Xergy analysis and multiobjective optimization of a biomass gasification-based multigeneration system

Abstract

Biomass gasification is the process of converting biomass into a combustible gas suitable for use in boilers, engines, and turbines to produce combined cooling, heat, and power. This paper presents a detailed model of a biomass gasification system and designs a multigeneration energy system that uses the biomass gasification process for generating combined cooling, heat, and electricity. Energy and exergy analyses are first applied to evaluate the performance of the designed system. Next, the minimizing total cost rate and the maximizing exergy efficiency of the system are considered as two objective functions and a multiobjective optimization approach based on the differential evolution algorithm and the local unimodal sampling technique is developed to calculate the optimal values of the multigeneration system parameters. A parametric study is then carried out and the Pareto front curve is used to determine the trend of objective functions and assess the performance of the system. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis is employed to evaluate the effects of the design parameters on the objective functions. Simulation results are compared with two other multiobjective optimization algorithms and the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by using various key performance indicators.