Energetic, economic, and environmental assessment of a Stirling engine based gasification CCHP system.

• A Stirling engine based gasification CCHP system with food waste was introduced. • The optimal equivalence ratio was determined based on the cold gas efficiency. • Levelized total cost and primary energy saving ratio were used to optimize systems. • The monthly energetic, economic, and environmental analysis was conducted. • Sensitivity analyses of efficiencies, costs and CO 2 emission were carried out. Due to the tar contamination caused by the gasification process of biomass, the internal combustion engine (ICE) based gasification cogeneration systems require complicated gas cleaning devices to purify producer gas. In this paper, a Stirling engine based gasification combined cooling, heat and power (CCHP) system was introduced, which has the capability of mitigating tar condensation and contamination. The gasification CCHP system, including the gasification system, the Stirling engine system, and the absorption chiller system, can provide electricity, heat and cooling for a commercial building. The effects of the equivalence ratio on syngas composition and cold gas efficiency of the gasification process were analyzed herein. The optimal systems in Singapore and Shanghai can save respectively 75.9% and 70.5% levelized total cost compared to a conventional reference system. The Stirling engine based CCHP system had advantages over the ICE systems on overall consideration of the levelized total cost and the primary energy saving ratio. The monthly energetic, economic and environmental performance of the CCHP systems was evaluated under different modes and the above two systems' primary energy saving ratios, operation cost reduction ratios and CO 2 equivalent reduction ratios respectively reached 0.886, 0.462 and 0.701 in Singapore and 0.908, 0.535 and 0.710 in Shanghai in annual operation. The outcomes of this paper contribute to the design and deployment of such a CCHP system, and the developed models and analysis framework can be extended to different climate areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]