Process Economics Program Report 181A
Published: June 2001
Cogeneration refers to processes that produce electricity and steam from the same energy
source. These processes can reduce fuel consumption by 25-35% in comparison with producing
steam and electricity in separate facilities. Cogeneration is not a new concept; it began industrial
applications over a century ago. Its popularity, however, fluctuated greatly from time to time. We
are now in a period of surging interest in cogeneration because fuel prices are rapidly moving
upward. At the beginning of this report, we review briefly the historic perspectives of cogeneration
in the United States and abroad, government regulations and incentives, the growth trend of
cogeneration in the U.S. chemical and petroleum refining industries, and the potential impact of
recent U.S. electricity industry deregulation and restructuring on cogeneration. The commercial
review is followed by a technical review and analyses of cogeneration technologies and the
equipment to fulfill energy saving goals. Capital investments and production costs are estimated
for the following production systems:
- A methodology for data collection and preliminary process screening including a cost
estimating sample case.
- The economics of four cogeneration configurations to supply a fixed amount of steam
but varying the quantity of electricity for four different cogeneration cycles.
- The economics of cogeneration by four process routes are compared for petroleum
refinery applications.
- The economics of producing hydrogen by the steam reforming process is compared with
the economics of trigeneration of electricity, steam and hydrogen by gasification of petroleum coke and combined-cycle power production.
- Economics of cogeneration by an integrated advanced coal gasification and combinedcycle
system.
The report is a valuable source of information that would
be of interest to project planners, researches, refinery operators, technology
licensers, equipment vendors, government regulators, process developers, engineering
contractors, and all those who are interested in reducing energy costs and protecting
the environment.
Other PEP Related Reports
The PEP report abstracts shown above are provided as a complete historical reference of related PEP reports. The production cost estimates are updated in the PEP Yearbook. Lists of all PEP reports and reviews are available here.
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