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ISSN:2325-6192 (print)
ISSN:2325-6206 (online)
Journal of Environmental Accounting and Management
António Mendes Lopes (editor), Jiazhong Zhang(editor)
António Mendes Lopes (editor)

University of Porto, Portugal

Email: aml@fe.up.pt

Jiazhong Zhang (editor)

School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province 710049, China

Fax: +86 29 82668723 Email: jzzhang@mail.xjtu.edu.cn

Technical and Economical Assessment of Biomass Potential for Power Production: A Study in the South of Italy

Journal of Environmental Accounting and Management 4(3) (2016) 287--299 | DOI:10.5890/JEAM.2016.09.004

Antonio Messineo$^{1}$, Davide Bonasera$^{1}$, Roberto Volpe$^{1}$, Simona Messineo$^{2}$, Antonino Marvuglia$^{3}$

$^{1}$ Facoltà di Ingegneria e Architettura, Università degli Studi di Enna Kore, Cittadella Universitaria, Enna, 94100, Italy

$^{2}$ Siciliacque S.p.A., Via Gioacchino di Marzo, Palermo, 90144, Italy

$^{3}$ Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), ERIN - Environmental Research & Innovation Department, 5, avenue des Hauts-Fourneaux, L-4362 Esch sur Alzette, Luxembourg

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Abstract

The use of biomass, among the various forms of renewable energy, has assumed a key role in the current European Union agenda. In 2005 the European Commission launched a “biomass action plan” in order to promote the development of biomass energy from wood, waste and agricultural crops and stimulate economic activities in rural areas. Among the various types of biomass, agroforestry residues are the prevalent amount in the country and the most readily available. However their use, in the production of electricity or in a cogeneration form, has not taken off for small plants. The main problems are related to the local availability of the resource, to logistics problems, to the purchase price and to the reliability of conversion technologies. This paper aims to analyze the residual agroforestry biomass (herbaceous and woody) in the administrative province of the city of Enna (Italy) and to evaluate the financial viability of a small gasification plant (<1 MWe) with and without cogeneration. The support of a Geographic Information System (GIS) is used to identify the suitable areas for biomass exploitation and optimal localization of the conversion plants using a multi-criteria analysis based on different measures. The financial viability was evaluated for different scenarios based on investment costs, management costs and revenues from the selling of electricity for different plant sizes and number of yearly operational hours.

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