitive with its bulk market price. In both processes, the liquid product cost was greatly affected by the parameters affecting the EC cell capital expenses, such as cost concerning the electrode area, faradaic efficiency, and current density.

The impact of refrigerants with high global warming potential (GWP) on climate change necessitates the use of alternative refrigerants in cold storage systems. Designed cold storage units using low-GWP alternative refrigerants to R404A, i.e., R407A and R407F, are experimentally studied respectively in this study under year-round working conditions (ambient temperature of 32, 25, 15 and 5 °C). The year-round performance of the units in terms of energy saving and safety under three super-heating degrees (SHs) are also investigated. In each working condition, the performance of cold storage unit using R404A, R407A and R407F is compared in terms of the cooling capacity, energy efficiency ratio, sub-cooling degree, condensing temperature, evaporating temperature and discharge temperature (Td). The results show that the annual energy effect ratio of the unit with R407A and R407F is higher than that of R404A, however the Td of R407F is at an unfavorable level for safety at high ambient temperatures. The annual power consumption, life-cycle cost, total equivalent warming impact and life cycle climate performance of R407A are lower than those of R404A by 2.5%, 2.2%, 7.9% and 7.9%, respectively, and those of R407F are lower than those of R404A by 4.6%, 4.2%, 11% and 14.5%, respectively, indicating R407F is a better low-GWP alternative refrigerant for cold storage systems.

Present study investigates techno-economic feasibility of trimellitic acid (TMLA) production from a biorenewable precursor 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF) for the first time . A 5 kmol/hr HMF feed rate to produce 99% pure TMLA is considered to provide a roadmap for fixing the minimum sales price of TMLA for significant return on investments and a shorter payback period. The current TMLA sales price varies significantly ($10/kg-$1000/kg) in different markets; depending on the process for TMLA production. Thus, techno-economic feasibility study for TMLA production is investigated considering variable sales price . It is also observed that two distinct reaction routes for TMLA production from HMF are possible and both routes can be profitable even at the minimum sales price of $10/kg. Nevertheless, TMLA production from direct conversion of HMF in one step showed better IRR (105.94%) than IRR (39.42%) calculated for a two-step process. It is also observed that catalyst and raw materials costs are main contributing factor in capital and operating costs, respectively. Thus, cost of feed is varied to study the possible future cases, as HMF cost may decrease in the future with advances in the development of biomass conversion technologies. It is observed that the IRR of the TMLA production plant would further increase significantly by ∼16% if raw material cost is reduced by 10-40% in the future.

In this work, we developed a framework for CO2 capture and utilization for energy products (CCU4E) and examined techno-economic and environmental performance in different scenarios. The framework includes process synthesis and design, process simulation, and modeling toward the technical, economic, and environmental performance of the CO2-to-fuels pathway. Based on 72 CO2-to-fuels pathways examined, we discussed the trade-off between economic output (via unit production cost of fuels) and environmental impact (via net CO2 equivalent emissions). In addition, an optimization model was used to identify the optimal pathway and the decision to use conventional (black) or renewable (green) hydrogen in different scenarios. An extended sensitivity analysis was performed to understand the important role of H2 in mitigation of CO2eq and its economic potential, globally and locally, as well as the prospect of future CO2-based fuels. This study provides practical decision-making strategies to major carbon-emitting countries to make decisions on using domestic resources to balance economics and environmental protection in the CCU4E framework. The green hydrogen price is revealed as the key factor in future CCU4E by allowing a huge reduction in CO2eq emission at a more stable and lower price.

Most factories employ an amine gas sweetening process to remove sulfur compounds. During this process, heat‐stable amine salt (HSAS) is generated, which reduces process efficiency. Ion exchange resin and electrodialysis reclamation methods are employed for HSAS removal. However, the equipment cost, electricity, water, and raw material consumption of each unit vary according to the amount of HSAS reclaimed; thus, it is necessary to consider the cost. In this study, we compared the techno‐economic aspects of the amine regeneration process for individual HSAS reclaiming units, developed process models to predict operation costs, and verified our simulation results by comparing actual operation and design data. The proposed mathematical models can be employed to calculate various costs incurred during amine regeneration with HSAS reclaiming units. The economic crossover point is derived at 36.6111 kg‐mol/d by utilizing the models. This enables economically feasible units to be identified based on the amount of HSAS reclaimed.

Nitrocellulose is a cellulose derivative that has many potential applications. Nitrocellulose can bemade through nitration reactions by reacting cellulose and nitric acid at low temperatures. Cellulose can be obtained from lignocellulose biomass such as palm oil empty fruit bunches (POEFBs). In this study, techno-economic evaluation of nitrocellulose production from POEFBs was investigated with various types of alkaline and acid pretreatments. Pretreatment of POEFBs with alkaline and acid was used to purify cellulose fraction as raw material for nitrocellulose. The combination process of POEFBs pretreatment with alkaline and acid can be classified into 4 process routes such as ammonium hydroxide and sulfuric acid pretreatment (Route-1), ammonium hydroxide and acetic acid pretreatment (Route-2), sodium hydroxide and sulfuric acid pretreatment (Route-3), and sodium hydroxide and acetic acid pretreatment (Route-4). The results showed that ammonium hydroxide and sulfuric acid pretreatment (Route-1) was the most profitable route to produce nitrocellulose. Economic parameter values such as return of investment (ROI), payback period (PBP), net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR) from ammonium hydroxide and sulfuric acid pretreatment (Route-1) were 11.49%, 5.85 years, US$ 442,427 and 13.35%.

The advent of distributed energy resources is undoubtedly transforming the nature of the electric power system. The crisis of conventional energy sources and their environmental effects resulted in the integration of Distributed Generators (DGs) into the distribution system. Simultaneous application of optimum network reconfiguration, DGs, and Distribution Static Compensator (DSTATCOM) unit’s placement in the Radial Distribution Systems (RDS) comes with a raft of technical, economic, and environmental benefits. Benefits include improved power quality, reliability, stability, mitigation of power losses, and voltage profile improvement. In this paper, the combinational process of optimal deployment of DGs and DSTATCOM units in RDS with suitable network reconfiguration to achieve positive benefits has been analyzed. A recent metaphor-less based Artificial Intelligence (AI) technique named the Rao-1 method is employed to overcome this combinational nonlinear optimization problem. The objective functions are to mitigate the power losses, enhance the voltage profile, and voltage stability index of the RDS considering the net economic cost-benefit to the distribution utility. The simulation study of this pragmatic approach problem is carried out on IEEE 33-bus RDS. The comparison of the results obtained by the Rao-1 method with other existing meta-heuristic optimization methods has been made to show its efficacy.

Plants oil are becoming important in commerce and nutrition worldwide as they are good source of dietary energy and raw material for the manufacture of industrial products. Despite this fact little attention has been given to Balanites aegyptiaca oil. Therefore there is growing interest in understanding the potential of Balanites aegyptiaca oil as feedstock for improving livelihoods of communities in dryland areas. Balanites aegyptiaca is a multipurpose tree species in dry land of Africa. The plant seed kernel produces high quality oil that amounts for 9-10 % by weight of the whole fruit. Its seed kernel has high oil content (50 %) whose extraction is economically worthwhile. The oil parameters revealed that the oil composed of long chain fatty acids with high degree of unsaturation, making it a good feedstock for biodiesel production. It also has biologically active properties which contribute in its medicinal application. The oil is fulfilling in saturated fatty acids, as such are accustomed as cooking oil. Balanites aegyptiaca oil may be useful for industrialists that produce eco-friendly soap. Therefore, conversion of the oil to different products will help in domestication of this neglected and underuse dryland tree species. This may advocate wise use of renewable natural resources and not protection without possible economic benefit. Thus, Balanites aegyptiaca oil is a multipurpose feedstock with high economic potential and industrial applications if richly exploited. Furthermore, many prospective exploitation possibilities will emerge when further researches are made on this multipurpose oil.

Extraction processes are widely used in biorefinery applications to recover target products from biomass, and their comprehensive evaluation is key to improving their economic and environmental sus...

A Linear Fresnel Collector (LFC) is a solar concentrating technology with high potential for improvements and therefore significant cost reduction. However, LFC optimization studies found in literature show little agreement regarding optimal geometry. In this article, a study is presented to evaluate the trends of the main geometrical parameters in an optimization process of medium temperature linear Fresnel collectors (LFCs) with trapezoidal receiver. For this, a comprehensive LFC design model was developed. It includes an optical, a thermal, an annual integration of the collected energy and an economic sub-models coded in a hard-link way. This model was used to investigate the influence of the main LFC geometrical parameters and inputs on the levelized cost of heat (LCOH) produced. The geometrical parameters investigated were the number of mirrors, the width of mirrors, the gap between mirrors, the trapezoidal angle and the trapezoidal height of the receiver, while the inputs investigated were the location (Quito-Ecuador and Targassone-France), DNI data (TMY data and clear sky model) and the time frame of simulation (representative days or the whole year). Results show that the optimal LFC geometry depends mainly on the azimuthal movement of the Sun. Consequently, the trends of the energetic behavior of an LFC, when the geometrical parameters vary, are similar without regard of the latitude, DNI data or the time frame used for simulations. Reductions until 20% on the LCOH may be achieved by optimizing the geometry of such LFC.

Hydrocarbon production in Indonesia is continuously decreasing on a yearly basis, which is in contrast with its increasing level of consumption. Low-quality and low-resistivity reservoir zones are deemed to possess a lot of hydrocarbon potentials, however, little priority has been placed on their development due to their small level of production. The "RI" field that was utilized in this study is a mature offshore field with a reservoir which has a low-quality and low-resistivity zone. This area has been in use for more than thirty years, therefore its rate of oil production has declined. This study aims to review the techno-economic aspects of well stimulation in the form of hydraulic fracturing. And also, to determine the development method that is suitable for low-quality fields. The hydraulic fracturing process was modelled using Fracpro software as input parameters for the reservoir production simulations. The reservoir behavior was simulated using the CMG software to observe the amount of hydrocarbon liable for production in various development scenarios. Three cases were performed on the "RI" field, which was stimulated for ten years of operation. The first case was the instance with the natural flow, while the second implemented hydraulic fracturing at the beginning of production, and the third was the implementation of hydraulic fracturing, which started in the middle of the production period. Then, the three cases are evaluated utilizing a Gross Split scheme, to calculate the economics of the project both from the government and contractor's aspects. The simulation study concluded that fracturing at the beginning of the LRLC zone development is the most profitable. The novelty of this study is the comparison of scenarios for the implementation of hydraulic fracturing methods in fields with low-resistivity and low-quality zone whose economic value is evaluated by the Gross Split scheme.

The extraction and recovery of metals from contaminated soil has become inevitable considering the increasing premium placed on environmental and human health protection as well as predicted shortfalls in primary metal production. In this study, metal extraction from two industrially contaminated soils (Copsa-mica [Rb-So] and Campina [Ro-PH]) were considered for process (column and heap) leaching configuration using different selected chelating substances; ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid [EDTA], ethylene diamine disuccinic acid [EDDS], acetylacetone [Hacac] and citric acid [CA]. The result confirms optimal recovery of EDTA column-induced-Rb-So over chelant-heap induced configuration and was adopted for economic prediction using two possible (60% and 100%) recycled scenarios. The 100% recycled scenario resulted in a viable economic process sufficient enough to offset clean-up cost. Metal separation and recovery from M-EDTA complex could be facilitated with the use of H2S gas precipitated in hydrogen flame combustion. The process economics predicted offered a probable prospect for metal separation from washing liquor.

The Refractance window dryer (RWD) is a fourth generation dehydration technology. RWD is used to dry heat-sensitive materials because it retains high nutrient content, colour, flavour, aroma and bioactive compounds. The dehydrated products have a high sensory quality. There were no RWD in East Africa despite their excellent performance hence need for local fabrication of RWD Prototypes that can meet the technical, economical and socio-economical requirements. This paper describes the performance evaluation and economic analysis of the RWD prototype developed at the Kenya Industrial and Development Institute (KIRDI), Kenya. Indicators such as drying rate and drying time were used to assess its technical performance. The economic performance of the dryer was appraised using Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR), and Payback Period (PBP). Mango pulp and African leafy vegetables were dried using the RWD prototype at KIRDI between May-July, 2021. During drying process, moisture content of mango pulp was reduced from 88% to 15% in one hour while African leafy vegetable from 88% to 5% in 40 minutes. The economic evaluation of the dryer revealed an IRR of 31%, NPV of 808223.515 @ 24% and PBP of 3.6 years. KIRDI RWD prototype is a versatile technology that can be deployed in remote settings resulting to reduction of post-harvest losses as well as carbon emission. Currently, sun drying, solar drying, cabinet drying, spray drying, drum drying, fluidized bed drying and freeze drying are available in Kenya. They possess various advantages and equally significant drawbacks. Therefore the adoption of KIRDI’s Refractance window dryer would be beneficial to Micro Small and Medium enterprises in providing timely drying services and improve their socio-economic status.

Natural air ventilation in the hot‐dry regions plays a key role to decrease indoor air temperature in hot season, also to improve thermal comfort during the cold season. One of the most common ways to take advantage of natural ventilation is using wind catcher with an underground tunnel. In this method, the tower catches the airflow and directs it to the underground tunnel to decrease the air temperature by transferring heat to the ground, which is cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Earth‐to‐air heat exchanger (EAHE) is a modern form of wind catcher with underground tunnel. In this method, air after passing through buried pipes exchanges heat with the ground, and its temperature increases in the winter and decreases during the summer. This study analyzes the energy performance and cost‐effectiveness of earth‐to‐air heat exchanger to be utilized in a residential building in climate condition of the province of Kermanin Iran. In this regard, 9 different configurations of the EAHE are investigated to find the optimized EAHE. The system performance and cost‐effectiveness are studied in 3 different depths including 1, 2, and 3 m with 3 different pipe lengths including 25, 50, and 75 m. The results show that the EAHE is capable of reducing the inlet air temperature by 0.5‐9.9℃ in the summer and increasing it by 0.9‐11.2℃ in the winter. Furthermore, by integrating the EAHEs in a building design, one can reduce the total annual cooling load by 1.25%‐3.97% and for heating by 1.34%‐3.96%. The payback period of the system with a pipe length of 25 m is 16 years, but for the systems with pipe lengths of 50 and 75 m, this period reduces to almost 3 years.

Background At present, air separation has been mostly realized through cryogenic distillation, which uses a coupled process configuration and is very energy intensive. For the purpose of improving, this work proposes hybrid membrane/cryogenic distillation processes for producing multiple high/ultra-high purity products (i.e. 99.999 mol% nitrogen, 99.9 mol% oxygen and a 99.9 mol% nitrogen). Method Rigorous simulation and techno-economic evaluation on the different hybrid membrane/cryogenic distillation processes are performed. Nine membrane samples with different oxygen permeability and selectivity are used for integration in two different coupling structures. Aspen Plus V11 and Aspen Custom Modeler are used for development of process and membrane, respectively. Significant Findings Firstly, the internal rate of return of the 18 hybrid membrane/cryogenic distillation processes lie in between 11.30% and 14.17% (standalone cryogenic distillation: 14.93%), which could be economically attractive. Secondly, further discovering of membranes with high oxygen permeability is suggested, as using it for integration leads to promising economic performance. Lastly, the internal rate of returns for the best hybrid membrane/cryogenic distillation processes are around 8∼9% without considering the benefit from the secondary high-purity nitrogen (interest rate: 3.52%). It indicates the economic feasibility if the production focuses only on high/ultra-high purity products.

Conventional CO2 capture technologies are well-established for CO2 separation in power plants and carbon emission industries. However, the additional operating expenses under optimized conditions r...

With the increasing load demand, Integrated Nepal Power System (INPS) is facing a stiff challenge to maintain voltage profile within the standards and reduce system loss. Among the loss reduction strategies, an immediate solution would be installation of reactive power compensators at the grid substations. The power flow study of existing system is performed and a genetic algorithm is used to find optimum placement of suitable size of the capacitor banks to be added in system. 6 substations with a total reactive power supply of 80 MVAR was determined as optimal size and location and the installation is also financially feasible. Moreover, the analysis of capacitors placed at the varying voltage levels implied that the most suitable voltage level for the capacitor installation is 11kV.

Energy is something that people need every day. One of the energies that are glorified to meet people's energy needs is electrical energy. The need for electrical energy in Indonesia continues to increase in line with economic growth and the increasing population. One of the components of electric power that is useful for delivering electric current to transmission networks is a substation. With the feasibility of techno-economic, it is possible to know the feasibility of the quality of an electric power system based on financial analysis. This paper provides a mini-review of the techno-economy of substation electricity and its maintenance in several regions in Indonesia today. The research stages consist of literature study, identification of article titles, article abstract screening, complete article selection, and mini-review reviews. Several studies are still not widely applied to the calculation of the cost of energy consumption to customers. In addition, the basic cost of providing electricity, the profit from electricity sales, and the payback period method need to be improved in research related to the techno-economic analysis of electrical energy. It is important to do this to determine the potential feasibility and the estimated advantages and disadvantages of an electric power system.

This paper mainly establishes the cost‐benefit model for techno‐economic evaluation on typical integrated energy technologies matching different companies including photovoltaic, electric heat storage, ground source heat pump etc. The techno‐economic evaluation indicators such as net present value, investment payback period, and financial internal rate of return are considered. The proposed evaluation method is applied to separately analyze two real companies such as poultry and wood industry to conduct integrated energy technology matching, and then to analyze whether the configuration plan is feasible. The energy consumption and nature of the two enterprises are different, and the matched integrated energy technologies and the corresponding magnitudes are different. The results of the real case analyses show that the use of integrated energy technology will improve energy efficiency and reduce the energy costs.

This study presents a techno-economic assessment of the use of Linear Fresnel Solar Collectors for the heat supply in traditional fruits and vegetable processing industries in Almeria’s province. This assessment is justified by the high availability of solar radiation in the area under study, the evaluation of complementary energy self-consumption modalities, and the suitability of using local resources for the preservation and improvement of traditional productive activities. The work starts with an identification of the potential user’s needs and their location in the province. Afterward, the solar radiation resources have been estimated as they constitute one of the basic inputs for sizing the proposed systems. Together with the above, representative thermal demands have been considered and different configurations of commercial Linear Fresnel Solar Collector thermal plants aimed to contribute to solarize the analyzed productive processes have been designed and the corresponding techno-economic assessment have been undertaken. Main findings advance the profitability that can be achieved with this technology, reaching, after an optimized integration of the solar plant in the industrial process, a solar fraction between 66-82 % and payback periods of the investment between 6-12 years

In the last few decades, the vast majority of world states have faced increased energy consumption using more environmentally friendly production technologies. The use of traditional renewable energies like hydro, wind and solar has been the solution found. Despite this, new technical solutions and strategies are beginning to emerge, of which Floating Solar Photovoltaic (FSPV) systems are part. In this framework, southern European countries have excellent climate conditions for reinforcing the use of solar energy. This research assess the existing Portuguese potential for floating PV systems and its integration in the power grid. A floating solar power plant of 1MW in Gouvães dam included in the Tâmega hydroelectric complex, under construction in northern Portugal was sizing and evaluated its energy potential. A techno-economic feasibility study was also carried out taking into account the current investment costs and energy tariffs in the Iberian liberalized market. This integrated analysis allowed to obtain important results on the current state of the art, types of technologies available, their costs and the payback period for this type of projects.

This article mainly deals with the design and developments of marine micro-grid for cruise ship applications. The incorporations of the solar PV array with existing fossil-fuel‐based generators and the replacement of an engine-based propulsion system into the electric propulsion system have shown enormous improvements in the technical performance and optimal operations of the system. The proposed hybrid marine micro-grid (HMMG) system design and development has created more influences on the system investment flows and environmental pollutant mitigation. Here, the hybrid micro-grid model has been developed with necessary multi-objective functions and operating constraints. The optimum techno-economic feasibility analysis has been carried out with an energy-balanced loss of load probability algorithm, which proved that the planned energy management system has a highly commendable and efficient configuration to achieve good system performance with viable economics for a sustainable energy society.

The purpose of this article is to provide a case for advancing methods in Arctic shipping towards a more complete approach. A methods assessment was used to identify core concepts in Arctic shipping and to develop a modelling approach that integrates together policy, alternative fuels, emissions and microeconomic theory - enabling the exploration of financial and implicit damage costs, opportunities and environmental risks within Arctic shipping. The integration of these paradigms can lead to more detailed insights into the economic feasibility of Arctic routes under different policy scenarios. The results indicate that by 2035 under both a business as usual and an Arctic zero emission ECA policy scenario, combined Arctic-Suez transits becomes financially viable for a Handymax wet bulker with a moderate ice class. By 2050 the transpolar route becomes accessible for 5 months for these vessels. The results also show that implicit damage costs cannot be overlooked and that it is possible to advance towards more holistic methods for assessing economic and environmental risks and opportunities in Arctic shipping. Through the incorporation of these factors, this framework can be used to assist policymakers with maximising societal welfare.

Although various CO2 capture and utilization (CCU) technologies are being researched and developed intensively for the purpose of lowering greenhouse gas emissions, most current technologies remain at low technology readiness levels for industrial use and are less economical compared to conventional processes. Mineral carbonation is a CO2 utilization technology with low net CO2 emissions and high CO2 reduction potential, and various commercialization studies are underway around the world. This manuscript reviews the potential of mineral carbonation as a general CCU technology and the techno-economic and environmental feasibility of a representative technology, which produces sodium bicarbonate through the saline water electrolysis and carbonation steps, and examines the potential CO2 reduction derived from the application of this technology. The future implementation of mineral carbonation technology in ocean alkalinity enhancement for sequestrating atmospheric CO2 or the production of abandoned mine backfill materials is also discussed in order to deploy the technology at much larger scales for a meaningful contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.