Decentralized Sustainable Energy Production through Biomass Gasification-CHP System Using Coconut Waste

Abundant use of palm waste in the renewable energy landscape, resulting in seasonal variation issues. To overcome these challenges and ensure sustainability in the future renewable energy scenario, coconut shell (CS) was introduced as an alternative agricultural waste, and its performance was compared with regular palm waste (palm kernel shell, PKS) in terms of net electricity generation and electrical efficiency. A simulations flowsheet was constructed based on downdraft gasification combined-heat and power system (Ga-CHP) with a focus on two key parameters for sensitivity analysis: temperature and equivalence ratio (ER). The results revealed that the maximum net electrical generation for CS and PKS was observed at 850°C and 1000°C, respectively. At these temperatures, the net electricity generation of the CS and PKS were reported to be at 20.16 kWh and 18.99 kWh. On the other hand, maximum net electricity generation and electrical efficiency were achieved by both PKS and CS at an equivalence ratio of 0.5, where the maximum net electricity generation for CS is 27.32 kWh and PKS is 34.58 kWh, and the electrical efficiency of CS is 28.97% and 36.11% for PKS. Through this study, it is suggested that the incorporation of CS as an alternative to palm waste can contribute to a more stable and sustainable electricity generation in the renewable energy sector.