SmartCHP project
SmartCHP project
The EU-funded SmartCHP project will design and build a novel small-scale cogeneration engine to produce heat and electricity from biomass. This will help boost the use of renewables in the electricity and heating & cooling sectors, and make the European energy system smarter, cleaner, more flexible, secure, cost-competitive and efficient.
Currently, the vast majority of cogeneration plants use natural gas and fossil fuels as their primary sources. The SmartCHP system will provide a suitable solution for hospitals, universities, municipal buildings and countless industrial users that would like to have an efficient alternative to fossil sources.
With a market potential of €4 billion, and an estimated 85 to 95% less Greenhouse Gas emissions compared to fossil fuels, the installation of the SmartCHP technology in Europe can bring new jobs, more renewables and help mitigate climate change.
The main technical novelty is the use of fast pyrolysis bio-oil from lignocellulosic biomass (agroforestry residues and organic waste) in a converted diesel engine. This kind of engine has been chosen for its high electrical efficiency (more than 40%). It will be designed to have high flexibility, meaning that it can easily operate with different loads and produce more electricity or more heat as demand changes.
The use of bio-oil rather than solid biomass and the integration of a boiler will make it possible to rapidly adjust the fuel load, ensuring resource efficiency and a highly flexible ratio of heat and power generation (from 1:1 up to 10:1).
Fast pyrolysis has been chosen in SmartCHP because it enables a wide range of difficult-to-handle biomass – such as verge grass, bark and husks – to be transformed into a clean and uniform bio-oil, which is easy to store and use for bioenergy. Currently, there are two commercial pyrolysis plants, in Finland and the Netherlands, and more are in the pipeline. The sustainability of the bio-oil used for SmartCHP is guaranteed by the new Renewable Energy Directive, which introduced sustainability criteria concerning biodiversity, emissions and low indirect land-use change that will apply to all pyrolysis bio-oil.
The project can also play a fundamental role in securing the electricity supply from renewables. As the SmartCHP system is hybrid, it can be integrated with variable renewables, such as wind and solar. When the electricity provided by wind and sun is unavailable, the engine starts working on biomass, compensating for fluctuating energy sources.
One of the main challenges of the project is that pyrolysis bio-oil is more corrosive and thicker than diesel, and contains more water, making it more difficult to ignite. SmartCHP project partners will work on modifications to the engine and in particular the ignition system to overcome this issue.
At the end of the project, partners will build a demonstration cogeneration unit (100 – 1,000 kWe) that combines an engine and a flue gas boiler, capable of running continuously for up to 500 hours in realistic conditions.
SmartCHP was launched in June 2019 by ten partners including European industrial companies, Universities and innovation experts, under the coordination of BTG Biomass Technology Group. It will run for 48 months.