Title: An environmental and economic evaluation of the lignite power generation system by using the life cycle analysis principles

Authors: Dimitrios-Sotirios Kourkoumpas; Georgios Stamatiou; Sotirios Karellas; Panagiotis Grammelis; Emmanuel Kakaras

Addresses: Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Chemical Process and Energy Resources Institute, 52 Egialias str, Maroussi, 15125 Athens, Greece; Laboratory of Steam Boilers and Thermal Plants, National Technical University of Athens, Heroon 9 Polytechniou str, Zografou 15780, Athens, Greece ' Laboratory of Steam Boilers and Thermal Plants, National Technical University of Athens, Heroon 9 Polytechniou str, Zografou 15780, Athens, Greece ' Laboratory of Steam Boilers and Thermal Plants, National Technical University of Athens, Heroon 9 Polytechniou str, Zografou 15780, Athens, Greece ' Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Chemical Process and Energy Resources Institute, 52 Egialias str, Maroussi, 15125 Athens, Greece ' Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Chemical Process and Energy Resources Institute, 52 Egialias str, Maroussi, 15125 Athens, Greece; Laboratory of Steam Boilers and Thermal Plants, National Technical University of Athens, Heroon 9 Polytechniou str, Zografou 15780, Athens, Greece

Abstract: The present study aims to evaluate the power generation system based on the lignite fuel in environmental and economic terms. Three alternative firing cases are examined: 1) raw lignite firing; 2) 30% pre-dried lignite co-firing; 3) 6% biomass co-firing case. The implementation of the life cycle analysis (LCA) methodology proves that the overall environmental footprint can be decreased by as much as 4.5% in the case of pre-dried lignite co-firing, while the lignite mining activities represent about 32% of the total. The implementation of the life cycle costing (LCC) methodology indicates that the total electricity generation cost is decreased by about 0.92 €/MWhe in the case of pre-dried lignite co-firing and about 1.22 €/MWhe in the case of biomass co-firing. A sensitivity analysis based on the total net electric efficiency, the raw lignite composition, the CAPEX-OPEX of the power plant, the biomass direct fuel cost and the external cost of CO2 was carried out, in order to identify the range of the results depending on the impact of each parameter.

Keywords: life cycle analysis; LCA; life cycle costing; LCC; global warming; lignite; externalities; Greece.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGW.2017.087200

International Journal of Global Warming, 2017 Vol.13 No.3/4, pp.296 - 329

Received: 14 Sep 2015
Accepted: 14 Dec 2015

Published online: 11 Oct 2017 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article