Economic Life Cycle of Biomass Equipment and its Renovation

Abstract

The main goal of this article is to determine the optimal time period of boiler for biomass renewal, because its usage affects the financial situation of the firm in the form of costs. In this contribution is applied the method of operational research - the method of optimal time of machine renovation. The results of the analyses point to the optimal period of biomass boiler renovation before its service life in the 11th year. Operating costs are increasing about 9% after this time. By using this model there is ability to plan financial sources for buying new biomass boiler at 5500-15600€ on the market. The scientific benefit lies in the fact that the model is applicable to all types of equipment and machinery, in various industrial areas and in services and it is preventive instrument for financial planning for machine renovation.

The Evolution of Natural Gas Prices in EU Countries and their Impact on the Country’s Macroeconomic Indicators

“…Biomass requires equipment and machines that entails input and operating costs for the firms over their lifetime. These operating costs are increasing during the lifetime of the equipment and it is necessary to look for the possibilities of equipment renovations from the economic point of view [24].…”

Repowering Industrial Combined Heat and Power Units: a Contribution to Cleaner Energy Production

“…Often, an increase in the production capacity and plant flexibility is also pursued [32,33]. Considering these goals, several approaches can be adopted, including: -Fuel switch to cleaner and/or cheaper one, often retrofitting fossil fuel boiler to (co-) combustion of natural gas [34], process gases [35], biomass [36,37] or waste fuels [38,39]; -Refitting the existing boilers to oxycombustion [40], which requires installation of an air separation unit for oxygen-enriched air production [41,42] improving fuel burnout, cuts down greenhouse gases emissions [43,44], and can be a pre-requisite to carbon capture from flue gas [45,46]; -Supplementing the existing boilers with a gasification unit [47,48], enabling processing of a wide range of even low-quality materials into combustible gas [49,50]; -Adding a "topping" unit to the existing Rankine cycle unit, usually a gas turbine [51,52], internal combustion engine [53] or a battery of fuel cells [32], resulting in multiple variants of modified plant layout [54]. Each of those variants results in layout reorganization of the remaining plant parts, usually including changes in boiler feedwater train [55,56], boiler air and flue gas fans, and in flue gas and ash handling equipment [57] to boost the energy efficiency even further and to meet the tightening limits of pollutant emissions set by legislation [58].…”