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Assignment 2

The document contains three problems related to sustainable energy technologies. Problem 1 involves calculating costs and performance metrics for a natural gas power plant. Problem 2 involves calculating minimum energy requirements and costs for separating CO2 from gas mixtures. Problem 3 involves calculating the net present value of investing in a wind turbine.

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21 views

Assignment 2

The document contains three problems related to sustainable energy technologies. Problem 1 involves calculating costs and performance metrics for a natural gas power plant. Problem 2 involves calculating minimum energy requirements and costs for separating CO2 from gas mixtures. Problem 3 involves calculating the net present value of investing in a wind turbine.

Uploaded by

Salsabil Kingshuk
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Sustainable Energy Technologies

CHE 473 – Fall 2022


Department of Chemical Engineering
Toronto Metropolitan University
Assignment #2
Due: 4:00 pm on November 28, 2022

1. A natural gas combustion turbine power plant with thermal efficiency of 40%, combustor efficiency of
95%, and generator efficiency of 95% is rated at 150 MW and has a capacity factor of 50%. The capital
equipment cost is $165 million and the plant lifetime is 20 years. Plant financing is arranged at a nominal
interest rate of 8% over a 20-year term. Natural gas is supplied to the plant during the first year at a price
of $5 per thousand cubic feet, with the price expected to escalate at a rate of 2% per year. Other O&M
costs are $10 million per year in the first year, escalating at 2% per year. Neglect tax considerations.

a. Calculate the annual natural gas requirement for the facility, in units of thousand cubic feet. The average
heat content of natural gas is 1.032 MM Btu/Mcf. (Mcf = 1000 cubic feet.)
b. Calculate the annual cost of the natural gas required in the initial year.
c. Calculate the annual payment required to pay back the plant financing in equal payments over 20 years.
d. Calculate the net present value of the 20-year stream of total costs using a nominal discount rate of 10%.
e. Calculate the Levelized Cost of Energy.
f. How would the Levelized Cost of Energy change if the capacity factor were increased to 75%, all else
being equal?
g. How would the LCOE change if the capacity factor were increased to 75% and the natural gas price
was $4 per thousand cubic feet, instead of $5/Mcf?

2. Carbon dioxide capture processes may become more efficient however, there is a thermodynamic limit, as
with any process. Consider three possible mixtures from which to separate the CO 2 for sequestration
process:
(i) Air containing 400 ppm(v) of CO2 at a temperature of 293 K
(ii) Flue gas containing 10 mol% CO2 (T = 313 K)
(iii) A gas stream in a cement plant containing 30 mol% CO2 (T = 298 K)
a. For each of the mixtures, calculate the minimum energy requirement to separate the CO2 out of the
mixture in MJ/tCO2.
b. If this minimum energy were provided in the form of electricity at a cost of $0.06 per kWh calculate the
cost per tCO2.
Use the following formula for calculating molar energy of ideal mixing and consider the mixtures as
binary (i.e. there is only one component other than CO2), since the goal is to just separate the CO2, not
all components. The gas constant is 8.314 J/(mol K).
𝑁

∆𝐸 = −𝑅𝑇 ∑ 𝑦𝑖 ln(𝑦𝑖 )
𝑖=1

3. A wind turbine rated at 250 kW costs $500,000 and has a swept area of 1200 m2. It is planned to install in
a location with year-round average power density available in the wind of 320 W/m2, and on average
converts 30% of the energy into electricity. The electricity can be sold to the grid at $0.045/kWh, paid at
the location of the turbine (no transmission cost). The project has a 25-year time horizon with salvage value
of $20,000, and the discount rate is 8%. Calculate the net present value (NPV) of this investment. Comment
on the feasibility of the project.

You may need some information which is not provided in the problems (open format and open ended
problem). For each problem, write your scientifically valid assumptions and list the reliable source(s)
of information that you have used. Each student can use different sources of information and may make
different sets of assumptions.

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