CFD study of compost waste heat for use in a hybrid solar tower

Abstract

The goal of this research is to use Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to numerically investigate the heat transfer associated with the waste heat released from using compost to assist the flow in a solar chimney. The novelty of the current research is the hybrid aspect of using a solar chimney in conjunction with compost waste heat to enhance the performance of the solar chimney. Additionally, the hybrid device will use photovoltaics stored on the roof of the solar chimney to generate electricity. Many CFD studies are available in the literature regarding the optimization of the solar chimney, which indicate that the power generation of the chimney is directly proportional to the height of the chimney, as well as the diameter of the base of the chimney. The new contribution of our present research will be in using CFD to quantify and match empirical data for the release of heat from a composting pile, which is the key piece of technology in converting the composting waste heat into usable renewable energy. Preliminary feasibility studies have been performed by the authors indicate the hybrid solar chimney concept to be viable, i.e. a 300 m tall tower will generate approximately 40 kW, which is in qualitative and quantitative agreement with other archived published studies.