Analysis of a power generation system based on the internal combustion engine with produced syngas fuel from municipal solid waste with the Monte Carlo method

Abstract

In recent years, access to clean energy sources has been a critical issue for sustainable development. The availability of energy resources and the problems associated with fossil fuels moved us toward biomass. Municipal solid waste (MSW) is a type of biomass that may be used as a raw material for energy production. The small-scale downdraft gasification was combined with an internal combustion engine power production and applied to reform municipal solid waste to energy in the shapes of electricity power and heat. A qualified thermo-equilibrium model has been presented for forecasting a composition and an amount of syngas and outputs of char and tar discharged throughout a gasification. An integrated model is validated, and experiments are accomplished to obtain relations and parameters for modeling. Also, in this research, a method for estimating the capacity factor of waste-to-energy power plants has been developed. Available data from waste decomposition in an area present that its contentment, involving a mass fractions of a food, plastic, and paper, varies seasonally and daily. A probability distribution functions of a MSW physical analysis are calculated roughly from source. A Monte Carlo simulation is applied for linking the MSW content stochastic nature with the plant operation and simulation, modeled by MATLAB R2019a. The mean value of net power, syngas composition, flow rate, and ash flow rate for all systems was obtained using the Monte Carlo method. The results indicated that the system had a 33.53 Nm³ h⁻¹ syngas flow rate, 0.8366 kg h⁻¹ ash flow rate, 10.35 kW generated power, and 0.985 power factor.