Comparative Analysis of Pine Needles and Coal for Electricity Generation using Carbon Taxation and Emission Reductions

Abstract

Mitigating global climate change via emission control and taxation is promising for strengthening the economic benefits of bioenergy generation and utilization. This study examines the cost effectiveness of pine needles as an alternative fuel for off-grid electricity generation in India. We first examined the changes of prices in coal for electricity generation due to CO 2 emission reductions and taxes using experimental data of gasification plants. The time value of money and depreciation scale were used to find out the real levellized cost of electricity generation of gasification plants. Then, the costs of electricity generation fuelled by pine needles and coal were estimated using the cost analysis method. Our results indicate that pine needles would have more competitive edge than coal if emission had taxed at about an emission tax INR 525.15 Mg -1 of CO 2 (US$ 8.4), or higher would be needed for pine needles at a yield of 202.176 dry Mg hm -2 yr. The price of coal used for electricity generation would have significantly increased if global CO 2 emission had abridged by 20% or more. However, pine needles were found a much better fuel source with an increasing yield of 5.05 Mg hm -2 yr (with respect to power generation) and 2.335 Mg hm -2 yr (with respect to feedstock production).

Distributed activation energy modelling for pyrolysis of forest waste using Gaussian distribution

“…Needles that fall from pine trees have traditionally been used by indigenous communities for carpeting cattle sheds as well as cooking purposes during monsoon, and as fertiliser (Dhaundiyal and Tewari, 2015). However, being highly combustible due to the high percentage of lignin, pine needles intensify forest fires and create problem to the environment (Ghosh and Ghosh, 2011;Dhaundiyal and Gupta, 2014).…”

Parametric Study of NTH Order Distributed Activation Energy Model for Isothermal Pyrolysis of Forest Waste Using Gaussian Distribution

“…It is a large evergreen deciduous tree, tall up to 65 m and has sharppointed acicular structure with silvery stiff leaves. Unlike pine needles (Dhaundiyal and Tewari, 2015;Dhaundiyal and Tewari, 2016), Cedrus deodara forest covers 2.24 lakh hectares of forest land, constituting 64.79% of total forest area in Uttarakhand (Tewari et al, 2010). Forestry waste can be considered an excellent substrate for synthesizing of the biofuel.…”

Modeling of Some Operating Parameters Required for the Development of Fixed Bed Small Scale Pyrolysis Plant

“…The material goes through a "heat shock", and because of it, almost immediately gets rid of its moisture (we used the METTLER TOLEDO meter, Mettler-Toledo Process Analytics Inc., Columbus, OH, USA). The velocity of mass decrease "follows" the heating temperature almost consistently [32]. Due to the small sample mass, the analysis of the structure was not solved.…”

“…The biochar from the plant affects the content of soil's organic matter, and its agro-chemical attributes. Char from a wooden source increased the soil's potassium, calcium and magnesium content, this has advantages from the perspectives of nutrient supply and soil improvement [31,32]. During soil improvement, using 1.0 tons of biomass, we can drive 0.6-0.8 tons of biochar into the soil, which equals to a carbon-dioxide grounding of 2.2-2.9 tons [33,34].…”