Assessment of pollutants emission of two residential micro-CHP systems

In this work the characterization of pollutants emission of two different commercial prime movers producing electricity and heat during the cold season for a multi-apartment housing situated in Italy is addressed. In particular, an internal combustion engine and a microturbine, both fed by natural gas, have been analyzed separately. For each prime mover, the emission of CO2, CO and NOx resulting from two different optimized operation modes are reported and discussed. The results show that the micro-CHP system with the internal combustion engine as prime mover involves a marked augmentation of dangerous CO and NOX emissions on a local scale.