Energy Conversion and Management 63 (2012) 196–202

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Energy Conversion and Management

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The role of cogeneration systems in sustainability of energy

Uğur Çakir a, Kemal Çomakli b,⇑, Fikret Yüksel c
a
Mechanical Engineering Department, Bayburt University, Bayburt, Turkey
b
Mechanical Engineering Department, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey
c
Energy Systems Engineering Department, Yalova University, Yalova, Turkey

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Cogeneration system (CHP) is one of the ways to save the energy and use the energy efficiently. When
Available online 9 April 2012 compared to separate fossil-fired generation of heat and electricity, CHP may result in a consistent energy
conservation (usually ranging from 10% to 30%) while the avoided CO2 emissions are, as a first approxi-
Keywords: mation, similar to the amount of energy saving. In terms of sustainability, one of the primary consider-
Cogeneration ations is energy efficiency. Sustainable energy is considered as a kind of energy which is renewable and
Sustainability continuous, meaning that the use of such energy can potentially be kept up well into the future without
Sustainable energy
causing harmful repercussions for future generations.
Energy saving
In this study, environmental benefits and sustainability aspects of cogeneration systems and impor-
tance of those systems to the use of sustainable energy are underlined. To support this idea, first we have
referred some scientific studies previously made on cogeneration systems and then we have used our
own case study. The case study made on gas engined cogeneration system was applied for a hospital
to show the sustainability aspects of cogeneration systems.
Crown Copyright Ó 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction and district heating/cooling applications offer us some proven, reli-

able, applicable and cost effective solutions which make very
Energy is essential to economic and social development and important contributions to meet global heat and electricity
improved quality of life. Much of the world’s energy, however, is demand. Because of energy supply efficiency, use of waste heat
currently produced and consumed in ways that could not be sus- and low carbon renewable energy resources of those systems, they
tained if technology were to remain constant and if overall quanti- are an important part of greenhouse gas emission reduction strat-
ties were to increase substantially [1]. Although the reserve of egies of the countries in the world. Cogeneration is the simulta-
energy resources in the world is tending to decrease, the amount neous production of power and usable heat by using one type of
of the energy needed by humanity is tending to increase. In addi- energy source such as oil, coal, natural gas, liquefied gas, biomass
tion, dependence of the humanity on using energy is increasing or the Sun. In most of the cogeneration applications, the energy
day by day due to the improving technology, rise in the life stan- types produced simultaneously are electric and heat energy. Gen-
dards of people in the world. This situation is becoming the most erally, those systems utilize the waste heat energy produced dur-
important and essential issue of the world. In general, there are ing electricity generation [2]. As a result, less fuel is required to
two ways to overcome this problem. One of them is to bring out produce a given amount of electrical and thermal energy in a single
and improve new and renewable energy sources such as solar or cogeneration unit than needed to generate the same quantities of
wind energy systems. The other way is to improve conventional both types of energy with separate, conventional technologies.
energy converting systems for using existing energy source more Cogeneration systems have some significant advantages due to
efficiently and for longer time, such as cogeneration systems. In their environmental aspects. That is to say, the increase in effi-
other words, people have to do their best to improve the sustain- ciency and corresponding decrease in fuel use by a cogeneration
ability of the energy resources. system, compared to other conventional processes for thermal
Although cogeneration is an old and proven energy conversion and electrical energy production, normally yield large reductions
system, in recent years a resurgence of interest has come into in greenhouse gas emissions. These reductions can be as large as
world of energetic issue because of the energy crisis that has taken 50% in some situations [3]. Cogeneration systems have economic
part in dockets of the countries in the world. Cogeneration systems advantages in many situations relative to separate processes for
thermal and electrical energy production. The costs for cogenera-
tion and non-cogeneration options are similar, but the other
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 442 231 48 49; fax: +90 442 236 09 57. advantages (less fuel use and greenhouse gases) can still make
E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (K. Çomakli). the cogeneration system to be preferred [4].

0196-8904/$ - see front matter Crown Copyright Ó 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2012.01.041
 U. Çakir et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 63 (2012) 196–202 197

resources [5]. Sustainability has become a wide-ranging term that

can be applied to almost every facet of life on Earth, from local to a
global scale and over various time periods. Invisible chemical cy-
cles redistribute water, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon through the
world’s living and non-living systems, and have sustained life since
the beginning of time. As the Earth’s human population has in-
creased, natural ecosystems have declined and changes in the bal-
ance of natural cycles have had a negative impact on both humans
and other living systems [6,7].
The terms sustainable and sustainability are used to describe
many different approaches toward improving our way of life. Sus-
tainability does not have a rigid definition. Sustainability means
renewing resources at a rate equal to or greater than the rate at
which they are consumed. In environmental terms, sustainability
implies that an action can be continued indefinitely with little, or
manageable, impact on the environment. Because the health of
the environment is closely linked with the health of society in gen-
eral, sustainable practices ensure that the Earth’s resources will be
available for future generations to enjoy, and that there will be an
Earth to enjoy them on. For this reason, many scientific studies fo-
cus on sustainability, either as consultants to other companies or
as part of their corporate mission [8].
In this study, environmental benefits and sustainability aspects
of cogeneration systems and importance of those systems to the
use of sustainable energy are underlined. To support this idea, first
we have referred some scientific studies previously made on
cogeneration systems and then we have used our own case study.
The case study made on gas engined cogeneration system was ap-
Fig. 1. Typical packaged internal combustion engine based (spark ignited) cogen- plied for a hospital to show the sustainability aspects of cogenera-
eration system [21,22].
tion systems.

Sustainability is a necessity to make sure that we will have the 2. Sustainable energy and cogeneration
capability to get the materials and resources which we need to pro-
tect human health and our environment. In a more general expres- Generally, sustainable energy is considered as a kind of energy
sion, sustainability is based on a simple principle: everything we which is renewable and continuous, meaning that the use of such
need for survival and well-being, either directly or indirectly de- energy can potentially be kept up well into the future without
pends on protecting our natural environment. Sustainability cre- causing harmful repercussions for future generations. A number
ates and maintains the conditions under which humans and of types of energy can be thought of as sustainable, and many gov-
nature can exist in productive harmony that permit fulfilling the ernments promote the use of sustainable energy and the develop-
social, economic and other requirements of present and future ment of new types of energy generating technology which fit with
generations. this model. Increase in the rates of energy consumption all around
Ecology means how biological systems remain diverse and pro- the world have led to a corresponding rise in concerns about where
ductive over time. For humans, sustainability is the potential for this energy comes from.
long-term maintenance of well-being, which has environmental, Several factors are effective on making energy sustainable. The
economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept first is whether or not the current use of the energy is something
of stewardship, the responsible planning and management of which could potentially persist into the future, which leads many

Fig. 2. Monthly thermal energy consumption of Aziziye Hospital throughout a year.

198 U. Çakir et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 63 (2012) 196–202

forms of renewable energy to be qualified as sustainable. People The use of heat pumps (especially electric driven) has formed a
can generate energy from windmills, waves, and the Sun without new area of research. Heat pumps can be used together with
consuming energy and resources. By contrast, fossil fuels are not cogeneration systems in some ways. Mancarella [13] proposed a
treated as sustainable because the Earth’s supplies of crude oil will novel approach to energy and CO2 emission modeling of cogenera-
eventually peter out. tion systems coupled to electric heat pumps. The specific objec-
In terms of sustainability, energy efficiency is another primary tives were to identify the relevant parameters and variables
consideration. Some forms of renewable energy, for example, are involved in the analysis of such composite systems, and to provide
sustainable in one sense, but researchers have yet to achieve a high a synthetic and indicative assessment of the energy and environ-
level of energy efficiency, meaning that for utilizing such types of mental benefits potentially brought with respect to conventional
energy, much more energy has to be consumed. Increasing the en- energy systems. The conditions at which energy and emission ben-
ergy efficiency is a vital way to make sustainable energy stretch efits occur, and their extent with respect to classical generation
further [8]. means, are illustrated through various numerical examples, high-
From this perspective, cogeneration systems can contribute to lighting the generality and effectiveness of the models introduced.
the sustainability of energy in two ways. One of them is to use A comparative parametric analysis was carried out in a small-scale
cogeneration systems together with some renewable energy con- combined heat and power plant incorporating a heat pump and the
version systems like solar systems or heat pumps. This way can conventional system in which heat is produced in a hot water boi-
be thought as a first-hand application for sustainability. There ler and electrical energy is drawn from the power grid by Malin-
are many studies on using cogeneration systems with renewable owska and Malinowski [14]. Relative exergetic efficiency is
systems in the open literature [9–20]. One of them was made by defined as the quotient of exergetic (rational) efficiencies of the
Thilak Raj et al. [9]. as a review study on renewable energy based cogeneration plant and the related conventional system. Depen-
on cogeneration technologies. That paper reviews the present dence of this efficiency on the power-to-heat ratio for chosen val-
day cogeneration technologies based on renewable sources of en- ues of parameters characterizing the compared systems is
ergy. In addition, study of novel methods, existing designs, theoret- calculated and shown pictorially.
ical and experimental analyses, modeling and simulation, Biomass based cogeneration systems are becoming widely pop-
environmental issues and economic and related energy policies ular and various researches have been carried out in this area. In
have been discussed in this study. this part of the study some examples for such technologies are pre-
One of the energy conversion applications which are suitable sented. Rafael Galvão et al. [15] presented the development of an
for being used together or as a cogeneration system is solar en- energy model based on a mixed system of renewable energy, with
ergy system. Solar energy can be importantly utilized for cogene- primary energy sources as solar and biomass. It was a hybrid and
ration systems and various such technologies have been autonomous system with solar PV panels and gasification cogene-
proposed. Using focusing collectors, solar energy can be converted ration technology. Also it was an environment friendly process
in a central power plant to electrical energy which can then be aiming to reduce the energy demand, costs and emissions. This en-
utilized to operate a vapor compression refrigerator to produce ergy model is a new sustainable standard about energy consump-
cooling. At the same time, the waste heat rejected by the heat en- tion efficiency (electrical and thermal demands) of a small hotel
gine can be used to drive an absorption refrigerator. This system building and a relevant contribution to certify the building in com-
is simply called a solar powered cogeneration system for air con- pliance with the laws of the country on the thermal performance of
ditioning and refrigeration and can play a dual role by saving en- buildings. Madlener and Bachhiesl [16] investigated the socio-eco-
ergy and reducing the environmental pollution. Göktun [10] nomic drivers of large urban biomass cogeneration sustainable en-
studied the solar power cogeneration system for air conditioning ergy supply for Austria’s capital Vienna. They provided a detailed
and refrigeration. By employing the energetic optimization tech- case study on Austria’s by far largest biomass cogeneration plant.
nique, the optimal performance of a focusing collector-driven, They described and analyzed the history of the project, putting par-
an irreversible Carnot cogeneration system for air conditioning ticular emphasis on the main driving forces and actors behind the
and refrigeration is investigated. A minimum value for the total entire project development process.
solar insolation needed to overcome internal irreversibilities for There are some other works in the literature on using cogenera-
start-up of the system is defined and the effect of the collector tion with different systems together to save more energy. In the
design parameters on this value is investigated. Hollick [11] made study made by Burer et al. [17] and named as Multi-criteria optimi-
a study on solar cogeneration panels which investigated the zation of a district cogeneration plant integrating a solid oxide fuel
method of combining photovoltaic cells with the transpired solar cell–gas turbine combined cycle, heat pumps and chillers; a simul-
air heater, constructed prototypes, measured the combined elec- taneous optimization of the design and operation of a district heat-
trical and thermal energies produced and compared the results ing, cooling and power generation plant supplying a small stock of
with single function reference panels. The results showed that residential buildings has been undertaken with regards to cost and
combining the PV cells with the transpired solar wall panels O2 emissions. The simulation of the plant considers a super struc-
can produce higher total combined solar efficiencies than either ture including a solid oxide fuel cell–gas turbine combined cycle, a
of the PV or thermal panels on their own. Lindenberger et al. compression heat pump, a compression chiller and/or an
[12] presented an article on optimization of solar district heating absorption chiller and an additional gas boiler. The Pareto-frontier
systems; seasonal storage, heat pumps, and cogeneration which obtained as the global solution of the optimization problem deliv-
focused onto demonstrate the working of deeco in a pilot housing ers the minimal CO2 emission rates, achievable with the technol-
project of the Bayerische Forschungsstiftung (Bavarian Research ogy considered for a given accepted investment, or respectively
Foundation). The quantitative results, i.e. the percentages of fossil the minimal cost associated with a given emission abatement com-
fuels saved and emissions reduced with the help of different tech- mitment. Miller and Duffey [18] made a study on sustainable and
nology combinations at different costs, are specific to the pilot economic hydrogen cogeneration from nuclear energy in competi-
project. On the other hand, the qualitative interdependencies be- tive power markets. In that paper, they first put the energy de-
tween energy conservation, emission mitigation and cost in- mands of transportation in context. Next, the fluctuating price of
creases revealed by deeco are likely to be the same in all electricity in an open market is used to cost distributed hydrogen
regional energy systems in moderate climates at the present level production using electrolysis. Finally, the cost of electrolytic
of energy prices. hydrogen is compared with other ways of supplying hydrogen to
 U. Çakir et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 63 (2012) 196–202 199

the dispersed vehicle market. Second one of the ways mentioned The Aziziye Hospital, the biggest and most prestigious hospital
above which contribute to the sustainability of energy is to use in Eastern Turkey, is located in Erzurum. Erzurum, with an altitude
conventional cogeneration systems. In contrast to the first way, of 1853 m, is the coldest city in Turkey. The air temperature may
conventional cogeneration systems which use fossil fuels (engined decrease to 30 to 40 °C in winter. Spring and autumn seasons
or with turbine) do not make a contribution to the sustainability are very short in Erzurum and summers are warm but not hot.
directly, but they contribute indirectly by decreasing the emissions Heating systems are run in the mid-October and stopped at the
of greenhouse gases in production of energy by using fossil fuels end of May in Erzurum [21]. Energy consumption or energy de-
and by offering efficient energy using. Overall cogeneration effi- mand of hospitals changes depending on official hours in day time
ciencies based upon both the thermal and electrical energy produc- and seasons or months during the whole year in Turkey. In day
tion of 80–90% are achievable [19]. In other words, since combined time, all of the medical devices and auxiliary equipments are in
heat and power systems involve the production of both thermal use and the number of patients is more than the night. There are
energy, generally in the form of steam or hot water, and electricity, two boiler systems at Aziziye Hospital, the first of these is steam
the efficiency of energy production can be increased above 90% in boiler, which is used to meet thermal energy demands at the kitch-
the combined power systems while in the conventional power en, laundry and hot tap water and the other one is red-hot water
plants current levels of energy production vary from 35% to 55%. boiler which is used for heating hospital. Steam boiler is run from
[20]. 07:00 to 19:00 every day during the whole year. Red-hot water
boiler is run for 24 h a day from October to May in the year. The
3. Case study capacities of boilers are 5,000,000 kCal/h for red-hot boiler and
3,500,000 kCal/h for vapor boiler.
The sustainable energy discussions in this article are illustrated
for the case of a natural gas fired cogeneration system at hospital. 3.2. Energy demands of the hospital
Cogeneration systems are designed depending on the energy
needed primarily. The energy that is aimed to be generated primar- The energy demand can be divided into two different types as
ily for hospitals is electricity since hospitals need for qualified elec- thermal demand, consisting of space heating, hot tap water, cook-
trical energy more than heating energy. The heat energy which ing and drying room. The second type of energy demand of the
comes into existence while electrical energy is being generated is hospital is electrical energy. Many air conditioning units are lo-
used to meet the required thermal demands of hospitals, including cated in the administrative offices, doctor’s offices as well as vari-
hot tap water production, laundry and kitchen. The size of the sys- ous laboratories at Aziziye Hospital but due to the climate
tem analyzed in this study is determined according to the maxi- conditions of the city, the wards do not contain air conditioning
mum power demand of the hospital (Power demands in February units at the hospital. In addition, as all operating rooms and inten-
as seen in Fig. 3) over a year by the help of catalogues of CAT sive care units have specific room-temperature requirements and
engines. are thus equipped with autonomous air conditioning systems,
the energy requirements of these environments are considered in
3.1. Hospital description and data electricity consumption. The hospital (herein referred to as con-
sumer) in this study has an annual consumption of 19,334,437
Because of the critical importance of hospitals to people, their kW h heat energy. To obtain this energy, the hospital consumes
energy source must be continuous and best qualified. Therefore, 2,016,104 m3 of natural gas. Fig. 2 illustrates the thermal energy
the installation of a system for the simultaneous generation of consumption profile of hospital over a year, calculated from the
electrical, heating and cooling energy would be the best solution monthly bills.
if we want to have qualified energy and reduce investment and Thermal energy demand of the hospital for space heating varies
operating costs and meet ecological requirements at hospitals. Sev- depending on the months of the year but the energy demand for
eral studies were made on designing cogeneration systems for hos- other requirements does not depend on the period of the year
pitals or other sites which are suitable for using those systems. but on time of the day. For that reason, the heat energy that is gen-
They find out different cogeneration alternatives and different erated or recovered from the system will be used to produce hot
applying and designing methods for hospitals. tap water used at the kitchen, laundry and bathrooms. That is to

Fig. 3. Monthly electrical energy consumption of Aziziye Hospital throughout the year.
200 U. Çakir et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 63 (2012) 196–202

Maximum (February) Table 1

1200 Specifications of G 3516 C engine.
Power demand (kW)

1000 Altitude (m) 500 1853

800 Minimum (July) Engine power (100% load-kW) 1656 1291

Gen. power (100% load-kW) 1584 1240
600 Engine eff. (100% load-%) 40,8
Thermal eff. (100% load-%) 44,5
400 Total eff. (100% load-%) 85,3
Engine speed (rpm) 1500 1500
200 July February

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Time Of Day maximum electrical power generation of the system will be
1240 kW [24]. General specifications of the engine selected from
Fig. 4. Monthly electrical energy consumption of Aziziye Hospital throughout the catalogues are shown in Table 1.
year.
Efficiency of reciprocating engines changes depending on their
running loads. For instance, when engine runs at full load (100%),
the efficiency comes to 36.7% but when it runs at 30% load the effi-
say, the heat energy gained from the cogeneration systems will be
ciency comes to 31%. Accordingly, the engine will not be permitted
used during the whole year and benefitting rate of the cogenera-
to run under 50% load since low efficiency increases the cost of
tion system will increase. Electrical energy consumption of the
produced energy depending on increasing fuel consumption.
hospital is shown in Fig. 2 according to months in a year. As seen
Due to the reasons mentioned above, we searched out about
in Fig. 3, July is the month when minimum electrical energy con-
two running modes of cogeneration system for the hospital. One
sumption occurs and February is the month when maximum elec-
of them is running the system for supplying only hospitals’ own
tricity is consumed.
electrical demands in different running loads from 50% to 100%.
Electrical demand of the hospital changes depending on the
System will not run under 50% loads and when the system stops,
time of the day due to the changing working hours during the year.
the electrical energy will be obtained from the network. At this
Fig. 4 shows the variant of electrical power demand of Aziziye Hos-
mode, the system will start when electrical demand of the hospital
pital depending on the time of day for July and February. As seen in
reaches 50% capacity of the engine and stop when it comes down
the figure, maximum power need in a day occurred in February
the 50% capacity of the engine. So we determined the all running
with 1161 kW and minimum one occurred in July with 722 kW
durations in different loads of the engine for different months of
during the whole year.
the year. Second mode is to run the system for 8000 h in a year
at full load and sell the extra generated electricity to the electrical
3.3. Gas engine cogeneration systems for hospital company. Cogeneration systems do not pose a problem in the case
of producing more electrical energy than required for one’s own
In general cogeneration plants are classified either as topping consumption since Turkish law is suitable for that. This extra en-
cycle or bottoming cycle. Firstly the energy of fuel is converted ergy must be absorbed by the electrical company. Moreover, these
to heat energy then it is converted to mechanical energy or trans- systems can represent not only a saving in power and costs for the
ferred to working fluid to drive prime mover linked to power gen- hospital, but also constitute a safeguard against possible failures in
erators of cogeneration system to generate electricity. The the electrical supply, reducing the external dependency.
remaining heat (waste heat) and the heat produced in prime mover In the first case of cogeneration, the engine will work in partial
are recovered for thermal processes in bottoming cycle. One of the loads between 50% and 100%, in the times when demand of the
most used prime movers of cogeneration systems is internal com- hospital is equal or higher than the 50% capacity of the system dur-
bustion engine which is operated according to Otto thermody- ing the year. In that case, the electrical energy produced by cogen-
namic cycle. The basic elements of a reciprocating internal eration system will be used only by the hospital and will not meet
combustion engine based cogeneration system are the engine, gen- the total demand of the hospital in the whole year since the system
erator, heat recovery system, exhaust system, automatic controls will not work under 50% running load. As a result, the hospital will
and acoustic enclosure. The generator is driven by the engine, benefit from Network system to meet its demand for electrical en-
and the useful heat is recovered from the engine exhaust and cool- ergy during the rest of the day as seen in Fig. 5 and Table 2.
ing systems [23]. The architecture of a typical packaged internal The heat and electrical energy balance of the system for that
combustion engine based cogeneration system is shown in Fig. 1. working case is shown in Table 3. As seen on the table, cogenera-
tion cannot meet the total annual electricity demand of the hospi-
4. Results tal and some amount of electric should be bought from network.
CHP unit does not work efficiently in this working case because
In this section, for a natural gas fired engined cogeneration sys- of the efficiency decreasing fewer than 50% loads. Additionally, to-
tem at a hospital, the results of the analysis are presented and dis- tal annual heat and electrical energy demand of the hospital can be
cussed here. To determine the power demands, we measured the seen on that table. Annual energy consumption of the hospital is
electricity consumption of the hospital for each hour during 10 3,676,441 kW h. Annual total heat energy demand of the hospital
days for every month then we got the graphics of average daily is 19,334,437 kW h and the hospital meets this thermal energy
power changes for every month similar to Fig. 4. According to these by using 2,016,104 m3 natural gas. Although the cogeneration sys-
graphics, we reached the months which have maximum and min- tem does not run all over the year, big portion of electricity can be
imum average daily power needs for the hospital. Depending on met by cogeneration. With this working case of cogeneration,
these demands, we selected the type of engine with 1656 kW nearly 68% of electrical demand can be met by cogeneration. Total
mechanical capacities. Engine capacity was selected higher than natural gas consumption of the hospital has increased from
demand because of the losses due to shaft (4%) and altitude factor. 2,016,104 m3 to 2,472,453 m3 but if we handle the issue in a wider
Efficiency of the system may decrease approximately 22% (0.78) perspective, total energy using efficiency of the hospital has in-
because of the altitude effect in Erzurum (1853 m). Therefore, creased. Therefore, the energy resources used for the hospital have
 U. Çakir et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 63 (2012) 196–202 201

Fig. 5. Working situation of cogeneration system at different loads depend on the demand variety of hospital.

Table 2
Working properties of G 3519 C in first running mode.

Working load (%) 50–60 60–70 70–80 80–90 90–100 100 Total
Mechanic Power (kW) 828 993.6 1159.2 1324.8 1490.4 1656 –
Electric Power (kW) 602 722.4 842.8 963.2 1083.6 1204 –
Engine Efficiency (%) 38.3 39.72 39.74 40.24 40.52 40.8 –
Total working duration (h) 874.9 1023.6 574.6 429.6 72.8 0 2975.5
Produced Electricity (MW h) 601 831 538 456 87 0 2513
Gained heat energy (MW h) 533 710 444 367 675 0 1697

Table 3
decreased. However, electrical energy that the hospital gets from
Working conditions of system for first working case (2976 h/year at network has decreased.
different loads). In the second case of cogeneration with gas engines CAT G 3516
Engine type G 3516 C
C, the system will work in most of the year with 8000 h at full load,
avoiding working at partial load. For that case, the heat and electric-
Working time in a year (h) 2976
ity balance in a year is shown in Table 4. Some amount of the heat
Running load (%) 50–100 energy will be met by the system and the rest of it will be produced
Electricity by the conventional boiler system. In day time, all of the heat en-
Total demand (kW h) 3,676,441 ergy produced by cogeneration system will be used by the hospital.
Produced by CHP (kW h) 2,512,696
Obtained from network (kW h) 1,163,745
All of the electricity demand of the hospital will be met by cogene-
ration system for the whole year except for repairing time of CHP. In
Heat
Total demand (kW h) 19,334,437
this case, the cogeneration system will produce the electric energy
Generated by CHP (kW h) 2,880,913 more than needed by the hospital. The big portion of the heat
Generated from Boiler (KW h) 16,453,524 energy the hospital uses will be met by cogeneration system.
Gas consumption by CHP (m3) 756,757 Total energy consumption of the hospital is 23,010,878 kW h
Gas consumption by boiler (m3) 1,715,696
(3,676,441 kW h for electrical and 19,334,437 kW h for thermal).
As seen on the tables presented here, total natural gas consump-
Total gas consumption (m3) 2,472,453
tion increases with cogeneration system, but the efficiency of en-
ergy conversion increases, too. In the first case (running under
partial loads), total fuel consumption of the hospital has increased
Table 4 from 2,016,104 m3 to the 2,472,453 m3 with a difference of
Working conditions of Cogeneration system for first 456,349 m3. In the second case (running under full load all over
running mode (8000 h/year at full load). the year), total fuel consumption of the hospital has increased
Engine type G 3516 C from 2,016,104 m3 to the 3,764,664 m3 with a difference of
1,748,560 m3. Total efficiency of cogeneration system becomes
Working time in a year 8000 h
75% for the first running mode and 81% for the second one.
Running load (%) 100
Electricity
Total demand (kW h) 3,676,441 5. Conclusions
Produced by CHP (kW h) 9,632,000
Used by hospital (kW h) 3,676,441
Sold to network (kW h) 5,955,559 It is known that cogeneration systems are very important due to
their technical efficiency, reliability and economical aspects for en-
Heat
Total demand (kW h) 19,334,437 ergy conversion applications. Since they provide with the primary
Recovered from CHP (kW h) 11,264,800 energy savings and have high efficiency levels and decrease the
Generated by Boiler (KW h) 8,069,637 greenhouse gas emissions, these systems make important contri-
Gas consumption by CHP (m3) 2,921,200 butions to the environment and nature. This efficiency also results
Gas consumption by boiler (m3) 841,464 in cost savings, reduces air pollution and greenhouse gas emis-
3 sions, increases power reliability and quality, reduces grid conges-
Total Gas consumption (m ) 3,764,664
tion and avoids distribution losses. All in all, cogeneration systems
202 U. Çakir et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 63 (2012) 196–202

contribute to the sustainable use of energy directly or indirectly in [13] Mancarella P. Cogeneration systems with electric heat pumps: energy-shifting
properties and equivalent plant modeling. Energy Convers Manage 2009;50:
different ways with various application methods.
1991–9.
[14] Malinowska W, Malinowski L. Parametric study of exergetic efficiency of a
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