Study of a cogeneration plant for agro-food industry

A technical and economic feasibility study for a natural gas fueled cogeneration plant was conducted in an important Italian pasta and animal feed factory. The layout analysis pointed out three main divisions; in each division electric and thermal users were pointed out and their effective energy consumption and power demand rate was monitored. A technical feasibility analysis was then carried out to determine the type and scale of the possible Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants focusing on Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs) and gas turbine based power plants. The actual energy costs were evaluated on the base of the energy bills for the biennium 1996–97 while the detailed economic feasibility analysis was conducted on the base of the offers received from manufacturers on the market. The results obtained show the possibility to have low payback periods and appealing internal rate of returns when investing on ICEs based CHP plants covering the entire electric demand and partially fulfilling the thermal needs of the factory.