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 *

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