KOE-074; Renewable Energy Resources

Gaurav Srivastava
Assistant Professor, EN Department
 UNIT-5
 Bio-mass:
 Availability of bio-mass
 Its conversion theory
 Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC):
 Availability,
 Theory and working principle,
 Performance and Limitations.
 Wave and Tidal Wave:
 Principle of working,
 Performance and limitations.
 Waste Recycling Plants

Gaurav Srivastava
 UNIT-5, Lecture-1
 Bio-mass:
 Introduction
 Availability of bio-mass
 Working
 Types of bio gas plants
 Floating drum type
 Fixed drum type
 Din-Bandhu bio gas plant
 Material
 Site selection
 Merits & Demerits
 Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC):
 Introduction
 OTEC Plant design & Locations

Gaurav Srivastava
 UNIT-5, Lecture-2
 Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC):
 Classification of OTEC Plants
 Open Cycle OTEC Plants
 Closed Cycle OTEC Plants
 Performance Analysis
 Merits & Demerits
 Wave and Tidal Wave:
 Introduction
 Availability
 Classification of Tidal Wave plants
 Single Basin
 Double Basin
 Merits & Demerits
 Limitations

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Gaurav Srivastava
  Biomass is organic material made from plants and animals.
 It is a renewable energy source because we can always grow more
trees and crops, and waste will always exist.
 It doesn’t include fossil fuels, which take millions of years to create.
 When burned, the chemical energy in biomass is released as heat.
 Wood waste or garbage can be burned to produce steam for making
electricity, or to provide heat to industries and homes.
 Burning biomass is not the only way to release its energy.
 It can be converted to other usable forms like methane gas, or fuels
such as ethanol and biodiesel.

Gaurav Srivastava
  Biomass plant is a device for conversion of fermentable organic matter,
in particular cattle dung, into combusting gas and fully matured organic
manure.
 The main sources for production of bio gas are cattle dung, night soil,
poultry or piggery droppings.
 These materials are confined in a place, out of contact with oxygen,
give rise to a large no. of bacteria, which converted carbon-hydrate,
proteins, fat into volatile acid and carbon-dioxide.
 While bio mass is organic matter derived from plants, algae, animal
etc.

Gaurav Srivastava
  Traditional use of biomass is more than its use in modern application.
 In the developed world biomass is again becoming important for
applications such as combined heat and power generation.
 In addition, biomass energy is gaining significance as a source of clean
heat for domestic heating and community heating applications.
 In fact in countries like Finland, USA and Sweden the per capita
biomass energy used is higher than it is in India, China or in Asia.

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 Instead of burning the loose biomass fuel directly, it is more practical to
compress it into briquettes (compressing them through a process to form
blocks of different shapes) and thereby improve its utility and convenience of
use.
Such biomass in the dense briquetted form can either be used directly as fuel
instead of coal in the traditional chulhas and furnaces or in the gasifier.
Gasifier converts solid fuel into a more convenient-to-use gaseous form of fuel
called producer gas.

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  There are following three types of plants:
 Fixed dome type of biogas
 Modified fixed dome type
 Floating dome type
 The biogas plant consists of two components: a digester (or fermentation tank) and a gas holder.
 The digester is a cube-shaped or cylindrical waterproof container with an inlet into which the
fermentable mixture is introduced in the form of liquid slurry.
 The gas holder is normally an airproof steel container that, by floating like a ball on the
fermentation mix, cuts off air to the digester (anaerobiosis) and collects the gas generated.
 In one of the most widely used designs (Figure 2), the gas holder is equipped with a gas outlet,
while the digester is provided with an overflow pipe to lead the sludge out into a drainage pit.

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  To understand the working of bio-gas generator or biogas plant, please refer the figure below.
Here are the various steps of working of bio-gas generator or biogas plant.

 In the mixing tank the water and cattle dung are mixed together thoroughly in the ratio of 1:1 to
form the slurry. This slurry is then transferred to the digester via inlet chamber up to the cylindrical
portion level of the digester.
 The fermentation of slurry starts in the digester
and biogas is formed, which is accumulated at the
top of the digester in the dome. Since the outlet
gas valve is closed, the bio-gas exerts pressure
on the slurry which starts moving in the inlet and
outlet chamber due to which the level of slurry
drops in digester and increases in the outlet
chamber.

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  If the biogas outlet valve is further kept closed, the level of slurry further drops in the digester. Due
to gas pressure the slurry reaches to highest possible level in the inlet and outlet chambers.

 If the gas valve is still kept closed the bio-gas will further get accumulated in the dome and its
pressure increases. Eventually, its pressure becomes high enough and it starts escaping through
the inlet and outlet chambers to the atmosphere. During its escape the biogas creates bubbles in
the slurry in inlet and outlet chambers and there is also formation of froth.

 The increase in the volume of slurry in the inlet and outlet chambers helps you calculate the
amount of biogas generated within the digester.

 If you want to use the biogas, you can open the valve of the gas pipe and remove it as per the
requirement for various applications. When the gas is taken out from the dome, the level of slurry
in the digester increases while the level in inlet and outlet valves reduces.

 When the gas is not being used from the dome of the digester, the levels of slurry in the inlet and
outlet chambers will be high and the intake of the fresh slurry in the digester is reduced.

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 In the past, floating-drum plants were mainly built in India.

Floating-drum plants consist of an underground digester and a moving gas-

holder.

The gas-holder floats either directly on the fermentation slurry or in a water

jacket of its own.

The gas is collected in the gas drum, which rises or moves down, according to
the amount of gas stored.

The gas drum is prevented from tilting by a guiding frame.

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  The drum in which the biogas collects has an internal and/or external guide frame that
provides stability and keeps the drum upright.

 If biogas is produced, the drum moves up, if gas is consumed, the gas-holder sinks back.

 A common Floating drum type biogas power plant in India was suggested by Khadi and
Village Industries Commission (KVIC)

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 A fixed-dome plant consists of a digester with a fixed, non-movable gas holder, which
sits on top of the digester.

 When gas production starts, the slurry is displaced into the compensation tank.

 Gas pressure increases with the volume of gas stored and the height difference
between the slurry level in the digester and the slurry level in the compensation tank.

 There are also no rusting steel parts and hence a long life of the plant (20 years or
more) can be expected.

 The plant is constructed underground, protecting it from physical damage and saving
space.

 While the underground digester is protected from low temperatures at night and
during cold seasons, sunshine and warm seasons take longer to heat up the digester
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  No day/night fluctuations of temperature in the digester positively influence
the bacteriological processes.
 The Janata model is the basic fixed dome type plant in India, was developed
by Planning Research and Action Division, Lucknow in 1978.
 It is the first fixed dome plant based on Chinese technology.

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Gaurav Srivastava
  The mixing tank is fed by the biomass and water for making the feed slurry by stirring with the
stirrer.

 The slurry is fed into the digester through also for mixing the slurry.

 There is the stirrer arrangement in the digester also for mixing the slurry.

 The generated biogas is collected in the fixed dome type upper half of the digester tank and
through the outlet pipe the gas is delivered to the consumer side.

 The residual spent slurry is discharged out from the digester and used as manure.

 This spent slurry is discharge by opening the damper attached with the discharge window.

 Depending on the shape of the Digester Dome there may be variation of the type of biogas plant.

 In the case of Fixed Dome type plant the upper dome is fixed.

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Gaurav Srivastava
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  The site should facilitate easy construction works and should be such that the construction cost is
minimized.

 The selected site should ensure easy operation and maintenance activities like feeding of plant, use of
main gas valve, composing and use of slurry, checking of gas leakage, draining condensed water from
pipeline etc.

 To make plant easier to operate and avoid wastage of raw materials, especially the dung/swine manure,
plant must be as close as possible to the cattle shed.

 The site should be in slightly higher elevation than the surrounding. This helps in avoiding water
logging. This also ensures free flow of slurry from overflow outlet to the composting pit.

 For effective functioning of bio-digesters, right temperature (20-35°C) has to be maintained inside the
digester. Therefore it is better to avoid damp and cool place.

 Select the open sunny site to get the maximum efficiency of the Biogas Plant.

 Select the site near the kitchen to avoid condensation and other problems.

 Select the size according to your waste generation, availability of area and use

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  Keep the Biogas Plant with care.

 Keep the outlet of slurry as per your convenience to collect and handle the rich slurry for manure.

 Provide some container/chamber/channel to collect and use the slurry from outlet

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 It has very high Cost of obtaining bio-energy through plantations is lesser
than cost of obtaining energy from fossil fuels.
 Plant ensure a continuous supply of energy due to their continuous growth
 Combustion of bio-masses does not cause SO2-air pollution since the
content of Sulphur in vegetable is even less than 0.1%.
 Growth of bio-mass consumes more CO2 than is released during
combustion besides producing the atmosphere- purifying oxygen as a
product of the photosynthesis process.
 Biomass is a perennial and low polluting type of energy.
 All its by-product are capable of being recycled.

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  Demerits:
 Accumulation of water in the pipe line and need to remove it at periodic
intervals.
 Inefficient designing of gas appliance.
 Seasonal variation in gas production due to lack of temperature control
and poor insulation of plant.
 On absolute basis, the cost of biomass energy is found to be generally
than a coal based plant.

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  Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) is a process or technology for
producing energy by harnessing the temperature differences (thermal
gradients) between ocean surface waters and deep ocean waters.
 Energy from the sun heats the surface water of the ocean.
 In tropical regions, surface water can be much warmer than deep water.
 This temperature difference can be used to produce electricity and to
desalinate ocean water.
 Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) systems use a temperature
difference (of at least 77° Fahrenheit) to power a turbine to produce electricity.

Gaurav Srivastava
Gaurav Srivastava
  Warm surface water is pumped through an evaporator containing
a working fluid.
 The vaporized fluid drives a turbine/generator.
 The vaporized fluid is turned back to a liquid in a condenser
cooled with cold ocean water pumped from deeper in the ocean.
 OTEC systems using seawater as the working fluid can use the
condensed water to produce desalinated water.

Gaurav Srivastava
  The water temperature differences between the warm and cold layers must be at
least twenty degrees different. As the ocean goes away from land, it creates a slope
leading to deep water that is warm on top and cold down deep.
 This is the perfect place for the ocean thermal energy conversion process. The
different temperatures between the two layers of the ocean are very common in
tropical climates, and these areas make the perfect locations for OTEC plants to be
effective and efficient. Ocean thermal energy conversion can be done using several
different systems.
 Three of the most common methods for the OTEC process are a closed cycle
system, a hybrid cycle system, and an open cycle system.
 The oceans are thus a vast renewable resource, with the potential to help us
produce billions of watts of electric power. This potential is estimated to be about 1013
watts of base-load power generation, according to some experts.
 The cold, deep seawater used in the OTEC process is also rich in nutrients, and it
can be used to culture both marine organisms and plant life near the shore or on
land. All OTEC plants require an expensive, large diameter intake pipe, which is
submerged a kilometre or more into the ocean's depths, to bring very cold water to
the surface.
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  Depending on the location:
 Land-Based and Near-Shore Facilities:
 Land-based and near-shore facilities offer three main advantages over those
located in deep water.
 Plants constructed on or near land do not require sophisticated mooring,
lengthy power cables, or the more extensive maintenance associated with
open-ocean environments.
 They can be installed in sheltered areas so that they are relatively safe from
storms and heavy seas.

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  Shelf based plant:
 A shelf-mounted plant could be built in a shipyard, towed to the site, and
fixed to the sea bottom.
 This type of construction is already used for offshore oil rigs.
 The additional problems of operating an OTEC plant in deeper water,
however, may make shelf-mounted facilities less desirable and more
expensive than their land-based counterparts.
 Floating plant:
 Floating OTEC facilities could be designed to operate off-shore.
 This type of plant is more difficult to stabilize, and the difficulty of mooring
it in very deep water may create problems with power delivery.

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  Open Cycle-Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OC-OTEC) system has a
merit to use a heat exchanger of direct contact type without a heat transfer
tube.
 Therefore, it is expected that the capital cost of OC-OTEC is reduced by use
of this simply designed heat exchanger.
 However, non-condensable gas is released in the system, because in a direct
contact evaporator, the steam driving a turbine is generated by surface sea
water including air, and existing air causes a reduction of system
performance.
 From the above point of view, we carried out an experimental study on the
operating characteristics and the effect of structure of a heat exchanger and
the existence of non-condensable gas on the performance of a direct contact
heat exchanger in an experimental apparatus of barometric type OC-OTEC.

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  Open-cycle OTEC uses warm surface water directly to make electricity.
 The warm seawater is “flashed evaporated” into a low-pressure container,
which causes it to boil.
 In some schemes, the expanding steam drives a low-pressure turbine
attached to an electrical generator.

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  In an open-cycle OTEC system, warm seawater is the working fluid.

 The warm seawater is “flash”-evaporated in a vacuum chamber to produce

steam at an absolute pressure of about 2.4 kilopascals (kPa).

 The steam expands through a low-pressure turbine that is coupled to a

generator to produce electricity.

 The steam exiting the turbine is condensed by cold seawater pumped from
the ocean’s depths through a cold-water pipe.

 If a surface condenser is used in the system, the condensed steam remains

separated from the cold seawater and provides a supply of desalinated water.
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  In the closed cycle. Low boiling liquid such as Freon or ammonia is the
working fluid. The fluid is evaporated using the warm surface sea water. After
the vapour drives the turbine, it is condensed by cold sea water. This
condensate is pumped back to the evaporated.
 The heat of surface of the water having temperature from 270 C to 300C is
transferred to the evaporator.
 Warm surface water vaporizes ammonia. Ammonia vapour produces work
while expanding in turbine.
 In closed-cycle OTEC, a working fluid with a low-boiling point, such as
ammonia or propane, is circulated. Warm, surface seawater is pumped
through a heat exchanger where the working fluid is vaporized and driven
through a turbine, which then generates electricity. Cold, deep seawater is
then pumped through a second heat exchanger where the working fluid vapor
condenses back into a liquid and is recycled through the system.

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  Closed-cycle systems use fluid with a low boiling point, such as ammonia,
Freon-12, butane to power a turbine to generate electricity.
 Warm surface seawater is pumped through a heat exchanger which acts
as boiler to vaporize the fluid at high pressure.

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  If a heat source is at a high temperature and heat sink at low temperature, then this temperature
difference can be utilized in prime mover (turbine) that can convert part of the heat into mechanical
energy and then into electrical energy. The residual heat is discharges to the sink.

 the maximum possible efficiency of a heat engine working between two temperature limits cannot
be more than that of a Carnot cycle operating between the same temperature limits.

 In the range of temperatures of warm water (T1) in the upper surface layer and cold water (T2) in
the depth of the tropical ocean, the Carnot cycle efficiency is given by
𝑇
η= 1 − 𝑇2
1

If T1 = 270C or T1 = 27+273 = 300 K

And T2 = 50C or T2 = 5+273 = 278 K

Then Carnot efficiency is η = 7.33%

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  The actual efficiency of an OTEC power plant is less than the Carnot cycle and it is given by ηOTEC= 𝐸𝐹 ∗ηc
where EF = Relative efficiency factor (0.4 to 0.6)

Example: Determine the overall efficiency of an OTEC plant if the temperature of warm water in the surface
layer is 30°C and temperature of cold water in the depth of the tropical ocean is 8°C. it can be assumed that the
relative efficiency factor EF of the power plant is 0.5.

Solution: Temperature of warm water T1 = 300C or T1 = 30+273 = 303 K

And temperature of cold water T2 = 80C or T2 = 8+273 = 281 K

Relative efficiency factor EF = 0.5

𝑇 281
Then efficiency of OTEC plant = η= (1 − 2 ) ∗ 100 = 1 − ∗ 100 = 7.26%
𝑇1 303

Overall efficiency of OTEC Plant = ηOTEC= 𝐸𝐹 ∗ηc = 0.5*0.0726 = 0.0363 = 3.63%

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 We can measure the value of an ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) plant and
continued OTEC development by both its economic and noneconomic benefits.
OTEC's economic benefits include these:
 Helps produce fuels such as hydrogen, ammonia, and methanol

 Produces baseload electrical energy

 Has significant potential to provide clean, cost-effective electricity for the future.
 Produces desalinated water for industrial, agricultural, and residential uses
 Is a resource for on-shore and near-shore mariculture operations
 Provides air-conditioning for buildings
 Provides moderate-temperature refrigeration
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  OTEC's noneconomic benefits, which help us achieve global environmental goals,
include these:
 Promotes competitiveness and international trade
 Enhances energy independence and energy security
 Promotes international sociopolitical stability
 Has potential to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions resulting from burning fossil
fuels.

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 Demerits:
 At greater distance the transmission cost of electricity is increased.
 OTEC plant has several limitations and techno-economic constraints.
Hence, their commercial prospects are quite uncertain.
Plant is subjected to ocean streams and high waves. It is subjected to very
high stresses.
Salts get deposited in pipes and equipment, therefore maintenance is
difficult.
Plant size is limited to about 100MW due to large size of component.
 OTEC technology is in infant stage.
 OTEC technology is costly and difficult.
 Corrosion of metal parts due to saline water.
Algae grow in pipes and obstructs water flow.

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Gaurav Srivastava
  Tidal power exploits the movement of water caused by tidal currents or the rise and fall in sea
levels due to the tides.
 Although not yet widely used, it has potential for future electricity generation and is more
predictable than wind energy and solar power.
 The technology required to harness tidal energy is well established; however, it remains
expensive and there are relatively few applications – around 40 – worldwide.
 Ocean tides are produced by gravitational forces of sun and moon.
 There are only a few sites in the world where tidal energy can be suitable harnessed.
 The bay of Funday Canada having 17-18m high tides has a potential of 5000 MW of power
generation.
 In India, Gulf of Bombay, Gulf of Kutch and the sunder ban delta are the tidal power sites.

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 Tidal power generation also known as tidal energy is a renewable energy source that
relies on the tides to generate electricity.
 As you may or may not know the tides are created by the gravitational pull of the
moon and to a lesser extent the sun.
 Changes in water level which affect tidal currents are a result of gravitational
attraction.
 The power of the tide in a specific location is caused by changing positions of the
moon and sun, effects of Earth’s rotation, and the shape of the sea floor and
coastline.

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  Tidal power can be classified into three generating methods
 A tidal Steam Generator
 A tidal barrage
 Dynamic Tidal Power

This way is much less efficient than the other method though
which ebb tidal power generation

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 Tidal stream generator
 Tidal stream generators (or TSGs) make use of the kinetic energy of moving
water to power turbines, in a similar way to wind turbines that use moving air.
 This method is gaining in popularity because of the lower cost and lower
ecological impact compared to tidal barrages.

Tidal barrage
Tidal barrages make use of the potential energy in the difference in height (or
head) between high and low tides.
 Barrages are essentially dams across the full width of a tidal estuary, and suffer
from very high civil infrastructure costs, a worldwide shortage of viable sites and
environmental issues.

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 Dynamic tidal power
 Dynamic tidal power (or DTP) exploits an interaction between potential and
kinetic energies in tidal flows.
 It proposes that (for example: 30–50 km length) dams be built from coasts
straight out into the sea or ocean, without enclosing an area.
 Tidal phase differences are introduced by the presence and dimensions of the
dam, which is not negligible in size compared to the local tidal wavelength.
 This leads to hydraulic head differences across the dam. Turbines in the dam are
used to convert power (6–15 GW per dam).
 In shallow coastal seas featuring strong coast-parallel oscillating tidal currents
such as found in the UK, China and Korea, a significant water level differential (of
at least 2–3 meters) would appear across the dam.

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  This is the simplest system to generate tidal power. This scheme has
only one basin which is separated from the sea by a dam.
 The sluiceway is opened during high tide to fill the basin, and used to
empty the basin during the low tides.
 The water during high tides is first trapped in basin and then allowed to
escape during the period of low tides.
 The water while escaping to run a hydraulic turbine coupled to a
generator.
 In such systems the power house is situated at the mouth of basin. The
hydraulic turbine in the power house only operates during the
discharge of water from the basin during ebb tide.

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 We also have double cycle system in which the power generation is affected
during the ebb as well as flood tides.
 The direction of flow through the turbine during the ebb and flood tides
alternates and generation of power is accomplished, both during the filling and
emptying of basin.

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 This system has two basins at different levels and a dam is provided in between
these basins as shown in figure.
 One basin is filled at high tide and the other is emptied at low tide. Turbines are
placed between the basins.
 Two-basin schemes offer advantages over normal schemes in that generation time
can be adjusted with high flexibility and it is also possible to generate almost
continuously.

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  When the water level in upper basin is maximum during high tide the
inlet sluice is closed and the level of water in lower basin keeps on
rising due to discharge of water by the turbine.
 When the level of water in lower basin equals during the ebb tide, the
outlet sluice is opened and it is closed when the water level reaches to
its minimum level. This cycle is repeated, which is responsible for
rotation of turbine.
 Two-basin schemes are very expensive to construct due to the cost of
the extra length of barrage.

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  Merits:
 Very less area is required because they are on bays.
 It is free from pollution as it does not use any fuel.
 It is much superior to hydro power plant as it is totally depend of rain
which always fluctuates year to year.
 It does not produce any unhealthy waste like gases, ash, refuse etc.
 Tidal power has unique capacity to meet the peak power demand
effectively when it works in combination with thermal and hydro system.

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  The following are some of the limitations of tidal power that should be
looked upon with utmost care.
 Tidal power is not all cost effective as it seems to be in the first place
compared to natural gas and coal plants generating power. More so, the
power stations in turn also add up to the carbon content of the atmosphere
as fossil fuel is needed to run these power stations. Besides, wild life is
displaced from their regular habitat.
 Tidal power cannot be generated inland and can be used where there is
appropriate wave motion or tidal flow. It can only produce electricity when
there is a tidal surge, not every time.

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  Barrage system of tidal power generation requires a lot of
maintenance and salt resistant parts.
 These barrages disrupt fish migration and at the same time kill some of
them while they try to pass through the turbine frames.
 Besides, they disrupt the movement of ships through channels on which
barrage is built.
 Tidal power is limited, as the tide never slows down or speeds up
and at the same time occurs in cycles of 6 hours.
 Besides, tidal power is also dependent on fetch distance and hardly any
suitable fetch distance is available and wherever available, the cost rises
to almost 1.2 billion in setting up the facility.

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  Changes the hydrology and salinity.
 Marine life is affected.
 Changes environmental climate.
 Responsible for lost of some spices.

Gaurav Srivastava