Sustainable Energy Technology - Sudipta de

Green Energy and Technology
Sudipta De
Santanu Bandyopadhyay
Mohsen Assadi
Deb A Mukherjee Editors
Sustainable Energy
Technology and
Policies
A Transformational Journey, Volume 1
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8059
Sudipta De Santanu Bandyopadhyay
•
Mohsen Assadi Deb A Mukherjee

•
Editors
Sustainable Energy
Technology and Policies
A Transformational Journey, Volume 1
123
Editors
Sudipta De Mohsen Assadi
Department of Mechanical Engineering Natural Gas Technology
Jadavpur University University of Stavanger
Kolkata, West Bengal Stavanger
India Norway
Santanu Bandyopadhyay Deb A Mukherjee

Department of Energy Science Energy and Environment Committee
and Engineering The Bengal Chamber of Commerce
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and Industry
Mumbai, Maharashtra Kolkata, West Bengal
India India
ISSN 1865-3529 ISSN 1865-3537 (electronic)

ISBN 978-981-10-7187-4 ISBN 978-981-10-7188-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7188-1
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Foreword
The 2017 Energy Conclave of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry
focused on the “Transforming Face of Energy”, and the discussions at the
Conclave, including the papers in the two volumes, address various aspects
(technological, financial, policy, and institutional) of the paradoxes associated with
high greenhouse gas emissions cohabiting with development goals. This leads to
many debates, including that of the comparative economics of renewable energy
from new installations and of coal-based power generation from existing plants. It
also tells us that this is a longer-term transition, with many challenges along the
way and with public policy priorities that also change over time. During the past
couple of years, climate change has risen to the top of public policy concerns,
which have traditionally included energy security, energy access, business com-
petitiveness, and air quality.
Low Carbon Energy Growth is Steadily Increasing in India
In 2015, on Gandhi Jayanti, India submitted its Intended Nationally Determined

Contributions (INDCs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC). We pledged that in the energy sector, at least 40% of our
electricity generation capacity would not be based on fossil fuels (and on renew-
ables, hydro, and nuclear) and that the carbon intensity of our economy (i.e., total
greenhouse gas emissions divided by the GDP) would be 33–35% less in 2030 as
compared to 2005.1 For the sake of comparison, in 2015, *30% of electricity
generation capacity did not depend on fossil fuels and our carbon intensity was 13%
less than the level prevailing in 2005.
1
India's Intended Nationally Determined Contributions http://www4.unfccc.int/submissions/
INDC/Published%20Documents/India/1/INDIA%20INDC%20TO%20UNFCCC.pdf
v
vi Foreword
If we draw a straight line from 2005 to 2014 and onto 2030, it seems that we are
on target to meet these goals. The recent success in the growth of renewables and of
energy efficiency, largely driven by business models which have also led to sharp
decline in the price of energy-efficient and renewable energy products (such as LED
bulbs and the solar photovoltaic modules), also suggests a similar trend. Yet, at the
same time, coal-based power-generating stations in India are operating at histori-
cally low plant load factors and are able to sell, on an average, no more than
two-thirds of the electricity that they are designed to produce. And, it is also true
that while the cost of electricity from solar photovoltaic is now less than that from
coal power stations, it is available only when the sun shines—whereas nowadays
the demand for electricity in summer months in cities like Delhi occurs at midnight,
when all households who have air conditioners switch them on as they go to sleep.
These trends present competing visions. On the one hand, solar energy is
becoming cheaper and the demand for energy is rising more slowly than in the past.
On the other hand, our existing fleet of coal power stations is thirsting to sell more
electricity in order to be able to pay back the loans that they have taken from our
banking systems, and a large amount of our energy use occurs at times of the day
when solar energy cannot meet that demand.
The Transformation is Turbulent … and is not Inevitable
This suggests that the Indian electricity sector is presently going through a major
transformation. The accelerated pace of generation capacity added over the past few
years has led to a situation where the electricity supply potential is greater than the
economic demand, a scenario which has never before existed in the history of the
Indian electricity sector. At the same time, we have also been witnessing changes in
the energy mix due to enhanced policy focus on climate change, energy security
concerns, etc., due to which the penetration of renewable electricity, especially from
wind and solar energy, has been increasing steadily and is projected to grow much
faster in the coming years. The demand for electricity is increasing, primarily due to
increased space conditioning loads, but the growth in demand is slower than
expected, in part due to the adoption of energy efficiency (EE) initiatives. As India’s
energy mix and demand patterns change, due to significant addition of RE in the
grid and new EE measures, it is important that the policy and regulatory environ-
ment in the power sector rapidly adapts itself to the changing landscape so that new
technologies, and more significantly new business models (in addition to the current
business model of a distribution company supplying electricity to all consumers
within its geographical jurisdiction, while sourcing electricity from power genera-
tion companies on the wires of electricity transmission companies), come into place
which provide space for newer low carbon technologies, as well as newer ways for
local electricity generation and the distribution and sales of this electricity to nearby
neighbors and other consumers.
Foreword vii
The Government of India’s (Gol) resolve to combat climate change and

de-carbonize India’s energy systems is clearly spelled out in India’s Nationally
Determined Contributions (INDCs). To enable the goals, a range of policies and
programs to promote RE is in place at the central and state levels in India, which
suggests the possibility of an early initiation of de-carbonization of India’s elec-
tricity sector. There is a high probability that if the costs of storage technologies
continue to decline at the same rate as in the past ten years, then it is quite possible
that, by 2025, all new electricity generation capacity that is added—and a lot of
generating capacity still needs to be added to ensure that there is an adequate
provision of energy services in the country so that all citizens have a high quality of
life—comes from renewable energy, with storage providing the means to ensure
that the electricity from the sun harnessed during the day by solar cells is available
for use even when the sun does not shine.
In the interim (till storage costs become economically viable), a recent study
carried out by the Power System Operation Corporation India (POSOSO), NREL,
and LBNL has demonstrated that India’s electricity grid can manage the variability
and uncertainty of adding large amounts of renewable energy into the grid. The
studies demonstrate that balancing the Indian power system in 2022 with 100 GW
solar cell and 60 GW wind is achievable with minimal curtailment of renewable
energy output.2 However, economically viable electricity from solar cell and storage
means that we will need to continue to expand the competitive procurement of solar
electricity and, in addition, start the procurement of storage capacity as well. Only
this will ensure that prices of electricity from renewables and storage keep declining
—so that when new electricity generation capacity needs to be added (in about 2025),
this will be competitive with the price of electricity from new coal-based generation
capacity.
The tension in enhancing renewables at present, when the coal-based power
sector is facing low utilization, was captured in the 16th Darbari Seth Memorial
Lecture (http://www.teriin.org/themes/teriday/darbariseth2017.php) that Dr. Arvind
Subramanian, the Chief Economic Adviser, delivered at TERI on August 17, 2017.
His analyses suggested that the social cost of electricity from renewables is more
than the social cost of electricity from coal and that the country could not both
provide relief to the coal power plants operating at low plant load factors (and to the
banks whose NPAs are increasing as a result) and subsidize renewable electricity.
This suggests that the straight-line movement to 40% non-fossil fuel generation
capacity in 2030 is not preordained. It also means that several ancillary goals will
have to be achieved in order that we meet our INDC pledges.
All these changes are occurring while we, as a country, will have to make
adequate and affordable energy, including electricity, available to all citizens.
Current estimate suggests that more than 40 million households still do not have an
electricity connection and that of those that are connected, more than half gets
2
GREENING THE GRID: Pathways to Integrate 175 Gigawatts of Renewable Energy into India’s
Electric Grid, Vol. I—National Studyhttps://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy17osti/68530.pdf
viii Foreword
electricity for less than some 16 h per day. The recently announced Saubhagya
program3 promises to ensure connectivity to all households by the end of 2018, but
the challenge to provide 24x7 electricity supply to all of them will need new
initiatives. We also note that the average electricity consumption in India is still
only about 1075 kWh4 per person per year—which is way below that needed for
ensuring a good quality of life. And, there is no country in the world with a standard
of living—with a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.9 or more—with elec-
tricity consumption of at least 5000 kWh per person per year. Consequently,
electricity demand growth is both inevitable and essential. At the same time, the
ability of most of the newly connected electricity households to purchase electricity
is limited; affordable and adequate electricity supply is a necessary prerequisite for
development.
The Next Steps
In view of the uncertainties associated with the transition, and the changing com-
parative economics of coal- and renewables-based electricity for the next decade or
so, it is difficult to suggest next steps. What is clearer is that we will pass through at
least three phases during this period during each of which a different set of
strategies will need to be followed.
To Add From Letter to Foundations (of August 2017) About

the Three Phases of the Transformation
In the short term, the primary goal is to ensure that renewable electricity continues
to have breathing space, while the coal plants are also able to survive. In the short
and medium term, the bulk of electricity would continue to be provided from the
coal-based power stations. This is both because the majority of our current elec-
tricity capacity is based on coal power and also goes on a full cost basis (which
includes the need to provide electricity when the sun does not shine and wind does
not blow).
Consequently, in the short term coal plants are able to survive the financial stress
that they are currently undergoing. The TERI analyses, “Transitions in Indian
3
Government of India notification for Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojanahttp://
powermin.nic.in/sites/default/files/webform/notices/OM_SAUBHAGYA_SIGNED_COPY_0.pdf
4
CEA executive summary, Page 11http://www.cea.nic.in/reports/monthly/executivesummary/
2017/exe_summary-09.pdf
Foreword ix
Electricity Sector 2017–20305,” showed that the coal-based capacity (the current
capacity that is already installed and that which is currently under installation)
would reach an average plant load factor of at least 60% by 2023, or so. This PLF
level of utilization is significant since most plants would be able to operate prof-
itably at this level of utilization. Beyond 2023, the PLFs would increase further and
the coexistence of electricity from renewables and from coal would be easier.
However, electricity demand would continue to increase, and the existing coal
capacity and the renewable capacity that is added would no longer be adequate to
meet the demand somewhere around 2026 or 2027.
The comparative economics of coal and renewable electricity in the 2025–2027
time period is of crucial importance in meeting our pledges. If, at this time, the price
of electricity from renewables, including the additional cost of setting up balancing
capacity (to take care of the demand when the sun and wind are not available) is
less than that from new coal capacity addition, then all new electricity generation
capacity that is needed to be added from that time onward would be based on
renewables and storage. In this scenario, we will not only need our pledge to ensure
that at least 40% of our electricity generation capacity is on non-fossil fuel, but will
exceed it. On the other hand, if electricity from coal continues to be less expensive,
it would be difficult to sustain a future in which the larger additional costs of
renewable energy are borne by the economy and paid for by recently electrified
households. In such a case, the share of renewables would probably be similar to
that which exists today and which seems to be the upper limit of what can be
absorbed by the grid and by the economy.
Ajay Mathur, Ph.D.

Director General
The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi
India
5
Transitions in Indian Electricity Sector- A Report by TERIhttp://www.teriin.org/files/transition-
report/files/downloads/Transitions-in-Indian-Electricity-Sector_Report.pdf
Preface
With the growing concern for environmental degradation and specifically climate
change problem, energy sector all over the world is facing the difficult challenge to
meet the ever-increasing energy demand with minimum/no degrading effects on the
environment in an economic way. Energy is a vital component for modern civi-
lization, and often per capita consumption of energy is considered as the index of
life standard of people of a country. Supplying energy for a decent living at an
affordable price and in an environment-friendly way is the critical challenge.
Sustainability is the concept of meeting the present demand without compro-
mising the needs of the future generation. Optimum planning of use of natural
resources to meet the need of the present as well as future generations is very
critical for sustainability. Solutions must be socially and environmentally accept-
able as well as economically feasible. For a long period, fossil fuels were the main
source of useful energy for rapid development of human civilization. Technologies
for using these fuels have matured over a long period and are available at an
affordable cost all over the world. However, limited remaining reserves of these
fuels have forced energy technologists to explore alternative options. On top of that,
climate change problem may force us to ‘leave fossil fuels before they leave us.’
Renewable resources are considered to be only future options of energy in a longer
time frame as these are virtually inexhaustible. However, technologies for using
different renewable resources are widely varying and most of them are still
developing. Economic feasibility as well as social acceptance of these new options
has to be checked thoroughly before they can emerge as reliable options for future.
Intermittency of most of these resources is another problem. These are to be used
when ‘these are available rather than when we need these for our use.’ Different
ways of addressing this challenge are under active investigation, including suitable
technology development for energy storage and ‘hybridization’ of different
resources available locally. Thus, solutions may be site specific and no unique
solution may be available for the whole world. Removing fossil fuels immediately
may not be a feasible solution too as other options are neither capable to meet the
huge demand nor their reliability is assured under all possible adverse situations.
Also, a large capital is already ‘locked’ in fossil fuel-based technologies. A planned
xi
xii Preface
smooth phasing out of these technologies is required with the development of

alternative ones within a specified time frame. This needs proper energy policy with
multilevel governance. Moreover, suitable change of existing fossil fuel-based
technologies during this transition is critical, most specifically due to climate
change problem. Energy sustainability is a global challenge, though many issues of
it are site specific. Addressing energy sustainability is thus a global issue as well as
local one—starting from a country even up to a small village of that country.
Sustainability of Indian energy sector needs thorough introspection. Presently,
coal dominates with 54% of installed generation capacity and *69% in terms of
actual power generation. Also, most of these coal-based power plants are of con-
ventional PF fired with low efficiency. Large transmission and distribution losses
with minimum environmental regulation are other limitations of these plants.
Hydropower has the next largest share (21% of total installed). Other renewable and
nuclear power have steady growth but with some constraints—technological,
social, economical, and even political. Transport sector is mostly dependent on
imported oil with large uncertainty, economical as well as political. Traditional
sources of energy also have a good share, though decreasing. To have a sustainable
plan for the Indian energy sector, assessment of the present scenario and future
planning based on this assessment is very urgent.
In two volumes of this book, experts from all over the world have addressed
energy sustainability from different viewpoints in several articles. Specifically,
Indian energy sustainability is also explored with a background of this global
perspective.
In the introductory chapter, Sikdar has reported his perception about the different
terminologies, say, clean, green, and sustainable energy. Solar photovoltaic tech-
nology is considered to be one of the most widely used renewable technologies
worldwide as an alternative to fossil fuel-based electricity. Roy discussed this
technology starting from the very basic fundamentals up to the most advanced
research findings in this field. Integration of intermittent renewable electricity to the
conventional grid is a real challenge. Microgrids are considered to be emerging
solutions for utilizing different distributed intermittent renewable energies.
N. K. Kishore et al. have presented an overview of the present status of microgrids.
Transmission and distribution losses affect the overall energy efficiency. Lakshmi
and Ganguly presented a state-of-the-art review of transition of power distribution
systems. Distributed generation is emerging as a sustainable solution in place of
large-scale fossil fuel-based energy systems. Iaria et al. have reported such a system
using solar energy. Design of this system has been developed up to the full-scale
implementation. Unexplored potential of distributed generation in India has been
reported by Jana and De. Full utilization of this potential may make a paradigm
shift of energy sustainability of India. Delivery of multiple utility with single or
multiple inputs is called polygeneration. It increases the overall energy efficiency
with optimal design. A mathematical optimization process using linear program-
ming for such systems has been discussed by Tan and Aviso. Though increasing
renewable share is always desired, fossil fuel-based electricity will continue to
remain as the major source of electricity. Detoxification technology during
Preface xiii
processing of crude oil has been reported by Jarullah et al. CO2 capture is required
to use fossil fuels in power plants in a longer time frame. Different technologies are
being developed for this purpose. An overview of state of the art of this technology
has been discussed by Maria et al. Prospects of use of algae specifically for this
purpose have been discussed by Chowdhury et al. In spite of all challenges, coal
plays a critical role in energy sustainability of India. This complex issue is
addressed by Bhattacharyya, former chairman of the largest coal producing com-
pany of India. Finding new fuels and to use those in innovative ways also add to
future energy sustainability. A chapter on use of gas hydrates has been contributed
by Nair et al. Biofuel is undoubtedly one important option to substitute fossil fuels
in future, specifically in transport sector. Several chapters discuss this important
issue both from global perspectives as well as in Indian context. Two chapters by
Verma and Kishore and other two by Chowdhury et al.; Yadav and Sen discussed
different aspects of biofuels. Energy sustainability cannot be achieved without
improving energy efficiency. Building energy efficiency is considered to be a very
important issue for future energy sustainability. Two chapters by Azad and Rakshit;
Saikia et al. discussed this important issue including Indian context. In the con-
cluding chapter, possible energy efficiency measures in a milk plant of India have
been discussed by Srinivasan et al.
Editors thankfully acknowledge the support of experts in different disciplines as
both authors and reviewers. The book is the outcome of one of the collaborations
(INCP-2014-10086) under the Indo-Norwegian Cooperation Program between the
Jadavpur University, India, and the University of Stavanger, Norway. Both coor-
dinators from India and Norway of this collaboration are two editors of this book.
Support from industry is specifically acknowledged. The Bengal Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (BCC&I), the oldest industry chamber of India, was very
much supportive to this effort of joint activity by academia and industry. Chamber
is also represented by its Vice President as one of the editors of this book.
Department of Energy Science and Engineering of the Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT), Bombay, is one of the pioneering groups of India for higher
studies and research of interdisciplinary sustainable energy. A Chair Professor of
this department is also another editor of this book.
Kolkata, India Sudipta De

Mumbai, India Santanu Bandyopadhyay
Stavanger, Norway Mohsen Assadi
Kolkata, India Deb A Mukherjee
Contents
Sustainability of Energy Systems: Views from Technology

Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Subhas K. Sikdar
Solar Photovoltaic Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
J. N. Roy
Microgrids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
N. K. Kishore, Saroja Kanti Sahoo and A. K. Sinha
Transition of Power Distribution System Planning from Passive to
Active Networks: A State-of-the-Art Review and a New Proposal . . . . . 87
Shubh Lakshmi and Sanjib Ganguly
Solar Dish Micro Gas Turbine Technology for Distributed Power
Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Davide Iaria, Jafar Alzaili and Abdulnaser I. Sayma
Distributed Energy Solution for India: Exploring the Possibilities . . . . . 133
Kuntal Jana and Sudipta De
Synthesis of Cogeneration, Trigeneration, and Polygeneration Systems
Using Target-Oriented Robust Optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Charlle L. Sy, Kathleen B. Aviso, Aristotle T. Ubando
and Raymond R. Tan
Detoxification of Crude Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Aysar T. Jarullah, Iqbal M. Mujtaba and Alastair S. Wood
The Sustainable Option of Power from Fossil Fuels with Carbon
Capture and Storage: An Overview of State-of-the-Art Technology . . . . 195
Maria Elena Diego, Karen N. Finney and Mohamed Pourkashanian
xv
xvi Contents
CO2 Capture and Utilization (CCU) in Coal-Fired Power Plants:

Prospect of In Situ Algal Cultivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Ranjana Chowdhury, Sumona Das and Shiladitya Ghosh
Sustainability of Coal as a Source of Energy in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Partha S. Bhattacharyya
Gas Hydrates as a Potential Energy Resource for Energy
Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Vishnu Chandrasekharan Nair, Pawan Gupta and Jitendra S. Sangwai
Current Advances in Bio-Oil Upgrading: A Brief Discussion . . . . . . . . . 289
Anand Mohan Verma and Nanda Kishore
A Succinct Review on Upgrading of Lignin-Derived Bio-oil Model
Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Sustainability of Microalgal Biorefinery: Scope, Challenges,
and Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Geetanjali Yadav and Ramkrishna Sen
Indian Agro-wastes for 2G-Biorefineries: Strategic Decision on
Conversion Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Ranjana Chowdhury, Shiladitya Ghosh, Biswajit Debnath
and Dinabandhu Manna
Energy Conservation and Sustainability Due to Passive Daylight
System of Light Pipe in Indian Buildings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
Abdus Salam Azad and Dibakar Rakshit
Thermal Performance Evaluation of Building Roofs Embedded PCM
for Multi-climatic Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
Pranaynil Saikia, Abdus Salam Azad and Dibakar Rakshit
Enhancement of Energy Efficiency at an Indian Milk Processing Plant
Using Exergy Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
Babji Srinivasan, Jaideep Pal and Rajagopalan Srinivasan
About the Editors
Sudipta De is currently a Professor at the Mechanical Engineering Department,

Jadavpur University, Kolkata. He received his Ph.D. from IIT, Kharagpur, and was
a guest researcher at the Department of Energy Sciences, Lund University, Sweden.
He was an INSA (New Delhi) visiting scientist to Germany, selected faculty of
Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window of the EU in sustainable energy.
He delivered invited lectures in many programs/institutes including Indian National
Clean Coal Technology Mission meeting, TU of Berlin and Munich, KTH,
Stockholm, University of Stavanger, Norway, etc. He received his research funding
from UGC, DST of India, EU, German Research Foundation, Swedish Research
Council, Research Council, Norway, etc. Presently, he is the Coordinator/
Coinvestigator of two EU projects. He is also closely associated with industry
chambers.
Santanu Bandyopadhyay is currently an Institute Chair Professor, Department of
Energy Science and Engineering, at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
(IIT Bombay). He obtained his B.Tech. (Hons.) in Energy Engineering from IIT
Kharagpur in 1992 and M.Tech. and Ph.D. in Energy Systems Engineering from
IIT Bombay in 1995 and 1999, respectively. His research interest includes process
integration, pinch analysis, industrial energy conservation, modeling and simulation
of energy systems, design and optimization of renewable energy systems, etc. Since
1994, he has been associated with and contributed toward various developmental,
industrial, and research activities involving different structured approaches to pro-
cess design, energy integration, and conservation as well as renewable energy
systems design. Prior to joining IIT Bombay, he worked for M/s Engineers India
Limited, New Delhi. He is currently one of the Editor in Chiefs for Process
Integration and Optimization for Sustainability (Springer Nature) as well as
Associate Editor for Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy (Springer
Nature), International Journal of Energy Technology and Policy (Inderscience), and
INAE Letters (Springer Nature).
xvii
xviii About the Editors
Mohsen Assadi is a Professor at Faculty of Science and Technology, University of

Stavanger (UiS), Norway, Head of energy efficiency group for clean energy net-
work at UiS, Head of monitoring and maintenance hub at CIAM, UiS, Visiting
Professor at Sheffield University and London City university. Developing methods
and tools for identification of optimized instrumentation for cost-effective moni-
toring and control of various types of power plants has been one of the focus areas
for the conducted R&D activities during the past years. He has been a project leader
for several national- and European-funded projects, dealing with performance
monitoring and concept evaluation for conventional combined cycle plants using
industrial gas turbines from various OEMs; a hybrid plant using a combination of
biomass-fueled steam cycle and natural gas-fired gas turbine with HRSG delivering
steam to a common steam turbine; an innovative cycle utilizing the humid air
turbine concept, small-scale combined heat and power (CHP) units using mixtures
of various gas fuels; an integrated gasification combined cycle plant, etc.
Deb A Mukherjee is an entrepreneur, professionally qualified as a lawyer, with
over 33 years of work experience in diverse business domains, engineering systems,
information technology solutions, and later in energy services for the last 15 years.
He was the Executive Chairman of Eaga Energy India Pvt Ltd (subsidiary of Eaga
plc UK FTSE 250 company) until 2012. Currently, he is an Investor and Country
Director for Big Solar Ltd UK and also Managing Director of Cenergist Ltd UK,
India Operations, an energy services business with operations in the UK, Spain,
Germany, Italy, and now in India. He is also incubating an IT start-up
Teknowlegion Ltd in Kolkata, India. He has served on various trade committees
in India and the UK and spoken at several international seminars on sustainability
issues, energy efficiency, renewables, water management, and business strategies.
Currently, he serves as the Vice President and Chairperson of the Energy and
Environment Committee and is also the Member of the Managing
Committee/Board of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Kolkata, India.
Sustainability of Energy Systems: Views
from Technology Perspectives
Subhas K. Sikdar
To take away today from England her steam engines would be

to take away at the same time her coal and iron. It would be to
dry up all her sources of wealth, to ruin all on which her
prosperity depends, in short, to annihilate that colossal power.
—Sadi Carnot
Abstract Green, clean, sustainable—these three words are frequently used casu-
ally to connote some desirable attributes. When claimed for technical systems,
however, the monikers of green, clean, and sustainable must be scientifically jus-
tified. Unfortunately, this objective of introducing scientific rigor into assessing the
greenness or sustainability of technical systems has not been universally accepted
or practiced. For energy systems, currently the debate is conspicuously driven by
the phenomenon of global warming, which more recently is described as climate
change. The nonfossil modes of energy production, delivery and use of solar, wind,
hydro, nuclear, or biomass, are uncritically assumed to be green and sustainable in
both scientific and popular literature. This should not be the case. This chapter will
look at the issues that must be considered while designing energy systems that can
be described as sustainable, clean, or green.

Keywords Energy sustainability Energy systems Sustainable energy

Sustainability indicators Sustainability assessment
1 Introduction
Recently a multinational corporation announced a global research collaboration on

sustainable chemistries.1 As in this example, we have in general cavalierly used
“sustainable” as an adjective for all sorts of supposedly desirable objectives without
making clear what sustainability means in the specific context. Sustainable energy
is one such objective that national, regional authorities, as well as scientists and
1
Akzo Nobel, C&E News Jan 23, 2017, p. 10.
S. K. Sikdar (&)
National Risk Management Research Laboratory, US EPA, Cincinnati, OH 45237, USA
e-mail: [email protected]
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018 1

S. De et al. (eds.), Sustainable Energy Technology and Policies, Green Energy
and Technology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7188-1_1
2 S. K. Sikdar
engineers have been promoting at least for two decades. There are even some
published textbooks on this topic [1–3]. The terms “energy sustainability” and
“sustainable energy” appear in many texts to mean the same thing, but clearly they
reveal different objectives. In energy sustainability, the focus is on a community of
users of energy, such as a nation, a region, or a corporation. On the other hand,
sustainable energy refers to a particular energy production technology or a com-
bination of more than one technology.
The dictionary definition of the term “sustainable,” as used in colloquial or
communication context, connotes the continuation of the current condition or a
desired past or future condition. It is important to recognize that sustainability is not
a scientific word, though it is extensively used in scientific and technical contexts.
The sustainable development movement that produced the document, Our Common
Future [4], came from sociopolitical arena. The word quickly became a universally
common currency for all manners of discourse. This book will examine, in the
various chapters, both the sustainable energy and energy sustainability objectives in
various specific contexts.
A useful way to consider sustainability of energy is to think of it as a “system.”
Attempts at achieving sustainability of an identified system amount to reducing the
adverse environmental, societal, and economic impacts associated with the system—
environmental, societal, and economic considerations being the three domains of
sustainability. These three domains are, however, not independent of each other.
They are interrelated: A change in one may affect another in positive or negative
ways. Thus, it needs to be pointed out at the outset that it will not be in general
possible to minimize each impact on a system. In other words, we would be looking
for an optimized solution that offers the best conditions in the three domains for all
possible solution alternatives. Energy sustainability refers to a system where the
energy and power producing subsystems of a community together attain the most
desirable combination of the three impacts mentioned above. Similarly, sustainable
energy refers to an energy or power producing system, such as solar, wind, or bio-
fuels, which has achieved a desirable optimum of its impacts on the three domains.
This chapter is mainly concerned with the broader issues of energy sustainability
of the significant sources alternative to fossil energy. Detailed examinations and
opportunities of specific energy systems, as they are relevant globally or regionally,
would be dealt with in other chapters. Of the three impact domains, environmental
impact is the most important, and arguably the main inspiration of the sustainable
development movement. Raw energy is always derived from natural sources by
mining operations in the cases of coal, oil, natural gas, and uranium. Similarly,
wind power is derived by converting the kinetic energy of directional wind, solar
thermal, or photovoltaic energy by exploiting solar photons, geothermal by cap-
turing the heat of the earth’s interior, most notably from radioactive decays, and
biofuels by converting carbohydrates of agricultural and forestry sources. Except
for coal, petroleum, natural gas, and nuclear which are called “nonrenewable,”
because they are obviously finite, all other forms of energy are referred to as
“renewable” and generally recognized as infinite. Of the nonrenewables, coal,
natural gas, and petroleum are also referred to as fossil, because they are derived
Sustainability of Energy Systems … 3
from geological carbon. The signal importance of energy sustainability is derived

from the recognition that the fossil energy of coal, petroleum, and natural gas is
dirty, coal being particularly so. These fossil energies are legacy products of bio-
genic sources transformed by geologic forces within the earth’s crust over millions
of years. The impurities of sulfur, nitrogen, mercury, arsenic, and other heavy
metals in them upon combustion create noxious emissions that are harmful to
humans as well as to ecological health. Added to these concerns are the emissions
of carbon dioxide, the main combustion product of fossil fuel burning. Carbon
dioxide is a recognized greenhouse gas and is considered by many as causing global
warming and climate change. There are no known health concerns from carbon
dioxide at 400 ppm in the atmosphere and is known as a trace gas in it. The
renewable energies are thought to be the panacea for getting rid of fossil fuels and
are considered by many as suitable for widespread development. Though these
alternatives are supposedly carbon neutral, there has been little demonstration of a
generalized case for sustainability of any of these alternative energy sources.
Additionally, the concept of sustainability also applies to fossil fuels. All these
energy carriers are much refined before use, and one is referred to any text on
combustion and on petroleum refining for details on impurity removals from them.
Sustainability considerations of energy systems, regardless of whether they are
based on fossil or renewable energies, require us to consider several important
factors, both for energy sustainability and sustainable energy systems:
1. Sufficiency of the type of energy for a system’s requirement in a particular
context. In other words, is their enough for the objective of satisfying a need?
2. Intermittency of some of the sources (such as solar and wind).
3. Impacts of the source exploitation on the environment, society, and the economy
over the “source to use” spectrum, otherwise known as life cycle impacts.
4. It needs to be remembered that alternative energy needs to be economic to be
used on a long-term basis. It is always possible to use government force to
mandate a form of energy that is not economic but deemed to be in the public
interest, but such policies will distort the market forces that may produce
unwanted, unintended consequences later on.
One other important aspect of the concept of sustainability that is not empha-
sized enough: Nothing can be absolutely sustainable in a dynamic world.
Sustainability is always comparative. Thus, the goal of sustainability claims and
determination must be to find solutions that are comparatively more sustainable.
Human curiosity always finds improvement on existing solutions; an acceptable
solution today will be invariably superseded tomorrow by superior solutions.
2 Basic Facts of Energy and Its Sustainability
Harnessing energy for improving human living and work conditions has been the
mainstay of material progress through the centuries. Discovery of various energy
sources has stimulated the steady progress from the days of wood to hydro, coal,
4 S. K. Sikdar
oil, natural gas, and nuclear. However, the form in which we use energy requires
much processing so that the refined energy has a grade or quality that is directly
useful. For instance, raw coal and petroleum are processed in huge processing
plants at much cost to produce coke, gasoline, diesel, and various fractionation
products of direct utility. Though solar photon is free, solar energy is not. Much of
the environmental impacts of these energy sources reveal themselves in the pro-
cessing steps even after elaborate safeguards are taken to contain and neutralize the
various offending chemicals, the discharge of which would be of great concerns
these days. The most convenient form in which we prefer energy is electricity,
whose widespread use in the power sector is obvious, but it is also seen as a
growing potential for transportation and heating. Already there is much interest in
powering automobiles with electricity to eliminate local pollution from emissions of
SOx, NOx, ozone, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and particulates, especially
PM2.5, from internal combustion engines that use gasoline or diesel.
Electricity, however, must be used as it is produced, as current technologies do
not allow large-scale storage. The fluctuating demands of electricity must be man-
aged by producing and supplying organizations, requiring capacity modulation at the
producing plants, and creating intricate pricing structures that create incentives and
disincentives for consumption at certain times of day and seasons. A critical need is
effective technologies for storing electricity for tackling the fluctuating demands.
The storage batteries are usually named after the electrodes used. The familiar lead–
acid batteries used in automobiles are the oldest. They are effective in small voltage
applications but are bulky, unwieldy, and dangerous in large scales. Besides they use
the toxic metal lead, which is not favored for environmental applications. Other
batteries are based on nickel alone or in combinations with cadmium. Lithium in
various forms have been developed, the most recent being the Li-ion batteries. In
small scales, battery storage has been a continued success for a long time for specific
uses, but despite much research on various battery technologies, there is still no clear
winner for mass storage for large-scale supplies. The emerging interests in electric
cars have created an interest in battery research, and this is the area that is likely to
see success in the coming years, provided rate of recharge is speedy for convenience.
Processing to upgrade the form of energy also is necessarily associated with
waste of energy [5]. The second law of thermodynamics provides a limit to each
energy conversion we encounter. Fossil power through combustion of coal and
natural gas is subject to Carnot efficiency, currently at 40%, which can be increased
with temperature, but material of construction puts another limit on what can be
used. Thus to have the tremendous utility benefit of electricity, we must accept 60%
waste of the original energy content. Electricity can be directly used for lighting and
heating, but it is also the basis of further upgrading to coherent power such as
semiconductor lasers of extremely high power density for usage where common
electricity (e.g., 110 V, 60 Hz) is of no use.2 Thus, more energy must be wasted in
2
For instance, power density of solid-state lasers is 20 MW/cm2, whereas utility’s high-voltage
line carries 100 MW/cm2.
upgrading the form of energy. This upgrading can be looked upon as creating more
and more order, and the second law still limits us as this order creation is
accompanied by entropy generation, which is a waste. The same principle applies to
electricity from solar photons, nuclear reactions, wind, hydro, and any other
conventional or alternative energy sources.
Some energy wastes inherent to particular use technologies, however, can be
improved significantly. A prominent example is incandescent lighting, which
gobbles up 22% of US electricity,3 yet is only 2% efficient, wasting the rest in the
form of useless heat. In comparison, fluorescent lamps can produce more lumens
per watt, and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) lamps would be a major improvement.
Industry, especially chemical industry, has been using process heat integration
techniques for sometime to improve energy efficiency of plants. These energies are
usually thermal energy required at various points for heating streams using liquid
fuels or natural gas. The motivation of these actions is cost reduction and prof-
itability, which is why they are actively embraced in industry.
2.1 Nonrenewable Energy
Ever since the first commercial extraction of petroleum by Drake in 1859, there
have been doubts expressed as to how long the limited supply of this new form of
energy would last. Nevertheless, petroleum production kept on increasing and it
replaced coal as the primary source of fossil energy. Hubbert4 was the first to
formulate a peak oil theory which predicted that U.S. petroleum production will
reach a peak in the 1980s and then decline eventually to be exhausted. This pre-
diction, however, did not materialize as more and more sources began to be dis-
covered, first on land and then offshore. This fashionable theory remained diehard
and began to be revised, always failing in its prediction. Now with the advent of
hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, it appears that the potential for oil and
gas exploration will last a very long time. Two important issues were missed by the
protagonists of these failed predictions. First, although fossil oil and gas must be
limited by dint of a finite planet, use rate of the potential reserves has been low.
Second, petroleum availability is always related to price of oil. As the price of oil
increased, more hitherto unprofitable wells became profitable, resulting in more
availability. The story of shale oil is a result of that line of reasoning. Peak oil,
however, has not lost its adherents, as argued recently by Hall [6].
Energy needs of the world are mainly satisfied by supplies of nonrenewable coal,
natural gas, oil, and nuclear. About 20% of the primary energy needs is served by
renewables, which includes hydroelectricity. Figure 1 shows that three of these
fossil sources are very significant, of which natural gas portion has been gradually
3
Forbes, October 2005, p. 71.
4
Cornell University, http://www.geo.cornell.edu/eas/energy/the_challenges/peak_oil.html.
6 S. K. Sikdar
Fig. 1 Evolving use profile of various primary energy systems globally (in million tons of oil
equivalent, BP Statistical Review: https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/en/corporate/pdf/energy-
economics/statistical-review-2017/bp-statistical-review-of-world-energy-2017-full-report.pdf)
increasing due to the new phenomenon of hydraulic fracturing. The renewables that
are being promoted by government policies worldwide, i.e., wind, solar, and bio-
mass are but a tiny part still, though the growth rate of these is very high. Of these
three, solar and wind are looked upon mainly as a means of supplying electricity, and
biomass, mainly for transportation (for more details, please see later). Because of the
intermittency of solar and wind, they cannot yet be looked upon as base power, until
large scale, functional, and effective electricity storage systems are developed and
deployed. There are many ideas on electricity storage, but none are in practice at
present. Nuclear is an effective solution to the greenhouse gas emission problem. It is
largely carbon neutral and is reliable as base power. However, because of Three Mile
Island and Chernobyl accidents, public opinion in most countries has turned sour on
nuclear. Recent Fukushima incident in Japan, where the nuclear plants were over-
whelmed by earthquake and consequent flooding from tidal waves, did not help the
cause of nuclear power. Apart from fear of accidental radiation discharge, which
occurred in the poorly designed Soviet plant at Chernobyl, the nuclear waste is the
other cause of concern. Currently, nuclear option faces more a political and societal
barrier than a technical or economic one. In summary, it is certain that nonrenew-
ables, which are mainly carbon-based, will stay with us for a very long time yet.
Figure 2 is a “source-to-outcome” diagram of approximately 100 quadrillion
BTU (quad) of aggregate energy sourced in the USA for domestic use. The left side
of the diagram shows the various sources, both nonrenewables and renewables. On
the right-hand side are the four main use categories: residential, commercial,
industrial, and transportation, showing what fraction of the total energy at the
source reaches a particular use category. A significant part of these use categories is
served by electricity. In the USA virtually no oil is used for power generation, and
Fig. 2 Categories of use of various energy sources in the USA. Source Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory, http://flowcharts.llnl.gov/content/energy/energy_archive/energy_flow_3013/
2013USEnergy.png
most all transportation needs are met by fossil fuels. At the far right end of the
figure, we see that in order to get 38.4 quads of useful energy, i.e., ready to be used,
we reject 60% of the total energy used at the source.
2.2 Renewable Energies
It would be clear from both Figs. 1 and 2 that the renewable portion of the total
global or American energy budget is small, and it includes hydropower and biomass
as well. It is important to focus on energy sustainability of communities in terms of
the renewable sources available to those communities. First, hydropower is an
established technology. It is also location-specific. Hydropower is seen as a
growing source of renewable electricity in very specific locations, for instance,
Bhutan. Adverse public reaction to large dams has of late created difficulty in
implementing large projects. The three renewables that are really growing are solar,
wind, and biomass. In the recent past, much government and private sector research
funding has been made available, with consequent innovations in all three areas. As
stated before, of these three candidates, solar and wind are mainly for power, i.e.,
electricity generation, and biomass is mainly for generating biofuels, such as
alcohols through fermentation of sugar or starch derived from energy crops, or for
8 S. K. Sikdar
generating biodiesel from oil crops such as rape seed, soybeans, or from trees such
as palm. Extracted oil from these latter sources is trans-esterified to yield monoe-
sters of fatty acids, which are attractive as substitutes of fossil diesel. A third process
that can produce a product that is similar to petroleum hydrocarbons depends on
pyrolysis of cellulosic raw materials. Bio-oil, as the pyrolysis product is called, is
still in the developmental stage. Bioethanol and biodiesel are already reality in
large-scale production and are available in many countries of North and South
America, Europe, and South-East Asia. Biomass development as a source of liquid
fuel depends on land use limitation, and therefore there are other considerations
emanating from land use that can and will limit the proliferation of biomass-based
energy. These considerations are (1) food crops that are being used these days for
bioethanol or biodiesel would not be a growth area for fuel, (2) energy crops exert
land use impacts on the environment, such as impacts on biodiversity, species
disappearance, ground water pollution, and an adverse economic impact on food
prices, (3) biomass energy can only be looked upon as a component of a multi-
source solution for displacing fossil fuels, but not as a unique solution. Globally and
individually in most countries, the land area needed is woefully inadequate to
supply all demands of transportation fuels.
There is a small contribution of biomass to combined heat and power (CHP).
Where the biomass is essentially agricultural waste from farms that comprises
vegetable wastes, agricultural refuge, and animal farm waste, this can be a desirable
contribution to the economy of small rural communities. This approach offsets the
fossil fuel that would have been used and in addition helps in eliminating or greatly
reducing farm wastes.
Solar energy is the one renewable energy that has captured the imagination of
people because it is plentiful and appears to be cost-free. Solar can be used for heat
and power (CHP). The typical and the most visible application of solar power is the
photovoltaic solar cells on rooftops in urban and suburban areas. Photovoltaic is the
direct conversion of the visible part of the spectrum of solar radiation into elec-
tricity. There can of course be solar heating devices for capturing solar radiation and
using a working fluid, such as water, to circulate the heat in living areas in a
dwelling. Besides these household units for offsetting heating costs from fossil
fuels, there are two large-scale community interests that are extremely important in
the context of renewables as posing a challenge to fossil-based units. First is the
solar thermal power plants, and the second, large photovoltaic power stations.
Details about these can be found in standard texts such as Tester et al. [3]. Only the
outlines of the sustainability issues will be discussed here in brief.
Solar thermal approach involves directing concentrated solar light onto a high
temperature working fluid which is used to raise superheated steam to drive the
Rankine cycle to produce electricity. The receiving fluid can also be water itself.
Ground level mirrors direct light onto a receiver tower containing the working fluid.
Over the last forty years or so, many relatively large-scale demonstration units have
been built in the USA and elsewhere. In California, Solar One and Solar Two,
funded by the US Government in the 1980s, demonstrated the utility of the solar
thermal approach.5 But the cost of electricity produced was not competitive with
either fossil or nuclear. Projects were stopped when the government funding went
away. Another approach of solar thermal used parabolic concentrators to directly
heat the working fluid positioned on the focal plane of the mirrors. The fate of this
technology is similar to the tower-heliostat system. Currently, there are no
large-scale solar thermal power plants in operation anywhere in the world, despite
their demonstrated feasibility at 100 MW level or higher. These technologies are
desirable but not yet economic.
Photovoltaic solar cells have seen rapid and continuous improvements over the
years. With innovations on solar cell designs, which accelerated with the impact of
nanotechnology, both the capture efficiency and the cost of cell manufacture have
decreased significantly. Small-scale power units capable of supplying electricity in
the kW range are now available. Large-scale applications for serving a community
for its need for electricity have really not been tried yet because a fossil-based base
power would still be needed. Solar electricity at any power level, when compared to
fossil-based electricity, is not cost-effective. We mentioned before that storage of
electricity at a large scale is the greatest impediment to large-scale commercial-
ization of solar or wind.
Wind is the only other renewable that needs to be mentioned here. In many
developed countries wind mills are frequently seen in the country side, and offshore
as well. Turbines for practical units are large and heavy and require sturdy structure
to support the turbines from extreme weather events. One of these units can pro-
duce, when wind is blowing, at a rate of 2–4 MW. Typically, a large number of
these turbines would have to be arranged in a large real estate. Considered in
isolation, wind energy can be close to fossil power in cost. But a realistic life-cycle
cost of wind energy has not been attempted. Storage of electricity is a dominant
issue for wind power development just as it is for solar power.
3 Significance of Energy Use
Energy consumption is the life blood of material development of any society.

Throughout history as we developed more implements to enable us to make useful
things that improved comfort and living standards, we continued to use more energy
per capita. Newer and newer energy sources have helped spur industrial and economic
development as more energy was needed. There is a definite correlation between the
size of an economy, measured in gross domestic product and its energy consumption.
This correlation is valid for overall energy consumption, as it is for electricity use. The
latter, as an illustration, is shown in Fig. 3. The relatively less advanced economies
are currently attempting a rush to development with consequent increasing energy
intensity of their economies. The brightest example of this development is China,
5
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Solar_Project.
10 S. K. Sikdar
Fig. 3 Correlations between material progress of countries and per capita energy use, specifically
electricity
which has made phenomenal advances in gross domestic product and has established
an impressive built environment during the last three decades. Since the energy
sources for these developments are mostly fossil-based, they end up in carbon dioxide
emission. Carbon dioxide thus can also be looked upon as a rough surrogate indicator
of material progress, as ironic as it may appear. The rapid development in China
helped her to get ahead of the USA in carbon dioxide emission in the recent past owing
to China’s decades-long 10% year over year GDP growth.
Energy sustainability of nations matters because energy, as the primary driver of
material development, is also the main source of greenhouse gas emissions. All
other kinds of pollutions having impacts on human health and the ecology also
accrue from the use of fossil fuels. The question at this juncture is: are we, as
humanity, at a cross-road where we must change the energy source from
fossil-based to fossil-neutral form? The concerns arising from global warming or
climate change have triggered roughly two choices ahead: first, if we have to use
fossil energy, the capture and underground sequestration of post-combustion carbon
dioxide for eternal burial, and second, abandon fossil fuel, albeit gradually in favor
of solar, wind, and biomass. As we discussed before, this second option does not
look practical, now and in the near future. Ultimately though, if solar energy at the
point of use can be made cheap, reliable, and plentiful, that would be the future we
can look forward to. This is the overall global-scale picture. But smaller scale
perspectives are equally important.
On a smaller scale of systems of engineering interest, however, there are plenty
of opportunities to contribute to energy sustainability by way of better energy
efficiency of fossil fuels, and also by way of alternatives to fossil energy in specific
applications. We will move to that discussion now.
4 Energy Sustainability of Systems
The system in this discussion is a community, which uses various forms of energy
carriers from fire wood to coal, oil, natural gas, hydro, geothermal, solar, wind, and
nuclear. The query here is:
What combinations and proportions of these various energy carriers would be
needed to achieve energy sustainability for a community?
This depends on the societal needs and wants. A primarily agrarian society
would have its needs and wants different from a dominantly urban community. An
important factor is having access to energy availability, either within the borders of
the community or the ability to acquire such energy carriers from others through
free trade. In either case, this is energy security, which is intimately tied to energy
sustainability. For instance, hydropower is regional and may not be available to
parties distant from the hydroelectric plant or they may not be able to establish a
contract for sustained supply of electricity at the time the electricity needs are
expressed. Petroleum, however, is a portable commodity and can be purchased at
the world market from various national and private sector vendors, subject to
disruptions because of embargo, war, or accidents. The other side of the ledger
contains the environmental impacts of the use of these energy carriers. We can
consider various environmental impacts of interest. As one example of these
environmental impacts, we can take a look at water requirements of various energy
production systems. Even having ready access to fresh water will have restrictive
influence on the production choices for a community. Recently compiled water use
data6 are quite revealing in assisting planners of sustainability communities. This is
presented in Fig. 4.
A second example of environmental impact is life cycle-based fossil energy use,
which can be expressed in two ways. The first is the net energy ratio, defined as the
total produced useful energy from a source for a unit of fossil energy used to
produce the energy carrier in question. The larger this ratio, more favorable is the
renewable energy because smaller amount of fossil energy is used. For wind, for
example, Fig. 5 shows a range of 30–60, which implies that 30–60 times wind
energy is generated for a unit fossil energy used. Much of the fossil energy used in
wind power is hidden from view because they are used to make the materials used
6
Science, 23 October 2009, vol 326, 0516, NGCC represents gas plant.
12 S. K. Sikdar
Fig. 4 Water requirements for energy production
to make the wind mill and its various parts. At the other end of the scale, the
smallest number is coal-fired power, which from environmental perspective is the
worst, and hence is used to show the superiority of the renewable energy forms. For
coal-fired power plants, this number is 0.3, as we know we can generally achieve
30% efficiency, and the rest is wasted. The second expression is the carbon
intensity, defined as the g CO2 equivalent per kWh of produced energy. Again, for a
coal-fired power plant, since carbon is the main input, the carbon intensity is very
high, as shown in Fig. 5. The four renewable energies shown in Fig. 5 have net
carbon ratio higher than 1 because little fossil-based energy is expected to be used
when a renewable source is used as the feed. In general, higher this number, more
fossil-neutral is the alternate form of energy. Biomass and photovoltaic are inferior
to wind and hydro, per Fig. 5. Whatever little fossil-based energy is used in gen-
erating useful renewable energy, it will end up as carbon dioxide. Lower carbon
intensity is obviously desirable, as compared to fossil-based intensity.
Figures 6 and 7 show other sustainability considerations for comparing an
energy system with another energy system. Continuing to focus on production
systems, we can consider land use of the various energy options. This is shown in
Fig. 6. The data presented here are taken from Hodgson [7]. Though not a surprise,
the very significant land use requirement of wind, solar, and hydro would limit the
potential of these sources, especially the first two, for socioeconomic reasons.
Fig. 5 Energy efficiencies of alternate energy sources (courtesy of Greg Keolian, University of
Michigan)
Fig. 6 Land use of power production systems

14 S. K. Sikdar
Fig. 7 Comparative safety records of various power systems
Figure 7 presents comparative data, also taken from Hodgson [7] for safety of these
power producing installations. Fossil power in general has a bad track record of
safety, including disease potential from work environment. But the ecological risks
of solar and wind are also considerable, though not usually discussed.
Comprehensive life cycle-based sustainability impacts have not been conducted for
solar and wind. When the impacts of mining and other conversion steps ahead of
the production installations are taken into account, these favored technology sys-
tems will look significantly worse, pointing to the need of rapid and steep
improvements before these can be accepted as technically sustainable.
Since the race to replacing fossil fuels in the energy sector hinges on the efficacy
and economic viability of solar and wind for power, and biomass for transportation,
it would be interesting to look qualitatively at how these alternative forms of energy
fare with respect to fossil-based energy for power or transportation. For each option,
the positives are shown in green and the negatives in red. Figures 8, 9, and 10
present the relevant comparison for sustainability.
Fig. 8 Sustainability considerations for wind and solar power versus fossil power
Fig. 9 Sustainability considerations for nuclear vis-a-vis fossil power

16 S. K. Sikdar
Fig. 10 Sustainability considerations of biomass for transportation vis-a-vis fossil fuels
5 Discussion and Conclusions
The main objective of this chapter has been to point out and discuss the sustain-
ability issues of different energy types and their usages. Since fossil energy sources,
such as coal, natural gas, and oil, have come under intense scrutiny both from
global warming and sustainability viewpoints, the question of a comparative
evaluation of fossil and nonfossil sources naturally arises. This scrutiny has led to
the dominant view that fossil energy is not sustainable for human society, human
health, and the ecology, and that we should learn to wean ourselves from fossil
energy [8, 9]. Proponents of severe restrictions on the use of fossil energy derive
their guidance from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC [10].
This guidance goes along the following line: We will probably suffer irreparable
damage to human life if we incur greater than a 2 °C average global temperature
increase, corresponding to about 550 ppm of atmospheric CO2-eqv, compared to the
preindustrial CO2 concentration of 280 ppm (as of this writing it is 400 pm CO2).
Time is an essential element of sustainability discussion. IPCC has targeted year
2100 as the reference date for all future projections. Taken in this light, energy
sustainability is a global-scale discussion and must be solved in global collabora-
tion, as has been the case since the Rio Summit of 1992, the Kyoto Protocol
following it, culminating in the recent climate conference in Paris known as COP
21. Energy sustainability is also considered central to all sustainability discussions.

In fact, it is frequently used as the flagship metric, in terms of greenhouse gas
emissions, for local and technological discussions as well.
Energy issues are also local, and the question of which combination of energy
resources would be sustainable for a community is an important question to ask. To
answer this question for satisfying its self-interest, the community in question may
decide to seek solutions that are at odds with another community either nearby or
far away.
But individual energy sources are either (i) nonrenewable such as nuclear or
coal, or (ii) renewable such as solar, wind, and biomass. The individual energy
source under consideration also emits pollution when the source is exploited for
human use. Sustainability considerations of each energy source should include the
specific method of exploitation as well. These considerations address sustainable
energy at the technology scale, in contrast to community or global scale. In theory,
we can make individual energy source as environment-friendly as we like, limited
only by affordability considerations. For example, we can make natural gas power
plant virtually free of CO2 emission by capturing and sequestering it, regardless of
the cost. In this chapter, an attempt was made to distinguish between energy sus-
tainability of a community and the sustainability of a specific energy production
technology. This distinction results in the different way we must approach the
question of sustainability of a specific case.
Thus far in this chapter, we have identified the various necessary sustainability
indicators one should use for a particular case. Globally, energy sustainability is
driven by aggregate greenhouse emissions of energy systems. The almost total
reliance of CO2 for the assessment of energy sustainability maybe short-sighted if it
turns out from life cycle studies that the most championed energy sources of solar
and wind are not that promising from sustainability viewpoint for replacing fossil
energy. Such a case has already been made by Giampietro and Mayumi for biofuels
that are based on food crops [11]. These authors call the fascination of crop-based
biofuels a delusion. If the nonfossil alternatives cannot be unequivocally certified as
sustainable, the choice before an interested party will then narrow down to which
particular alternative energy is superior from a sustainability viewpoint. More
specifically, for a community, we need to know which combinations of energy
sources and in what proportions provide optimum sustainability outcomes. Finding
such optima for a community is still an art, and much scientific and engineering
research opportunities exist for the future. These decisions, however, tend to be
mainly political, even when scientific information is made available.
The list of necessary indicators for place-based community energy sustainability
would consist of explicit community concerns, in addition to technical indicators to
represent environmental and economic issues. Such community concerns are fre-
quently aired by various interest groups for hydroelectric or coal-fired power plants.
When the specific energy technology is for the narrow benefits of an industry, the
community concerns are indirect, rather than up front. Depending on the nature of
the energy technology, different sets of indicators will be necessary to reflect sus-
tainability. So far in the energy sustainability debates, we have not encountered in
18 S. K. Sikdar
articulated details the relevant concerns that are associated with the sourced
materials for wind and solar, for example. Huge quantities of heavy metals and rare
earths as well as high purity silicon would be needed for these two renewable forms
of energy, and sourcing these materials must be part of sustainability assessment of
solar or wind. Not much work has been done in this area, partly because it has been
conveniently assumed that these are sustainable sources, as if by definition. In the
end, when the choice of a particular energy technology or a mix of technologies is
needed, the least harmful choice would be deemed the most desirable.
The comparative assessment, however, must be quantitative. To date, not much
work is in the literature on quantitative assessment of sustainability. Another
deficiency is the relative lack of adequate focus on choosing the necessary and
sufficient kinds of indicators for comparative assessment. Energy sustainability of a
community would of course depend on very specific needs and wants of that
community, and the sustainability indicators that would be needed for a quantitative
assessment would have to be chosen to customize the set of indicators for that
community.
For specific technology systems, the chosen set of indicators would again be
different. Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 were constructed to highlight these indi-
cators that differentiate one form of energy from another.
Quantitative expression of the sustainability of specific energy systems was
proposed for communities by Tester et al. [3]:
X
Se = ½ðPÞ ðGDP=PÞ ðE=GDPÞ wi ðtÞ½Ai ðE Þ ð1Þ
i
where
Se energy sustainability
Ai(E) ith impact related to energy
wi(t) weighting factor for the ith impact
n number of impacts
P population
E energy
As can be seen here, the specific impact indicators, Ai, still need to be identified
and measured to provide an estimate of the aggregate Se. Aggregating overall
assessment in this fashion suffers from the difficulty of executing the summation
when the indicators have different units of measurement.
Since comparison of energy technology scenarios is of interest to us, the various
statistical distances proposed by Sikdar [12] and Sikdar et al. [13] are useful. The
following expression uses the Euclidean distance to compare chosen scenarios.
Here a reference case is synthesized from existing data to represent the most
favorable values of the chosen indicators xr. For each scenario i, the Euclidean
distance is calculated using indicator data j. The least value of De,i would then be
for the scenario that is closest to the reference or ideal scenario. This expression is
valid for any number of scenarios.
vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi
u n " #2
uX x x
¼t
ij r;j
De;i cj ð2Þ
j¼1
xmax;j xr;j
Mukherjee et al. [14] have demonstrated the utility of this technique for a
number of cases. A complete set of the various statistical distances is discussed
quantitatively in Sikdar et al. [15].
Decisions on relative energy sustainability of a community or a specific energy
technology can be made using Eq. 2 provided indicator data are available. Such
decisions are retrospective and applied only to systems that have already been
designed and built. Designing a more sustainable system a priori is very useful, but
we do not yet have such prospective design techniques. Some multivariate simu-
lation techniques do exist, but none is as yet capable of handling more than one,
two, or three indicators (variables) at a time. Design of sustainable systems
prospectively is a challenge for the future.
References
1. Dunlap R (2015) Sustainable energy. Cengage Learning, Stamford

2. Kreith F (2014) Principle of sustainable energy systems, 2nd edn. CRC Press, Boca Raton
3. Tester JW, Drake EM, Driscoll MJ, Golay MW, Peters WA (2005) Sustainable Energy:
choosing among options. MIT Press, Cambridge
4. Bruntland G (1987) Our common future. Oxford University Press, Oxford
5. Huber P, Mills M (2005) The bottomless well. Basic Books, New York
6. Hall CA, Day JW (2009) Revisiting the limits to growth after peak oil. Am Sci 97:230–237
7. Hodgson PE (2010) Energy, the environmental, and climate change. Imperial College Press,
London
8. Helm D (2012) The carbon crunch. Yale University Press, New Haven
9. Moriarty P, Honnery D (2011) Rise of fall of the carbon civilisation. Springer, London
10. Darwall R (2014) The age of global warming; a history. Interlink Publishing Group Inc.,
Northampton
11. Giampietro M, Mayumi K (2009) The biofuel delusion: the fallacy of large-scale agro-biofuel
production. Earthscan, Washington, D.C.
12. Sikdar SK (2009) On aggregating multiple indicators into a single metric for sustainability.
Clean Technol Environ Policy 11(2):157–161
13. Sikdar SK, Sengupta D, Harten P (2012) More on aggregating multiple indicators into a single
index for sustainability analyses. Clean Technol Environ Policy 14(5):765–773
14. Mukherjee R, Sengupta D, Sikdar SK (2013) Parsimonious use of indicators for evaluating
sustainability systems with multivariate statistical analysis. Clean Technol Environ Policy 15
(4):699–706
15. Sikdar SK, Sengupta D, Mukherjee R (2016) Measuring progress towards sustainability: a
treatise for engineers. Springer, Switzerland
Solar Photovoltaic Technology
J. N. Roy
Abstract There is all around focus on the development of renewable energy due to
energy security, climate change and energy access. Solar photovoltaic deals with
conversion of sunlight into electricity. Understanding the available energy resour-
ces at Earth’s surface that can be used for this conversion is important. The single-
and multi-crystalline silicon solar cells dominate the present PV market and occupy
>85% of it. Advancements are continuously being made and efficiency of the most
widely used cells using c-Si cells now touching up to 20%. Higher efficiency cells
use III–V compound semiconductors. Commercial efficiency of more than 30% is
now routinely achieved using high-efficiency multi-junction (MJ) III–V cells. Due
to cost consideration, these cells are primarily being used in space. Concentrated
Photovoltaic (CPV) using high-efficiency MJ cells are used in terrestrial applica-
tion. Thin-film solar cell is relatively new technology and now occupies about 10%
of PV market. The present conversion efficiencies of a-Si thin film solar cells are
8–10% (stabilized) and that of micromorph 9–11% (stabilized) at the production
level. Amongst the compound semiconductor, thin-film solar cells CdTe are being
produced on mass scale. The conversion efficiency is about 10%. For CIGS the
production technology is not yet fully matured. There are several new types of solar
cell technologies attracting attention. Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) mimics
photosynthesis process. The efficiency achieved is 15–16% in the laboratory scale.
However, stability is a problem which is standing in the way of its commercial
production. Organic and polymer-based solar cells have not been able to make
much progress in terms of efficiency and stability. The other important R&D
activities which are going to enhance the conversion efficiencies of solar cells are
based on better light management so that current from the cell goes up. For this
nanotechnology involving nanostructures are being used.

Keywords Solar cell Solar resources Concentrated photovoltaic (CPV)

Band gap Equivalent circuit Maximum power point (MPP)
J. N. Roy (&)
Advance Technology Development Centre and Energy Science and Engineering,
IIT-Kharagpur, Kharagpur 721302, India

22 J. N. Roy
1 Introduction
There is all around focus on the development of renewable energy due to energy
security, climate change and energy access [1–5]. Solar photovoltaic deals with direct
conversion of sunlight into electricity. Governments across the world realized the
importance of solar power and many countries have introduced feed-in tariffs, capital
subsidies and incentives for productions to promote wider adoption and advancement
of solar PV. Renewable initiatives, particularly solar PV, have picked up pace in
India. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) is a major initiative of
the Government of India to give an impetus to the domestic solar power industry.
Several State Governments have announced independent policies in solar PV.
The single- and multi-crystalline silicon solar cells [6] dominate the present PV
market and occupy about 90% of it. Thin-film solar cell [7–9] is relatively new
technology and now occupies about 10% of PV market. Amongst the compound
semiconductor thin-film solar cells, CdTe [10–12] and CIGS [13, 14] have matured
and are used in production. There are several new types of solar cell technologies
attracting attention. Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) [15] mimics photosynthesis
process. Although it is a cost-effective solution, stability is a major issue and in the
way of its commercial production. Organic- and polymer-based solar cells have not
been able to make much progress in terms of efficiency and stability. Recently, a
new type of solar cell, known as perovskite solar cell [16], has been discovered and
is generating lot of attention. High-efficiency III–V solar cell exhibits very high
efficiency. Due to much higher cost, use of such solar cells is limited to space and
terrestrial concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) applications.
2 Solar Resources
Sun is a star and provides most of energy available at Earth. The energy generation
in the Sun is due to nuclear fusion, and this energy is transmitted in all directions.
The total power emitted can be estimated as about 3.9 1026 W by assuming Sun
as a black body with a surface temperature of about 5800 K. A small part of this
energy is intercepted by Earth as decided by the solid angle subtended from the
Sun. This can be estimated as about 1370 W/m2 outside the Earth’s atmosphere.
This is known as solar constant and has small variation throughout the year, as
distance between the Sun and the Earth varies. Further attenuation happens due to
absorption of portion of the energy as it travels through atmosphere. Therefore, the
power received at the surface of the Earth, also known as “irradiance”, is lower than
the solar constant and varies from place to place depending on the altitude. The
irradiance value also changes throughout the day at a particular place as the travel
path of the sunrays varies. This is shown in Fig. 1. Sunrays travel different
Solar Photovoltaic Technology 23
Fig. 1 a During two different

times of a particular day, (a)
Sunrays travelling different
distance through atmosphere
to reach at a particular point
on Earth surface. b Simplified
h1
version of (a) assuming flat
Earth at the location of
interest h2
Earth
Atmosphere
(b)
h2 h1
Atmosphere
Earth Surface
distances through the atmosphere at two different times of the day to reach a
particular point of the Earth as shown in Fig. 1a. A simplified version is shown in
Fig. 1b assuming the Earth is flat at the location of interest. It can be seen that h1 is
the minimum possible distance. This happens when the Sun is directly overhead,
which is also known as Zenith position. At any other location of the Sun, the
distance travelled by the Sunrays through the atmosphere is always larger.
An important term, Air Mass (AM), is defined to quantify this. Sometime this is
also called atmospheric mass (AM). AM0 corresponds to outside the atmosphere.
The reference point at the Earth surface is AM1, when the Sun is at Zenith. At any
other time of the day the air mass is defined as given in Eq. 1.
Air Mass m ¼ ðh2 =h1 Þ ¼ ð1=sin bÞ ð1Þ
b is the altitude of the Sun. AM1.5 corresponds to b 42°, which is also

approximated as the average irradiance received during the entire day at that par-
ticular location.
24 J. N. Roy
Visible (47%)
UV (7%) IR (46%)
5800K Black
Body Radiation
Intensity
(W/m2/μm)
0.0 0.4 0.5 0.8

λ (μm)
Fig. 2 Spectral distribution of 5800 K black body. The radiation received by the Earth at outside
atmosphere (AM0) is also similar
The energy emitted by Sun has a spectral distribution corresponding to a

black-body emitter having a temperature of 5800 K as shown in Fig. 2. The actual
extraterrestrial radiation (AM0) closely resembles the spectrum shown in Fig. 2.
The peak intensity is at k = 0.5 lm, which corresponds to green part of visible
spectrum. The total energy is roughly divided in ultraviolet (UV: k < 0.4 lm): 7%,
visible (0.4 lm < k < 0.8 lm): 47% and infrared (IR: k > 0.8 lm): 46%. The
spectral distribution of intensity gets modified (not shown) as it travels through the
atmosphere. The energy distribution also gets modified depending on altitude and
air mass. The rough energy distribution at AM1.5 is 2.0% UV, 54% visible and
44% IR.
The total irradiance available at Earth’s surface consists of mainly three parts.
The major part is known as direct radiation denoted by direct normal incident
(DNI). This is also known as global (G) part of the total irradiance. During cloudy
weather, DNI is zero. Any collector receiving the direct radiation will receive full
DNI, denoted here as IDG, when the Sunrays are falling perpendicular on the
collector surface as shown in Fig. 3. At any other Sun angle, the collector receive
irradiance of IDC = IDG cos h as shown in Fig. 2. The collector can be a solar
photovoltaic (SPV) module.
The other important portion of the irradiance received by Earth’s surface is
known as diffused radiation generated due to scattering of sunlight due to cloud,
dust particles or even constituent gases in the atmosphere. During a cloudy day,
although the DNI is zero, there are diffused radiations. Diffused radiation is mod-
elled as if it is coming from all directions uniformly as shown in Fig. 4. The sky
IDG
θ
Collector
900
Earth Surface
Fig. 3 Collector receiving direct radiation
Collector
Ω
Earth Surface
Fig. 4 Collector receiving diffused radiation
diffusivity factor (d) decides the amount of total diffused radiation (IS), which
eventually decided by the DNI. A simplistic model is shown in Eq. 2.
IS ¼ d IDG ð2Þ
The total diffused radiation received by the collector (ISC) depends on the tilt
angle X (see Fig. 3) and it is given as shown in Eq. 4.
ISC ¼ d IDG ð1 þ cos XÞ=2 ð3Þ

26 J. N. Roy
In case the collector is kept horizontal to the ground, the entire diffused radiation
will be available to the collector. On the other hand, in case the collector is per-
pendicular to the surface, the amount of diffused radiation received is 50% of the
total.
Reflected radiation forms another small portion of the total radiation received by
the collector. The reflection can be from the ground, adjacent mountain which may
be covered by the snow and other structures such as buildings. This is very small
and mainly depend on the ground material on which the collector are installed and
surroundings.
The total radiation received by the collector is the sum total of direct and diffused
radiation assuming the reflected radiation is negligible. On an average, the reflected
radiation is about 0.5–1.5% depending on the location and surroundings. The direct
radiation forms the major part of the total radiation, about 75%, if long-term
average (e.g. a year) of a particular location is considered. Diffused radiation, about
25%, forms the other part. These figures will vary based on the climatic conditions
of the location. For example, for a tropical country like India, the figures mentioned
(75% direct and 25% diffused) would be close. Another place where there are more
cloudy days, the diffused radiation contribution will be more. Estimation of direct
and diffused radiation separately is important due to several reasons.
Tracking-based SPV system only improves the direct radiation collection as the
sunrays fall perpendicular to the collector most of the time. However, the amount of
diffused radiation remains same as compared to a fixed SPV installation. In con-
centrated photovoltaic (CPV) [17], it is possible to only use direct part of the
radiation to be concentrated to a point. Some SPV technologies, e.g. thin film
amorphous silicon, diffused irradiance performance is better.
3 Photovoltaic Materials
Electrical conductivity of inorganic materials mainly gets decided by the nature of

bonding prevailing amongst the constituent atoms or molecules. Semiconductor
materials are formed due to strong covalent bond between constituent atoms or
molecules. Elemental semiconductors are Si, Ge, etc. from group IV of periodic
table and also compound semiconductors formed by two elements, one from group
III and another from group V. Examples of compound semiconductors are GaAs,
InP, etc. Compounds formed between one element of group II and another element
of group VI, e.g. CdTe, are also semiconductor. In general, semiconductor materials
have average valence electrons count as four. Other combinations such as Cu
(group I), In (group III) can substitute Cd (group II) and if combined with group VI
element such as Se forms semiconductor (Copper Indium Selenide-CIS). Band gap,
which is introduced later, can be adjusted by using multiple elements from the same
group retaining the basic requirement as discussed above. GaxIn1−xAs, GaxIn1−xP,
GaxIn1−xAsyP1−y are examples of such semiconductors. Band gap can be tailored by
varying x and y.
Conduction Band
e ΔE
EC
Eg Forbidden Gap
Energy
Photon
EV
ΔE'
h
Valence Band
Fig. 5 Semiconductor band structure. EV: Top of the valence band, EC: bottom of the conduction
band, Eg: band gap, h: hole, e: electron
The semiconductor [18] has a characteristics band structure as shown in Fig. 5.

The valence band has allowed closely spaced energy levels (not shown) which are
known as density of states. The number of such states is really large; in the order of
1023/cm3. The highest allowed energy level in the valence band, also known as top
of valence band, is denoted as EV. Allowed energy levels do not necessarily mean
that those are occupied by carriers, electron in this case. However, for intrinsic
semiconductor at 0 K, all the available energy levels in the valence band are
occupied by electrons. The free carrier concentration is zero and the material
behaves like perfect insulator with zero conductivity.
The conduction band also has allowed closely spaced energy levels (not shown).
The density of such states is also large: in the order of 1023/cm3. The lowest allowed
energy level in the conduction band, also known as bottom of the conduction band,
is denoted as EC. None of the energy levels in the conduction band are occupied by
electrons for an intrinsic semiconductor at 0 K. There are no allowed energy levels
in between top of the valence band and bottom of the conduction band. This is
known as forbidden gap or band gap (Eg). Exciting electrons from the valence band
to the conduction band require a minimum energy of Eg. At temperature other than
0 K, some of the carriers at the valence band acquire energy greater than Eg and get
excited to the conduction band. Such carriers are called intrinsic carrier concen-
tration, which strongly depends on temperature and bang gap. If one electron gets
excited from the valence band to conduction band, there is a corresponding hole
which gets generated in the valence band as shown in Fig. 5. Both type of free
carriers (electron and hole) can contribute to conductivity. Intrinsic carrier con-
centration for semiconductor materials is small. For example, for silicon with a
band gap of about 1.1 eV, the intrinsic carrier concentration is about 1 1010/cm3.
28 J. N. Roy
It is possible to increase the free carrier concentration of electrons and holes by

doping elements from group V and group III, respectively. These are known as
n-type extrinsic semiconductor or p-type extrinsic semiconductor with extrinsic
carrier concentrations decided by the level of doping, i.e. doping concentrations.
The conductivity of the typical extrinsic semiconductors is therefore not as high as
metal but much higher than insulator.
Photovoltaic devices use the energy of photons (see Fig. 2) to excite additional
electrons from the valence band to the conduction band creating e–h pairs as shown
in Fig. 5. The excitation and creation of additional e–h happens only if the energy
(E = hʋ = hc/k) of the photon is greater than the band gap. The photons having
energy more than the band gap of the material are absorbed and create e–h pairs as
shown in Fig. 5. The other photons with lower than this energy is simply passed
through the material without contributing any e–h pairs generation. This is known
as cut-off wavelength which is given as kcut-off = hc/Eg or kcut-off (in
lm) 1.24 eV/Eg (in eV). For example, this cut-off wavelength for silicon is about
1.13 lm with a band gap of about 1.1 eV. The additional e–h pairs generated
effectively increase carrier which can be used for photoconductivity or electricity
generation. Electricity generation requires a semiconductor device (p–n junction
diode) which is discussed later.
The photoconductivity can be observed in a standard electrical circuit in which
semiconductor material is used as a resistor. As the photons are absorbed by the
semiconductor material and create additional carriers (e–h pairs), the resistance
decreases resulting in higher current. However, this cannot be used to generate
electricity. In case no external electric field in the form of voltage is applied, these
photon-induced carriers are not separated from each other and recombine eventually
without contributing to any current. The photo-generated carriers can be separated
by creating an internal field. This is done by using a p–n junction made by n-type
and p-type semiconductor material. The band diagram and the internal field are
shown in Fig. 6. The photon-generated electron-hole pairs get separated due to
internal electric field (uB).
The solar cell is essentially a p–n junction diode made of semiconductor
material. Due to absorption of photons, e–h pairs are created and separated by the
internal field of the p–n junction diode generating the electric power. These carriers
can flow through the external load connected to the p–n diode. It is now important
to understand the power, which is a product of voltage (V) and current (I). The
current (I) will be decided by the amount of additional carriers generated due to
irradiance and the voltage is decided by the potential energy of these carriers.
The total additional carriers generated due to irradiance depend on the spectral
response and the band gap of the material. The spectral response curve is repro-
duced in Fig. 7. The total power of the irradiance as depicted in Figs. 2 and 7 can
be estimated as the area under the entire curve. However, only a portion of this
power is absorbed depending on the band gap of the material. For example, for a
band gap of Eg1, the cut-off wavelength (kcut-off 1) is about (1.24/Eg1) lm as shown
in Fig. 7. The photons having wavelength of kcut-off 1 and below will be absorbed
by the material. This can be estimated as the area of the curve between k = 0 and
e EC
ϕB
EV
p-type
h
n-type
Fig. 6 Electron-hole pair separation due to potential barrier (uB) in p–n junction diode
5800K Black
Body Radiation
Intensity
(W/m2/μm)
0.0 λ cut-off 1 (1.24/Eg2) λ cut-off 2 (1.24/Eg1)
λ (μm)
Fig. 7 Spectral response of radiation received by the Earth and the cut-off wavelengths
k = kcut-off 1. Rest of the power, which falls on the right side of the kcut-off 1 curve is
not absorbed and therefore does not contribute to carrier generation. As the band
gap increases, the power which is absorbed by the material reduces. The material
with band gap Eg2, which is higher than Eg1, absorbs less power as the area of the
curve between k and kcut-off 2 is lesser. It is clear therefore that the number of
carriers generated due to absorbed irradiance depends on the band gap of material.
The actual number of carriers generated can be estimated from the spectral response
30 J. N. Roy
knowing the total number of photons absorbed assuming one e–h pair is generated
per one absorbed photon. This decides the current (IL) produced by the photovoltaic
device, which is also known as short-circuit current (ISC). More about the
short-circuit current are discussed later. It may be noted that the current produced
by a photovoltaic device decreases as band gap increases.
The potential energy of the photo-generated carriers, which decides the voltage
of the photovoltaic device, also depends on band gap. As shown in Fig. 5, the
energy of the photon (k < kcut-off) gets transferred to the electron in the valence
band which then gets excited to the conduction band. Although the initial potential
energy of the excited carrier is equal to the energy of the photon, ultimately it gets
settled to the bottom of conduction band (top of the valence band for hole) by losing
some energy as shown in Fig. 5. The total energy loss for e–h pair is (DE + DE′).
This energy is lost and gets converted to heat. The voltage of the photovoltaic
device therefore gets decided by the band gap. More the band gap more is the
voltage.
The output power (P) of the photovoltaic device is the product of current (I) and
voltage (V). The band gap of the material therefore decides the output power. As the
band gap is increased from low to high, the current decreases but voltage increases.
Limiting cases are Eg ! 0 (I ! ∞, V ! 0, and P ! 0) and Eg ! ∞ (I ! 0,
V ! ∞, and P ! 0). There is then an ideal band gap which gives the maximum
output power. The efficiency of the photovoltaic device is defined as (output power/
input power). The input power is given by the entire curve of Figs. 2 and 7. The
output power is less than the input power as some part of the spectrum gets
unutilized due to kcut-off issue and also due to the loss of (DE + DE′) as discussed
earlier. The theoretical limit of the efficiency is calculated based on the above
considerations. The practical efficiency obtained is less than the theoretical maxi-
mum due to several other factors, which are taken up later. The efficiency versus
band gap plot is shown in Fig. 8. The maximum efficiency occurs at about
Eg = 1.45 eV. Silicon has a theoretical efficiency of about 28%.
The higher theoretical efficiency can be achieved using multi-junction device.
These are known as multi-junction (MJ) [19] or tandem [20] solar cells. Solar cells
made using III–V compounds or amorphous silicon uses this technology. MJ or
tandem solar cells use larger portion of the solar spectrum more efficiently by
employing multiple semiconductor layers with different band gaps. Each layer
absorbs different portions of the spectrum capturing more number of photons. This
can be explained with the help of Fig. 9. The top layer (layer 3) absorbs the photons
with energy more than the band gap energy (Eg3) and allows the lower energy
photons to pass through. Layer 2 absorbs photons having energy between Eg2 and
Eg3. Similarly, in layer 3, photons having energy between Eg2 and Eg1 is absorbed.
It is possible to absorb all the photons having energy higher than Eg1 by layer 1
alone. However, there is extra loss of energy in single-junction structure. The
excess energy of a photon with reference to the band gap energy is lost mainly due
to heat as explained earlier (DE + DE′). This loss is minimized by using MJ
(tandem) structure. The voltages which are determined by the band gap is highest
for cell 3 (V3) and lowest for cell 1 (V1). The open-circuit voltage of cell 2 (V2) lies
Fig. 8 Ideal (theoretical) efficiency of photovoltaic device as a function of band gap of the
material. Maximum efficiency is at band gap of about 1.45 eV
Fig. 9 Three stacked

materials absorbing larger part
of the spectrum Eg3>Eg2>Eg1
Cell3
Cell2:
Cell1
in between. As the cells are connected in series, the effective open-circuit voltage of
the MJ cell is the sum of these three voltages (V1 + V2 + V3). The layers are to be
carefully designed to have same short-circuit current (ISC) for all the three cells as
they are connected in series. Otherwise, the effective current is decided by the
lowest current and there are losses of photo-generated carriers due to internal flow
of current in the cell having lower current.
The band gap adjustment of the III–V compound semiconductor are done using
ternary (e.g. InxGa1−xP) or quaternary (e.g. InxGa1−xAsyP1−y) compounds by
varying x or/and y. The band gap of amorphous silicon (a-Si) can be varied by
incorporating germanium (a-Si:Ge) and carbon (a-Si:C).
The organic solar cells work on different principle as compared to inorganic
solar cells described above. The photons absorbs by the organic materials generates
excitons. These excitons are responsible for electrical conductions. The concept of
valence band and conduction band are also not applicable in organic material.
Instead, the highest molecular orbital (HOMO) and the lowest unoccupied
molecular orbital (LUMO) are equivalent to valence and conduction bands. The
detail description of the organic photovoltaic is out of the scope of this chapter.
32 J. N. Roy
4 Electrical Characteristics of Photovoltaic Devices

(Solar Cells)
The cross section of a p–n junction diode acting as a solar cell is shown in Fig. 10.
The photo-generated carriers denoted by + for hole and—for electron get separated
due to internal electric field in the depletion region and flow through the load
generating current. The current is decided by the amount of photons absorbed and
the band gap of the material as discussed earlier. The spectral response of the solar
cell is essentially decided by the spectral response of the material used to make the
solar cells. The details have been discussed in Sect. 3.
The symbolic circuit representation of Fig. 10 is shown in Fig. 11 which is also
known as equivalent circuit. Figure 11a represent the equivalent circuit under no
irradiance. Under irradiance and due to the internal field of the diode, a
photo-generated current (IL) gets established and acts as current source. This current
Fig. 10 Cross section of a p–n junction diode acting as a solar cell
(a) (b) I
Id
RL IL V RL
Fig. 11 a Ideal equivalent circuit in dark. b Ideal equivalent circuit under irradiance
flows through the load (RL) and also through the diode. The diode current (Id)
which is given by Eq. 4 depends on the voltage (V) developed across it.

Id ¼ IS eqV=kT 1 ð4Þ
where IS is the reverse saturation current of the diode, k is the Boltzmann constant
and T is the temperature. It is interesting to study the current (I) flowing through the
load if the load resistance (RL) varied from zero (short circuit) to infinity (open
circuit). Under short-circuit condition (RL = 0), there is no voltage drop and the
voltage (V) across the load and the diode is zero. The diode current (Id) is therefore
zero (see Eq. 4). The entire current IL flows through the load. The short-circuit
current, denoted as ISC is equal to IL (ISC = −IL for RL = 0, V = 0). As the resis-
tance becomes finite, there is a voltage drop across the resistor. This voltage
(V) increases as the resistance increases. There is then a current (Id) through the
diode (see Eq. 4). The current through the load can be written as give in Eq. 5.

I ¼ IS eqV=kT 1 IL ð5Þ
Under open-circuit condition (RL = ∞), there is no current across the load and
the voltage developed only causes the current across the diode. This voltage is
known as open-circuit voltage (VOC) and can be determined from Eq. 5 by sub-
stituting I = 0 and V = VOC. This expression is given in Eq. (6).
VOC ¼ ðkT=qÞln½ðIL =IS 1Þ ð6Þ
This can be represented graphically as shown in Fig. 12. The current through the
load (I) is a sum total of Id and −IL. The diode current is given by Eq. 4 can be
drawn as per the voltage (V) across the load (and diode) and shown as Id in Fig. 12.
The photocurrent (IL) is constant as shown. The current through the load
(I = Id − IL) can be then drawn as shown in Fig. 12. The ISC (V = 0) and VOC
(I = 0) is also shown in Fig. 12. It may be noted that the I–V characteristics appear
at the fourth quadrant in which power (P = V I) is negative. This indicates the
energy extracted from the device.
This I–V characteristic is an important representation of the solar cell. It is
inconvenient to work always with a fourth quadrant characteristic. Therefore, for
simplicity, the equivalent I–V characteristic drawn in first quadrant is used as shown
in Fig. 13. Corresponding power versus voltage (P–V) characteristic is also shown.
Maximum power (Pm) appears at a particular Vm known as maximum power point
(MPP). The corresponding Im is known as maximum current as shown in Fig. 13.
The ideal power is the area of the rectangle defined by VOC ISC. However, the
maximum power which can be extracted from a solar cell is the area of the rectangle
defined by Vm Im. It is to be noted that for extracting maximum power (Pm), the
34 J. N. Roy
Id
I
VOC
I = Id - I L
-ISC
-IL
Fig. 12 I–V characteristics of a solar cell. Id is the current through the diode, IL is the
photo-generated current, and I is the current through the load
MPP
Pm
I SC
Im
P
I
Vm VOC
Fig. 13 Equivalent I–V drawn in first quadrant. P–V characteristic is also shown. Power is
maximum at Vm (maximum voltage) and Im (maximum current). The corresponding point is
known as MPP (maximum power point)
solar cell has to be operated at MPP. The ratio between actual power and ideal power
is an important parameter defined by fill factor (FF) as given in Eq. (7).
FF ¼ ðVm Im Þ=ðVOC ISC Þ ð7Þ

I
RS
Id
IL RSh V RL
Fig. 14 Equivalent circuit of a practical solar cell with series (RS) and shunt (RSh) resistance
The three important factors, VOC, ISC, and FF, together decide the power output
and efficiency of a solar cell.
The equivalent circuit shown in Fig. 11 is assumed to be not affected by the
internal as well as the external resistance. This is an ideal situation and not true for a
practical device. There are series resistances (RS) associated with the neutral (be-
yond depletion region) portion of the device material and also the external con-
nection to be made to form the circuit. The diode has assumed to be an ideal device
with infinite resistance. However, these have large but finite resistance. This
resistance actually comes in parallel with the diode and the load. Therefore, this is
known as shunt resistance (RSh). The equivalent circuit incorporating these resis-
tances is shown in Fig. 14.
The current equation gets modified as given in Eq. 8.

I ¼ IS eqðVIRsÞ=kT 1 IL þ ðV þ IRS Þ=RSh ð8Þ
The I–V characteristics also get accordingly adjusted. The slopes at VOC and ISC
move inwards reducing the fill factor. Details are not shown.
5 Solar Photovoltaic Technology
The common types of solar PV devices are shown in Fig. 15. Most of the terrestrial
installations uses either c-Si or low-efficiency thin film technology such as a-Si,
CIGS and CdTe. c-Si is most widely used PV technology capturing market share of
about 90%. Multi-crystalline silicon (c-Si: multi) technology with efficiency range
of 16–19% is more common. Higher efficiency in the range of 17–20% is achieved
for monocrystalline silicon (c-Si: mono) technology. This is used mostly where
there is a space constraint or space is available at premium. Both mono and multi
c-Si are bulk technology which requires a silicon substrate of thickness of about
200 lm.
36 J. N. Roy
Fig. 15 Type of solar PV devices. The efficiency mentioned are stabilized efficiency and on large
substrate
Thin film a-Si SPV devices are made by depositing thin layers of required
materials on a glass substrate. The use of costly silicon substrate is therefore
eliminated resulting in lower cost. However, the efficiency is lower (7–10%).
Other thin film technologies use materials such as CIGS and CdTe. Efficiency
level of 14–16 and 12–14% are achieved for CIGS and CdTe technologies,
respectively. Amongst the thin film technologies, CdTe is most commonly used and
have a market share of about 10%. a-Si, which was introduced during the period
when the cost of polysilicon was very high. c-Si substrates are made using
polysilicon. As the prices of polysilicon came down subsequently, the a-Si tech-
nology lost its competitive advantage. CIGS technology is comparatively new
amongst the thin film technologies and some recent installations are coming
up. A hybrid technology, known as Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin Layer (HIT),
using combination of c-Si and a-Si thin film has been developed giving higher
efficiency (*22%) [21].
Use of high-efficiency (28–32%) III–V thin film technology is not preferred in
conventional terrestrial applications, except concentrated photovoltaic
(CPV) systems [17, 22]. High-efficiency III–V SPV devices are used for space
applications. Previously c-Si technology was used for space applications. This has
now been completely replaced by the III–V technology.
Organic and polymer-based semiconductor materials are under current research.
The concept has been proven and prototypes are made. Prominent amongst them
are dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC), organic thin layer solar cell [23, 24] and
Perovskite solar cell [16, 25]. Solar cell technologies based on quantum mechanics
[26] and nanotechnology [27] are under fundamental research.
MG Poly Silicon PV Cell PV PV

Silicon Silicon Wafer Modules System
Thin Film
(a-Si, CdTe, CIGS)
Fig. 16 Solar PV value chain
The complete solar PV value chain is shown in Fig. 16. The crystalline
silicon-based solar cell has a long value chain. Each block of the value chain is a
business model by itself. This starts by extracting metallurgical grade (MG) silicon
from SiO2 abundantly available in sand, quartz, etc. The MG-grade silicon is not so
pure, and crystallinity level is low. This is further purified as polycrystalline silicon
in the form of “chunks”. The next process is crystal growth in which more pure
polycrystalline, known as multi c-Si or mono-crystalline, known as mono c-Si,
ingots are formed. Parallelepiped-shaped ingots are formed for multi c-Si using a
die casting method. Mono c-Si in the form of cylindrical ingots is made using a
more sophisticated technology such as Bridgman and Czochralsky. The respective
doping (n or p-type) is done during the crystal growth process. Thin slices, of the
order of 200 lm, are cut out using advanced sawing techniques. These are known
as wafers. These mono or multi c-Si wafers are then used to fabricate the solar cells.
The solar PV modules are then made by electrically connecting several cells in
series. SPV systems are configured by connecting modules in series and parallel
combinations as required.
c-Si is categorized as first-generation technology. III–V high-efficiency cells,
which is primarily used for space applications and also in concentrated photovoltaic
(CPV), is also in first-generation technology category. In this, the cells are made by
high-quality single-crystal thin films typically using a germanium substrate. These
cells are then configured directly assembled as a system as per requirement. The
intermediate requirement of module manufacturing is generally skipped.
Thin film a-Si, CdTe and CIGS cells are made directly on a large substrate such
a glass coated with transparent conductive oxide (TCO) such as indium tin oxide
(ITO). These fall under second-generation technology. The value chain is much
simpler, as shown in Fig. 16, as the cells in the size of module are directly made
and several of them can be used to configure SPV system.
The third-generation technologies are dye-sensitized (DS) solar cells, organic
solar cells, etc. These are yet to be matured and presently not used in commercial
applications.
c-Si solar photovoltaics is the most proven and reliable technology at present. As
mentioned before, the solar cells are made first, and several of them are connected
together to make the modules. The cross-sectional diagram of a basic c-Si solar cell
38 J. N. Roy
Fig. 17 Cross section of a basic solar cell
structure is shown in Fig. 17. The baseline c-Si cell manufacturing process flow is
shown in Fig. 18. The c-Si solar cell is essentially a single p–n junction diode made
on a single-crystal substrate. Present technology uses a 156 mm 156 mm p-type
(boron doped) silicon wafer as a substrate.
5.1 c-Si Solar Photovoltaic Technology
5.1.1 c-Si Solar Cell
Saw damage removal and texturization [28, 29] are the first step of the c-Si man-
ufacturing process. During slicing of the ingot to take out wafers, there are damages
on the surface which are to be repaired. A layer of about 10 lm is removed from the
front surface where the p–n junction is formed. This is done by etching using a wet
solution comprising of HF. The texturization step also uses wet solution, and this is
done along with saw damage removal. Anisotropic etching in which the lateral etch
rate is more than the vertical etch rate is employed to get pyramid-like structures on
the surface as shown in Fig. 19. The light capture increases due to multiple
reflections. Untextured and polished silicon surface have very high level of
reflection. It can touch 40% which is essentially lost as it is not absorbed in the
silicon bulk. Texturized surface reduces this reflection loss to as low as 4–5%.
Further reduction of reflection loss is achieved through anti-reflection coating
(ARC) [30, 31], which has been discussed later.
The texturization is straightforward and simpler in case of mono-crystalline
silicon. Alkaline solutions such as NaOH and KOH with lower etch rate are used to
form textured surface. The shape and height of the pyramids get decided by the
horizontal and vertical etch rates decided by the concentration of etching solution.
This gets complicated for multi-crystalline silicon as the etch rate of crystalline
portion is different than that of grain boundaries. Slower etching using alkaline
solutions result in irregular-shaped pyramids. Acidic solutions such as HNO3 and
HF with higher etch rates are used to circumvent this problem. However, the
texturization of c-Si multi is not as good as c-Si mono. A common process for c-Si
Fig. 18 Process flow of baseline c-Si cell manufacturing
Fig. 19 Enhanced light capture due to texturized surface

40 J. N. Roy
mono and c-Si multi using a mixture of alkaline and acidic solution having an
intermediate etch rate have been tried by researchers with limited success.
The p–n junction diode is formed by doping the top portion of the p-type substrate
with phosphorus which is a n-type dopant in silicon (Fig. 17). Primarily, two pro-
cesses are prevalent in solar PV industry. Dominant one uses furnace diffusion using
POCl3 as phosphorus-containing gas. This technique is in fact adopted from VLSI
industry. POCl3 along with an inert carrier gas is allowed to flow through the surface
of the p-type silicon which is kept at high temperature (800 °C) in a furnace. The
reactant gas, POCl3, gets decomposed to P, O2 and Cl2. Phosphorus then diffuses to
the silicon causing n-type doping. Alternative process, which was also been used in
earlier VLSI fabrication known as pre-deposition, uses O2 along with POCl3. An
intermediate compound P2O5 is then formed at somewhat lower temperature. This
when subjected to a high temperature (800–850 °C) reacts with Si and liberates
phosphorus, which acts as a n-type dopant in silicon. A complex compound
(SixPyOz), known as phospho silicate glass (PSG), is also formed. Direct decom-
position of POCl3 at high temperature, skipping the intermediate pre-deposition step,
is more common in solar PV industry.
An entirely different process, although less common, using spray techniques is
also used for solar cell manufacturing. In this, H3PO4 is sprayed on the silicon
substrate kept at about 200 °C. This gets decomposed in P2O5 and H2O. The P2O5-
deposited substrate is then heated at high temperature (800–850 °C) to achieve
phosphorus doping similar to the alternative POCl3 process. This also results
forming a PSG layer on top of the substrate after completion of doping process.
The PSG layer is then removed by etching using HF and H2O2.
As discussed earlier the reflection loss is reduced by texturization. Further,
reduction of reflection loss is achieved through deposition of anti-reflection coating
(ARC). Overall reflection loss of only 1–2% can be achieved with the help of ARC
together with texturization. A thin film (600–800 A) of silicon nitride (Si3N4),
deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) technique, is
generally used for ARC. The refractive index (n) of Si3N4 (n 2) is in between air
(n = 1) and Si (n 4.0). As the thickness of ARC layer falls under thin film region,
interference effect decided the overall reflection loss. The refractive index along
with the thickness of this thin film layer determines the interference pattern, i.e.
constructive or destructive, for a particular wavelength. Destructive interference for
the wavelength range of interest can be achieved by choosing appropriate thickness
of Si3N4. The refractive index of the silicon nitride layer can also be varied by
changing the stoichiometry of the film (SixNy) by making either silicon reach
(n > 2) or nitrogen reach (n < 2). The silicon nitride deposition is done by using
SiH4 and NH4. The composition of these gases can be altered to get varying x and y.
SiH4 rich gas composition gives higher refractive index and vice versa.
Composite ARC layers with Si3N4 and SiO2 (n = 1.4) for better control of inter-
ference effect have also been tried.
The metal connections from the front (n) and the back (p) are required for
electrical connection to the p–n diode. The front connection is not straightforward
mainly due to two reasons. First, metal used for the connection typically aluminium
(Al) is opaque to the light. No light can reach silicon in case the entire front surface
is covered with metal. Second problem is due to the ARC layer, which is essentially
an insulator. Special process is required so that the deposited metal on the front
makes electrical contact with underlying silicon. Back side metal connection has no
such problems. The front side metallization is done using a paste consisting mainly
of silver (Ag) along with lead and an organic binder. The composition of this metal
paste is a technology by itself and is closely guarded secret kept by the suppliers.
The front metallization is done by applying the paste through a mask, typically
having mesh openings, defining the fingers and the bus bars (see Fig. 20a). This is
known as printing and somewhat similar to what is used in printed circuit board
(PCB) process. Two-stage printing process is used to define the front and back side
metals including the back bus bars. There are no fingers type patterns on the back
side (see Fig. 20b). The printing process is followed by a high-temperature firing.
During this step, the Pb present in metal paste dissolves the ARC layer so that Ag
can make contact to underlying silicon. Front and back side of a solar cell is shown
in Fig. 20. Segmented three bus bar cells are shown. Cells with four bus bars are
also in use.
The final process before testing is edge isolation. During doping to make n–p
junction, the phosphorus also gets doped on the sides of the cells. This can result in
short between front and back side rending the n–p junction useless. A portion of the
silicon is removed at the edges of the front side. The depth of etching is more than
the junction depth of n+. This removal can be done either by LASER or by chemical
etching, which is more popular for current technology.
The manufactured cells are then tested in a cell tester, which record the I–V and
P–V characteristics and extracts electrical parameters such as VOC, ISC, Vm, Im, fill
factor and power. These cells are then segregated in BINs usually in terms of
power. Dedicated test set up, known as sun simulator, is used for solar cell and
module testing. Some stipulated standards have to be followed, such as tester
accuracy, calibration procedure for the testing.
Fig. 20 a Front side and b back side of a solar cell

42 J. N. Roy
5.1.2 c-Si Solar Module
Several of c-Si solar cells are electrically connected, usually in series, to make a
c-Si solar module. Modules with 60 cells or 70 cells connected in series are more
popular. Modules with lower or higher than 60/70 cells are also available. VOC of
c-Si solar cell is about 0.6 V. ISC depends on the efficiency of the cells and can be
of the order of 9 A. As the cells are connected in series to make modules, VOC of
about 36 V and ISC of about 9 A are achieved for a 60 cells module. Some smaller
systems such as solar lantern, street light require higher voltage but less current. In
such cases, “cut cells”, i.e. individual cells are cut into several pieces and they are
then connected in series. For example, if one c-Si cell is cut into four pieces, each
piece has VOC = 0.6 V and ISC = 2.25 A. If these four pieces are now connected in
series, VOC = 2.4 V and ISC = 2.25 A is achieved instead of VOC = 0.6 V and
ISC = 9 A for one uncut cell.
Apart from the electrical connection, further processing is required to protect the
c-Si cells from the external harsh environment during the operation of the modules
in the field. This is achieved by lamination. The lay-up of the different layers before
lamination is shown in Fig. 21. The cells are sandwiched between a front glass and
a back sheet. Polymer layers made of Ethyl Vinyl Acetate (EVA) are inserted
between cell string array and front glass and also between cell string array and back
sheet. The cell receives the irradiance through transparent front glass as the front
side of the cells face the glass. Apart from electrical connection and lamination
additional process steps, such as fixing the junction box for external connection and
the frame insertion for fixing the module to the external structure, are required. The
module manufacturing process flow is shown in Fig. 22. An overview of various
process steps are discussed below.
The electrical connection of the cells is done through an automatic process
known as tabbing and stringing (T&S). Typically, a certain number of cells, e.g.
10 for 60 cells module and 12 for 72 cells module, are connected in series to make
the individual strings. Required number of such strings, e.g. 6 are placed in parallel
and connected in series. This process is known as bussing. The lay-up as shown in
Fig. 21 Lay-up sequence of

solar PV module Glass
EVA
Cell String
EVA
Backsheet
CELL SORT TABBER & LAY - UP LAMINATION

STRINGER
HV TEST &
MODULE TEST FRAMING EDGE TRIM
Fig. 22 Process flow of c-Si module manufacturing
Fig. 21 is then arranged. Modern manufacturing line uses automated lay-up through
robotic machines. The lay-up is then laminated using an equipment called lami-
nator. This process is in principle similar to the conventional lamination used for
protecting, e.g. important documents. However, better accuracy of temperature,
pressure, vacuum, etc. is needed for solar module lamination. The size of the
laminator is large due to (a) large size of the module and (b) more than one module
is generally laminated in one process cycle to increase the throughput. Lamination
provides electrical insulation and protection of the cells from the external
environment.
After lamination, the excess EVA and back sheet protruding out from sides are
trimmed using a hot knife. This is known as edge trimming process. Anodized
aluminium frames are then inserted from all four sides to provide strength to the
module and also to make it compatible for easy installation by fixing the modules to
the external frames. Double-sided tapes are inserted between the trimmed laminated
module and the frame for durability. A more advanced process uses silicone glue
for frame fixing. After framing, the junction box is attached to the back side of the
module. The junction box connects the cell strings to external cables. It also has
by-pass diodes required to optimize the power output of the module due to shading.
Finished module has to undergo detail testing for quality, safety, reliability, and
performance. The quality is ensured by several quality check (QC) procedures
during and after manufacturing. Reliability test is also done as per stipulated
standards. One of the safety tests is the high voltage (HV) test to ensure there is no
leakage between cell string and the outside conductor, such as metallic frame [32].
Electrical testing is done by measuring I–V and P–V characteristics and then
extracting parameters such as Pmax, VOC, ISC, Vm, Im, fill factor. Electrical testing is
carried out using dedicated tester, known as sun simulator. About 1000 W/m2
irradiance falling perpendicular to the module kept at 25 °C is used as standard test
condition (STC). The irradiance used must be equivalent to sun spectrum at
AM1.5G; G denotes global. The tester must meet specific stipulated criteria such as
uniformity, stability and accuracy. Calibration of the sun simulator is also important
[33]. Reference modules certified by authorized agencies, such as NREL and
44 J. N. Roy
Fraunhofer are used for calibration. The total power obtained from a module is
somewhat less than that of the sum of powers of all the cells. This is known as cell
to module (CTM) conversion loss [34]. This loss must be as minimum as possible.
5.1.3 Advances in c-Si Solar PV Technology
Cell Technology
Solar PV technology has made significant advancement in last ten years. The
improvement of the efficiency and reduction of cost is the hallmark of such
advancement. About 10 years ago, the cost was more than $4/WP for module. This
has come down to less than $0.7/WP due to all around advancement.
The continuous improvement of the efficiency of solar cell is one of the prime
reasons for rapid progress of the solar PV. It is particularly challenging as the
enhancement of the efficiency has to be done keeping the cost in mind. A brief
overview of the technology advancement has been discussed next without going
into much detail. The improvements of efficiency of the solar cell are achieved by
(a) ensuring more light reaching silicon by reducing shading (b) increasing the
probability of capturing the photo-generated carriers and (c) reduction of loss of
carriers due to surface and bulk defects.
The shading loss is mainly due to the front side metal fingers and bus bars. Bus
bar width and numbers are optimized based on the compatibility of the T&S process
and final electrical resistance arising due to external connections. Internal series and
contact resistances are decided by the widths, heights and numbers of the fingers.
The width to height ratio, which is known as aspect ratio, depends on the metal
printing process used. It is preferable to have smaller line width with larger height
so that lower electrical resistance is achieved along with lesser shading loss.
However, the aspect ratio of the conventional metal printing technology is high,
requiring higher aspect ratio and results in total shading loss of about 7–9% to
maintain acceptable electrical resistance. Double printing (DP) technology has
recently been introduced to circumvent this issue. In this, it is possible to reduce the
aspect ratio, so that the shading loss is less, typically about 4–6%, without com-
promising on the electrical resistance. A cross-sectional view of a metal finger-
printed in a DP technology is shown in Fig. 23b. DP uses a two-steps printing and
requires a special equipment having higher accuracy, particularly for alignment of
the two layers. Metal fingerprinted in conventional process is also shown in
Fig. 23a for comparison. There are about 60–70 fingers in total in a typical
156 mm 156 mm solar cell.
Shading loss can be reduced by using metal wrap through (MWT) [35] and
emitter wrap through (EWT) [36] technologies. In MWT, the bus bars for front
contact are placed at the back side of the cells. The shading loss due to the bus bar
metal is therefore eliminated. Cross-sectional diagram of MWT process is shown in
Fig. 24. Grooves are made using LASER before phosphorus diffusion step. During
50μm
(a) (b)
12μm
20μm
10μm
120μm
70μm
Fig. 23 a Conventional printing (single print) and b double printing technologies
Fig. 24 Cross-sectional
diagram of metal wrap
through (MWT) process
the front side doping for n+, the sides of the grooves are also doped as shown in
Fig. 24. The metal fingers on the front are connected by bus bar located at the back
by metal “wrap through” to the back.
In emitter wrap through (EWT) process, even the fingers are located on the back
side. This eliminates the entire shading due to metal. Cross-sectional diagram of
EWT process is shown in Fig. 25. Instead of metal finger, the equivalent finger
connections are taken to the back side through several LASER grooves. The n+
regions formed on the front and the sides of the grooves provide electrical con-
nection between fingers (located at the back) and front emitter (n+). Only one bus
bar and finger have been shown in Figs. 24 and 25. There are more than one bus bar
and several fingers in a solar cell. MWT and EMT processes are complex, and
several details are skipped and not shown in Figs. 24 and 25. The EWT process is
more complex than the MWT process.
Defect passivation [37, 38] is another area where improvements are possible.
There are mainly two types of defects in crystalline materials. One is due to bulk
defects such as impurities and grain boundaries. Impurities can capture active
carriers resulting in reduced photocurrent. This type of defects is not very promi-
nent for c-Si solar PV, due to high purity of substrate used to make cells. In
multi-crystalline silicon, the grain boundaries are also considered as defects which
can capture active carriers reducing the photocurrent. Another prominent surface
defect originates due to surface state. The crystal structure is terminated at the
46 J. N. Roy
diagram of emitter wrap
through (EWT) process
surface, and the bond structure remains incomplete for the silicon atoms located at
the surface. This results in dangling bonds, which are also called surface states.
These surface states can capture active carriers and reduce the photocurrent. The
surface states are present both at the front and back surfaces.
The surface states can be deactivated by removing dangling bonds by providing
hydrogen atoms to satisfy the incomplete silicon bonds. This technique is known as
passivation and is used during several types of semiconductor device fabrication.
Front surface passivation automatically happens during ARC deposition. The gasses
used, SiH4 and NH3 for ARC deposition, contain hydrogen which can passivate
incomplete silicon bonds by attaching themselves to the lattice structure. This is very
effective technique and also passivates the grain boundary defects to a large extent.
The same method is now being extended to back surface passivation. Additional
processing steps are required to provide hydrogen to the back side for passivation.
Although looks simple, it has some complications. The incorporation of hydrogen at
the back silicon interferes with the p+ doping and reduces its effectiveness. Several
versions of the back surface passivation techniques have been recently developed.
The simplest one is passivated emitter and rear contact (PERC) [39]. More advance
techniques are passivated emitter and rear locally diffused (PERL) [40] and passi-
vated emitter and rear totally diffused (PERT) [40]. A detail description is beyond
the scope of this introductory chapter. A cross-sectional diagram of the PERT
process is shown in Fig. 26. The front metal is not shown in this Figure.
Fig. 26 Cross-sectional diagram of passivated emitter and rear totally diffused (PERT) process
Improvement of the collection efficiency of the carriers can be done by selective

emitter process [41, 42]. In the conventional process (see Fig. 17), the entire surface
is doped with phosphorus to form the n+ emitter. Higher doping concentration is
required to get lower resistivity and contact resistance which are prerequisite to
increase the fill factor and hence the efficiency of the solar cell. However, it is
known that higher doping introduces bulk defects, which act as recombination
centres. The efficiency of the solar cell is thus reduced. Selective emitter introduces
two separate doping regions. The portion which is connected to metal (see Fig. 27)
is doped heavily to get lower electrical resistivity and contact resistance. Rest of the
portion where the irradiance actually gets absorbed is doped lightly. Bulk defects
arising out of doping is therefore reduced to manageable level. A cross-sectional
diagram of selective emitter process is shown in Fig. 27 in which heavily doped and
lightly doped regions are denoted as n++ and n+, respectively.
Interdigitated back contact (IBC) [43] process has been developed to manu-
facture high-efficiency cells. In this, both n+ and p+ are formed at the back. Many
closely spaced n+ and p+ regions are formed using lithography and ion implanta-
tion. Metal contacts are taken by opening holes, using lithography and etching,
through additionally deposited oxide. The metal connections are then formed using
lift-off lithography. A cross-sectional diagram of IBC process is shown in Fig. 28.
The topographical pattern of IBC metal connections is shown in Fig. 29. This is a
typical interdigitated pattern and hence the name IBC.
Fig. 27 Cross-sectional diagram of selective emitter process
diagram of interdigitated back
contact (IBC) process
48 J. N. Roy
Fig. 29 Topological diagram of interdigitated back contact (IBC). Two separate comb-shaped
metals connecting n+ and p+
There are some other advanced processes such as buried contact, light-induced
electroplating that have also been developed with varying degree of success. Details
are not discussed in this chapter.
Module Technology
Advances in module technology are mainly concentrated on developing new

materials for cost reduction. Continuous improvement of equipment capabilities in
terms of accuracy, stress reduction, and automation are also being done. Lower
stress and higher automation resulted in reduction of cell thickness with very small
rejection rate. Higher accuracy allows to place the cells more closer during lay-up
resulting in reduction of module size giving higher effective efficiency of the
module. Textured and anti-reflective-coated (ARC) glass [44, 45] have been
introduced in SPV module manufacturing for improvement of the efficiency. There
are some attempts for innovative process improvement [46–48] but these are limited
and not very successful. Conductive adhesive instead of copper ribbon have been
tried so that T&S process is replaced by a more stress-free process. There are
attempt to replace the front glass by fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) to have
light-weight module. c-Si Concentrated PV (CPV) module with low level of con-
centration (C < 2) has been developed by modifying the cover glass. Instead of flat
surface, the cover glass has curved surface for concentration. Less silicon is
required for producing the same power as compared to conventional module.
However, these modules can only be used along with single-axis tracking system.
5.2 Thin Film Technology
5.2.1 a-Si, CdTe and CIGS Thin Film Technologies
Unlike c-Si; a-Si, CdTe and CIGS (Copper Indium Gallium Sulphide), thin film
modules are manufactured directly by deposition techniques using transparent
conductive oxide (TCO)-coated glass substrate. The process flow of a a-Si manu-
facturing process is shown in Fig. 30. The cross-sectional diagram of a
single-junction a-Si cell is shown in Fig. 31. Plasma-enhanced chemical vapour
deposition (PECVD) technique is use to deposit n–i–p layers to form the solar cell.
Here, i indicate intrinsic layer. Several LASER scribing steps are used to configure
these cells and also to connect, generally in parallel. Lamination step, similar to
what is used for c-Si module manufacturing process, is used. However, it is
common to use another glass, instead of back sheet, for lay-up and lamination.
These types of modules are called glass on glass modules.
a-Si material has large number of dangling bonds. These are passivated using
hydrogen, which is present in the gas (SiH4) used for PECVD deposition of a-Si.
Therefore, this material is denoted as c-Si:H. The band gap of a-Si:H is about
1.7 eV. This can be tailored by introducing C (a-Si:C) or Ge (a-Si:Ge) which have
higher and lower band gap, respectively, than a-Si. It is understood that H is also
present in a-Si:C and a-Si:Ge. Additional gas containing C or Ge is introduced
along with main gas such as SiH4 for formation of a-Si:C or a-Si:Ge. Multiple
junction, which is also called tandem junction cells can be made by depositing
Fig. 30 a-Si thin film process flow

50 J. N. Roy
diagram of a single-junction
a-Si thin-film solar cell
multiple layers as shown in Fig. 9. Layer 3, layer 2 and layer 1 can be made of a-Si:
C, a-Si and a-Si:Ge, respectively. Band gaps of a-Si:C and a-Si:Ge can be adjusted
by adjusting the amount of C and Ge present in the structure. The a-Si:Ge layer of
the tandem cell can be replaced with microcrystalline silicon having band gap of
about 1.1 eV. This is known as micromorph a-Si tandem solar cell. Microcrystalline
layer can be formed by adjusting the deposition parameter during PECVD.
CdTe is another important thin film technology. Cross-sectional diagram is
shown in Fig. 32. The process flow is somewhat similar to the a-Si solar cell.
n-CdS, and p-CdTe are used for this solar cell. CdS has large band gap (2.42 eV)
and therefore acts as a window for incoming light. Most of the light spectrum is
absorbed in p-CdTe having a band gap of about 1.45 eV which is very close to the
ideal band gap (see Fig. 8).
CIGS solar cell is relatively new technology which also uses the similar process
as a-Si and CdTe. The cross-sectional diagram is shown in Fig. 33. In this also CdS
is used as window layer.
Fig. 32 Cross-sectional diagram of a CdTe thin-film solar cell

Fig. 33 Cross-sectional diagram of a CIGS thin-film solar cell
5.3 High-Efficiency III–V Solar Cell Technology
High-efficiency III–V cells [49] are used in space and terrestrial CPV applications.
It is not preferred in conventional terrestrial application due to higher cost. It is
possible to tailor the band gap by using ternary or quaternary compounds as dis-
cussed in Sect. 3. A cross-sectional diagram of a triple-junction high-efficiency
solar cell is shown in Fig. 34. Germanium, which has close lattice matching with
III–V compounds, is used as a substrate. Any III–V compound such as GaAs is a
better option, but to reduce the cost Ge is used. High-quality single-crystal thin film
Fig. 34 Cross-sectional diagram of a III–V high-efficiency triple-junction solar cell. The diode
representation of this triple-junction cell is also shown on the right
52 J. N. Roy
layers are deposited on the substrate usually using metal-organic vapour phase
epitaxy (MOVPE) [50]. Figure 34 shows the layer sequence and composition.
Other combinations are also possible. Lithography and etching steps are used to
define the structure. The gasses and the processes employed are expensive resulting
in higher cost of III–V high-efficiency cells. The MOVPE equipment is also very
expensive and has lower throughput, adding to the overall cost. The laboratory
scale efficiency achieved for triple-junction III–V cell is more than 40%.
Commercial cells have achieved maximum efficiency of about 32% at present.
Similar to c-Si technology, III–V cells having diameter of about 100 mm are
made first. These cells are then connected together to get a bigger system such as
module. In this case, however, there is no standard module size. The cells are
assembled directly on the final system such as solar panel for the spacecraft. In
terrestrial applications, the cells are cut into small pieces and then assembled along
with the concentrator, usually made of large lenses, to configure a CPV system.
5.4 Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC)
Details of third-generation cell technologies are not taken up as the focus of this
chapter is more on the commercial technologies. A brief description of DSSC is
given in this section to bring out some basic understanding of such technologies.
Photosensitive dye such as ruthenium polypyridine dissolved in a suitable sol-
vent is used in DSSC. The dye is coated with TiO2 nano-particles of about 2 nm in
size (diameter). These are immersed in an electrolyte, typically made of compounds
of iodine dissolved in solvent such as acetonitrile (Fig. 35). Fluorine-doped Tin
Oxide (FTO), which has a high conductivity, is used as one of the electrodes. FTO
is transparent and allows the light to enter the cell. The other electrode uses a
coating of platinum or carbon which also acts as a catalyst. During exposure with
light, photons are absorbed by the dye and electrons and holes are produced as
shown in Fig. 36. The electrons are moved to the TiO2 conduction band (Fig. 36)
and travel to the other side of the electrolyte through FTO, load and opposite
electrode (Fig. 35). The holes get neutralized by the negative ions in the electrolyte.
The negative ions are typically negatively charged iodide (I−) or tri-iodide (I−3 ). The
loss of negative charges in iodide gets compensated by the electrons entering the
electrolyte from the opposite side of the transparent electrode. The coating of
platinum or carbon acts as a catalyst to help the conversion of iodide or tri-iodide to
negative ions. The electron flowing through the load produces current which is
similar to short-circuit current (ISC) if RL = 0. The open-circuit voltage (VOC) gets
decided by the potential difference between the conduction band of TiO2 and the
negative ion. The negative ion potential is also known as redox potential.
Catalyst Later
Electrode
Transparent Electrode
Positive Ion
Dye Molecule
Photon
e-
TiO2
e- Negative Ions
e-
Electrolyte
RL
Fig. 35 Representative structure of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC)
Excited State (Exciton)

e-
Conduction Band
e- Photon
-
I
TiO2
Negative Ion
Dye
Valence Band
Fig. 36 Energy levels applicable to dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC)

54 J. N. Roy
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Microgrids
N. K. Kishore, Saroja Kanti Sahoo and A. K. Sinha
Abstract A microgrid is an aggregation of distributed generating units, distributed

energy storage, sensitive and non-sensitive loads, smart switches, communication
facility, automation capability, and centralized/decentralized control system. It is
capable of operating in grid-connected as well as islanded mode. The remotely
located load centers are highly benefitted with the development of microgrid at
these locations. Solar and wind energy can be harnessed using the power
electronics-based converters with an associated control system. Additionally,
energy storage devices in the microgrids improve the power supply reliability
during generation deficit conditions in the islanded mode of operation. This chapter
addresses the attributes of such systems, its architecture, control issues, and
developments around the world.
Keywords Distributed generation Energy storage units Voltage source

converters Microgrid controllers
1 Introduction
Electricity is perhaps the third most important commodity, next to only air and
water. Day by day demand is increasing. Traditionally, the power system forms the
centrally controlled network with generators located close to the source of energy
and load centers being large cities, very far from power plants. Sources, being
predominantly coal, oil, natural gas, and water. Of these, first three are fossil based
A. K. Sinha: Deceased on 31 March, 2017.
N. K. Kishore (&) S. K. Sahoo A. K. Sinha

Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology
Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India
S. K. Sahoo

58 N. K. Kishore et al.
fuels and polluting, necessitating centralized remote location of power plants. While
hydro generation depends on the source and head of water, making it again cen-
trally located. It necessitates transmission over long distances leading to line losses.
These inefficiencies, together with pollution and depleting fossil fuels, have
increased developments in renewable energy sources based on solar and wind
energy predominantly. Global cumulative installed capacity of the wind and solar
power in 2014 country-wise is shown in Figs. 1 [1] and 2 [2], respectively.
To improve efficiencies, the renewable sources being clean are being located
close to loads giving rise to distributed energy resources or also termed as a dis-
persed generation (DG) into the fore. This has brought into the development of such
localized grids including DG that operates in isolation and also in grid-connected
mode being called microgrids. Such an interconnection necessitates suitable control
and monitoring techniques for effective delivery of power supply. This article is an
attempt at collating state of the art on microgrids an interesting developing trend in
the delivery of electric power supply to the readers. A formal definition from the
Conseil International des Grands Réseaux Electriques or (CIGRE) states [3].
Microgrids are electricity distribution systems containing loads and distributed
energy resources (such as distributed generators, storage devices, or controllable
Fig. 1 Global cumulative installed capacity of wind in 2014 (country-wise) [1]
Fig. 2 Global cumulative

installed capacity of solar PV
in 2014 (country-wise) [2]
Microgrids 59
loads) that can be operated in a controlled, coordinated way either while connected
to the main power network or while islanded.
Although, the definition does not require a mix of different types of Distributed
Energy Resource technologies involved, and in fact, many microgrids also include a
combination of resources and can take quite complex forms. There is hardly any
guidance given on the size of microgrids regarding geographical extent or size.
However, the definition does focus on the following two attributes:
• As opposed to centralized control in traditional grid a localized control;
• Ability to operate synchronously with a mega-grid (traditional grid) or in an
Islanded manner.
Based on the nature of power, a microgrid can be classified as AC, DC, and
hybrid AC–DC microgrid. Since the modern distribution system is AC in nature,
AC microgrid is most commonly found experimental test beds around the world.
AC microgrid has some advantages over other microgrids, such as its potential to
easily transform voltages at various levels, accommodation of AC inertial machines
with less power conversion requirement, and its long-distance power transmission
capability without power electronics converters. Some issues with an AC microgrid
are related to power quality, unbalanced networks/loads, and grid synchronization
issues. A DC microgrid has a common DC bus for accommodating DC/AC-based
sources, storage units, and loads. It is preferable when the system has a large
number of DC loads and generation. In this case, the inverter and transformer losses
are reduced. Further, in DC microgrid, loads are free from power quality and grid
synchronization issues. However, DC microgrid protection is challenging due to the
absence of zero current crossing. A hybrid microgrid combines the advantages of an
AC and DC microgrids. An interlinking converter usually connects a DC subgrid
with AC subgrid, and flexible power transfer occurs between them by using proper
control. This section has brought out the importance of microgrid, a formal defi-
nition of microgrid and major attributes. It emphasizes a need for a good control to
be able to operate effectively in stand-alone mode as well as when connected to a
mega-grid. As a result, of the two major attributes involved, a new here to unseen
feature, of bidirectional power flow comes up unlike in traditional grids where
power flows from the grid to load. All this calls for a new philosophy of control,
monitoring, and protection. Next section discusses microgrid architecture. That is
followed by the mathematical modeling of microgrids. Control – a very central
focus of the topic is covered in Sect. 4. The article would be incomplete without a
survey of efforts made in developing microgrids. Hence, an overview of efforts
made is covered in Sect. 5. Summary of the article with takeaways is listed in
Sect. 6. Conclusion follows in Sect. 7.
2 Microgrid Architecture
A typical AC microgrid consists of distributed generation (DG) units with power

electronic-based converters as interfaces, energy storage devices such as batteries
and super capacitors, microgrid controllers, AC or DC loads, static switch, and
distribution lines. Figure 3 shows schematic representation and architecture of a
typical AC microgrid. The electricity sources other than the utility in the figure are
described below:
• Solar photovoltaic (PV) system with DC–DC converter and a voltage source
converter as an interface with the grid at the point of interconnection [4];
• Wind energy-based sources such as DFIG with fractional rated back-to-back
converter interface [5] and permanent magnet AC generator-based source with
fully rated converters;
• Diesel generator is the auxiliary source which is used as an emergency inertial
backup source;
Fig. 3 A typical AC microgrid structure

Microgrids 61
• Battery as energy storage device for backup generation. It is observed to be

connected to the DC bus of the PV source. Depending on excess (more than the
threshold) or reduced (less than the threshold) state of charge (SOC), it can
supply/consume power. Hence, during surplus generation and less SOC, it acts
like a load. A bidirectional DC–DC converter operates in buck/boost mode
during charging/discharging of the battery;
• Bio-energy-based sources such as biofuel generator, biomass-based generator,
and biogas-based generator;
• Pumped hydro-storage power plant for acting as an energy storage and for the
purpose of peak shaving.
In the next subsection, attributes of the AC microgrid components are described.
2.1 Distributed Generation
Distributed generation: DG units are the small-scale generating units with the rated
capacity of few kW to MW, installed in the distribution systems at the feeders close
to the end user [6, 7]. The DG units can be dispatchable like micro-turbines and
diesel generators, whose output power can be controlled by the DNO (distribution
network operator) [8]. The non-dispatchable DGs like PV system and wind turbines
are stochastic and intermittent generating units. The non-dispatchable DG com-
bined with energy storage can be used as a dispatchable unit. The dispatchable
combined heat and power (CHP) units which feed both the electric and thermal
loads increase the overall efficiency of the microgrid [8].
Benefits offered by DG integration are as follows:
• Cogeneration: Combined heat and power plants are being installed to provide
both powers to the local loads and waste heat to the thermal loads. These are
commonly located near heat utilizing consumer terminals, such as hotels, hos-
pitals, and large industries which require heat for various operations. These
plants replace the need for boiler and furnace arrangements at consumer end and
also provide power locally.
• Peak shaving: The power requirement and the market price of power increases
during peak hours of the daily load profile. DGs can maintain the continuity and
reliability of power in the distribution network while reducing the power
requirement from the utility side, during peak hours of demand. They reduce the
economic burden on the customers by supplying electricity during the peak
period.
• Clean power: The renewable energy-based DG units reduce the greenhouse gas
emissions and hence provide clean power.
• Ancillary services: The DG units provide ancillary services by providing
voltage and reactive power support, reduction in transmission losses, and as an
emergency backup generation.
Disadvantages of DG integration are:

• Voltage rise effect: The effect of DG power output on voltage is determined by
the amount of power flow from it. If the DG output exceeds the total loads,
voltage rise is evident at the point of connection of DG. Centralized voltage
control using load ratio control transformer and shunt capacitor is addressed in
[9], and coordinated control with under-load tap changer (ULTC) and static
synchronous compensator (STATCOM) usage is given in [10]. A probable
centralized solution to maintaining voltage magnitude at substation bus is given
in [10] by introducing an ANN-based coordination controller whose main
objective is to minimize the tap changes of ULTC transformer and STATCOM
output. Reactive power control with optimal references tracking for a decen-
tralized solution is employed in [11] for PV-based DG, for voltage regulation,
and distribution loss reduction. A comparison of centralized and decentralized
voltage control problems can be found in [12].
• Distribution system issues: Overall enforcement of distribution grid infras-
tructure, voltage and reactive power management, improved distribution
automation, protection and control is required with the integration of DGs.
• Power quality: DG connection in a lightly loaded feeder raises the voltage at
the point of connection. The steady state voltage rise depends on X/R ratio,
feeder load, and injected power [7, 13, 14]. Variation in load current causes
variation in feeder current and voltage. The voltage distortion caused due to
harmonics generated by inverter-based DGs deteriorates power quality [15].
• Protection issues: Problems associated with protection are the prohibition of
automatic reclosing, unsynchronized reclosing, fuse–recloser coordination,
islanding problems, blinding of protection, and false tripping [15]. Some of
these protection issues are addressed with consideration of load voltage control,
use of frequency relays, and adaptive overcurrent protection, respectively.
2.2 Distributed Energy Storage (DES)
DES units absorb the temporary mismatch between generation and loads, mainly in
autonomous mode of operation. They stabilize and allow the DG units to operate at
a constant output power despite load and generation fluctuations, provide peak
shaving, smoothen the load profile, and permit DG to operate as a dispatchable unit.
Batteries, pumped hydroelectric systems, compressed air energy storage, hydrogen
storage, flywheels, supercapacitors, and superconducting magnetic energy storage
systems are some examples of energy storage systems [16–18].
Microgrids 63
The energy storage elements can be classified as capacity-oriented and

access-oriented energy storage systems [19]. The capacity-oriented energy storage
systems do not have a fast transient response but provide long-term generation and
load balancing. For example, batteries, pumped hydroelectric systems, compressed
air energy storage, and hydrogen storage are capacity-oriented energy storage
systems. The access-oriented energy storage systems have a faster transient
response and high power density and are used for mitigating short-term
high-frequency power transients. For example, flywheels, supercapacitors, and
superconducting magnetic energy storage systems are access-oriented energy
storage units [17, 18]. The supercapacitors have a higher power density and faster
response compared to other DES units and are used for short-term power balancing
during transients in a microgrid [8, 18]. A flywheel has high energy density, is
environment-friendly, and can provide energy for an extended period. However, it
has high standby loss and large volume [20]. Very high-speed (up to 60,000 r/min)
flywheel energy storage with superconducting magnetic bearings has reduced
inertia and friction losses for the same amount of energy storage for flywheels with
mechanical bearings [21].
2.3 Microgrid Loads
The microgrid loads [8, 16, 22] can be classified as:

• Controllable load: They can adjust their power consumption according to the
operating condition of the microgrid. These loads are capable of supplying
power to the microgrid under emergency conditions. In case of generation and
load mismatch, the controllable loads absorb or deliver power according to the
prevailing surplus or deficit generation conditions in the microgrid. This way,
the magnitude and frequency of the terminal voltages of the microgrid are
maintained within the required limits. The necessity of these loads is required
for smooth and reliable functioning of an islanded microgrid. Energy storage
units like batteries, plug-in electric vehicles (PEV), combined cooling, heating,
and power (CCHP), and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) are some
examples of controllable loads.
• Critical load: The critical/sensitive loads need an uninterruptible power supply.
They are given highest priority service from the microgrid side. Schools,
industry, and hospitals are some examples of critical loads.
• Sheddable load: Sheddable loads are the non-critical loads which are the lowest
in priority. The load curve can be altered by lowering the load demand. These
loads are not capable of injecting power to the microgrid and are hence also
known as passive controllable loads [22]. Residential loads such as fridges,
washing machines, and water heaters are some examples of these loads.
2.4 Point of Interconnection (POI)
The node at which the DGs are connected to the host grid by a distribution feeder is
known as a point of interconnection (POI) [8]. The POI as shown in Fig. 3 is a
crucial node as it may be affected by the upstream grid disturbances unless islanded.
Further, if unbalanced loads are connected at the POI, voltage unbalance control
becomes necessary at the node. Similarly, harmonic compensation is also a
requirement under severe voltage distortion, in the presence of large nonlinear
loads.
3 Mathematical Modeling of Microgrid
The modeling of a microgrid will involve the source modeling with power
electronics-based interfaces, implementation of controllers to regulate DC bus
voltage, AC side terminal voltages, output current to allow flexible active and
reactive power flow. Voltage source converters (VSCs) and their controllers are the
crucial components of an AC microgrid. In the following section, mathematical
modeling is commenced from the voltage source converters.
Here, a two-level VSC as shown in Fig. 4 is considered for mathematical
modeling and analysis. A single-phase leg of a VSC consists of two switches
consisting of a combination of an insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) switching
device and an antiparallel diode at the top (positive terminal) and bottom (negative
terminal) of the input side. A switching function of the switch Stm is defined as [23,
24]:

1; when switch Stm is closed
swtm ¼ ð1:1Þ
0; when switch Stm is open
where t represents the phase, and variable m ¼ p; n is used to identify the upper and
lower elements of the phase leg. In case of a three-phase VSC, t ¼ a; b; c. The
switch Stm operates whenever IGBT or diode of the upper or lower side is on. There
Fig. 4 Schematic of a
grid-connected voltage source
converter
Microgrids 65
is a constraint on the on/off of the switch in each leg, which allows only either of the
switch (swt ) to be on or off. This can be represented by the following relationship.
swtp þ swtn ¼ 1 ð1:2Þ
A phase switching function hints about the connection of the output terminal of
VSC (point t) to the positive or negative potential of DC link voltage. It can be
represented as follows.

1; when switch St is connected to point p
swt ¼ ð1:3Þ
1; when switch St is connected to point n
Transformation from stationary reference frame (a b) to synchronously

rotating reference frame (d q) is given below.
xdq ¼ xab ejh ð1:4Þ
Applying Kirchoff’s current law and voltage law across the DC bus capacitor
(C) and filter inductor (L) respectively, as shown in Fig. 4, the equations obtained
in complex vector notation for a grid-connected VSC are given as:
dVdc 3
C ¼ Reidq swdq idc ð1:5Þ
dt 2
didq
L þ Ridq ¼ edq Vdc swdq ð1:6Þ
dt
Separating the above equation in synchronous rotating reference d q frame:
dVdc 3
C ¼ ðid swd þ iq swq Þ idc ð1:7Þ
dt 2
did
L þ xLiq þ Rid ¼ ed Vdc swd ð1:8Þ
dt
diq
L xLid þ Riq ¼ eq Vdc swq ð1:9Þ
dt
Mathematical equations governing operation of an islanded VSC shown in

Fig. 5 are given as follows [25]:
dV Cdq
Cf ¼ idq iLdq ð1:10Þ
dt
Separating the above equations in synchronous reference frame d and q axis

separately, are given by:
Fig. 5 Schematic of an islanded voltage source converter
dVCd
Cf ¼ id iLd þ xCf VCd ð1:11Þ
dt
dVCq
Cf ¼ iq iLq xCf VCq ð1:12Þ
dt
where Vdc is the DC bus voltage, edq , idq and VCdq are d q frame transformation of
grid voltages (eabc ), grid currents (iabc ) and filter capacitor voltages (VCabc )
respectively. Cf is the filter capacitor. swdq is the switching function in d q frame.
4 Microgrid Controllers
The control system of a microgrid forms a crucial component of the system. There
are primarily three categories of control achieved hierarchically.
They are:
1. Primary level of control;
2. Secondary level of control;
3. Tertiary level of control.
The primary level consists of control of VSC coupling inductor current and
maintaining DC bus voltage in grid-connected mode. In the islanded mode, the
VSC terminal voltages are regulated based on their droop characteristics. The
bandwidth of the current control loop is greater than the bandwidth of the outer
voltage control loop. The current control loop bandwidth is usually limited to
one-tenth of the switching frequency. A typical primary level control consisting of a
power-sharing controller, voltage controller, and current controller is shown in
Fig. 6 [26]. Secondary level control restores frequency and magnitude deviations in
the output voltage of the VSC. The tertiary level control is used to generate optimal
set points for the secondary control level. In the grid-connected mode, the tertiary
Microgrids 67
Fig. 6 Primary control of a VSC in a microgrid [26]
control determines the power set points as required by the main grid, for the optimal
operation of the microgrid. This is illustrated in the schematic given in Fig. 7 and a
schematic illustrating the hierarchical control objectives in Fig. 8. The frequency
and magnitude of output voltage of the VSC are determined by the host grid in
grid-connected mode. However, they are internally generated in the secondary
control loop in islanded mode of operation [27]. Notations used in Fig. 7 can be
defined as: P and Q are the active and reactive power references at the point of
interconnection of microgrid, set by the grid, P and Q are the measured active and
reactive powers at the POI, xref and Eref are the frequency and magnitude refer-
ences set internally in the secondary control in islanded mode. The compensators
Hp ðsÞ, Hq ðsÞ, Hf ðsÞ, and Hv ðsÞ are used to regulate the active power flow, reactive
power flow, frequency and voltage control at the microgrid POI.
A block diagram representation of the current control loop is observed in Fig. 9.
The gains and time constants incorporated in the block diagram are as follows [25]:
• Ts is the sampling time.
• Vdis is the disturbance voltage.
• Ki is the gain of the PI controller.
• Ti is the time constant of the PI controller.
• KPWM is the gain of the pulse width modulator.
• TPWM is the time constant of the pulse width modulator.
• KRL is the gain of the R-L load.
• TRL is the time constant of the R-L load.
The overall control block diagram in grid-connected mode is shown in Fig. 10:
The gains and time constants incorporated in the block diagram shown in Fig. 10
are as follows [25]:
68
Fig. 7 Hierarchical control system in an AC microgrid [27]

N. K. Kishore et al.
Microgrids 69
Fig. 8 Schematic of hierarchical control objectives with respect to microgrid and main grid
Fig. 9 Block diagram of current control loop [25]
Fig. 10 Block diagram of overall control with DC bus voltage control loop [25]
• Tdv is the feedback loop delay due to sampling, operating time, and feedback
filter.
• Kv is the gain of the PI controller.
• Tv is the time constant of the PI controller.
• The inner current control loop is represented by the first-order transfer function
Hci .
The differences between a typical AC and DC microgrid controller are shown in
Table 1.
An overview of the primary controllers consisting of inner current controllers
and droop control techniques is discussed in the upcoming Sects. 4.1–4.3,
respectively.
4.1 Inner Current Controllers
Inner current control loops form the group of fast controllers with higher bandwidth
than the outer voltage control loop. An overview of different inner current con-
trollers is described below.
4.1.1 Proportional–Integral–Derivative (PID) Controller
The family of the proportional–integral–derivative (PID) controllers has been used

for control of many industrial processes. The PID controller invention dates back to
1910 as a part of Elmer Sperry’s ship autopilot [28]. They are simple in application
and easy to use for a complicated plant. The transfer function of a standard PID
controller is given as [28]:
Table 1 Comparison of AC and DC microgrid attributes

Attributes AC microgrid DC microgrid
Grid Required Not required
synchronization
Reactive power Required Not required
control
Droop P–f droop P–V droop
characteristics
Protection Zero current crossing detection possible. Zero current crossing
aspect detection is not possible
Voltage Transformers DC–DC converters
transformation
Voltage It can be achieved by reactive power control It is dependent on active
stability without affecting active power flow power flow
Microgrids 71
1
GðsÞ ¼ Kp þ Ki þ Kd s ð1:13Þ
s
where Kp is the proportional gain, Ki is the integral gain, and Kd is the derivative
gain. The proportional gain provides an overall control, integral gain reduces steady
state error, and derivative gain improves the transient response. Increasing the
proportional and integral gain unreasonably may lead to instability, while derivative
gain improves the stability of the system. To avoid actuator saturation, anti-windup
action can be integrated with PID controllers. Anti-wind up mechanism reduces
integrator saturation by feeding it a negative feedback which is obtained as the
difference between the control signal before saturation and after saturation through
a compensator. Fractional PID (PIk Dl ) is an extension of traditional PI and was
introduced by I. Podlubny in 1994 [29]. It can achieve iso-damping quite easily and
is less sensitive to parameter variation of the controlled system. A typical PID
operation with variation in proportional, integral, and derivative gains separately
and in combination is illustrated in the Appendix.
4.1.2 Proportional-Resonant (PR) Controllers
The primary objective of a PR controller is to put forward an infinite gain at a

chosen resonant frequency to do away with the steady state error [30]. The PR
controller is comparable to a generalized AC integrator and is mathematically
represented by the transfer function GPR ðsÞ as:
2Ki xc s
GPR ðsÞ ¼ ð1:14Þ
s2 þ 2xc s þ x2
where Ki is the controller gain, xc is the cutoff frequency, and x is the signal
frequency. This when grouped with proportional gain Kp forms a non-ideal PR
controller.
4.1.3 Sliding Mode Controllers (SMC)
Sliding mode control is a category of nonlinear control which is primarily devel-

oped for the control of variable structure systems. The main purpose for using SMC
is to guarantee stability and robustness against parameter variation. The sliding
mode controller is realized by using the relay, signum function, and hysteresis
functions. Traditional SMC suffered from chattering problem, and this was solved
by modifying the SMC in various ways. It is characterized by tracking a trajectory
known as sliding manifold in reaching phase, later sliding on the plane, and
descending on the stable equilibrium point. The chosen trajectory ST ðx; tÞ is usually
taken as a linear combination of weighted values of the state variables and is

represented as [31]:
X
n
ST ðx; tÞ ¼ ai xi ðtÞ ð1:15Þ
i¼1
4.1.4 Predictive Controller
Predictive control uses the model of the system for predicting the anticipated
behavior of the controlled variable [32]. It uses the system model data to obtain
optimal control action by solving a predefined optimization problem. The
hysteresis-based predictive control keeps the controlled variables inside the range of
the hysteresis area. While in trajectory-based control, the controlled variables have
an obligatory trajectory to follow. The model predictive control uses cost function
minimization as a major objective of the optimization problem [33]. Out of these
controllers, deadbeat and model predictive control require a modulator to produce
the necessary voltage, resulting in fixed switching frequency [32].
4.2 Conventional Droop Methods
Conventional droop strategies like P–f and Q–V droop methods are employed for
controlling frequency and voltage of the islanded microgrid [34, 35]. If Vmg \0 and
E\d be grid and converter voltage, respectively, and assuming d is small, the active
and reactive power expressions for an inductive line are proportional to converter
output voltage phase angle and magnitude, as shown in (1.16) and (1.17),
respectively.
Vmg E
P¼ d ð1:16Þ
X
Vmg E Vmg
2
Q¼ ð1:17Þ
X
However, distribution networks are highly resistive in nature, and the conven-
tional droop equations are not valid for them.
The equations for active and reactive powers for resistive lines are given by
(1.18) and (1.19), respectively:
2
Vmg E Vmg
P¼ cos d ð1:18Þ
R R
Microgrids 73
Vmg Vi
Q¼ sind ð1:19Þ
R
The P–f droop characteristics permit frequency reduction of the output voltage
with the increase in inverter real power output, while Q–V droop reduces the output
voltage magnitude with the corresponding increase in [37] reactive power output in
an islanded mode of operation of the microgrid as shown in Fig. 11.
The purpose of droop control is to mimic the inertial potential of alternators in
conventional power plants to adjust the differences in generation and demand by
regulating the frequency [36]. However, due to sudden grid disturbances and loss of
utility, the frequency and voltage deviate from its nominal values leading to
instability. The VSC output voltage frequency and magnitude reference are set
according to [37].
w ¼ wo D1 P ð1:20Þ
V ¼ Vo D2 Q ð1:21Þ
where wo and Vo are the nominal angular frequency and rated VSC output voltage,
and D1 and D2 are droop constants for the P–f and Q–V droop characteristics. D1
and D2 are given by (1.22) and (1.23), respectively [36].
xmax xmin
D1 ¼ ð1:22Þ
Pmax
Vmax Vmin
D2 ¼ ð1:23Þ
Qmax
where xmax and xmin are the maximum and minimum system frequency limits
imposed on the droop control. Vmax and Vmin are maximum and minimum voltage
magnitude limits imposed on the droop control. Pmax and Qmax are maximum
allowable active and reactive power outputs from the concerned VSC-based dis-
tributed energy resource (DER).
The drawbacks of the conventional droop control techniques are [37–39]:
• The droop equations are applicable only for the highly inductive transmission
system. They are not suited for low-voltage distribution networks which are
highly resistive in systems.
Fig. 11 Conventional droop

characteristics of a microgrid
[37]
• A compromise has to be there between the time constant of the controller and
the frequency regulation.
• Voltage regulation is poor for critical loads under reactive power control.
• It fails for nonlinear and single-phase loads.
• It may be subjected to load-dependent frequency deviation.
• Poor power sharing among the DER units due to unequal output impedance
between DER and load.
4.3 Improved Droop Methods
Summary of the improved droop control methods is given in the sequel.

• Voltage-Real Power Droop/Frequency-Reactive Power Boost (VPD/FQB)
Droop Control:
The VPD/FQB droop control proposed in [40] is applicable to low-voltage
resistive distribution lines, where active power and voltage, and reactive power and
frequency are coupled as seen in (1.24) and (1.25), respectively.
Vmg E Vmg
2
P¼ ð1:24Þ
R
Vmg E
Q¼ d ð1:25Þ
R
where Vmg and E are inverter-based DER output voltage and common AC bus
voltage, respectively. V–P droop and F–Q boost characteristics are represented by
(1.26) and (1.27), respectively, as shown in Fig. 12.
Vi ¼ Vo D1 P ð1:26Þ
wi ¼ wo þ B1 Q ð1:27Þ
Dx
B1 ¼ ð1:28Þ
2Qmax
Fig. 12 Frequency-reactive (a) (b)

power boost and voltage-real
power droop characteristics
Microgrids 75
DE
D1 ¼ ð1:29Þ
Pmax
where wo and Vo are the angular frequency and DER rms output voltage references
values, and D1 and B1 are droop and boost coefficients for the P V and Q x
droop characteristics. It significantly improves power sharing in low-voltage AC
resistive lines, but it depends on system parameters and is unsuitable for nonlinear
loads.
• Reactive Power Differential of Voltage, Q V 0 droop Control:
A Q V 0 droop control method is proposed in [41] for reactive power sharing
independent of output line impedances. A voltage restoration loop regulates the
output voltage by maintaining V 0 ¼ 0. Equations governing the proposed droop
control action are as given in (1.30) and (1.31), respectively.
Vi0 ¼ Voi0 nðQoi QÞ ð1:30Þ

Z
Vi ¼ Vo þ Vi0 dt ð1:31Þ
where Vi is the output voltage, V 0 is the time rate of change of output voltage, Voi0 is
the nominal V 0 , Qoi is rated reactive power, and n is the droop constant.
• Angle Droop Control:
In [42, 43], the authors have proposed an angle droop control which has sig-
nificantly low-frequency deviation compared to the frequency droop control. The
phase angle measurements of the output voltage of the VSC rely upon
low-bandwidth GPS-based communication techniques. However, it assumes an
inductive impedance between the VSC and microgrid AC bus. A high angle droop
gain with a supplementary control loop for a weak system is suggested in [43] for
improving the load-sharing accuracy. The angle droop equations are expressed as:
di ¼ drated mi ðPi Pi;rated Þ ð1:32Þ
Vi ¼ Vrated ni ðQi Qi;rated Þ ð1:33Þ
where drated and Vrated are rated VSC output voltage angle and magnitude,
respectively; Pi; rated and Qi;rated are rated active and reactive power outputs of the
VSC, respectively; and mi and ni are droop coefficients.
• Virtual Frame Transformation:
Virtual frame transformation approach uses a linear orthogonal transformation
matrix to refer the active and reactive power flow equations to a new reference
frame, where they are independent of line impedance [44–46].

Pn P sinh cosh P
¼ Tn ¼ ð1:34Þ
Qn Q cosh sinh Q
The transformed Pn and Qn are replaced in the droop equation in (1.20) and
(1.21), respectively. In the same way, frequency and amplitude of VSC output
voltage is also transformed with respect to the virtual frame and the transformed
variables xn and En are used for providing voltage magnitude and frequency ref-
erences to the VSC voltage control loop.

xn x sin h cos h x
¼ Tx ¼ ð1:35Þ
En E cos h sin h E
• Virtual Impedance Method:

The virtual impedance approach is used in [27, 47] which considers a virtual
impedance in the feedback path of the voltage control loop as shown in Fig. 13. In
this way, the inverter output voltage is controlled by adjusting the virtual impe-
dance Zv ðsÞ. The VSC output voltage reference is set according to (1.36).
vref ¼ vo Zv ðsÞio ð1:36Þ
where vo is the VSC output voltage at no-load, io is the output current, and Zv ðsÞ is
the virtual impedance. If Zv ðsÞ ¼ sLv ðsÞ, the output voltage droops proportional to
the derivative of the output current. However, when nonlinear loads are being
supplied, the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the VSC output voltage would be
high. To overcome this, a high-pass filter is used instead of sLv as shown in (1.37).
Fig. 13 Primary control of

an AC microgrid with virtual
impedance in islanded mode
[27]
Microgrids 77
s
vref ¼ vo Lv io ð1:37Þ
s þ xc
where xc is the corner frequency of the high-pass filter.

• Adaptive Voltage Droop Control:
In [48], a modified voltage droop is proposed which improves voltage regulation
by eliminating the connecting impedances between VSC and point of voltage
control. In this method, the voltage drop across the connecting impedances between
VSC and common AC bus is included in the conventional Q−V droop control. The
modified droop equation is expressed as given in (1.38):

ri Pi xi
Vi ¼ Voi þ Dq þ Qi ð1:38Þ
Voi Voi
where Vi , Voi , and (ri + jxi ) are VSC drooped output voltage, no-load voltage, and
connecting impedance between VSC and common AC bus, respectively. And Dq is
the droop coefficient which is a quadratic function of active and reactive power
outputs of the VSC.
• Unbalanced Power Flow Control and Nonlinear Load Sharing:
The adverse effect of the unbalanced power flow in lines can be overcome by
high-frequency signal injection [49]. The proposed method is not influenced by
system parameter variations and line impedance mismatches by injecting
high-frequency control signal into the power distribution network. The frequency of
this control signal is controlled by the quantity to be shared such as real, reactive,
and distortion power.
xq ¼ xqo þ BQ ð1:39Þ
Vi ¼ Vo Dv pq ð1:40Þ
where xqo and pq are the nominal frequency and real power of the injected control
signal, Vo is the VSC output voltage at no-load condition, B and Dv are boost and
droop coefficients, respectively.
In the presence of nonlinear loads, the distortion power is shared by reducing the
frequency of the injected control signal such that the bandwidth of the voltage loop
is controlled.
BW ¼ BWo Dbw pd ð1:41Þ
where BWo is the bandwidth of the outer voltage loop, pd is the power in the
injected signal for distortion power sharing, and Dbw is the droop coefficient.
The method proposed in [50] permits harmonic current sharing among paralleled
converters without communication. Converter output harmonic voltage is con-
trolled to be leading the output current by 90°. In the method presented in [51],
harmonic voltage derived from harmonic current and VSC output impedance for
each harmonic frequency is added to the VSC reference voltage for removing the
effect of harmonic voltage from the VSC output voltage. However, this harmonic
droop controller needs computation of the harmonic voltage at each harmonic
frequency to be compensated.
5 Microgrid Developments Around the World
With the advancement in power electronics technology, the development of

microgrid is taking place around the world. Some of the examples of the microgrid
test facility are described in the sequel.
5.1 CERTS Microgrid
The Consortium for Electric Reliability Technology Solutions (CERTS) is one of

the most well-recognized microgrids operated by the American Electric Power. It is
installed in the Dolan Technology Center in Columbus, Ohio, in the USA [16].
Members involved in the establishment of the microgrid include four DOE National
Labs, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Sandia National
Laboratory (SNL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory (PNNL); NSFs Power Systems Engineering Research Center;
and the Electric Power Group [52]. It was formed in 1999 to improve the reliability
and efficiency of the US electric power system. The dominant sources present are
liquid-cooled natural gas-based permanent magnet generator [53]. The microgrid
provides plug and play capability, and it can isolate from the host grid under severe
grid disturbances using the fast acting static switch.
5.2 Microgrid Test Facility at University of Texas, Arlington
The researchers at the University of Texas have initiated the development of a

microgrid test facility with a hierarchical control system on the campus [54]. The
test facility is equipped with vertical axis wind turbines, solar panels, fuel cell,
storage systems, diesel generator with grid availability. Embedded control system
using National Instrument’s (NI) CompactRIO has been used in the UTA microgrid
[54]. The test bed consists of three sub-grids with central ring architecture capable
of independent operation as a microgrid. It can operate in grid-tied, islanded mode
and interconnected mode with the availability of lithium-ion batteries to provide
ancillary services to the system.
Microgrids 79
5.3 Microgrid Test Facility at Illinois Institute

of Technology
The Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), smart grid prototype, is located near
Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The team comprises the IIT (lead
organization), Exelon/Commonwealth Edison Company, S&C Electric Company,
Intelligent Power Solutions, and the Galvin Electricity [55]. Initiative, and other
power industry experts are aiming to build perfect power prototype with main
objective as minimum outage (at least three power outages) per year. The campus
peak load is around 10 MW, and the distributed energy resources including wind
turbines, roof top solar, combined cycle gas units, and energy storage units are
coming up to 9 MW [55]. The entire objective is to enhance the reliability of the
campus microgrid and to make it operational in fully islanded condition.
5.4 Microgrid Setup at Kythnos Island
Kythnos Island Microgrid is generating power for 12 houses in Kythnos Island in

the Cyclades Archipelago, of the Aegean Sea [16] in Greece. The generation system
comprises of a 10 kW of PV, a nominal 53-kWh battery bank, and a 5-kW diesel
gen set [16]. It is a single-phase residential microgrid having centralized and
decentralized controllable features. Further, load management can be incorporated
into the supervisory control by monitoring the battery SOC.
5.5 Microgrid Test Facility at University of California, San

Diego (UCSD)
The UCSD microgrid project aims to supply power and facilitates heating and
cooling for 450-hectare campus with a daily population of 45,000 [56]. It comprises
of two 13.5 MW gas turbines, one 3 MW steam turbine, and a 1.2 MW solar cell
installation that together caters 85% of campus power needs, 95% of its heating
needs, and 95% of its cooling needs [56]. UCSD is installing a novel supervisory
controller-Paladin, which will regulate all generation, storage, and loads with
hourly computation to optimize the operating situations.
5.6 Microgrids in India
A Bangalore-based, for-profit social enterprise (SELCO Solar Light Private

Limited) has installed solar storage remote DC microgrids to supply power in
Baikampady, Mangalore; Neelakantarayanagaddi Village, Mendare Village, and

Kalkeri Sangeet Vidyalaya [57]. A microgrid is being operated by Indian Coast
Guard in Andaman Island [57]. Another development is located in Sundarban
region and is popularly known as Sagar Island Microgrid [58]. The project is being
funded jointly by Ministry of New and Renewable energy (MNRE), Indo-Canadian
Environment Facility (ICEF), and West Bengal Renewable Energy Development
Agency (WBREDA) [58]. The microsources in the Sagar Island include solar
power of 250 kW and a diesel generator of 400 kW [58]. The Greenpeace India
solar microgrid foundation of 100 kW is powering 450 homes of the 2400 resi-
dents, 50 commercial operations, two schools, a training center, and a health care
facility, at Dharnai Village of Bihar state in India [59]. The Chief Ministers Official
Residence in Bihar, India, is also powered by 125 kW solar microgrid [57].
6 Summary
The takeaways from this chapter are enumerated below:

1. The microgrid formation can help the remote load centers where the utility fails
to supply power.
2. Solar and wind energy sources are highly intermittent, and hence, they should be
installed with battery and auxiliary sources in remote locations.
3. Microgrids are incomplete without the power electronics-based converters such
as DC–DC converters and VSCs, which are used as interfaces.
4. The controllers at the three levels of the hierarchy help in maintaining optimality
and reliability of the system. Further, flexible active and reactive power supply
is possible.
5. In stand-alone/islanded mode of operation, the VSC terminal voltage magnitude
and frequency are regulated using conventional and improved droop control
characteristics.
6. The hurdles faced in accurate power sharing in islanded mode are due to
unknown line impedances between VSC and common AC bus, unbalance and
nonlinear loads, and highly resistive lines. Some of the solutions provided in the
literature are including virtual resistance/impedance in the feedback output path,
harmonic current sharing, and adaptive voltage control.
7. Laboratory level developments of the microgrid are taking place globally for
research on the various issues in it. CERTS microgrid is one of the earliest
developments of a test facility in Ohio, USA.
Microgrids 81
7 Conclusion
The rapid depletion of fossil fuel and proliferation of renewable energy sources has
led to the development of microgrid. This chapter has attempted to highlight the
major issues, control attributes, and developments around the world. A discussion
on the structure of the microgrid, which includes DG units and its integration issues,
energy storage benefits, and different microgrid loads, is carried out. Since the
controllers are the heart of any microgrid system, the discussion is incomplete
without it. A comprehensive survey is further carried on them. Major experimental
developments around the world are also taking place at a rapid rate due to rapid
advancement in power electronics technology and expansion of renewable sources.
Hence, the experiments as on date have been mentioned.
Acknowledgements The authors are thankful to Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur for its
support and permission to submit this chapter.
Appendix
The family of PID controllers is the simplest of the controllers. The gains of the
controller have different impacts on the closed-loop response of the plant in a
microgrid.
Assuming a plant to be represented by a closed-loop transfer function given as:
20
G¼ ð1:42Þ
s4 þ 12s3 þ 40s2 þ 55s þ 30
The effect of the P controller when only Kp is varied independently is shown in

Fig. 14. It is observed that the steady state error reduces with increase in Kp .
However, the damping reduces and overshoot increases with increase in Kp .
P controller
0.9
Kp=0.1 Kp=0.6 Kp=1.1 Kp=1.6 Kp=2.1 Kp=2.6
0.8
0.7
0.6
Amplitude
0.3
0.2 Increasing Kp
0.1
0 Time (seconds)
0 2 4 10 12 14
Fig. 14 Typical P controller behavior with increasing proportional gain

Integral Controller
Amplitude 0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2 Increasing Ki with Kp

and Kd as zero
setpoint Ki=0.5 Ki=1 Ki=1.5 Ki=2 Ki=2.5 Ki=3
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Time (s)
Fig. 15 Typical I controller behavior with increasing integral gain
Derivative controller
0.7
Increasing
0.6 Kd
0.5
Amplitude
0.4
Kd=0 Kd=0.5 Kd=1 Kd=2 Kd=2.5 Kd=3 Kd=3.5
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Time (seconds)
Fig. 16 Typical derivative controller behavior with increasing derivative gain
PID with changing Ki

1.5 Ki=0 Ki=0.5 Ki=1 Ki=1.5 Ki=2 Ki=2.5 Ki=3
Amplitude
0.5
Increasing Ki, with

Kp=1, and Kd=1
0
0 10 20 40 50 60
Time (seconds)
Fig. 17 Typical PID controller behavior with increasing integral gain (Kp ¼ 1, Kd ¼ 1)
Microgrids 83
PID with changing Kd

1.6
1.4
Amplitude 1.2
0.8
0.6
Kd=0 Kd=0.5 Kd=1 Kd=1.5 Kd=2 Kd=2.5 Kd=3
0.4
0.2
Increasing Kd
0
0 5 10 25 30 35
Time (seconds)
Fig. 18 Typical PID controller behavior with decreasing derivative gain (Kp ¼ 1, Ki ¼ 1)
Table 2 Effect of increasing Kp , Ki , and Kd independently in PID controller

Closed-loop Rise time Overshoot Settling time Steady state Damping
response error
Increasing Kp Reduces Increases Slightly Reduces Reduces
increases
Increasing Ki Slightly Increases Increases Eliminates Reduces
reduces
Increasing Kd Slightly Reduces Reduces Minor Increases
reduces change
The integral gain is separately varied keeping P and D gains as zero, as shown in
Fig. 15. The overshoot is seen increasing, and damping reduction is observed with
increasing Ki .
The derivative controller alone fails to control the controlled variable when Kp
and Ki are zero, as observed in Fig. 16.
The effect of the PID controller with fixed P and D gains but increasing Ki is
observed in Fig. 17. The steady state error is almost eliminated with increase in the
integral gain. However, the overshoot increases and damping reduces with its
increase.
The effect of the PID controller with fixed P and I gains and increasing Kd can be
observed in Fig. 18. The derivative gain reduces overshoot significantly.
The overall impact of increasing the gains of the PID controller is illustrated in
Table 2.
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Transition of Power Distribution System
Planning from Passive to Active Networks:
A State-of-the-Art Review and a New
Proposal
Shubh Lakshmi and Sanjib Ganguly
Abstract The planning of electrical power distribution systems (DS) is a strategy

to meet load demand and to expand the services economically and yet, reliably. The
lower energy efficiency of DS, because of the high network power loss and
voltage-drop problem, makes the DS planning problem more relevant, even today.
Integration of distributed generation (DG) to DS is one of the solutions to improve
energy efficiency. The inclusion of DG units in DS planning transformed the tra-
ditional passive distribution system (PDS) to active distribution system (ADS).
The ADS planning includes the modern communication technique, active energy
management technologies and distribution system automation technologies. There
are various approaches on ADS planning including various features. These are
classified into a three-level tree structure. The first level is based on the type of the
planning. The second level is based on the types of load and generation models
used. The third level of classification is based on the different types of solution
strategies used. Among these approaches, the research gap is identified, and a
planning model to optimally convert PDS to ADS is proposed. The model includes
a novel strategy to integrate photovoltaic unit in DS along with unified power
quality conditioner so as to get simultaneous improvements of power quality and
energy efficiency. The proposed model is validated on a 69-bus radial distribution
network.

Keywords Distribution system planning Distributed generation

Energy storage Power quality Unified power quality conditioner (UPQC)
S. Lakshmi S. Ganguly (&)

Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute
of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati 781039, India
e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
S. Lakshmi

88 S. Lakshmi and S. Ganguly
Nomenclature and Acronyms

PDS (ADS) Passive (active) distribution system
MG Micro-grid
CP (I) Conversion planning from PDS to ADS
(investment planning)
CP (O) Conversion planning from PDS to ADS
(operational planning)
SGP (I) ADS planning with smart grid features (investment planning)
SGP (O) ADS planning with smart grid features (operational planning)
MGP (I) MG planning (investment planning)
MGP (O) MG planning (operational planning)
IC Installation cost
OC Operational cost
MC Maintenance cost
OMC Operational and maintenance cost
WT Wind turbine
PV Photovoltaic
FC Fuel cell
DE Diesel engine
GT Gas turbine
MT Micro turbine
HT Hydro turbine
EL Electrolyzer
BM Bio-mass
UPQC Unified power quality conditioner
PQ Power quality
DG Distributed generation
DDG Dispatchable DG
ESS Energy storage system
sag
VSe1 ðVSe1 Þ Voltage injected by the series inverter of UPQC in voltage
sag (healthy) condition
IR Line current before the placement of UPQC
IR1 ðIR2 Þ Line current after the placement of UPQC without (with)
PV-storage unit
d1 Load end voltage phase angle shift after the placement of
UPQC
VS0 Source end voltage of the UPQC
VS ðVR Þ Sending end (receiving end) voltage of a distribution line
KSe Ratio of VSe1 to VR
0 Shunt compensating current injected by the shunt inverter of
ISh1 ISh1
UPQC without (with) PV-storage unit
k Amount of sag in voltage
Qtotal Total reactive power demand of the network
ISt Current supplied by the storage unit
Transition of Power Distribution System Planning from Passive … 89
KSt Ratio of ISt to IR

QiSe1max QiSh1max Maximum reactive power supplied by series (shunt) inverter
of UPQC-WPV at bus ‘i’
THDL ðTHDSh Þ Total harmonic distortion of line current IR (shunt compen-
0
sating current ISh1 )
m
CUPQC Investment cost of the UPQC at location ‘m’ ($/kVA)
SWPV
UPQC
m VA-rating of UPQC at location ‘m’ (kVA)
St Investment cost of storage unit ($/kWh)
CINV
PSt
UPQC
m Size of storage unit at location ‘m’ (kW)
St Annual operation and maintenance cost of storage unit
CO&M
($/kW)
PV Investment cost of PV unit ($/kW)
CINV
PPV
UPQC
m Size of PV array at location ‘m’ (kW)
PV Annual operation and maintenance cost of PV array ($/kW)
CO&M
T h Planning horizon (years)
D f Discount factor for planning horizon
C E Cost of energy loss ($/kWh)
t1 ðt2 Þ Duration of peak (off-peak) hour in a day (hours)
t3 Operation hour of PV array (hours)
CUF Capacity utilization factor of PV array
peak offpeak
Ploss mn Ploss mn Peak (off-peak) hour power loss of branch ‘mn’ after
placement of UPQC
PðmÞ Active power demand of bus ‘m’
QðmÞ Reactive power demand of bus ‘m’
TPC Cost of placement of UPQC-WPV at bus ‘m’
1 Introduction
In last few years, distribution system (DS) planning has attracted attention of power
systems planners because it involves a number of conflicting objectives to be
simultaneously optimized. The aim of DS planners is to design economical and yet,
reliable DS, in such a way that it should supply uninterrupted power to the con-
sumers. The distribution systems planning can be done in two ways: (i) single-stage
planning and (ii) multi-stage planning. In single-stage planning, whole planning is
performed at one step by considering discount factor for a planning horizon. In the
case of multi-stage planning, the planning horizon is divided into multiple steps,
and the planning is performed for each step. There are some state-of-the-art review
papers reported on DS planning [1–6]. Among these, the papers [1–3] are on review
of the passive DS (PDS) planning. In PDS, the power flow is unidirectional. The
inclusion of distributed generation (DG) in DS planning converts the PDS to active
Table 1 The planning cost and variables for PDS and ADS planning
Types of cost/ PDS planning ADS planning
problem
variables
Installation/ Substation, transformers, feeders, DG units, storage units (i.e.
reinforcement/ lines/feeder branches, battery), advanced protection and
replacement cost sectionalizing switches and communication infrastructure,
for: tie-lines, conventional reactive advanced automation and
power compensators, such as metering technologies, power
voltage regulators, capacitors and electronics devices for reactive
on-load tap changers. power compensation and PQ
improvement, etc.
Operational cost: Cost of energy loss and Cost of energy loss and
maintenance cost for each maintenance cost for each
equipment associated with PDS equipment associated with ADS
Planning Size and location for new Sizes and locations for DG units,
problem substation, number of feeders, sizes and locations for battery,
variables: feeder routing, number and appropriate coordination of
locations for sectionalizing protection and automation
switches and tie-lines, conductor technologies, generation mix
types and sizes, etc. among different types of DG
units, etc.
distribution system (ADS). The works reported on ADS planning and/or PDS
planning till 2015 have been reviewed in [4–6]. The different objectives and
planning variables used in the planning of PDS and ADS are shown in Table 1.
The differences between traditional PDS and ADS are categorically shown in
[6]. Some typical characteristics of ADS planning, which make it different to the
traditional PDS planning are given below.
• The designed network topology/structure is to be flexible, and it can automat-
ically be reconfigured to a different structure, unlike PDS.
• The designed network should reliably work with high penetration of DG.
• The designed network should reliably work with uncertainties of the generation
of renewable energy sources, such as PV and WT.
• The operation of the designed network should be automated unlike manual
operation of PDS.
The difference in features between PDS and ADS is shown with example net-
works in Fig. 1. Usually, a typical PDS consists of single or multiple feeders,
several sectionalizing switches, tie line(s) and capacitor bank(s) as shown in
Fig. 1a. In addition to these, a typical ADS, as shown in Fig. 1b, consists of
distributed energy resources (DERs), charging station for electric vehicles, smart
metres and distribution management system (DMS), which includes smart com-
munication devices, advanced metering technologies, demand-side management
technologies, energy management technologies and smart automation technologies.
Traditionally, the tie line and sectionalizing switches in PDS are manually operated,
whereas advanced automation technologies are used to operate these in ADS.
(a) (b)
Communication
DMS link
DER
14 15 16 17 18 Tie line
14 15 16 17 18 Tie line
Substation DER
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1
Substation 9 10 11 12 13
9 10 11 12 13
Capacitor
DER Capacitor
Charging Sectionalizing Distribution

= Load = = DMS =
station switch management
system
Fig. 1 The different features of typical distribution networks: a PDS and b ADS
The scheduling for the operation of different DER units and charging station(s) is
done using DMS. Hence, there are differences among the objectives and optimizing
variables in PDS and ADS planning as summarized in Table 1. Thus, the ADS
planning is an involved multi-objective optimization process with a number of
objectives, such as (i) minimization of installation/reinforcement/replacement cost
for DG units and storage units (if any), (ii) minimization of operational cost (cost of
energy loss and maintenance cost), (iii) maximization of reliability, (iv) maxi-
mization of capacity of DG penetration, (v) minimization of carbon emission,
(vi) determination of optimal operational strategy for DG units and (vii) maxi-
mization of power quality (PQ). These objectives are optimized subjected to several
technical and operational constraints. In many occasions, these objectives do
conflict with each other. For example, the integration of renewable DG unit reduces
the carbon emission at the expanse of higher investment cost. Hence, to solve the
ADS planning problem consisting of several such conflicting objectives, one needs
multi-objective optimization approach. There are various multi-objective opti-
mization approaches available in the literature. These are weighted
aggregation-based approach, Pareto-based approach, e-constrained approach etc. It
is seen that the Pareto-based approach is popularly used in solving most of the
multi-objective ADS planning problems.
The power systems researchers around the globe have significantly contributed
to ADS planning during last 2–3 years. Hence, the theme of this work is to sys-
tematically present these works. Thus, a classification tree is developed for ADS
planning, as shown in Fig. 2. It consists of three levels based on different attributes
of planning. The different forms of ADS planning are grouped in Level #1 clas-
sification. The Level #2 further categorizes the Level #1 based on different load and
generation models used. The Level #3 classification is based on the different
solution strategies reported to solve the ADS planning optimization problem. The
special emphasis is given to identify the inclusion of two important features of
modern sustainable energy planning: (i) mitigation of the power quality
(PQ) problems and (ii) integration of storage units. Based on the research gap
ADS planning
Conversion planning ADS planning with smart MG planning

of PDS to ADS grid features
Level # 1
Investment Operational Investment and

Investment Operational Investment and Investment Operational planning planning Operational
planning planning Operational planning planning planning
planning
Constant Constant Constant Constant

Constant Constant Constant
Fuzzy Constant Fuzzy
Probabilistic Probabilistic Probabilistic Probabilistic
Level # 2 (A)
Probabilistic (A) (C,Y,F)
Probabilistic Probabilistic (R,F) (F) (V+U,Z,X)) (A,D,F+
(A,A+V, (D) (I,D,B, P)
(E,G,S, T+U,
Level # 3 A+H,B,Y, (A) I, O,W) D,N)
(A, B, I+J, D, I) (A,G,C,M) (A,B,Q)
A+V, (A,B,M,K)
(A,Y,C,
Y, I)
P,D,L,I,
H)
A- Genetic algorithm (GA) and its variants P- Monte Carlo method (MCM)
B- Particle swarm optimization (PSO) and its variants Q- Mixed integer second order cone programming
C- Non-linear programming (NLP) (MISOCP)
D- Mixed integer programming (MIP) R- Nash bargaining theory
E- Dynamic programming (DP) S- Predictor corrector proximal multiplier (PCPM)
F- Stochastic programming (SP) T- Integer programming (IP)
G- Mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) U- Graph theory
H- Ant colony optimization (ACO) V- Tabu search (TS)
I- Mixed integer linear programming (MILP) W- Cultural algorithm
J- Simulated annealing (SA) X- Self adaptive imperialist competitive algorithm
K- Chaotic local search with modified honey bee mating (SAICA)
optimization (CLSMHBMO) Y- Heuristic algorithm (HA)
L- Multi configuration multi period OPF (MMOPF) Z- Active set optimization algorithm (ASOA)
M- Interior point method (IPM)
N- Linear programing (LP)
O- Semi definite programming (SDP)
Fig. 2 Classification tree of ADS planning
identified, a planning model, to optimally convert PDS to ADS, is proposed. The

contributions of this chapter are summarized as:
• Classification of different ADS planning models in view of type of the planning
and load and/or generation models
• Identification whether two important aspects of modern ADS planning, i.e.
integration of energy storage and mitigation of PQ problems are considered in
the reported models
• Proposal of an ADS planning approach including storage and PQ problem
mitigation
This chapter is organized as follows. Section 2 presents a systematic literature
review on ADS planning and the research gap. In Sect. 3, a new approach on ADS
planning is provided along with simulation results. Section 4 concludes the chapter.
2 Literature Review on ADS Planning
In view of different approaches on ADS planning, a three-level classification tree

structure is developed as shown in Fig. 2. The Level #1 classification is based on
the type of the planning. There are three different types found, and they are
(i) conversion planning (CP) from PDS to ADS, (ii) ADS planning including smart
grid (SGP) features and (iii) Micro-grid planning (MGP). In the conversion plan-
ning, [7–43], the traditional PDS is converted to ADS with at least one DG unit of
either conventional or renewable type. In ADS planning with smart grid features
[44–49], the planning approaches consist of smart technologies, such as charging of
electric vehicle (EV), fault passage indicator, distribution automation, advanced
metering techniques, advanced communication techniques, energy management
technologies and demand management technologies. The MG is a kind of low/
medium-voltage distribution network consisting of DG units and controllable loads,
which can be operated in either islanded or grid-connected mode. The MG planning
[50–70] is done to improve system self-adequacy and to design self-sufficient DS.
These three types of planning are further divided into three sub-categories based on
the objective function formulations. They are: (i) investment planning, (ii) opera-
tional planning and (iii) combined investment and operation planning. In invest-
ment planning, a planner’s job is to find out the amount of fund to be optimally
invested for achieving particular objectives within a planning horizon. In the ADS
operational planning, the planners are dealing with the objectives to determine the
optimal operational strategy for energy management. This is done by maximizing
the profit by energy export/import, by finding the optimal power flow, by finding
the optimal exchange of power with main grid and by considering different oper-
ational parameters of DS, such as power loss, voltage deviation and emission. The
combined investment and operation planning are an approach combining both
investment and operational planning objectives. The investment planning is
long-term planning process, whereas the operational planning is a short-term
planning process. The different attributes of individual work are given in Table 2.
The Level #2 further categorizes the Level #1 based on different types of load
and generation models. Basically, three types of load and generation models are
used in the literature: (i) constant, (ii) probabilistic and (iii) fuzzy set theory-based.
The probability-based load models are reported in [9, 11, 13, 16–18, 23, 28, 33, 35,
39, 40, 42, 46, 51, 55, 56, 58, 59, 67, 70]. In [9, 11, 13, 17, 18, 22, 23, 28, 30, 31,
33, 35, 39, 40, 42, 46, 49, 51, 52, 55, 56, 58, 59, 67, 68, 70], probability-based
generation models are used. Probabilistic load and generation are usually modelled
by using a chosen probability density function (PDF), such as normal distribution,
beta PDF, Weibull PDF and Rayleigh PDF. In some of the approaches [8, 10], the
fuzzy set theory is used to model the uncertain load and generation. The rest of the
works are based on constant load and generation values.
The Level #3 classification is based on the solution strategies used in ADS
planning. Several solution strategies are used to solve the planning optimization
problems. The reported solution strategies can be categorized into two groups:
Table 2 Different features of different ADS planning approaches
94
Reference Planning Objective functions Type of DG Solution PQ Integration

No. category strategy problem of storage
mitigation included?
included?
[7] CP (I) IC and OC of substation, feeder, DG units, ESS, Not mentioned TS-GA, No Yes
replacement cost of ESS and cost of outage GA-ACO and
PSO
[8] CP (O) Power loss and voltage deviation Not mentioned Adaptive GA No No
[9] CP (O) Energy loss WT MINLP No No
[10] CP IC and OC of DG units, cost of energy loss, risk of Not mentioned NSGA-II No No
(I + O) overloading in substations and line segments, risk of
over/under voltage in buses, and economic risk due
to electricity price uncertainty
[11] CP Costs of line up-gradation, cost of energy loss, IC PV, WT and GT NSGA-II No No
(I + O) and OMC of DG units, cost of energy produced by
DG units, and emission from DG units and for the
purchased energy from the grid
[12] CP IC and OC of DG units, costs of substation and GAS I.C., MT and CLSMHBMO No No
(I + O) feeder reinforcement, cost of purchased energy from FC
the grid, emission cost, and voltage satisfaction
[13] CP Technical constraints dissatisfaction, cost of energy WT, GT and MT Binary PSO No No
(I + O) purchase from the grid, reinforcement of substation
and feeder, IC and OC of DG units, and total
emission from DG units and the grid
[14] CP (I) IC and OC of DG units, capital cost to upgrade GT HA No No
substation and feeders, and cost for import and
export of energy
(continued)
S. Lakshmi and S. Ganguly
Table 2 (continued)
included?
[15] CP (I) IC and OMC of DDG units, capacitors, lines and DE Modified No No
transformers, cost of energy loss, reliability cost, discrete PSO
and cost of the reduction in purchased energy from
the grid
[16] CP (I) IC of substation, feeder and DG units, and OC of Not mentioned PSO No No
DG units and substation
[17] CP (I) Costs of energy loss, imported energy from the grid Thermal and WT GA No No
and non-distributed energy, cost of reconfiguration
using switches, IC of DG units, cost of conductor
replacement and additional lines
[18] CP (I) IC, OMC, and capacity adequacy cost of DG units WT, PV and DE Point No No
and cost of energy loss estimated GA
[19] CP (I) Costs of new lines, cost of energy losses, cost of Not mentioned MILP & SA No No
undelivered energy due to faults, and cost of
production loss of DG units due faults in lines
[20] CP (O) Cost of energy not supplied and energy losses WT and PV HA No Yes
Transition of Power Distribution System Planning from Passive …
[21] CP (O) Maximization of energy export and revenue from Not mentioned NLP No Yes
energy export
[22] CP (O) Costs of energy loss WT, PV and HT GA Yes No
[23] CP (I) Costs of energy loss, imported energy and WT and Thermal GA No No
non-distributed energy, cost of reconfiguration
using switches, IC of DG units and new lines, and
cost of conductor replacement
(continued)
95
Table 2 (continued)
96

included?
[24] CP (O) Energy loss WT and PV MCM No Yes
[25] CP (O) Load curtailment minimization Fossil fuel-based MIP No No
DG
[26] CP (O) DG capacity maximization WT MMOPF No No
[27] CP (O) Cost of energy loss, generation cost of wind energy WT NLP No Yes
and cost of ESS
[28] CP IC and MC of distributed storage systems and OC WT, PV and DE MISOCP No Yes
(I + O) of grid (voltage deviation, cost of energy purchase
from the grid, energy losses, and load curtailment)
[29] CP (O) Network power loss and voltage deviation Not mentioned GA No No
[30] CP (I) IC and OC of DG units and capacitor and cost of WT TS and GA No No
purchase energy from the grid
[31] CP (I) IC and OC of substation and lines, cost of energy WT NSGA-II No No
loss, and fault cost
[32] CP Cost of energy loss, voltage regulation and peak – IPM No Yes
(I + O) demand, and IC and OMC of ESS
[33] CP (O) OC of PV units, cost of reduction in demand with PV IPM No No
the integration of demand response program, and
energy loss
[34] CP (O) DG hosting capacity maximization Not mentioned MILP No No
(continued)
Table 2 (continued)
included?
[35] CP (I) Cost of substation expansion, IC of substation, DG WT and DDG GA and OPF No No
units, and feeder, replacement cost of feeder, OC of
DG units, cost of energy purchase from the grid,
cost of energy loss, cost of energy not supplied due
to faults, and pollutant emission
[36] CP (O) Power loss, voltage improvement, and load PV ACO and No No
balancing of the lines in feeder fuzzy
[37] CP Profit due to sale of energy, IC of ESS and DG Not mentioned PSO No Yes
(I + O) units, and OMC of ESS and DG units
[38] CP (I) IC of ESS, OC of ESS and lines, cost of conductor – MIP No Yes
replacement, cost of power imported from the
substation, outage cost, and value of lost load
[39] CP Substation expansion cost, IC of substation, feeder WT and DDG GA No No
(I + O) and DG units, conductor replacement cost of feeder,
OC of DG units, cost of energy purchase from the
grid, cost of energy loss, cost of expected energy
not supplied, and emission

[40] CP (O) Cost of energy WT NLP No No
[41] CP (I) IC and OMC of DG units, cost of energy purchase WT, PV, HT, GT, MILP No No
from the grid, cost of unserved energy, cost of Geothermal, Heavy
energy loss, and emission fuel oil turbine,
BM
(continued)
97
Table 2 (continued)
98

included?
[42] CP (I) IC and OMC of feeder, transformer, substation and WT and PV MILP No No
DG units, cost of energy loss, and cost of unserved
energy
[43] CP (O) Active and reactive power losses of the network PV, MT, etc. MOEA No No
[44] SGP (I) IC and OMC of substation, lines, fault passage – NSGA-II No Yes (EV)
indicator and parking lot, and expected energy not
supplied
[45] SGP (I) Revenue earned from energy export, IC and OMC – GA No No
of substations, feeders, and lines, cost of energy
loss, and interruption and fault repairing cost of
lines
[46] SGP (O) Saving cost for reactive power compensation and Not mentioned Nash No No
the voltage deviation Bargaining
theory
[47] SGP (O) Economic benefit from load and plug-in EV (PEV), WT and PV NLP No Yes (PEV)
OC of DG units, and cost of energy purchase from
the grid
[48] SGP (O) Generation curtailment for DG units and load WT HA No Yes (EV)
curtailment minimization
[49] SGP (O) OC of DDG unit, cost of import and export of WT, PV and DDG SP No Yes (EV)
energy, and cost of battery degradation due to
vehicle-to-grid connection
[50] MGP IC and OMC of lines and DG units, cost of energy Not mentioned MILP No No
(I + O) purchase from the grid, and cost of lost load
(continued)
Table 2 (continued)
included?
[51] MGP IC, OMC, and replacement cost of battery ESS and WT, DE and PV NSGA-II No Yes
(I + O) DG units, fault repairing cost of all equipment, and
pollutant emission
[52] MGP IC of battery ESS and OC of MG (fuel cost, start-up WT and thermal MIP No Yes
(I + O) and shutdown costs of units, and cost of energy
purchase)
[53] MGP (I) IC of DG units, OC of MG, and reliability cost WT, PV, FC and MIP No Yes
GT
[54] MGP IC, OMC and replacement cost of components, cost WT, PV and FC PSO No Yes
(I + O) of lost load, and costs of purchased energy from the
grid, and cost of energy sale to the grid
[55] MGP (I) IC and OMC of DG units, cost of energy sale, and WT, MT and PV MIP No No
cost of purchased energy from the grid
[56] MGP (I) IC and OMC of ESS and DG units and interruption WT and DE SP No Yes
cost
[57] MGP Revenue from electrical and thermal energy sale, IC WT, PV, DE, MT PSO No Yes
(I + O) and OMC of ESS and DG units, cost of energy and FC

exchange with the grid, and emission
[58] MGP (O) Energy losses, load and generation balance within WT, PV and BM TS and Graph No Yes
MG, and MG self-adequacy theory
[59] MGP (O) MC of ESS, OC of DG units, and cost of energy Renewable source, ASOA No Yes
exchange MT, DE and FC
[60] MGP (O) Cost of energy purchase from the grid WT and PV DP and No Yes
Gauss-Seidal
(continued)
99
Table 2 (continued)
100

included?
[61] MGP (O) Cost of energy purchase from the grid, OC of DG WT, PV and DE MINLP No No
units, cost of peak loading, emission cost, and cost
of non-delivered energy
[62] MGP (O) OC of DG units, cost of storing energy and energy WT, PV and DE PCPMA No Yes
purchase from the grid, customer dissatisfaction,
and power loss
[63] MGP (O) Generation-load balance and ESS capacity sharing Not mentioned IP and graph No Yes
theory
[64] MGP (O) Start-up cost of DG units, OMC of DG units and PV and FC MILP No Yes
battery ESS, cost of energy sale/purchase from the
grid, and cost of load curtailment
[65] MGP (O) Power loss, cost of energy purchase from the grid, Conventional DG SDP No No
and cost of energy supplied by DG units
[66] MGP (O) IC and OMC of battery ESS and DG units, OC of Solar, FC and BM Cultural No Yes
MG, cost of energy purchase and sale to the grid algorithm
[67] MGP (O) Cost of energy purchase from the grid, cost of EVs WT SAICA No Yes
charging, cost of degradation of battery
[68] MGP Power procurement cost, OC of battery, and IC of WT and PV MIP and No Yes
(I + O) DG units convex
optimization
[69] MGP IC and OC of DG units and ESS, cost of unserved WT, PV and DDG LP No Yes
(I + O) energy, and cost of energy purchase/sale to the grid
[70] MGP IC and OMC of DG units and ESS, and value of lost WT and DE SP and Monte No Yes
(I + O) load Carlo
(i) classical and enumerative search techniques and (ii) meta-heuristic approaches.
Different conventional mathematical approaches and enumerative search techniques
used are LP, NLP, MILP, MINLP, MISOCP, SDP, Nash bargaining approach, DP
and PCPM. The meta-heuristic methods use problem-independent set of rules to
search feasible solutions. Some of the meta-heuristic approaches used are GA and
its different variants, PSO and its different variants, HA, ACO, SA, TS, cultural
algorithm, etc. In some of the approaches, hybrid solution strategy combining both
classical and meta-heuristic approaches is used, for example hybrid MILP and SA,
hybrid TS and graph theory, hybrid IP and graph theory, and hybrid MIP and
convex optimization. The individual approaches are summarized in Table 2.
2.1 Research Gap and Motivations Behind a New Proposal
The DG integration is one of the solutions to meet increasing load growth with
uninterrupted power supply to the consumers. The integration of converter-based
DG units such as PV, and WT deteriorates the PQ of distribution networks by
injecting harmonics to the distribution system. For example, as shown in Fig. 1b, if
the DER unit located at bus 9 is of converter-based unit, it may cause harmonic
pollution to its neighbouring buses. The line current harmonics flowing through the
system deteriorates the quality of supply voltage as well. The excessive harmonics
in line current may result in mal-operation of the sensitive equipment, additional
network losses, etc. The single line to ground fault and the presence of arc furnaces
cause voltage sag, which may create operational problem for some of the sensitive
loads, such as adjustable speed drives, certain medical equipment and data pro-
cessing centres. For example, if such a sensitive load is located at bus 5 of the
example networks shown in Fig. 1 and there is an event of voltage sag at bus 4, this
may lead to mal-operation of the sensitive load. This results in production loss for
the process industries, loss of data for the data processing centres, etc. Hence, an
appropriate measure should be taken to ensure a desired PQ level to all the cus-
tomers. The installation of the custom power devices [71] can be one of the
approaches. Similarly, the power shortage during peak load demand is a common
problem for the developing nations, such as India. This results in load curtailment.
To avoid this, the energy generated by such renewable sources can be stored in
battery so as to utilize during peak hour. In view of the above, the following
shortcomings are found in the literature of ADS planning:
• In none of the ADS planning models, the allocation of both DG and custom
power devices is found.
• In none of the ADS planning models, both the storage units and PQ features are
included.
These are the motivations behind the new proposal for ADS planning. The
proposed ADS planning approach includes placement of the storage unit, renewable
source, and unified power quality conditioner (UPQC), a custom power device.
3 Proposed Planning Approach with Numerical

Simulation
In the proposed planning approach, the conversion of PDS to ADS is planned with
the placement of a hybrid energy generation system consisting of PV array and
battery. The hybrid system is connected to the DC link of the UPQC as shown in
Fig. 3. A UPQC is a type of custom power devices which provides both series and
shunt compensations by using series and shunt inverters, respectively. The series
inverter of UPQC injects series voltage to mitigate the voltage sag caused by the
upstream part of the network. Hence, it can protect the downstream loads from
voltage sag. The shunt inverter of UPQC injects shunt compensating current to
provide both harmonic and reactive power compensations [72]. These two inverters
are interconnected to a DC link as shown in Fig. 3. A state-of-the-art review on
UPQC can be found in [73]. The various UPQC models are found in the literature,
such as UPQC-P [73], in which series voltage is injected to provide active power
compensation, UPQC-Q [73], in which series voltage injected to provide only
reactive power compensation, UPQC-S [74], in which both active and reactive
power compensations are provided by injecting the series voltage, UPQC−VAmin
[75], which is designed for the minimization of VA-rating of UPQC, 3-phase 4-wire
structure [76], interline UPQC [77], in which different feeders of a network are
equipped with the two inverters, open UPQC [78], in which the UPQC series and
shunt inverters are not connected to a common DC link, etc. In [79], the mini-
mization of UPQC installation cost is considered as an objective. In [80–82], the
UPQC model with distributed generation is provided.
In all the above-mentioned works, UPQC is used to protect the most sensitive
load. In [83], a study is reported with the placement of UPQC and its impact on
network power loss, line loadability and voltage stability. In [84], a multi-objective
Fig. 3 A 6-bus distribution network with the UPQC-WPV placement at bus 3 {symbols used in
bracket are applicable for the UPQC with PV-storage unit}
optimization-based planning approach is provided to find the optimal location(s)

and size(s) for UPQC. Both these works show that a UPQC placed at an appropriate
location can be used to reduce the network power loss, to mitigate the voltage sag,
to eliminate the harmonics, to improve the bus voltages, etc. But, the placement of
UPQC along with PV and storage units to study its impact on distribution network
parameters is not investigated. Thus, a new UPQC model is proposed, in which PV
array and battery are connected to the DC link of UPQC (i.e. UPQC-WPV).
A 6-bus radial distribution network is used to demonstrate the model as shown in
Fig. 3. In the proposed approach, the UPQC-WPV model is designed to mitigate
voltage sag of the upstream network, which is a common PQ problem. The salient
features of the proposed planning approach are given below.
• The energy generated by the PV array is stored in the battery, and it is injected
into the network during peak hour.
• In voltage sag condition, the series inverter of UPQC-WPV is used to mitigate
the voltage sag. Thus, it is used to protect the downstream load from voltage
sag. In healthy condition, series inverter provides reactive power compensation.
• The shunt inverter of UPQC-WPV is designed to provide the reactive power and
harmonic compensations. In addition, it is also used in active power compen-
sation during peak hour.
3.1 Modelling of UPQC-WPV for Distribution Systems
The modelling of UPQC to improve the energy efficiency of distribution networks

is provided in detail in [83, 84]. In this work, it is revised to UPQC-WPV model.
The phasor diagram is shown in Fig. 4. In healthy condition, the series inverter
Fig. 4 Phasor diagram of UPQC-WPV

injects a fraction ðKSe Þ of VR , i.e. VSe1 to provide the reactive power compensation
by shifting the load end voltage phase angle by d1. The amount of voltage sag (k) to
be mitigated by the series inverter depends on the amount of series voltage to be
injected, as shown in [84]. Accordingly, the phase angle d1 is computed. The
reactive power sharing between the inverters is computed as in [84]. The PV-battery

unit connected to the UPQC DC link is designed to provide a fraction KSt of line
current IR , i.e. ISt ¼ KSt IR .
Assuming lossless inverter configuration, the active power provided to the load
is sum of active power delivered by the PV-battery unit and active power drawn
from the source [84]. Hence,
IR2 VS0 þ VS0 ISt ¼ VR IR cos £R ð1Þ

IR2 ¼ IR ðcos £R KSt Þ For VR ¼ VS0 and ISt ¼ KSt IR ð2Þ
From Fig. 3,
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
0
ISh1 ¼ 2 þ I 2 2I I cos ð£ d Þ
IR2 R R2 R R 1 ð3Þ
From Eqs. (2) and (3),

qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
0
ISh1 ¼ IR 1 þ ðcos £R KSt Þ2 2ðcos £R KSt Þ cos ð£R d1 Þ ð4Þ
The shunt inverter of UPQC-WPV provides harmonic compensation by elimi-

nating the distortion components
present
in the line current. Thus, the distortion
component of the line current ( IR dis ) is nullified by the distortion component of
0dis
the shunt compensating current ( ISh1 ) [83], i.e. IRdis ¼ ISh1
0dis
. From the definition of
dis
THD (i.e. THD ¼ I = I ), fun
0fun
THDL IRfun ¼ THDSh Ish1 ð5Þ
THDL
THDSh ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð6Þ
2
1 þ ðcos £R KSt Þ 2ðcos £R KSt Þ cosð£R d1 Þ
0
The RMS value of ISh1 is calculated as,
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
0 0fun
ISh1 ¼ ISh1 1 þ THD2Sh ð7Þ

qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
0
ISh1 ¼ IRfun 1 þ ðcos £R KSt Þ2 2ðcos £R KSt Þ cosð£R d1 Þ þ THD2L
ð8Þ
The VA-rating of the shunt inverter is computed as:

0 0
Sh1 ¼ VS ISh1
SWPV ð9Þ
The amount of series voltage injected by the series inverter is computed as:
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
VSe1 ¼ VS02 þ VR2 2VS0 VR cos d1
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð10Þ
¼ VS0 2ð1 cos d1 Þ For VR ¼ VS0
The VA-rating of the series inverter is computed by using Eqs. (2) and (10),
Se1 ¼ VSe1 IR2

SWPV ð11Þ
The VA-rating of UPQC-WPV is obtained as:
UPQC ¼ SSe1 þ SSh1

SWPV ð12Þ
WPV WPV
The size of the battery storage unit is computed as:

0
UPQC ¼ VS ISt
PSt ð13Þ
The size of PV is computed as:
t1 PSt
UPQC
UPQC ¼
PPV ð14Þ
24CUF
where CUF is the capacity utilization factor of the PV array. The phase angle hSe1
and h0Sh1 can be derived by following the similar steps as shown in [72].
d1
hSe1 ¼ 90 þ ð15Þ
2
For (ðd1 [ £R Þ; h0Sh1 is calculated as,
cosðd1 £R Þ cos £R þ KSt

h0Sh1 ¼ tan1 þ 90 d1 ð16Þ
sinðd1 £R Þ
Otherwise,
cosð£R d1 Þ cos £R þ KSt

h0Sh1 ¼ tan1 þ 90 d1 ð17Þ
sinð£R d1 Þ
The active and reactive power of series and shunt inverters can be calculated by
using the respective VA-ratings and phase angles.
3.2 Computation of Planning Cost for UPQC-WPV

Placement
The cost of placement of UPQC-WPV in any bus, say bus m, is computed by

considering: (i) investment cost of UPQC; (ii) investment cost of storage unit (i.e.
battery) and PV array; (iii) operational and maintenance cost of storage unit and PV
array; and (iv) cost of energy loss during a planning horizon. The unit price of
UPQC is taken from [79]. The energy loss is computed for two load levels, i.e. peak
hour (assuming 4 h in a day) and off-peak hour load levels. The forward–backward
sweep load flow algorithm is used to compute the power loss including the
UPQC-WPV model as in [84]. It is to be noted that the energy generated by PV
array in off-peak hour is stored so as to provide active power compensation during
peak hour. During off-peak hour, UPQC-WPV is designed to provide only reactive
power compensation. The computation of the total planning cost for the
UPQC-WPV placement is shown in Eq. (18). The total planning cost is sum of six
cost components. The first two cost components are the investment costs for UPQC
and the battery storage units, respectively. The fourth one is the investment cost for
the PV array. The third and fifth cost components are the discounted cost of annual
operation and maintenance for the battery storage unit and the PV array, respec-
tively. The sixth one is the cost of energy losses during peak and off-peak hours.
TPC ¼ CUPQC
m
UPQC þ CINV PUPQC t1 þ T D CO&M PUPQC þ CINV PUPQC þ T D CO&M PUPQC
SWPV m St St m h f St St m PV PV m h f PV PV m
X
þ 365C E T h Df mn2½1;...N1
t1 Ppeak offpeak
loss mn þ t2 Ploss mn
ð18Þ
In this work, an exhaustive approach is used to study the impact of UPQC-WPV

placement, in each bus of a distribution network similar to [83].
3.3 Simulation Results and Discussions
The 69-bus test network is used to demonstrate the proposed approach of

UPQC-WPV placement in radial distribution networks. In this test network, bus 1 is
the substation bus and rest are load buses. The single-line diagram for the 69-bus
Fig. 5 Single-line diagram of 27 26 25 24 23

69-bus radial distribution 22
network 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 69 21
28 68 20
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
1
36 47 51 53 66
37 48 52 54 67
38 49
50
39 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65
40 41 42 43 44 45 46
network is shown in Fig. 5. The network data are available in [85]. The substation
bus voltage magnitude is considered as 1.0 p.u. A case study, consisting of five
cases based on the variation of the ratio of current provided by the storage unit to
the original line current (i.e. KSt ), is provided in this subsection.
• Case 1: with KSt ¼ 0:1
The cost component used to determine the planning cost is given in Table 3. The
UPQC-WPV is designed to mitigate 30% of upstream voltage sag and 20% of load
THD.
3.3.1 Power Loss Reduction Due to UPQC-WPV Placement
The impact of the allocation of UPQC-WPV in different locations of the network on

the network power loss is shown in Fig. 6a, b for the peak and off-peak hours,
respectively. The network power losses of the 69-bus network without compen-
sation are 224.98 and 75.53 kW during peak and off-peak hours, respectively.
A significant amount of loss reduction is observed in both peak and off-peak hours.
It happens because the UPQC-WPV is designed to provide both active and reactive
Table 3 Different planning parameters

Planning parameters Cost components
Th = 10 years, rate of interest = 10%, CUF = 0.2 C E ¼ 0:08 $=kWh [82]
KSt ¼ 0:1 0:5; THDL ¼ 0:2; k ¼ 30% St
CINV ¼ 300 $=kWh [86]
Ratio of the off-peak demand to the peak demand = 0.6 St
CO&M ¼ 10 $=kW [87] annually
Duration for peak hour load demand = 4 h PV
CINV ¼ 2025 $=kW [88]
Duration for off-peak hour load demand = 20 h PV
CO&M ¼ 16 $=kW [88] annually
power compensations in peak hours and reactive power compensation in off-peak

hours. The power loss during peak hours is reducing with the increase of KSt as
shown in Fig. 6a. It is because of the increase in active power compensation pro-
vided by the UPQC-WPV with the increase in KSt .
3.3.2 Improvement in Bus Voltage Due to UPQC-WPV Placement
Without compensation, the minimum bus voltages for the 69-bus network are
0.9092 p.u. and 0.9476 p.u. during peak and off-peak hours, respectively. From the
Fig. 7a, b, it can be seen that the minimum bus voltages of the 69-bus network
during peak and off-peak hours are improved. The minimum bus voltage of the
network increases with KSt because of the higher compensation provided by the
UPQC-WPV.
Fig. 6 Impact on network power loss due to UPQC-WPV allocation in different locations/buses
of the network during a peak and b off-peak hour load demand
Fig. 7 Impact of UPQC-WPV allocation on network minimum bus voltage during a peak and
b off-peak hour load demand
3.3.3 The Rating Requirements for UPQC-WPV, Battery

and PV Array
The rating requirement of UPQC-WPV for its placement in different locations of

the network for different values of is shown in Fig. 8. The VA-rating of the
UPQC-WPV is found to be higher when it is placed near the substation. This is
because of the higher amount of line current is to be carried by the UPQC-WPV
near the substation. The VA-rating of the UPQC-WPV is also found to be
increasing with KSt . It is obvious because the compensations provided by the
UPQC-WPV increases with KSt . The rating requirement for the storage unit and PV
array due to the UPQC-WPV placement in different locations of the network for
different values of KSt are shown in Figs. 9 and 10, respectively. Near the sub-
station, the rating requirements for both the battery and PV array are high. The size
of the battery storage needs to be increased with KSt because it depends on ISt ,
Fig. 8 The rating

requirement for UPQC-WPV
in different locations (bus
number) of the network
Fig. 9 The rating

requirement for the battery for
UPQC-WPV in different
locations (bus number) of the
network
Fig. 10 The size of PV array

required in different locations
(bus number) of the network
which increases with KSt The size of the PV array depends on the size of storage
unit as shown in Eq. (14). Hence, for higher value of KSt , the rating requirement for
the PV array would be higher.
3.3.4 Cost of UPQC-WPV Placement
The cost of the UPQC-WPV placement in different locations of the network is

shown in Fig. 11. The cost of the UPQC-WPV placement is found to be higher near
the substation. It is also found to be higher with the increase in KSt . These happen
because of the increase in rating requirements.
Fig. 11 The cost of

placement of UPQC-WPV in
different locations (bus
number) of the network
3.3.5 Quantitative Comparison among Different Cases
To provide a quantitative comparison among the different cases, the results corre-
sponding to the minimum power losses in each case are shown in Table 4. The
location for UPQC-WPV placement is found to be same in each case. It is seen that
the VA-rating of the series inverter reduces with the increase in KSt . Basically, Ist
increases with the increase in KSt , and this results in reduction of IR2 and the series
inverter rating (Eq. 11). However, the shunt inverter rating increases with KSt be-
0
cause the shunt compensating current ISh1 increases. The overall rating requirement
for the UPQC-WPV increases with the increase in KSt , so as the ratings of the
battery storage and the PV units. However, the increase in rating requirement for
UPQC-WPV from Case 1 to Case 5 is nearly 20%, whereas the ratings for the
battery and PV array increase to 5 times. In fact, the ratings of the battery and the
PV array are found to be linearly increased with KSt Hence, the percentage of the
costs of the PV array and the battery to the total planning cost is significantly
increased from Case 1 to Case 5. It is found that more than 50% of the planning cost
is due to the installation of PV array in Case 5.
Table 4 Solution for the 69-bus network corresponding to lowest network power loss (in peak
hours)
Solution Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 Case 4 Case 5
UPQC-WPV location (bus 61 61 61 61 61
number)
Peak hour power loss (kW) 101.2756 85.5411 71.0109 58.2641 47.6110
Off-peak hour power loss (kW) 52.6891 52.6891 52.6891 52.6891 52.6891
Percentage of energy loss 39.4784 42.0894 44.5005 46.6157 48.3835
reduction in a year (%)
Peak hour minimum bus voltage 0.9399 0.9460 0.9524 0.9589 0.9655
(p.u.)
Off-peak hour minimum bus 0.9536 0.9536 0.9536 0.9536 0.9536
voltage (p.u.)
VA-rating of series inverter 0.7509 0.6457 0.5405 0.4354 0.3302
(MVA)
VA-rating of shunt inverter (MVA) 0.6784 0.8406 1.0132 1.1917 1.3740
Total VA-rating of UPQC-WPV 1.4293 1.4863 1.5537 1.6271 1.7041
(MVA)
Size of battery (i.e. storage unit) 0.7681 1.5361 2.3042 3.0723 3.8404
(MWhr)
Size of PV module (kW) 160.0155 320.0310 480.0465 640.0620 800.0775
Cost of placement of UPQC-WPV 1.0044 1.5798 2.1576 2.7373 3.3187
(106 $)
The percentage of the cost of 23.6788 30.1082 33.0682 34.7532 35.8303
storage unit to total cost
The percentage of the cost of 26.7304 17.6700 13.5238 11.1624 9.6414
UPQC to total cost
The percentage of the cost of the 33.2437 42.2712 46.4266 48.7926 50.3058
PV array to total cost
Table 5 Solution corresponding to lowest power loss during peak hour

Solution UPQC-WPV (Case 5) UPQC-SPAC
Location 61 61
Peak hour power loss (kW) 47.61 80.28
Peak hour minimum node voltage (p.u.) 0.9655 0.9567
VA-rating of UPQC (MVA) 1.7041 1.924
Size of DG unit (MW) 0.8 1
Power factor of the DG unit Unity 0.8 leading
3.3.6 Performance Comparison with an Existing UPQC Model
Since the planning problem formulated in this chapter is not exactly similar to those
reported in the literature, no strong conclusion can be drawn from the comparative
results with the already reported UPQC models. However, a performance com-
parison is provided between the proposed UPQC-WPV model and UPQC
sag-based phase angle control model (UPQC-SPAC) reported in [83] to show that
the performance of the proposed UPQC-WPV model is comparable with that of the
UPQC-SPAC. The 69-bus distribution network is used for this purpose. It is worth
noting that there is no DG or storage unit connected to the DC link of UPQC-SPAC
as in UPQC-WPV. In UPQC-SPAC model [83], a UPQC is placed in same bus
with a DG unit to support the reactive power demand of the DG unit. The result
corresponding to the lowest power loss is shown in Table 5 with the placement of
UPQC-WPV (Case 5) and UPQC-SPAC with a DG unit. The results show that the
power loss and minimum bus voltage of the network are found to be better in case
of UPQC-WPV as compared to UPQC-SPAC. The rating requirement for UPQC is
also found to be less in case of UPQC-WPV. However, the placement of
UPQC-WPV is a costlier option because of the presence of the storage unit.
4 Conclusions
In this chapter, a review on recent approaches on ADS planning has been provided.
A three-level classification tree has been developed to provide a comprehensive
review on recent advancement in ADS planning. Different important features of
different ADS planning approaches have been brought out and discussed. Since the
integration of converter-based renewable generation units, such as PV, creates
harmonic pollution, there needs a strategy/device to mitigate. This motivates to
devise a new proposal on ADS planning. In the proposed approach, PV array and
battery storage unit are connected to the DC link of UPQC to provide active power
compensation. The battery storage unit is basically used to store energy generated
by the PV array so as to inject into the network during peak hours. This eliminates
the need of load curtailment due to energy shortage in peak hours. An exhaustive
search is carried out for the allocation of UPQC-WPV in distribution networks. The
salient features of the new proposal are:
• The allocation of UPQC-WPV in a distribution network can protect all the
downstream loads from a given value of voltage sag. It is also designed to
mitigate a given value of THD.
• The allocation UPQC-WPV in a suitable location of a network results in sig-
nificant reduction of power loss. Hence, the energy efficiency of the network
would significantly be improved.
• The amount of compensation to be provided by UPQC-WPV can be controlled
by the design parameter KSt . With the higher value of KSt , UPQC-WPV can
capable of providing higher compensation. Obviously, this increases the rating
requirements for the storage unit and the PV array.
• The results show that the planning cost primarily governs by the costs of the
battery storage unit and the PV array, and these are found to be linearly varying
with the design parameter KSt .
In future, this study can be extended with the multiple placements of
UPQC-WPV and the required coordinated control among different UPQC-WPV
units.
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Solar Dish Micro Gas Turbine Technology
for Distributed Power Generation
Davide Iaria, Jafar Alzaili and Abdulnaser I. Sayma
Abstract To enable renewable distributed power generation with minimum

reliance on the grid, it is essential to develop systems that are able to operate in
stand-alone mode. Advances in the development of parabolic dish systems pow-
ering a micro gas turbine coupled to thermal energy storage offer this possibility
through being able to operate without the need for backup power except when there
are days with lengthy periods of clouds. Further backup can be provided through
hybridisation with fossil fuels which could allow the system to operate completely
in stand-alone mode (dispatchable). Although such systems are still in the devel-
opment stage, they potentially offer a substantial advantage over photovoltaic cells
that create significant grid instability if operated without local backup. The alter-
native is to provide battery storage which is very expensive or to provide diesel
engines’ backup which has adverse environmental impact. This chapter describes
recent developments in dispatchable parabolic dish solar concentrator systems
powering a micro gas turbine operated by a single dish that tracks the sun on two
axes. System arrangement and component design options are discussed. A bespoke
micro gas turbine design is required with the aim to minimise the overall cost of the
system which is dominated by the dish. The mechanical arrangement poses sig-
nificant challenges compared to conventional micro gas turbines due to the
potentially wide operating range and the interconnected thermal management
requirements of the micro gas turbine, high-speed alternator, recuperator and solar
receiver. Solar receiver system design is of importance when the system is to be
integrated with high-temperature thermal energy storage depending on the storage
technology used. Safe and efficient operation requires the development of suitable
operation and control strategies that will also be discussed in this chapter.
D. Iaria J. Alzaili A. I. Sayma (&)

City University of London, London, UK
D. Iaria
J. Alzaili

120 D. Iaria et al.
Keywords Concentrated solar power Solar dish Micro gas turbine
1 Introduction
Concentrated solar power (CSP) systems use mirrors arranged to focus the direct
sunlight onto a receiver to raise the temperature of a working fluid. The working
fluid then transfers its energy to a prime mover. Parabolic dish and solar towers
have the potential to increase the temperature of the working fluid in excess of
800 °C which is needed for certain types of prime movers such as gas turbines [1].
However, the solar towers are not suitable for low power range of tens of kilo-Watts
[2]; hence, parabolic solar dish concentrators are the most suitable for such appli-
cations. Internal combustion (IC) reciprocating engines are not a suitable contender
because of inherent features in their basic engine cycle and design principles.
Stirling engines have been proposed as a possible choice. These are piston-type
reciprocating engines that operate with an external heat source, and thus, they are
suited for CSP. Stirling engines use hydrogen as the working fluid at high pressure.
Mainly because of this feature, they suffer from a number of technical problems
affecting life and reliability, such as issues with cylinder seals, hydrogen leakage,
hot spots in the heater and difficulties with part-load control. Such problems lead to
system complexity and increased weight and cost.
Gas turbines are used extensively in power generation as well as in aero
applications. Micro gas turbines (MGTs) are a term loosely used for gas turbines
producing power from several hundred Watts to about 1 MW. Nowadays, they are
commercially available in the power range from 30 kW up to 1 MW. Small MGTs
producing less than 10 kWe are not commercially available yet. However, there is a
growing interest in MGTs in this power range for various applications, including
domestic combined heat and power (CHP), range extenders in hybrid vehicles,
auxiliary power units in heavy vehicles, portable power generation, marine auxil-
iary power and standby power units and small unmanned air vehicles (UAVs).
Compared with IC engines that currently dominate the market below 10 kW, MGTs
offer the potential for lower emissions, superior fuel flexibility (including renewable
fuels), higher reliability, longer engine life, lower noise and vibrations and reduced
maintenance costs. The focus of this chapter is on MGT application for concen-
trated solar power generation systems.
The first attempt to use a MGT in a CSP prime mover seems to be the work done
by at NASA during the 1980s [3]. However, the work has not been continued. Six
and Elkins [4], among others, attempted the concept by adopting turbochargers
technology. More recently, purpose-designed MGT engine was adopted to examine
the performance of the CSP systems based on MGT [5]. It is worth noting that some
projects for Stirling engine-based CSP failed mainly because the cost of the prime
mover hardware was too high [6]. On the other hand, MGTs have the potential to be
more reliable and robust alternative and have been the subject of recent develop-
ment of a demonstration system (www.omspo.eu).
Solar Dish Micro Gas Turbine Technology for Distributed … 121
For CSP systems, the MGT presents relatively small part of the overall capital cost
compared to the solar dish [7, 8]. Thus, optimising the MGT for high efficiency and the
related increase in production cost could be outweighed by the reduction in the dish
size and thus overall cost of the system. The variable solar insolation requires the MGT
to operate efficiently at a much wider range than conventional technology. This has a
significant impact on the rotor dynamic design of the shaft-bearing arrangement and
mechanical design. The control strategy of the MGT needs to take into account that
thermal input to the system cannot be used as a control parameter. The main challenge
with thermal storage is to provide high-temperature output from thermal storage
systems usually in excess of 800 °C. There are technical challenges facing hybridi-
sation of MGT-CSP systems mainly related to the combustor design in order to
operate efficiently over a wide range of loading. In addition to providing continuous
power, hybridisation of the system will improve controllability of the MGT.
2 Micro gas Turbine Solar Dish Systems
2.1 Thermodynamic Cycle
MGTs in the power range below 100 kW typically use recuperated Brayton–Joule
cycle. Relatively low-pressure ratios are used, and hence, efficiency can be
enhanced by partial recovery of the exhaust heat using a heat exchanger (recu-
perator). Figure 1 shows the main thermodynamic transformations characterising a
recuperated Brayton–Joule cycle. The ideal cycle is characterised by an isentropic
compression ð1 20 Þ , an isobaric heat recovery ð20 30 Þ , isobaric heating ð30
40 Þ and an isentropic expansion ð40 50 Þ. In real cycles however, due to irre-
versibility in the processes, there is a deviation from ideal behavior. This is shown
on the Entropy (T−S) diagram of the cycle from 1 to 5 in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1 T–S thermodynamic

diagram representing a
recuperated Brayton–Joule
cycle
122 D. Iaria et al.
The thermodynamic transformations are subject to irreversibility, and all the

components are characterised by losses which lead to deviation from the ideal
behaviour of the plant. Moreover, the recuperator is not able to fully recover the
exhaust heat and is usually characterised by effectiveness around 85–90%. For this
reason, the real behaviour of the plant can be represented on the T−S thermody-
namic plane by the cycle from 1 to 5 as shown in Fig. 1. The open cycle uses air as
the working fluid, where its pressure is increased by the compressor before it enters
the recuperator, where a partial recovery of the exhaust heat occurs. Subsequently,
air enters the solar receiver to absorb the energy coming from the concentrated solar
irradiation. Air is finally expanded in the turbine to provide power necessary to
sustain the system and generate electricity (Fig. 2).
The OMSoP project, funded by the European 7th framework, has been inves-
tigating the feasibility of a concentrated solar-powered micro gas turbine.
A demonstration plant was built and tested in Italy. A schematic of the system is
shown in Fig. 2, which incorporates a recuperated cycle micro gas turbine rated at
6 kWe. The main micro gas turbine parameters are given in Table 1.
Fig. 2 OMSoP plant scheme (www.omspo.eu)
Table 1 OMSoP plant’s Parameter Value

main specifications
Turbine inlet temperature 800 °C
Compressor efficiency 74%
Turbine efficiency 80%
Recuperator effectiveness 85%
Dish area 42 m2
Rotational speed 130 krpm
Thermal efficiency 22.3%
2.2 Hybridisation with Combustion and Thermal Storage
A significant complication with the utilisation of solar thermal power as a primary

source of energy is the intermittency of solar irradiation. DNI is characterised by a
high-frequency daily fluctuation as well as low-frequency seasonal variations.
Hybrid operation, where the solar energy is integrated with a fuel backup, allows
the system to operate continuously. Moreover, the high exhaust temperature of the
micro gas turbine also admits the feasibility of supplying additional services, such
as heating, cooling and water purification and desalinisation.
Hybridisation presents a number of technological challenges, especially for
Stirling engines where heat pipes integrated with the receiver are typically required.
Hybrid solar MGT (Fig. 3), however, has advantages over Sterling engines as the
combustor can be installed separately from the receiver either in parallel or serial
arrangements.
Another opportunity to increase the plant dispatchability is thermal storage. The
receiver maximum operating temperature imposes a strict limit on the maximum
amount of solar energy that can be transferred to electricity and may result in a high
amount of wasted solar energy. Thermal storage systems can absorb the excess
thermal power increasing the annual solar share of the plant, reducing fuel con-
sumption during hybrid operation and consequently emissions. Current dish CSP
systems do not include thermal storage; this is due to the technological issue that the
storage system must be incorporated into the receiver to reduce thermal energy
losses in transmission pipes, and hence, innovative arrangements are required.
The solar energy that would have been wasted otherwise can be used to generate
electricity, increasing the annual power output. These storage systems have also the
advantage of smoothing power output fluctuations caused by the solar irradiation
variability. A typical dispatching of a thermal storage system for solar application is
represented in Fig. 4.
Fig. 3 Hybrid solar micro gas turbine plant schematic

124 D. Iaria et al.
Fig. 4 Typical thermal storage dispatching for solar application [9]
There are three main thermal energy storage systems. The first is sensible energy
storage (SES), where the variation of the stored energy is dependent on the tem-
perature difference, the mass ðmÞ of the storage material and its specific heat, C ðT Þ:
(Eq. 1).
ZT2
DQ ¼ m CðT ÞdT ð1Þ
T1
The thermal capacity and the heat release rate are the most important parameters
for SES systems as it dictates the selection of materials. Concrete and castable
ceramics are the most used materials for this application, due mainly to their low
prices and high heat storage capacity.
The most promising materials are molten salts, a mixture of salts with a low
freezing temperature ≅220 °C. At these temperatures, molten salts are attractive
candidates due to their relatively high heat capacity, density, thermal stability and
relatively low cost and low operating pressure. Nevertheless, complexity and cost
of such systems increase due to the need to external heating to prevent freezing
during low solar irradiation periods. Moreover, at high temperatures, salt stabilities
and corrosion aspects play a major role reducing storage expected lifetime and
therefore cost.
The second storage option is the latent heat storage (LHS). These systems store
and release the heat by changing a material from a phase to another. The biggest
advantage of this kind of storage is the option to store energy within a narrow
temperature range characterised by a high latent heat released during the transition.
These features potentially enable a smaller and cheaper storage system compared to
the SES systems. Moreover, phase changes at a constant temperature and thus takes
some time to complete its transition with the consequent benefits of smoothing
temperature variations [9]. However, a majority of them do not satisfy the criteria
required for an adequate storage media. Indeed, some storage systems are charac-
terised by an insufficient long-term stability of materials and containers.
The third energy system is the thermochemical energy storage (TCES). TCES
systems use the energy stored in the enthalpy change of a reversible chemical
reaction, resulting in a very high energy density compared to the other storage
systems and potentially admitting a long-term storage within a small volume. The
basic concept of chemical energy storage is to absorb energy that comes from an
endothermic reaction, and during the discharge process, the reaction products are
recombined exothermically generating heat. In general, TCES systems are char-
acterised by a high-energy density kW/m3 and a theoretically unlimited discharge
time when operating at ambient temperature. Nevertheless, the technology is still in
an early stage of development.
3 Issues of Detailed Machinery and Devices
The main components of a solar hybrid MGT are as follows: compressor, recu-
perator, receiver, combustor and turbine. In the present section will be discussed the
main design criteria and issues related to each component.
Compressor Centrifugal compressors are composed of an impeller, a diffuser,
either vaned or vaneless, and a volute and are usually used in small MGTs. For
solar applications, the machine works most of the time in off-design conditions, due
to the solar fluctuations along the day. For this reason, it is important to have a wide
range of efficient operations. Studies conducted by the authors [10] demonstrate that
optimised vaneless diffusers could guarantee a wider range of efficient operations
compared to vaned ones, with consequent benefits for the whole plant.
Recuperator Usually for solar dish applications, the micro gas turbine is mounted
on the front side of the dish. For this reason, weight and volume of the machine
must be kept as low as possible and compact heat exchangers seem to be then the
most attractive option. Different arrangements and designs are available on the
market depending on the required compactness and materials. The recuperator is
one of the most expensive components of the MGT, and an accurate selection of
layout and materials is required to achieve a competitive cost of energy. On the
other hand, the heat exchanger must be able to withstand the high temperature of
the working fluid, for this reasons the most suitable choice must be found in a
trade-off between these two objectives.
Receiver A solar receiver is a device that can capture the solar energy coming from
the dish and transfers it to the working fluid. Unlike Stirling engines and other
concentrated solar power arrangements, for micro gas turbine solar dish application
the air can be directly heated inside the receiver without having to resort to another
heat transfer fluid. Different layouts can be conceptualised; one of the most
promising arrangements is the air tube cavity receiver. As shown in Fig. 5, an air
tube cavity receiver is mainly composed of a cylindrical cavity surrounded by an
insulator. At the bottom of the cavity, an optical splitter can be present to readdress
126 D. Iaria et al.
Fig. 5 Air tube cavity

receiver components
incident sun rays, and at the top of the cavity, a quartz glass can be present to
minimise heat transfer between the receiver and the ambient, reducing losses.
Another concept that can be used by this application is the one adopted by the
OMSoP project, called volumetric receiver. In this arrangement, the inlet air is
heated impinging on the absorber surface. This arrangement is pipeless and then
able to minimise the thermal stresses that characterise other arrangements (Fig. 6).
Combustor MGT’s combustor operating conditions could be significantly differ-
ent from those of a larger gas turbine. The low value of pressure ratio, the low mass
flow rate and the relatively low turbine inlet temperature cause non-negligible
technological issue. During the day, solar fluctuation forces the machine to work
mainly in off-design conditions. High variations in operating conditions have direct
consequence on the emissions level and the flame stability inside the combustor
can. Recently, special focus has been placed on the development of combustor
operating by the Flameless Oxidation (FLOX®) principle. In comparison with
conventional flame regime, this concept enables increased efficiency, while
Fig. 6 Volumetric cavity

receiver schematic
simultaneously reducing pollutant emissions, especially NOx. Moreover, a further

advantage is the low risk of flashback, meaning that a high level of fuel flexibility
can be achieved and it is possible to use fuels containing hydrogen [11].
Turbine Radial turbine is typically used which is mainly composed of the
impeller, nozzle vanes and the volute. The turbine must be able to provide good
performances in off-design conditions. Although these machines usually have rel-
atively high efficiency in a wide range of operating points, there is still room for
further improvements. An option to improve off-design performances of the turbine
is adopting variable nozzle guide vanes. The variation of the inclination angle of the
nozzle can significantly improve the performances of the turbine in part-load
condition.
4 Mechanical Arrangement and Dynamic Stability
A challenge is associated with the variable solar insolation requiring the MGT to
operate efficiently at a much wider range than conventional technology. This has a
significant impact on the rotor dynamic design of the shaft-bearing arrangement and
mass distribution. At least three different mechanical arrangements can be con-
sidered for the MGT components (compressor, bearings, turbine and the electricity
generator). These are as follows: cantilevered design, generator-in-middle design
and coupled shaft design. The main features of each are summarised below:
Cantilevered arrangement This is the most common set-up in small-scale micro
gas turbines. In this arrangement, the assembly of the turbine and compressor is
hanged from one end of the rotor. The main advantage of this design is that no
significant cooling arrangement is required for the high-speed generator (HSG).
Practically, incoming air to the compressor can act as cooling subsystem for the
HSG. Although this could affect the efficiency of the MGT, it can reduce the size
and cost of the accessories. Alternatively, a separate cooling system can be inte-
grated to the MGT. The main disadvantage of this arrangement is that this design
suffers from rotor dynamic issues. For the range of power concerned with an MGT
powered by a single dish (below 20 kWe), it is not practical to have a stable
cantilevered design for the wide range of operating speeds needed for the solar
application.
Coupled shaft arrangement In this design, two separate shafts are coupled, using
flexible coupling that does not transmit bending moment; one contains the rotor and
the HSG and the other shaft will contain the compressor and turbine impellers. The
rotor dynamics of this arrangement is improved compared to the cantilevered
design. This allows moving all bending modes out of the operating range, and no
excessive cooling is required for the HSG as it sits on a separate shaft and far from
the turbine. However, this results in the additional expense of more bearings and
128 D. Iaria et al.
associated costs. Also, this raises technical difficulties with the high-speed coupling
design and reliability.
Generator-in-middle arrangement The HSG rotor is located between the com-
pressor and turbine wheels in this design. It provides a simpler mechanical design
with improved dynamic stability. Similar to the coupled shaft design, it is possible
to move all bending modes out of the extended range of operation required for the
solar application. However, a more significant cooling is required for the HSG as it
is sitting in the vicinity of the turbine wheel, but it has also the advantage that the
compressor, particularly its inlet, is far from the hot section. Although the cooling
system can be integrated with the lubrication system of the bearings, it is considered
as a disadvantage for this design.
A study was undertaken as part of OMSoP project showed that the
generator-in-middle design could potentially fit better for the solar-powered MGT
[12]. The study has taken into account different factors such as cost, reliability and
losses. It was concluded that generator-in-middle arrangement could be more
suitable for solar-only-powered micro gas turbine.
Another aspect of the rotor dynamic for MGTs is the choice of bearings. The
rolling angular contact ball bearings, oil film bearings, floating ring bearings,
magnetic bearings and air/foil bearings are different options for the MGTs. The ball
bearings are the most common type particularly in smaller MGTs. The technology is
well known; however, it requires an oil system. Recent advancement in the devel-
opment of high-speed ball bearing makes this technology a viable option for the
MGTs. For CSP-based MGTs, some form of damping is required to reduce the
vibrations caused by passing through or running close to the critical modes. Squeeze
film damping (SFD) is a feasible option to be integrated with this type of bearing. Oil
film bearings have been the most common type in automotive turbochargers. Despite
their robustness, their high friction loss is a big disadvantage for MGT applications,
where the efficiency is a critical issue. More work in larger engines was done on
magnetic bearings; however, their development and implementation cost for MGTs
prevented them from being used despite their advantage of oil-free operation and the
inherent ability to control vibrations. Foil air bearings have made significant progress
recently due to their high reliability and their oil-free operation. However, there is
still much work to be done for the smaller machines in the lower power range to
make them a feasible option. The main technical challenges related to the bearings
for CSP-based MGT are the robustness of the bearings and their ability to work
efficiently for a wide operating range of both rotational speed and loading. They are
also required to operate in a more hostile environment, as the most appropriate
location is near the focal point of the dish, which typical MGTs would not operate
efficiently.
5 Electrical Arrangements and Control Strategies
The control strategy of the MGT needs to be adapted to the fact that the thermal
input to the system cannot be used as a control parameter. In a conventional MGT,
the fuel (or heat input for the external fired MGTs) is used to control the MGT,
namely the rotational speed, turbine inlet temperature (TIT) and turbine exit tem-
perature (TET). For CSP-based MGTs, this option is not possible as the incoming
solar power to the receiver cannot be practically controlled [13]. For example,
controlling the dish position in order to adjust the amount of thermal input power
would not be an option due to the much slower dynamic response of the dish
movement mechanism than that of the MGT dynamic response that is orders of
magnitude apart. A feasible option to control the MGT in such system is by
adjusting the power taken (or given) to the HSG. This would result in controlling
the TIT, TET and rotational speed.
A different power electronic architecture can be considered for the CSP-based
MGT. As mentioned before, the power electronics would be responsible for con-
trolling the MGT alongside its primary function to convert the power to and from
the grid; this would happen in the electronic power conversion system (EPCS). At
least two different architectures can be considered for the power conversion system:
single converter architecture and double converter architecture. All designs involve
an active inverter to control the power output, as this is essential for solar-based
MGT.
Single convertor architecture By using electronic components such as IGBTs,
the conversion system can act as bidirectional convertor. The insulated-gate bipolar
transistor (IGBT) acts as passive rectifier during the generating mode, while they
will function as variable frequency converter during the motoring mode. The later
function controls the speed of the MGT during the start-up process. The MGT
control unit will be integrated with this convertor. The technology is not com-
mercially available for the power range of concern of this work. The main chal-
lenges are to design an efficient conversion system for higher speed as the speed
will be higher for the lower power range.
Double convertor architecture A simple option is to have two separate convertors
for the two modes of operation, motoring and generation modes. The conversion
system will form of a passive rectifier during generation modes and a grid-tie
inverter to feed the power into the grid. For the motoring mode, another passive
rectifier and variable frequency inverter are used to run the HSG as motor during
the start-up. The design is less complex than the single convertor architecture but it
increases the number of components in the system and subsequently the size. The
need to alternating between the two separate circuits would also increase the
electrical losses. Furthermore, using the passive rectifier (basically a set of diodes)
will introduce more power losses compared to IGBTs. Although using IGBTs will
increase the complexity of both the conversion system and the control system but it
will increase the robustness of the system and decreases the power losses in the
130 D. Iaria et al.
power electronic circuits. Different components of the double converter architecture

system are widely available commercially with more optimisation required for the
lower power range, where the speed is higher.
Another option is to adopt active rectifiers in the EPCS. An active rectifier can
control the speed of the HSG (and subsequently the speed of the MGT) along with a
primary function to convert the AC to DC. This potentially can act as controller for
the speed of the MGT although the power output of the system still needs to be
controlled in order to keep the TIT and TET within the acceptable range. The main
disadvantage for the active rectifier is the relatively higher losses compared to the
passive rectifier. To have adequate control over the speed, the switching frequency
of the active rectifier could be as high as 50 kHz. The switching frequency in other
components of the system is usually about 16 kHz.
Although power electronics and control technology are well-developed fields,
the challenge is to provide a robust and cost-effective design for the CSP-based
MGT giving high rotational speed, wide range of rotational speeds in generation
mode and the need for more frequently alternating between the motoring and
generation modes than in conventional MGTs. Other challenges are also associated
with the electrical and electronic components’ design and performance due to the
more frequent need to alternate between motoring and generation modes of the
high-speed motor/generator which require adequate addressing.
6 Conclusions
This chapter described the main features of a parabolic solar dish concentrator
powering a micro gas turbine for distributed power applications. The main features
of the system components were described and differences from conventional power
plants were highlighted, in particular, those related to compressor and turbine
designs, solar receiver, combustor and recuperator. The issues of mechanical
arrangement affecting the rotor dynamic stability and system control and electrical
scheme have also been described. It can be concluded that significant design fea-
tures of micro gas turbines need to be adapted for solar applications competed to
conventional micro gas turbines.
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Distributed Energy Solution for India:
Exploring the Possibilities
Kuntal Jana and Sudipta De
Abstract Distributed generation is emerging as a possible energy solution from the

viewpoint of energy access, energy security and climate change. To use the scat-
tered and intermittent renewable energy resources efficiently, distributed generation
is an effective option. About 237 million population of India is living without
access to electricity, though India has huge potential for renewable-based dis-
tributed generation. Hence, to increase the energy access in rural areas, Government
of India is developing and implementing various policies to promote renewable
energy and distributed generation. At the same time, development of new and
improved technology is making the renewable energy more attractive. However, to
be a sustainable energy solution, distributed generation should be economically
affordable, environmentally and socially acceptable.

Keywords Distributed energy systems Renewable energy resources

Sustainable energy solution Indian context
1 Introduction
Energy sector of India is facing many formidable challenges. Instead of economic

growth, a large number of populations in India are facing lack of energy access to
electricity and clean cooking [1]. More than 230 million population of India do not
have access to electricity. At the same time, high dependency on the imported
petroleum and degradation of coal quality reduces the energy security of India. On
the other hand, due to coal-based power generation, power sector of India is highly
carbon intensive [2]. However, as per ‘Paris Agreement’ along with other countries,
K. Jana
Centre for Energy, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati 781039, India
S. De (&)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, India

134 K. Jana and S. De
India is also committed to reduce the greenhouse gas emission [3]. To increase the
electricity access, high-voltage transmission line may not be economically viable.
Sometimes grid connection is not feasible due to geographically remote location
and transmission and distribution loss [4]. Conversely, India has a huge potential of
renewable energy resources [5]. However, to use the scattered and low-dense
renewable energy resource, suitable technology is an imperative need. It is one of
the suitability criteria selected from the economic viewpoint. The cost of produced
utility should be affordable. Also, initial investment cost should be less as the
energy access to be provided is mostly in rural areas [6]. Simultaneously, suitable
renewable energy-based technology reduces the life cycle greenhouse gas emission
and hence, reduces the carbon intensity of India’s energy sector.
In this context, distributed energy generation plays an important role [7, 8].
Distributed generation (DG) may be defined as small-scale power generation and
supplied directly to distribution network (low-voltage) for local use, without
employing the high-voltage transmission network. It is designated to cater to the
secondary energy need of locality only. Electricity is supplied to the locality
without high-voltage transmission only through low voltage distribution. However,
other utilities are also consumed in the local areas only without long-distance
transportation and transmission. Hence, transmission and distribution losses can be
minimized through distributed generation. Thus, distributed generation increases
the energy security in rural areas. Various advantages of distributed generation are
discussed in subsequent section. Distributed energy generation is mainly developed
by using locally available energy resource. Hence, assessment of renewable energy
resources is necessary for sustainable and uninterrupted operation. The distributed
generation should cater to the needs of local population efficiently. Hence, proper
design with suitable planning is necessary. For this purpose, distributed polygen-
eration with locally available energy resources may be possible sustainable solution
[9]. However, to implement ‘distributed generation’ successfully, financial and
policy support from government are necessary to be a competitive option with
fossil-fuel-based energy [6].
In this chapter, various options of distributed generation with Indian perspective
are discussed. Present scenario of the energy sector of India is reviewed for elec-
tricity supply and demand and transport sector. Then, challenges regarding to
distributed generation and policies of Indian Government are discussed. Then,
advantages of distributed generation and its technological aspects are shown.
Mapping of renewable energy resources in India and its potential is estimated.
Distributed generation for multi-utility generation is explored. Potential of a specific
biomass-based polygeneration in India is estimated through a case study. Finally,
the sustainability aspects of distributed generation are discussed.
Distributed Energy Solution for India: Exploring … 135
2 Review of Indian Energy Sector
To maintain the present economic growth, India is increasing its electricity gen-
eration capacity. As on 31 March 2016, installed generation capacity of power
utilities in India was 298 GW, and the gross generation in 2015/16 was 1102 billion
units [2]. Out of this, maximum electricity was generated from thermal power
plants. Sharing of total electricity generation (in 2014) by different sources is shown
in Fig. 1a. From the figure, it is noted that thermal power dominates mostly though
a significant amount of hydro-electricity and renewable-based electricity available
in Indian electricity mix. Coal is the main primary energy source to the thermal
power plants. Coal contributes more than 60% of the total capacity addition during
the year of 2015/16. Hence, Indian power sector is carbon intensive and at the same
time, facing the challenges of ‘Paris Agreement’. In Fig. 1b, electricity demand in
different sector is shown. It is noted that the maximum electricity is consumed in
domestic sector followed by industrial sector. Hence, reliable and affordable elec-
tricity access for the domestic purpose is important. Distributed generation may
play an important role for this purpose.
In Fig. 2, the state-wise installed capacity of electricity generation is shown.
From the Fig. 2, it is noted that the Western part of the country produces maximum
electricity and Eastern part produces less; though the maximum electricity is gen-
erated from coal-based power plant, and Eastern region produces most of the Indian
coal. Hence, long-route freight transportation is required for coal, which needs
additional investment and consumption of diesel oil. Electricity production with
local resources may reduce these burdens.
(b) Miscellaneous
(a) 7%
Nuclear Renewable
2% energy Agriculture
sources 18%
13%
Hydro Industrial
14% 26%
Gas Coal
8% 63% DomesƟc
Commercial 38%
11%
Fig. 1 a Sharing of total electricity generation by different sources [10], b sharing of total
electricity demand by different sectors [11]
ELectricity generaƟon capacity (MW) 45000
40000
35000
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
Chandigarh
Delhi
Haryana
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu and Kashmir
Punjab
Rajasthan
UƩar Pradesh
UƩarakhand
Chhaƫsgarh
Dadra and Nagar Haveli
Goa
Gujarat
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra
Andhra Pradesh (new)
Telengana
Karnataka
Kerala
Puducherry
Assam
Arunachal Pradesh
Meghalaya
Tripura
Daman and Diu
Tamil Nadu
Bihar
Jharkhand
West Bengal
Damador Valley CorporaƟon
Odisha
Sikkim
Manipur
Nagaland
Mizoram
Fig. 2 State-wise total installed electricity generation capacity (2015) in MW [2]
After the power sector, the transportation sector is another major area. In this
sector, most of the imported petroleum is consumed. India’s gross domestic product
(GDP) largely depends upon the transport sector. It shares 4.8% of total GDP [11].
There are four kinds of transportation system available, e.g. (a) road transport,
(b) aviation, (c) shipping and (d) railways. These transportation systems largely
depend on imported petroleum from middle-east countries. The consumption of
high-speed diesel in the transport sector is shown in Fig. 3. It is noted that both
railways and road transport consume a significant amount of imported oil. Hence, it
reduces the energy security of India. Due to a large amount of fossil fuel use, the
transportation sector is carbon intensive also. Thus, alternative options are neces-
sary for low-carbon transport sector with indigenous fuel. Hence, use of local
resources (say, biomass) for alternative option of fuel is necessary.
High speed diesel consumpƟon
3000 2692.69
2500
(thousand tonnes)
2000
1579.84
1500
1000
500 343.5
1.23
0
Road transport AviaƟon Shipping Railways
Fig. 3 Consumption (in thousand tonnes) of high-speed diesel oil in the transport sector (2014/
15) [12, 13]
Domestic sector is another area of energy demand. It consumes 38% of elec-

tricity as shown in Fig. 1a. According to the 68th National Sample Survey, 72.7%
of rural and 96.1% of urban households depend on electricity for lighting [14].
Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) used widely for cooking in 68% of urban and 15%
of rural households. Still, significant parts of the rural area face lack of access to
electricity and clean cooking [12, 13].
A significant amount of electricity (18%) is consumed in the agriculture sector
also. About 168 TWh of electricity is consumed by the agricultural sector. Fertilizer
industry for agriculture is another area of significant energy consumption. This is
mainly due to urea production. On the other hand, this sector is the third major
consumer of diesel (13%), as the maximum amount of diesel is consumed due to
water pumping for irrigation [11].
Industrial demand for electricity is the second after the domestic demand. Due to
the present economic growth, the capacity of the industry is increasing. In the first
half of 2015/16, a growth of 4% in the index of industrial production (IIP) was
registered compared to the growth of 2.9% in the first half of 2014/15 [15]. At the
same time, energy demand in this sector is increasing due to the energy-intensive
industry like cement, iron and steel, aluminium, fertilizers and pulp and paper.
3 Challenges and Policy
India faces a shortage of secondary energy as stated earlier. The electricity shortage
was 2.1%, and the peak deficit was 3.2% during 2015/16. Hence, capacity addition
is required to maintain the present economic growth. Another important challenge
is to increase the ‘energy access’ all over the country. More than 230 million of
people have no access to electricity. About 841 million populations rely on tradi-
tional use of biomass for cooking. Clean cooking is not available for a large
population. ‘Energy security’ is also a significant challenge to India. India strongly
depends on imported crude oil. Domestic production of oil and gas declined con-
tinuously in 2015/16. Imports of crude oil increased significantly to 199 million
tonnes in 2015/16 [12, 13]. Hence, India needs to search an alternative option to
increase energy access and to reduce the dependency on imported oil.
The Government of India has taken a few policies to deal with these challenges
as follows [11].
(i) In Twelfth Five-year Plan, a capacity addition target of 88,537 MW (ex-
cluding renewables) was fixed. Of this target, 38,448 MW was achieved till
31 March 2014. Thermal power accounted for 36,889 MW, which was 96%
of the total capacity addition. This will help to reduce the power deficit.
(ii) The Government of India has launched various programmes for the elec-
trification of rural areas in the country, including the Pradhan Mantri
Gramodaya Yojana in 2001/02, Accelerated Rural Electrification
Programme in 2003/04 and Accelerated Electrification of One Lakh

Villages and One Crore Households in 2004/05.
(iii) Rural Electrification Policy, 2006: This policy emphasized on the usage of
green technologies for electrification in areas that were very remote or
where installing centralized grid infrastructure was technically or financially
not feasible.
(iv) Remote Village Electrification Programme: This programme was launched
advance basic lighting facilities in un-electrified villages and hamlets that
were out of the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) and
where grid extension was technically/financially not feasible for electricity.
Presently, it is discontinued, and new scheme started named as Deendayal
Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY).
(v) National Biogas and Manure Management Programme: This scheme is for
setting up of family-type biogas plants, mainly for rural and semi-urban
households.
(vi) Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission: The Jawaharlal Nehru National
Solar Mission (JNNSM) or the National Solar Mission is under the National
Action Plan on Climate Change. In this mission, the target is to deploy
20,000 MW of grid-connected solar power by 2022. Reducing the cost of
solar power generation in the country is one of the aims of this mission. In
2015, the government revised the overall JNNSM target to 100 GW.
(vii) National Biomass Cookstove Programme: The government launched the
National Biomass Cookstove Programme for implementation in the Twelfth
Five-year Plan period.
(viii) National Electricity Policy, 2005: This policy recognized electricity as a
critical infrastructure for the socio-economic development of the country.
Apart from these, other important policies are Solar City, Akshay Urja Shops,
Unnat Chulha Abhiyan, Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, Pradhan Mantri
Ujjwala Yojana, Rajiv Gandhi Gramin LPG Vitaran Yojana etc.
4 Distributed Generation and India
As indicated earlier, India is facing the problem of ‘energy access’ to a large

number of populations. The limited capacity of electricity generation is another
barrier for meeting the secondary energy demand. Apart from generation, loss of
electricity in transformation, transmission and distribution (including unaccounted
electricity) was 23% of the total available electricity in 2012/13 [14]. This is a
major disadvantage of the centralized power plant. Also, large capital investment is
required for the centralized power plant. Water demand for power generation is also
high. Apart from the technological and economical viewpoint, greenhouse gas
emission is also an inevitable fact of coal-based centralized plant. In case of the
large hydropower plant, uprooting of local people and damage in ecosystem
become the strong barrier for capacity addition in electricity generation through
large hydel power.
Considering the above difficulties, distributed energy generation may become a
sustainable solution for India. Distributed generation (DG) may be defined as
small-scale power generation and supplied directly to distribution network
(low-voltage) for local use, without the high-voltage transmission network as
shown in Fig. 4 [16, 8]. Apart from power generation, there are possibilities for
other secondary energy supply like heating, cooling, biofuels and potable water
through distributed multi-generation or polygeneration [9]. Distributed generation is
also possible where grid connection is not economically viable, or the place is
remote and inaccessible. Several advantages of distributed generation are as
follows:
(a) Reduces peak load demand: If consumer produces electricity through dis-
tributed generation, it reduces the dependency on central grid. Hence, reduces
the peak load demand.
(b) Negligible transmission and distribution loss: In distributed generation,
long-route transmission is not required. It also reduces the unaccounted loss of
distribution.
(c) Easy and fast installation: Easy and quicker installation is possible by using
pre-fabricated standardized components.
(d) Less capital investment: As the capacity of distributed generation is low; it
requires less capital investment.
(e) Environment friendly: Most of the distributed generation technology uses
renewable energy. Hence, it is more environment friendly than fossil-fuel-based
centralized plant.
(f) Less complex and create job: Distributed generation is lesser complex. Hence,
user–operator participation is possible. So it creates jobs in the locality.
Biomass
Diesel
Solar
Low-voltage Individual
1. Off-grid
Energy generation energy supply households
2. Micro-grid
3. Mini-grid
(No high-voltage Community
transmission)
Natural
Wind Small gas
hydro
Fig. 4 Input-output of distributed energy solution

(g) Easy for capacity addition: The scale of distributed generation is small, and the
gestation period is also low. Hence, it enables faster and easy capacity additions
when required.
(h) Better energy and load management: Distributed generation systems offer the
possibility of combining energy storage and management systems.
However, there are several challenges regarding the successful commercializa-
tion of distributed generation. The technology should be well established. The cost
is to be competitive with large-scale power generation. Distributed generation also
requires more number of semi-skilled personnel for operation at the community
level or for individual house. Also, the supply of resource should be uninterrupted.
Emission and noise at locality due to combustion engine or micro-turbines may
create negative impacts.
There are several options available for distributed generation based on energy
resources and prime movers for power generation as shown in Fig. 5. Energy input
to the distributed generation may be renewable or non-renewable. For renewable
resources, energy system should be designed according to locally available
resources because it is dispersed in nature, and energy density is less. Long-route
transportation (say, biomass) may not be economically feasible. Among the
renewable resources, from biomass syngas, producer gas, biogas, liquid biofuels
can be produced. These products may be used in the gas engine, combustion engine
or micro-turbines. Heat and/or electricity can be obtained by solar thermal/
photovoltaic system. Power can be generated by wind turbines and small hydro
turbines by utilizing the kinetic/potential energy of wind and water. For
non-renewable resources like diesel, natural gas, kerosene and suitable technologies
are already commercially available combustion engine, gas turbine, etc. [17].
•Gasifier- gas engine, micro-turbine

Biomass •Digestor - gas engine, micro-turbine
•Liquefaction - direct combustion engine
•Solar thermal heat/power
Solar
•Solar photo-voltaic
•Wind turbine
Wind
•Aero-generator
•Small hydro
Hydro •Micro-hydro
Diesel •Direct combustion engine
•Direct combustion engine

Natural gas •Micro-turbine
Kerosene •Direct combustion engine
Fig. 5 Technology options for distributed generation

In Table 1, energy conversion technologies for distributed generation is given

with their fuel input, application range, electric conversion efficiency, investment
cost of per kW electricity and specific CO2 emission. From the table, it is noted that
investment cost for per kWe is lower for gas turbine though its scale is much higher
than other options. For small-scale application with gaseous fuel, micro-turbine is
suitable. Solar PV is suitable for scaling up and down. From the viewpoint of
efficiency, the fuel cell is the best option. The specific CO2 emission greatly
depends on fuel input. It is the minimum for the case of renewable inputs. For
renewable energy, there is an indirect emission associated with manufacturing and
logistics of modules and fuels, respectively.
With the implementation of new policies and technologies, India is increasing
the sharing of distributed generation. The policies taken by Indian Government are
given in the previous section. Under Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana
(DDUGJY-RE), Ministry of Power of India has sanctioned 921 projects to electrify
1,21,225 un-electrified villages, intensive electrification of 592 thousand partially
electrified villages and provide free electricity connections to 39.7 million rural
households with below poverty level. As on 30 June 2015, works in 110 thousand
un-electrified villages and intensive electrification of 320 thousand partially
Table 1 Issues related to distributed generation technologies [4, 8, 19]

Energy Fuel Application range Electric Investment Specific
conversion conversion cost per kWe CO2
technology efficiency (INR) emissions
(g/kWh)
Combustion Diesel 20 kWe–10 MWe 36–43% 100,000– 650
engine Gas 5 kWe–5 MWe 28–48% 170,000 (Diesel),
500–620
(Gas)
Gas turbine Gas, 1–20 MWe 21–40% 7000–90,000 580–680
kerosene
Micro-turbines Natural 30–200 kWe 25–30% 100,000– 720, *0
gas, 140,000 (for
biogas, biogas)
producer
gas
Fuel cell: Methanol, MCFC: 50 kWe– MCFC: 50– 310,000– Depends
MCFC, H2, natural 1 MWe, PEMFC: 55%, 1,400,000 largely on
PEMFC, gas 1–250 kWe, PEMFC: fuel used
SOFC, DMFC SOFC: 1 kWe– 35%, SOFC:
5 MWe 50–55%
Photovoltaic The sun Easy to scale up – 35,000– 200–250
and down 480,000 (indirect)
Wind Wind 200 W–3 MW – 55,000– 13–34
700,000 (for (indirect),
onshore), depends
140,000 (for on wind
offshore) speed
Table 2 Number of electrified and un-electrified villages of India [23]

State Total un-electrified Electrified To be Under
villages electrified progress
Arunachal 1578 349 1229 1224
Pradesh
Assam 2892 2224 558 554
Bihar 2747 2323 424 416
Chhattisgarh 1080 759 321 320
Himachal 35 28 0 0
Pradesh
Jammu & 134 32 102 49
Kashmir
Jharkhand 2525 1892 579 487
Karnataka 39 14 25 22
Madhya 472 373 52 43
Pradesh
Manipur 276 199 77 76
Meghalaya 912 682 230 230
Mizoram 58 40 18 18
Nagaland 82 76 4 4
Odisha 3474 2404 555 553
Rajasthan 495 426 1 1
Tripura 26 26 0 0
Uttar Pradesh 1529 1470 6 6
Uttarakhand 76 23 53 37
West Bengal 22 17 5 3
electrified villages have been completed, and 22 million free electricity connections
have been released to BPL households [18]. In Table 2, state-wise electrified,
un-electrified and to be electrified villages are shown.
5 Mapping and Present Status of Renewable Energy

in India
India has a target of 175 GW of electricity from renewable energy by 2022 [20].
Distributed generation will have great role to achieve this target. However, dis-
tributed energy generation greatly depends on input energy resources. Technology
is selected for DG according to the available energy resources. For a distributed
generation, renewable resources are selected mainly because of its availability in
local areas, and it also increases the energy security in rural and remote areas.
Hence, mapping of renewable energy resources is necessary for planning and
long-term operation of distributed generation.
5.1 Solar Energy
India targets 100 GW of electricity by 2022 from solar energy through utility-scale,
distributed off-grid and mini-grid. To achieve this target, mapping of solar resource
is important for solar installation. In Fig. 6a, b, direct normal irradiance (DNI) and
global horizontal irradiance (GHI) are shown [21]. From the figure, it is noted that
the maximum DNI is available at Western part of India (Gujarat, Rajasthan) and a
Fig. 6 Annual average of a direct normal irradiance (DNI) and b global horizontal irradiance
(GHI) [21, 22]
Fig. 6 (continued)
part of the Jammu & Kashmir. However, the maximum GHI is available all over the
Western and Southern part of India. For an off-grid solar application, MNRE has
various schemes like off-grid solar PV, solar water pumping systems for irrigation
and drinking water, solar water heating system, solar cooking, concentrated solar
thermal systems and solar air heating. Under these schemes, various subsidies are
available from Government of India [11].
5.2 Biomass
Biomass is one of the most abundantly available resources in India. As biomass has
good calorific value, it can be used as solid fuel for secondary energy generation.
Also, biomass to liquid/gaseous fuel is an attractive option to replace the petroleum
oil. Hence, it increases the energy security. Conversion of biomass to secondary
energy can be done in two ways, i.e. thermo-chemical conversion and bio-chemical
conversion. Apart from conversion technologies, availability and logistics of bio-
mass are also important to ensure long-run operation of the plant. State-wise
availability of biomass in India is given in Table 3. According to the Ministry of
New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) of India, estimated potential of
Table 3 State-wise availability of biomass in India [5]

State Area Crop production Biomass generation Biomass surplus
(kha) (kt/y) (kt/y) (kt/y)
Andhra 2540.2 3232.0 8301.7 1172.8
Pradesh
Assam 2633.1 6075.7 6896.3 1398.4
Bihar 5833.1 13817.8 20441.8 4286.2
Chattisgarh 3815.5 6142.8 10123.7 1907.8
Goa 156.3 554.7 827.2 129.9
Gujarat 6512.9 20627.0 24164.4 7505.5
Haryana 4890.2 13520.0 26160.9 9796.1
Himachal 710.3 1329.2 2668.2 988.3
Pradesh
Jammu & 368.7 648.7 1198.7 237.7
Kashmir
Jharkhand 1299.8 1509.0 2191.2 567.7
Karnataka 7277.3 38638.5 23766.8 6400.6
Kerala 2041.7 9749.7 9420.5 5702.6
Madhya 9937.0 14166.9 26499.6 8033.3
Pradesh
Maharashtra 15278.3 51343.3 36804.4 11803.9
Manipur 72.6 159.4 318.8 31.9
Meghalaya 0.8 14.0 42.0 8.4
Nagaland 27.1 87.6 149.2 27.2
Orissa 2436.6 3633.3 5350.4 1163.4
Punjab 6693.5 27813.7 46339.8 21267.0
Rajasthan 12537.5 93654.8 204887.6 35531.1
Tamil Nadu 2454.0 24544.6 15976.6 6658.7
Uttar Pradesh 12628.2 46800.8 50416.7 11725.9
Uttaranchal 66.4 135.8 159.9 51.6
West Bengal 5575.6 21062.8 23316.0 2959.7
Total 105786.8 399262.1 546422.6 139355.8
biomass-based power and bagasse cogeneration is shown in the Fig. 7. From these
estimations, it is noted that potential of biomass as an energy resource is reasonable,
and biomass may play a crucial role for India’s sustainable energy future.
5.3 Wind
Wind energy has significant potential in India. State-wise wind power potential of
India is shown in Fig. 8. It is noted that the maximum wind power is available in
Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Total installed capacity of
onshore wind power in India is 28,082 MW as on 30.10.2016. India has significant
potential of offshore wind also as it has very large coastal area. India has an added
advantage due to its annual manufacturing capacity of wind turbine of 9.5 GW [24].
5.4 Other Energy Resources
India has significant potential of small hydropower (SHP) (19,759 MW) as shown
in Fig. 9 [24]. Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh have the maximum potential for
small hydropower. SHP projects are classified based on the capacity as:
micro-hydro (up to 100 kW), mini-hydro (101–2000 kW) and small hydro (2001–
25,000 kW). The focus of the SHP programme is to decrease equipment cost,
increase reliability and capacity utilization.
Power and cogeneraƟon potenƟal
4000
3500
3000
2500
(MW)
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Andhra Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Assam
Kerala
Bihar
Chhaƫsgarh
Goa
Gujarat
Haryana
Karnataka
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu and Kashmir
Jharkhand
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra
Meghalaya
Manipur
Mizoram
Nagaland
Odisha
Punjab
Rajasthan
Sikkim
Tamil Nadu
Telangana
Tripura
UƩar Pradesh
UƩarakhand
West Bengal
Lakshadweep
Puducherry
Others
Chandigarh
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Daman and Diu

Delhi
Biomass power Bagasse cogeneraƟon
Fig. 7 State-wise potential of biomass-based power and bagasse-based cogeneration (MW) [24]
Small hydro-power potenƟal (MW) Wind power potenƟal (MW)
0
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
500
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
40000
Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh
Assam Assam
Bihar Bihar
Chhaƫsgarh Chhaƫsgarh
Goa Goa
Gujarat Gujarat
Haryana Haryana
Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh
Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir
Jharkhand Jharkhand
Karnataka Karnataka
Kerala Kerala
Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra Maharashtra
Manipur Manipur
Meghalaya Meghalaya
Distributed Energy Solution for India: Exploring …
Mizoram Mizoram
Fig. 8 State-wise potential of wind power (MW) [24]

Nagaland Nagaland
Odisha Odisha
Punjab Punjab
Fig. 9 State-wise potential of small hydropower (MW) [24]

Rajasthan Rajasthan
Sikkim Sikkim
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu
Telangana Telangana
Tripura Tripura
UƩar Pradesh UƩar Pradesh
UƩarakhand UƩarakhand
West Bengal West Bengal
Andaman and Nicobar Islands Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Chandigarh Chandigarh
Dadra and Nagar Haveli Dadra and Nagar Haveli
Daman and Diu Daman and Diu
Delhi Delhi
Lakshadweep Lakshadweep
Puducherry Puducherry
147
Waste-to-energy has also significant potential. The state-wise potential of

waste-to-energy is shown in Fig. 10. Maharashtra has the highest capability in this
technology. Other states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal have also significant
potential. India has the potential of geothermal energy about 10,000 MW. Fuel cell,
ocean thermal energy, tidal energy are different options for renewable energy in
India.
6 Distributed Polygeneration
In a locality or community, secondary energy-utility demands are in different form

say, lighting, heating, cooling, fuels for transportation, etc. However, polygenera-
tion or multi-generation may cater to these demands in addition to electricity. It is
an energy conversion system for producing multiple utilities in a single unit by
efficient system integration [9]. As a result, its thermodynamic, economic and
environmental performances are better than the stand-alone units. However, the
design of distributed polygeneration should be according to locally available
resources and demands. Hence, specific planning with proper governance is
required. As it caters to local demands, it has good social acceptability also.
Another advantage of distributed polygeneration is that it can reduce the problem
associated with the intermittency of renewable resources (solar, wind). Proper
matching of multiple inputs and multiple outputs according to demand is possible
by distributed polygeneration. Thus, distributed polygeneration can be a future
sustainable option specifically for poor and rural people of India.
350
Waste-to-energy potenƟal (MW)
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Andhra Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Assam
Bihar
Chhaƫsgarh
Goa
Gujarat
Haryana
Karnataka
Kerala
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu and Kashmir
Jharkhand
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra
Meghalaya
Manipur
Mizoram
Nagaland
Odisha
Punjab
Rajasthan
Sikkim
Tamil Nadu
Telangana
Tripura
UƩar Pradesh
UƩarakhand
West Bengal
Chandigarh
Lakshadweep
Puducherry
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Daman and Diu

Delhi
Fig. 10 State-wise potential of waste-to-energy (MW) [24]

7 Biomass-Based Polygeneration: Case Study
A polygeneration with locally available biomass was conceptualized in a previous

study [25]. This case study shows the potential of a specific polygeneration fuelled
by local biomass to cater to the local demands. Three typical biomasses are used for
this study, i.e. rice straw, sugarcane bagasse and coconut fibre. Rice straw is sea-
sonally available agricultural waste. Sugarcane bagasse is available at sugar mills in
a concentrated way. Coconut fibre is available from plantation crop at constant rate
in coastal areas.
Four basic utilities can be obtained from this polygeneration, i.e. electricity,
ethanol, cooling and heating. As this polygeneration is designed for the decen-
tralized application, electricity can be used mainly in domestic or small commercial
purpose. Ethanol is an established biofuel. It may be used directly in a combustion
engine for transportation or for agricultural machinery. Cooling may be used for
food storage or storage of agro-products in rural areas. Utility heat is a by-product
of this system. It may be used for food processing. Schematic of the polygeneration
is shown in Fig. 11. This polygeneration is based on gasification of biomass. About
60% of produced syngas is used for power generation, and rest is used for ethanol
production. As ethanol is easy to store, this distribution may be varied according to
utility demand. Power is generated by combined cycle gas turbine, i.e. by a gas
turbine and steam turbine. Ethanol is produced in the thermo-chemical process, and
heat is a by-product of this process. Cooling may be obtained by vapour absorption
cooling where the waste heat of syngas cooling process is utilized. Sensible heat of
this process may be used for the heating purpose as shown in Fig. 11. Detailed
simulation and thermodynamic analysis of this polygeneration are previously
published. Based on this result and availability of biomass, the state-wise potential
of power generation and ethanol production of rice straw, sugarcane bagasse and
coconut fibre is given in Table 4. Heating and cooling potential of India through
this polygeneration is shown in Table 5 (Fig. 12).
Solar energy Electricity

Polygeneration Heating
Biomass
Cooling
Diesel etc
Liquid fuels etc
Fig. 11 Concept of polygeneration

Table 4 Power generation and ethanol production potential of a polygeneration using three
generic biomasses
Power generation (GWh/y) potential Ethanol production (kt/y) potential
Rice Sugarcane Coconut Rice Sugarcane Coconut
straw bagasse fibre straw bagasse fibre
Andhra 14008 3749 618 1386 368 64
Pradesh
Arunachal 136 0 0 13 0 0
Pradesh
Assam 6446 210 123 638 20 12
Bihar 6779 1239 0 671 121 0
Chhattisgarh 7098 0 0 702 0 0
Goa 255 0 183 25 0 19
Gujarat 1622 2647 144 160 260 14
Haryana 3217 1985 0 318 195 0
Himachal 144 0 0 14 0 0
Pradesh
Jammu & 6 0 0 0.6 0 0
Kashmir
Jharkhand 1845 0 0 182 0 0
Karnataka 6057 7174 2565 599 705 265
Kerala 1050 0 5174 103 0 536
Madhya 2898 441 0 286 43 0
Pradesh
Maharashtra 3891 9600 138 385 943 14
Manipur 171 0 0 17 0 0
Meghalaya 179 0 0 17 0 0
Mizoram 0 0 0 0 0 0
Nagaland 288 0 0 28 0 0
Orissa 12,331 136 0 1220 13 0
Punjab 10,531 1880 0 1042 184 0
Rajasthan 243 0 0 24 0 0
Sikkim 8 0 0 0.8 0 0
Tamilnadu 3371 7731 2098 333 759 217
Tripura 0 0 43 0 0 4
Uttar Pradesh 12,955 24,716 0 1282 2429 0
Uttaranchal 643 1607 0 63 157 0
West Bengal 22,473 420 485 2224 41 50
Total 118,659 63,539 11,576 11,745 6245 1199
Table 5 Heating and cooling potential of India through a polygeneration using three generic
biomasses
Biomass Heating (GWh/y) Cooling (GWh/y)
Rice straw 40,632 26,740
Sugarcane bagasse 19,352 13,207
Coconut fibre 3444 2337
Reheater HPST
Heat To ethanol
production unit
LPST
Ethanol
Syngas Superheater-
Splitter
cooler 1
Syngas Combustion Superheater-
compressor
chamber GT 2
Gasifier
Air
Biomass Air compressor
Air
Ash
Economizer-
Condenser evaporator
Pump
Cooling Heating
Process To stack
Refrigerator
heater
Fig. 12 Schematic of a biomass-based polygeneration [25]
8 Sustainability Aspects of Distributed Generation
The sustainability of energy system is grossly measured by the definition of ‘sus-

tainable development’. Sustainable development is defined as ‘development that
meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs’ by the Brundtland Commission in 1987
(United Nation 1987). Hence, it has three dimensions, i.e. economic, environmental
and social. Thus, to be a sustainable energy solution, distributed generation should
be economically viable, environmentally and socially acceptable. However, there
are several issues associated with the planning of sustainable distributed generation
in India as shown in Fig. 13. The efficiency and the plant load factor of distributed
generation should be reasonable. The starting and installation time is to be mini-
mized. Lifetime of the plant should be good with less maintenance. As the dis-
tributed generation is targeted for rural off-grid areas, investment cost and operation
and investment cost should be less to supply output utilities (e.g. electricity) at a
low price. Apart from these, environmental issues are also critical from the view-
point of sustainability and climate change.
Fig. 13 Issues related to planning of distributed generation in India
9 Conclusion
In the present context of energy access, energy security, climate change and sus-
tainability of energy system, distributed energy generation is emerging as a possible
sustainable energy solution. Presently, India’s energy sector is highly dependent on
the large capacity fossil-fuel-based plant, and produced electricity is transmitted
through grid transmission. However, in off-grid rural areas, distributed generation
may be the solution for increasing energy access. For distributed energy generation,
input energy is mainly renewable, and India has very good potential of renewable
energy in the form of solar, biomass, hydro, wind, etc. Several technologies are
available for distributed generation. Design and planning of distributed energy
supply by utilizing local resources are very crucial. In this regard, polygeneration
may be a possible option for catering multiple utility demand using local renewable
resources efficiently. However, present challenges of distributed energy are sup-
plying energy utilities at low cost with less environmental impacts and through
socially acceptable technology.
Acknowledgements Dr. Kuntal Jana gratefully acknowledges to the Science and Engineering
Research Board (SERB, DST), India for awarding National Post-Doctoral Fellowship.
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Synthesis of Cogeneration, Trigeneration,
and Polygeneration Systems Using
Target-Oriented Robust Optimization
Charlle L. Sy, Kathleen B. Aviso, Aristotle T. Ubando and Raymond

R. Tan
Abstract Simultaneous generation of heat, cooling, and other secondary products

along with electricity can be more efficient than stand-alone production of these
individual streams, due to the opportunities for process integration that naturally
arise in such systems. Various cogeneration, trigeneration, and polygeneration
schemes can also be configured to achieve operational flexibility to cope with a
variable supply of fuels and feedstocks, as well as fluctuating product demand.
However, techno-economic risks resulting from long-term uncertainties in the
prices of both inputs and outputs can be a barrier to investing in these efficient
systems. Hence, this chapter presents a target-oriented robust optimization (TORO)
approach for dealing with parametric uncertainties in the synthesis of cogeneration,
trigeneration, and polygeneration systems. The model is formulated as a
mixed-integer nonlinear program (MINLP), and candidate designs at different
levels of robustness can be assessed using Monte Carlo simulation. The method-
ology is illustrated with a case study on the synthesis of a cogeneration plant.

Keywords Cogeneration Trigeneration Polygeneration Energy efficiency

Target-oriented robust optimization Uncertainty
C. L. Sy
Industrial Engineering Department, De La Salle University,
2401 Taft Avenue, 0922 Manila, Philippines
K. B. Aviso R. R. Tan (&)
Chemical Engineering Department, De La Salle University,
A. T. Ubando
Mechanical Engineering Department, De La Salle University,

156 C. L. Sy et al.
1 Introduction
The impact of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is widely consid-

ered to have exceeded safe limits [1]. Since the bulk of these emissions are asso-
ciated with energy use, mitigation of these GHG emissions can be achieved through
various strategies involving low-carbon energy [2]. For example, improvements in
the energy efficiency of industrial processes through the application of systematic
process integration (PI) techniques can in turn reduce carbon intensity [3]. In
particular, high levels of efficiency can be achieved through the simultaneous
production of electricity with secondary product streams via polygeneration [4].
Polygeneration is a natural extension of combined heat and power (CHP) or
cogeneration systems and is generally more efficient than stand-alone production of
individual streams in separate facilities, as it takes advantage of PI opportunities
that occur on site. The concept of polygeneration dates back to the early 1980s [5],
and a recent review paper outlines the key developments [6]. Alternative terms
include multi-energy systems (MES) [7]; the term trigeneration is used for the
special case of systems with three products, as in the case of combined cooling,
heating, and power (CCHP) systems [8]. When biomass is the primary feedstock,
the concept of polygeneration also overlaps with that of the biorefinery [6]. In
addition to higher thermodynamic efficiency, polygeneration systems also have
other potential advantages, such as the operational flexibility to use multiple fuels
and feedstocks [9].
Different process systems engineering (PSE) or computer-aided process engi-
neering (CAPE) tools have been developed for the optimal synthesis and operation
of polygeneration and related energy systems. For example, Lozano et al. [10]
proposed a linear programming (LP) model for trigeneration plants. The generic
mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) formulation first proposed by
Grossmann and Santibanez [11] has been applied to the case of polygeneration
systems by assuming fixed technical parameters [12, 13]. Alternatively, a
mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) formulation can first be developed
and subsequently linearized to allow globally optimal solutions to be determined
more easily [14, 15]. In addition, multiple objective optimization models have also
been developed to allow environmental aspects to be incorporated along with
economic considerations [13, 16, 17]. Other models have been developed to address
system robustness or reliability aspects. Andiappan et al. [18] developed a MINLP
model that considers unit redundancy to improve operational reliability. Models for
the synthesis of robust systems have also been formulated for biorefineries [19] and
MES [20]. While most of the models focus on the problem of process synthesis,
PSE approaches have also dealt with operational issues. For example, an algebraic
approach to debottlenecking was proposed by Tan et al. [21]. Kasivisvanathan et al.
[22] developed a MILP model to optimize abnormal operations to minimize eco-
nomic losses resulting from partial inoperability of process units. Also, in addition
to mathematical programming approaches, process graph models have been
developed both for synthesis [23] and operation problems [24].
Synthesis of Cogeneration, Trigeneration … 157
This chapter presents a target-oriented robust optimization (TORO) approach for

the synthesis of highly efficient cogeneration, trigeneration, and polygeneration
systems under uncertainty. TORO was originally developed as a generic opti-
mization framework [25, 26] and has recently been applied to the design of energy
systems [27]. The latter work is based on a MILP formulation, which upon intro-
duction of robustness aspects results in a mixed-integer nonlinear program
(MINLP). Monte Carlo simulation is then used to generate and evaluate a range of
solutions, from which a decision-maker can select a final choice depending on the
associated level of risk aversion; a tutorial treatment of the latter paper is given in
this work. The rest of the chapter is organized as follows. First, a formal problem
statement is given in the next section. Then, the MILP and MINLP formulations are
given for the deterministic and TORO models, respectively; the corresponding
LINGO code for the models is also given in the Appendix A, and pedagogical
cogeneration system example is then solved to illustrate the methodology. Finally,
conclusions and prospects for further development are given.
2 Problem Statement
The formal problem statement can be stated as follows:

• Given that cogeneration, trigeneration, or polygeneration system has m process
units and n streams including fuel and other feedstocks, intermediates, and
products;
• Given that the technological characteristics (e.g., efficiency or yield) of each
process unit is defined by a set of fixed input–output parameters;
• Given that the capital cost of each process unit is described by a piecewise linear
cost function with fixed and variable cost components;
• Given that there is a demand range for product streams of interest and a range of
the availability of resource streams of interest with intermediate product streams
completely consumed;
• Given that there is a range for the unit price of products (including fuel and
feedstocks).
The assumptions used, which are necessary to maintain the linearity of the
model, are as follows:
• Constant efficiency or coefficient of performance (COP) of the component units;
• Piecewise linear capital cost function of the component units;
• Steady-state operation of the entire system.
The problem is to design the polygeneration system for maximizing its profit,
while at the same time, considering uncertainties from demand and prices of the
product outputs and raw materials.
158 C. L. Sy et al.
3 Conventional Model Formulation
The basic deterministic MILP model for general process synthesis was first pro-
posed by Grossmann and Santibanez [11]. A simplified form of their model is given
here:

maxcT1 yAF cT2 x þ cT3 b ð1aÞ
subject to:
Ax ¼ y ð1bÞ
yL y yU ð1cÞ
xM b ð1dÞ
bi 2 f0; 1g 8i ð1eÞ
where A is the process matrix, c1 is the price vector of process streams, c2 is the
variable cost coefficient vector for process unit capital costs, c3 is the fixed cost
vector for process unit capital costs, AF is the annualizing (or capital recovery)
factor, M is an arbitrary large number, yL is the net output lower limit vector for
process streams, yU is the net output upper limit vector for process streams, b is the
binary variable vector indicating the presence or the absence of the process units,
x is the process unit capacity vector, and y is the net output vector for process
streams. In this formulation, the elements of y corresponding to inputs, interme-
diates, and products are negative, zero, and positive, respectively. The LINGO code
for this deterministic MILP model is given in Appendix A. The code can be readily
modified to accommodate larger data sets, which can be transferred directly from
spreadsheets into the relevant data sections. This model can be readily solved to
global optimality with conventional branch-and-bound solvers.
4 Robust Model Formulation
Equations 1a and 1b in the previously described model can be modified to integrate

uncertainties in various parameters. Equations 2a and 2b for example, integrate
uncertainties in the demand and unit price of each product.

maxc~1 T~yAF cT2 x þ cT3 b ð2aÞ
subject to:
Ax ¼ ~y ð2bÞ
Where c~1 and ~ y represent the uncertain unit price and demand, respectively,
which are further defined in Eqs. 2c and 2d. c1 and
y are the nominal values for unit
price and demand while dc1 and dy represent the perturbations for the unit price and
the demand, respectively, which follow the conditions given in Eq. 3.
c~1 ¼ c1 dc1 ð2cÞ
~y ¼ y dy ð2dÞ
n o
d
Z h ¼ dc1 ; dy 2 <N j0 dc1i dc c
1l ðhÞ; 0 dyi dyl ðhÞ; 8i ¼ 1; . . .; N ð3Þ
The largest perturbation occurs when dc1k ¼ dcd c

1k and dyk ¼ dyk , for all k = 1,
2, …, N. Furthermore, these perturbations are parameterized by the robustness
index, h 2 ½0; 1 where a higher value of h implies a larger degree of perturbation
for the uncertain parameters. A decision-maker with a risk-averse attitude will
prefer a higher value of h while someone who is risk seeking will prefer a lower
value. The model is then further reformulated so that the objective function is to
maximize the robustness of the system with the constraint of achieving a defined
target (s).
max h ð4aÞ
h2½0;1
subject to:

cT1 Ax hd
dc1 z1 AF cT2 x þ cT3 b s ð4bÞ

Ax y h c
dyz2 ð4cÞ
z1 Ax ð4dÞ
z2 1 ð4eÞ
x; z1 ; z2 0; b 2 f0; 1g ð4fÞ
The model is implemented by finding the highest (ProfitU) and lowest (ProfitL)
possible profit. The highest profit is obtained for the most optimistic scenario when
the unit price (c1) of the products is at the upper limit, the unit cost of raw materials
at the lowest limit, and the product demand (y) does not exceed the upper demand
limit. Alternatively, the lowest profit happens during the most pessimistic scenario
160 C. L. Sy et al.
when the unit price of the products is at the lowest level, the unit cost of the raw
materials is at the highest level, and the product demands do not exceed the lowest
demand limit. The maximum robustness index that maximizes the profit at different
profit targets is then determined using Eqs. 5a and 5b, by taking different levels of
ak within the interval of 0–1 (Eq. 5d). The profit target is obtained by using Eq. 5c.
The constraints defined in Eqs. 5e, 5f, 5g and 5h should also be satisfied. In the
event that multiple objectives are considered; it is possible to carry out the TORO
model using different parameter targets (or objectives) and generating a robustness
index for various optimization scenarios. The flowchart for implementing the model
is illustrated in Fig. 1.
max h ð5aÞ
Fig. 1 Flowchart of TORO

model Max f(x,y) Max f(x,y)
at θ= 0.0 at θ = 1.0
L
Get f U(θ) =τ0 Get f (θ) =τ1
Set α= [0,1]
Set τ = (1-αk)τ0 + α k τ1
Max θ at
different τ
Perform Sensitivity Analysis

using Monte Carlo YES
Get solution
Next α
NO
Generate Alternative
Solutions at varying α
subject to:
Profit s ð5bÞ
sk ¼ ð1 ak ÞProfitU þ ak ProfitL ð5cÞ
ak 2 ½0; 1 ð5dÞ

Profit ¼ cT1 Ax AF cT2 x þ cT3 b ð5eÞ
Ax ð1 hÞyU þ h yL ð5fÞ
c1 ¼ ð1 hÞcU
1 þ h c1
L
ð5gÞ
b 2 f0; 1g ð5hÞ
Note that the resulting model is an MINLP due to the presence of quadratic
terms. In this work, the global solver toolbox in LINGO is used to ensure that the
global optimum is found. This solver is based on a branch-and-bound algorithm
described by Gau and Schrage [28]. The corresponding LINGO code of this TORO
model is given in Appendix B. As with the previous model, this code can also be
readily modified to handle larger problems. However, the user needs to activate the
global solver toolbox in LINGO in order to determine the correct solutions.
5 Pedagogical Case Study
This case study considers a cogeneration plant for producing electricity, steam at
1.2 bar, and hot water at 75 °C using natural gas (NG) as fuel. The scenario
presented here is purely illustrative in nature. Assumptions used are based on
parameters used in the literature [13, 27]. The plant consists of four candidate
process units:
• Cogeneration module—consists of a gas turbine (GT) generator to produce
electricity, with a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) to produce steam from
the waste heat of the GT.
• Boiler—generates steam from NG.
• Hot water generator—generates hot water directly from NG.
• Steam/hot water heat exchanger—generates hot water from steam.
The process units are illustrated separately in Fig. 2a, b, c, and d. For each
process unit, all streams normalized per one unit of the main output. These process
units can also be combined into a superstructure, as shown in Fig. 3. Based on the
information in Fig. 2, the process matrix (A) can be generated as shown in Table 1.
The parameters denote the relative ratio of stream magnitudes. The fixed and
162 C. L. Sy et al.
Fig. 2 Process units in the cogeneration case study adapted from Refs. [13, 27]
Fig. 3 Superstructure for the cogeneration case study
Table 1 Process matrix of cogeneration plant adapted from Refs. [13, 27]
CHP module Boiler Hot water generator Heat exchanger
Natural gas (MW) −4.06 −1.2 −1.08 0
Steam (MW) 1.83 1 0 −1
Hot water (MW) 0.53 0 1 1
Electricity (MW) 1 0 0 0
Table 2 Trigeneration plant process unit cost parameters adapted from Refs. [13, 27]
CHP Boiler Hot water Heat
module generator exchanger
Fixed cost (€) 382,500 45,500 7500 625
Variable cost coefficient (€/ 948,347 175,000 39,474 4688
MW)
variable cost parameters for the four process units are given in Table 2. The
polygeneration plant is assumed to operate 8000 h per year. It is also assumed that
the annualizing or capital recovery factor is 0.08/y. Meanwhile, the ranges of values
of both demand parameters and price parameters are shown in Tables 3 and 4,
respectively.
Solving the deterministic MILP model results in an optimal design shown in
Fig. 4. Note that the design requires a 12 MW CHP module, a 3.04 MW boiler, and
a 1.64 MW hot water generator; no steam/hot water heat exchanger is required.
This design gives an annual profit of €8.905 million and produces 25 MW of
steam, 8 MW of hot water, and 12 MW of electricity. However, this nominal
optimum is best suited for a deterministic scenario which, in practice, may not
materialize. Thus, it has been argued that the availability of multiple solutions can
facilitate in identifying good solutions to practical engineering problems [27, 29].
The uncertainties are then integrated by using the TORO formulation. The first
step is to identify the profits for the most optimistic (h = 0.00) and the most
pessimistic (h = 1.00) scenarios. The most optimistic scenario is obtained by setting
the unit price for the products at the upper limit, the unit cost of raw materials at the
lowest limit, and setting the product demands not exceeding the upper demand
limit. Alternatively, the most pessimistic scenario is obtained by setting the unit
price of the products at the lowest level, the unit cost of the raw materials at the
highest level, and the demands not exceeding the lowest demand limit. The
deterministic model is solved for these two scenarios, and the results are as sum-
marized in Table 5. In Scenario 2, it is also important to note that the hot water
Table 3 Product demand Lower limit Upper limit

ranges in the cogeneration
case study adapted from Ref. Steam (MW) 20 25
[27] Hot water (MW) 6 8
Electricity (MW) 10 12
Table 4 Price ranges in the Lower limit Upper limit

cogeneration case studies
adapted from Ref. [27] Natural gas (€/MWh) 20 30
Steam (€/MWh) 40 50
Hot water (€/MWh) 30 40
Electricity (€/MWh) 90 130
164 C. L. Sy et al.
Fig. 4 Optimal configuration of the cogeneration plant using deterministic MILP model
Table 5 Results of the most optimistic and most pessimistic scenarios

h CHP Boiler Hot water Heat Profit (€
module (MW) generator exchanger million/y)
(MW) (MW) (MW)
Scenario 0.00 12.00 3.04 1.64 0.00 15.385
1
Scenario 1.00 10.00 1.70 0.00 0.00 3.822
2
generated is only 5.3 MW and is less than the lower demand limit of 6 MW. The
resulting profits for these two scenarios are then used to evaluate the degree of
robustness for various realizations of profit target using Eqs. 5c and 5d, where
ProfitU and ProfitL are the highest and lowest profits obtained from Scenario 1 and
Scenario 2, respectively. Eleven (11) different targets are identified by taking ak in
increments 0.1 within the interval of 0–1.
In addition, Monte Carlo simulation was performed with each target to evaluate
the performance of each design. A summary of the system design for different profit
targets is given in Table 6; the results of the Monte Carlo simulation are found in
Table 7. The different profit targets all revealed the same design, which recom-
mends the installation of the CHP module, boiler, and hot water generator for a
value from 0.00 to 0.80 while only the CHP module and boiler are recommended
for a equal to 0.90 and 1.00. In addition, results from the Monte Carlo simulation
reveal that the mean profit is less than the target profit for a from 0.00 to 0.50. It can
also be shown that for a of about 0.70 or above, the mean profit minus one standard
deviation already matches or exceeds the target profit. These results show that a
conservative decision-maker will favor less ambitious profit targets, coupled with
simpler, and less expensive plant configurations.
Table 6 Summary of cogeneration system design for different profit targets

a s (106 h CHP module Boiler Hot water Heat
€/y) (MW) (MW) generator (MW) exchanger
(MW)
0.00 15.385 0.00 12.00 3.04 1.64 0.00
0.10 14.229 0.09 11.83 2.92 1.56 0.00
0.20 13.072 0.17 11.65 2.81 1.48 0.00
0.30 11.916 0.26 11.47 2.69 1.39 0.00
0.40 10.760 0.36 11.28 2.56 1.30 0.00
0.50 9.603 0.46 11.09 2.43 1.21 0.00
0.60 8.447 0.56 10.89 2.30 1.12 0.00
0.70 7.291 0.66 10.68 2.16 1.02 0.00
0.80 6.134 0.77 10.47 2.01 0.92 0.00
0.90 4.978 0.88 10.24 1.86 0.00 0.00
1.00 3.822 1.00 10.00 1.70 0.00 0.00
Table 7 Results of the Monte Carlo simulation at different profit targets

a s (106 h Mean Standard Minimum Maximum
€/y) (106 €/y) deviation (106 €/ (106 €/y) (106 €/y)
y)
0.00 15.385 0.00 9.976 1.901 4.797 15.225
0.10 14.229 0.09 9.821 1.870 4.727 14.985
0.20 13.072 0.17 9.663 1.838 4.655 14.738
0.30 11.916 0.26 9.499 1.806 4.581 14.484
0.40 10.760 0.36 9.331 1.773 4.505 14.222
0.50 9.603 0.46 9.157 1.738 4.426 13.952
0.60 8.447 0.56 8.978 1.702 4.344 13.673
0.70 7.291 0.66 8.791 1.665 4.259 13.382
0.80 6.134 0.77 8.597 1.627 4.171 13.080
0.90 4.978 0.88 8.345 1.568 4.085 12.654
1.00 3.822 1.00 8.136 1.528 3.986 12.335
6 Conclusions
A TORO approach for the synthesis of cogeneration, trigeneration, and polygen-

eration systems under uncertainty was presented in this chapter. This framework
uses a MINLP formulation to generate a range of solutions of different levels of
robustness; candidate solutions are then analyzed using Monte Carlo simulation. The
methodology has been illustrated with a pedagogical case study of a cogeneration
system. It is shown in this case that robust designs can be generated to ensure a
higher probability of meeting the profit targets. In practice, the interplay between
166 C. L. Sy et al.
such factors depends on the degree of risk aversion of the decision-maker.

The TORO model simply provides the means for generating a range of such options.
The TORO approach has been demonstrated to be useful for generating a range
of solutions to facilitate the design of cogeneration, trigeneration, and polygener-
ation systems under uncertainty. The methodology can potentially be applied to a
wider range of energy systems at different scales and in consideration of multiple
objectives. Potential applications include the design of robust heat exchanger net-
works and planning of robust renewable energy supply chains.
APPENDIX A: LINGO Code for Deterministic MILP

Model
!MILP MODEL FOR POLYGENERATION ;
SETS:
STREAM: PRICE, YL, Y, YU;
PROCESS: FC, VC, B, X;
AMATRIX (STREAM, PROCESS):A;
ENDSETS
DATA:
STREAM = FUEL STEAM HOTWATER ELECTRICITY;

PROCESS = P1 P2 P3 P4;
A=
−4.06 −1.2 −1.08 0

1.83 1 0 −1
0.53 0 1 1
1 0 0 0;
!USE THIS CONSTRAINT FOR MILP MODEL WITHOUT UNCERTAINTY;

PRICE =
20 40 30 90;
!USE THIS CONSTRAINT IN FINDING LOWER LIMIT OF PROFIT, PROFIT(L);

!PRICE =
30 40 30 90;
!USE THIS IN FINDING FOR UPPER LIMIT OF PROFIT, PROFIT(U);

!PRICE =
20 50 40 130;
FC, VC =
382500 948347
45500 175000
7500 39474
625 4688;
YL, YU =
, ,
20, 25,
6, 8,
10, 12;
ENDDATA
MAX = PROFIT;
@FOR(STREAM(I): Y(I) = @SUM(PROCESS(J): A(I,J)*X(J)));

PROFIT = 8000*@SUM(STREAM(I): PRICE(I)*Y(I)) - CAPCOST;
CAPCOST = 0.08* @SUM(PROCESS(J): B(J)*FC(J) + VC(J)*X(J));
@FOR(PROCESS(J): @BIN(B(J)); X(J) <= B(J)*100000);
@FREE(Y(1));
!USE THIS CONSTRAINT FOR MILP MODEL WITHOUT UNCERTAINTY;
@FOR(STREAM(I)|I#GT#1: Y(I) <=YU(I); Y(I) >=YL(I));
!USE THIS CONSTRAINT WHEN FINDING LOWER LIMIT OF PROFIT,

PROFIT(L);
!@FOR(STREAM(I)|I#GT#1: Y(I) <= YL(I));
!USE THIS CONSTRAINT WHEN FINDING UPPER LIMIT OF PROFIT,
168 C. L. Sy et al.
PROFIT(U);
!@FOR(STREAM(I)|I#GT#1: Y(I) <= YU(I));
APPENDIX B:LINGO Code for TORO Model
SETS:
STREAM: PRICE, YL, Y, YU, PRICEU, PRICEL;
PROCESS: FC, VC, B, X;
AMATRIX (STREAM, PROCESS):A;
ENDSETS
DATA:
STREAM = FUEL STEAM HOTWATER ELECTRICITY;

PROCESS = P1 P2 P3 P4;
A=
−4.06 −1.2 −1.08 0

1.83 1 0 −1
0.53 0 1 1
1 0 0 0;
PRICEL =
20 40 30 90;
PRICEU =
30 50 40 130;
FC, VC =
382500 948347
45500 175000
7500 39474
625 4688;
YL, YU =
, ,
20, 25,
6, 8,
10, 12;
PU = 15385920; !MAXIMUM PROFIT THAT CAN BE ACHIEVED WITH

THE MOST OPTIMISTIC SCENARIO;
PL = 3821690; !MINIMUM PROFIT THAT CAN BE ACHIEVED WITH
THE MOST PESSIMISTIC SCENARIO;
ALPHA = 0.9; !VARIED FROM 0 - 1.0 IN INCREMENTS OF 0.1;
ENDDATA
MAX = THETA;
PROFIT >=TARGET;
TARGET = (1-ALPHA)*PU + ALPHA*PL;
THETA < ALPHA;
@FOR(STREAM(I): Y(I) = @SUM(PROCESS(J): A(I,J)*X(J)));
PROFIT = 8000*@SUM(STREAM(I): PRICE(I)*Y(I)) - CAPCOST;
CAPCOST = 0.08* @SUM(PROCESS(J): B(J)*FC(J) + VC(J)*X(J));
@FOR(PROCESS(J): @BIN(B(J)); X(J) <= B(J)*100000);
@FREE(Y(1));
@FOR(STREAM(I)|I#GT#1: Y(I) <= (1-THETA)*YU(I) + THETA*(YL(I)));

PROFITB = (1-ALPHA)*PU + ALPHA*PL;
@FOR(STREAM(I)|I#GT#1: PRICE(I) = ((1-THETA)*PRICEU(I)) + (THETA*PRICEL
(I)));
PRICE(1) = (1-THETA)*PRICEL(1) + (THETA*PRICEU(1));
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Detoxification of Crude Oil
Aysar T. Jarullah, Iqbal M. Mujtaba and Alastair S. Wood
Abstract Petroleum contributes significantly to our lives and will continue to do so

for many years to come. Petroleum derivatives supply more than 50% of the
world’s total supply of energy (Jarullah Kinetic modelling simulation and optimal
operation of trickle bed reactor for hydrotreating of crude oil. University of
Bradford, UK, 2011 [20]). Traditionally, crude oil goes through fractional distil-
lation to produce different grades of fuel such as gasoline, kerosene, and diesel oil
providing fuel for automobiles, tractors, trucks, aircraft, and ships. Catalytic
hydrotreating (HDT) is used to detoxify the oil fractions produced by fractional
distillation in the petroleum refining industries which involve removal of pollutants
such as sulfur, nitrogen, metals, and asphaltene in trickle-bed reactors. Recently,
Jarullah and co-workers proposed detoxification of whole crude oil a priori before
the crude oil enters further processing in a fractionating column. This chapter
highlights this new technology.

Keywords Crude oil Hydrotreatment Trickle-bed reactor Pilot plant

Modeling Simulation
1 Toxic Compounds in Crude Oil
Crude oil contains different hydrocarbon compounds in addition to several toxic

compounds such as sulfur, nitrogen, oxygen, and some metallic compounds con-
taining nickel, vanadium, iron, and copper. The presence of these compounds not
only has severe and many detrimental effects (such as health problems and catalyst
poisoning) but also dictates the quality of oil products.
A. T. Jarullah
Department of Chemical Engineering, Tikrit University, Tikrit, Iraq
I. M. Mujtaba (&) A. S. Wood
School of Engineering, University of Bradford, Bradford BD7 1DP, UK

174 A. T. Jarullah et al.
Sulfur pollutes the environment through the formation of sulfur dioxides, which
can be further oxidized with ultraviolet rays to SO3 resulting in the formation of
sulfuric acid that can cause lung diseases such as asthma and shortness of breath. In
addition, these impurities cause catalyst poisoning and reduce the catalyst activity.
Therefore, environmental regulations have enforced significantly low amounts of
sulfur compounds in fuels [3, 5, 14, 33, 36, 42].
The nitrogen compounds in crude oil or oil fractions can severely affect refining
industries. They are responsible for dye formation causing catalyst poisoning and
reduced catalyst activity in addition to the environmental pollution [2, 14, 42].
The metallic compounds in crude oil and its fractions can plug the pores of
catalysts causing rapid deactivation of the catalyst [1, 9, 40]. Also, particularly
vanadium in the fuel used in high-power machines such as gas turbines, these
compounds lead to the formation of sediment on the turbine, which can lead to a
change in the balance of the rotating parts of the turbine [3, 15].
Asphaltenes are the most complex mixture of high-boiling, high-molecular
weight compounds and consist of condensed polynuclear aromatics carrying alkyl
and cycloalkyl. They are highly undesirable compounds as they are responsible for
high density and viscosity of crude oils and heavy oils, which leads to transport
problems [6, 10, 11, 43, 46].
The contents of these toxic compounds for Kirkuk crude oil (Iraq) and its
physical properties are shown in Table 1 [20].
2 Traditional Industrial Refinery Practice
A petroleum refinery is a complex chemical processing unit, producing a number of

refined fuel products from crude oil feedstock with varying properties. Fractional
distillation of crude oil leads to such products based on the boiling ranges of these
Table 1 Kirkuk crude oil Chemical specification Units Value

(Iraq) properties
Sulfur content wt% 2.0
Vanadium content ppm 26.5
Nickel content ppm 17
Nitrogen content wt% 0.1
Asphaltenes content wt% 1.2
Ash content wt% 0.008
Specific gravity at 15.6 °C – 0.8558
API − 33.84237
Viscosity at 37.8 °C cSt 5.7
Pour point °C −36
Molecular weight kg/kg mole 227.5
Mean average boiling point °C 291
Detoxification of Crude Oil 175
Fig. 1 a Typical layout for an oil refinery showing hydrotreating/hydrocracking. b Simple layout
of atmospheric and vacuum fractional distillation (adapted from Refs. [4, 19])
products. Figure 1a shows a typical layout for an oil refinery. Figure 1b is a sim-
plified version of Fig. 1a where the atmospheric column produces the lighter fuels.
The residue (high boiling) of the first column then goes to vacuum distillation
column to produce further fuels.
Crude oil contains water, salts, and suspended solids. These materials are
removed from crude oil before the distillation process in order to reduce corrosion,
plugging, and fouling in crude heaters and towers, and in order to prevent the
poisoning of catalysts in downstream units by a process called desalting (as shown
in Fig. 1b). Either chemical or electrostatic methods are commonly used for
desalting. In the chemical method, water and surfactants are added to the crude oil,
which is heated in order to dissolve salts and other contaminants and is then sent to
a settling tank where the water and oil separate. In the electrostatic method, strong
electrostatic charge is used to drive the separation of water from oil [3].
Modern operation of crude oil distillation columns can process 200,000 barrels
of oil per day [19]. These towers can be up to 50 m high and contain 20–40
fractionation trays. Before entering the distillation column, desalted crude oil passes
through a network of pre-heat exchangers in order to heat it, initially with hot
material drawn from the bottom of the distillation tower to raise its temperature up
to 232 °C and then to a heating furnace that brings the temperature up to about
343 °C (Fig. 2). This is linked to heat recovery and energy saving [8]. In the
distillation column, products are collected from the top, bottom, and side of the
column. Side-drawn products are taken from trays at which the temperature cor-
responds to the boiling point range for a desired product. In modern towers, a
portion of each side-drawn stream is returned (pump around) to the tower to control
tray temperatures and further enhance separation. Part of the top product is also
returned; this “reflux” plays a major role in controlling the temperature at the top of
the tower (Fig. 2).
The reduced crude residue, RCR (the part remaining at the bottom of the
atmospheric distillation—above 350 °C), will be sent to a vacuum distillation
tower, which recovers additional liquid at 4.8–10.3 kPa. The vacuum, which is
created by a vacuum pump, is pulled from the top of the tower. The overhead
stream (light vacuum gas oil) can be utilized as a lube base stock, heavy fuel oil, or
as feed to a conversion unit. Heavy vacuum gas oil is pulled from a side draw. The
remaining part at the bottom of the vacuum distillation column is called vacuum
residue (VR). This part is taken to the deasphalted (DAO) and De-wax Units in
order to remove the asphaltenes and wax, respectively. The oil product is called
bright-stock. The vacuum residue can be sent to a coking or visbreaking unit for
further processing. After leaving the tower, products go to the downstream process
units where each compound (such as light naphtha (LN), heavy naphtha (HN),
heavy kerosene (HK), diesel oil, light gas oil (LGO), vacuum gas oil (VGO) or
bright-stock) will be sent to the hydrotreating units (Fig. 1a) in order to remove the
impurities (mainly sulfur, nitrogen, metals, and asphaltene). Table 2 shows some of
the oil fractions destinations and ultimate products with their boiling ranges.
The most valuable products from crude oil are gasoline, kerosene (jet fuel), and
diesel oil. In order to enhance the amount of these fractions, heavier streams are
Fig. 2 Distillation column with pump around (Adapted from Ref. [7])
cracked down into smaller molecules by a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit [30].
The profitability of the FCC operation depends mainly on the type of catalyst used
in the FCC unit and upon the kind of feedstock being processed. FCC generally
uses a solid acid zeolite catalyst. The larger molecules are broken into smaller
molecules in order to create additional material in the naphtha range for producing
more valuable product, gasoline [21].
Catalytic hydrotreating (HDT) is one of the methods used to detoxify the oil
fractions produced by fractional distillation, which involves removal of pollutants
such as sulfur, nitrogen, metals, and asphaltene in trickle-bed reactors [20] by
reacting with hydrogen. HDT reactions include hydrodesulfurization (HDS),
hydrodenitrogenation (HDN), hydrodeasphaltenization (HDAs), hydrodemetalliz-
tion (HDM), hydrodeoxygenation (HDO), and hydrocracking (HDC) and are car-
ried out in trickle-bed reactors (TBRs) (Fig. 3). These reactors in which three
phases, liquid (oil), gas (mostly hydrogen), and solid catalyst particle are frequently
preferred due to ease of control and used for different feedstocks.
There are other methods employed especially to remove sulfur such as oxidative
desulphurization [31, 32, 37–39].
Table 2 Oil fractions destinations and ultimate products with their boiling ranges (adapted from
Ref. [19])
Oil fractions Boiling ranges (°C) From distillation column to Final products
LPG −40 to 0 Sweetener Propane fuel
Light naphtha IBP–85 Hydrotreating Gasoline
Heavy naphtha 85–200 Cat. reformer Gasoline, aromatics
Kerosene 170–270 Hydrotreating Jet fuel, diesel No. 1
Gas oil 180–240 Hydrotreating Heating oil, diesel No. 2
Vacuum gas oil 340–566 FCC Gasoline, LGO, gases
Hydrotreating Fuel oil, FCC, feed
Lube plant Lube base stock
Hydrocracking Gasoline, jet fuel, diesel,
FCC feed, base stock
Vacuum >540 Coker Coke, coker gas oil,
residue Visbreaking Visbreaker gas oil, resid
Asphalt unit Deasphalted oil, asphalt
Hydrotreating FCC feed
3 Hydrotreating Reactions and Process Parameters
The general hydrotreating reactions can be expressed as follows [6, 34, 35]:
HDS: R S þ H2 ! R þ H2 S
HDN: R NH2 + H2 ! RH þ NH3
HDM: R M þ H2 ! RH þ M
HDAs: R Asph þ H2 ! RH þ Asph Rðsmaller hydrocarbonsÞ
R represents the hydrocarbon molecule.

Other reactions may take place in the HDT of heavy oils such as hydrocracking
and hydrogenation of aromatics rings. At high temperatures in the hydrotreating
process, hydrocracking reactions that include the breaking of the C–C bonds are
most likely to happen (also a reduction of molecular weight is noticed), e.g.,
RCH2 CH2 R þ H2 ! RCH3 þ RCH3
or
C10 H22 þ H2 ! C4 H10 þ C6 H14

Fig. 3 Trickle-bed reactor

with co-current downflow
(adapted from Ref. [20])
Hydrogenation of unsaturated hydrocarbonic compound is also a significant

class of reactions happening through the HDT operation, e.g., Gully and Ballard
[17] and Girgis and Gates [16].
C5 H10 þ H2 ! C5 H12
The range of operating conditions that are used in hydrotreating is very wide.
The choice of operating conditions is determined by the feedstock type, the required
product level, and the purity and availability of hydrogen in addition to economic
considerations [45]. In conventional processes, the range of operating conditions for

HDT of different petroleum fractions is summarized in Table 3 [44].
There are four process variables frequently reported in the literature as the most
important in hydrotreating operations: reaction temperature, liquid hourly space
velocity (LHSV), hydrogen partial pressure, and hydrogen to oil ratio (H2/Oil) ratio.
In general, for a specific feedstock and catalyst, the degree of impurities removal
and conversion increases with increasing severity of the reaction, that is, increasing
pressure, temperature, or H2/Oil ratio, and decreasing space velocity. The effect of
these parameters on the HDT process is briefly discussed below.
3.1 Effect of Temperature
Temperature plays a significant role in the HDT process. An increase in reaction

temperature can substantially enhance the rate of catalytic reaction and hence
enhance the sulfur, nitrogen, asphaltene, and metal removal. Higher temperature
will increase the rate of diffusion inside the active site of the catalyst, and as a result,
the rate of reaction will be increased [18, 41]. In addition, high temperature can
significantly enhance the thermal cracking. The best range of temperature used in
the refineries lies between 553 and 683 K, except heavy vacuum residue where
under 553 K, the reaction rates tend to be slow, and above 683 K, there is unde-
sirable side reaction. At temperatures above 683 K, the activity of the catalyst used
will decrease due to coke deposits that form on the catalyst [18, 42].
3.2 Effect of Pressure
Hydrogen partial pressure mainly affects the rate of reaction by promoting the
reaction between hydrogen and feedstock compounds. Generally, when the boiling
range of feedstock increases from naphtha through to vacuum residue, the impu-
rities compounds such as sulfur, nitrogen, and other heteroatoms become more
complex and require higher partial pressure to cause them to react with these
Table 3 Typical process conditions for various hydrotreatment on oil fractions

Oil fractions Temperature (K) Pressure (MPa) LHSV (h−1)
Naphtha 593 1.5–0–3.0 3–8
Kerosene 603 3.0–4.5 2–5
Atmospheric gas oil 613 3.8–6.0 1.5–4
Vacuum gas oil 633 7.5–13.5 1–2
Atmospheric residue 643–683 12.0–19.5 0.2–0.5
Vacuum residue 673–713 15.0–22.5 0.2–0.5
compounds [4, 18]. In addition, the system pressure impacts on both the degree of
hydrogenation of unsaturated compounds in the feedstock as well as the reaction
rate of hydrocarbon cracking. Refinery experience indicates that the HDT processes
conducted at higher partial pressure of hydrogen will produce products with lower
sulfur, nitrogen, and aromatics contents [2].
3.3 Effect of Liquid Hourly Space Velocity
Liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV) is the inverse of residence time, which
impacts on the hydroprocessing efficiency and also upon the life of the catalyst.
With the volume of catalyst being constant, the LHSV will vary directly with the
rate of feedstock. A decrease in the LHSV will generally bring an increase in the
extent of the HDS, HDN, HDM, HDAs, and HDC processes and as a result,
increase the reaction severity and the efficiency of hydrotreating processes [12]. The
residual sulfur, metals, nitrogen, and other impurities from any catalytic
hydrotreating process are proportional to the LHSV utilized. Thus, the heavier
residue cuts require longer residence time for the reaction to go to completion
compared with the lighter residue cuts [18].
3.4 Effect of Gas Oil Ratio
The choice of gas flow rate is governed by economic considerations. Recycling is

utilized to maintain the H2 partial pressure and the physical contact of the hydrogen
with the catalyst and hydrocarbon for ensuring adequate conversion and impurities
removal. To make the process economically feasible, the unused hydrogen is
recycled back to the reactor. Thus, for diesel oil, residue from atmospheric column
and other heavy feedstock, it is normal to have a gas compressor to recycle gas back
through the reactor [2, 18, 42].
4 Whole Crude Oil Fractionation then Hydrotreating

or Whole Crude Oil Hydrotreating then Fractionation?
As described in the section above, in all existing refineries, the hydrotreating

processes are implemented upon oil fractions followed by distillation and not on the
whole crude oil before the distillation. Recently, Jarullah and co-workers proposed
detoxification of whole crude oil a priori before the crude oil enters into further
processing in a fractionating (distillation) column (Fig. 4). This new development is
highlighted in the next few sections.
Fig. 4 Whole crude oil Crude Oil Atmospheric

hydrotreating before Distillation
fractionation (Adapted from
Ref. [24])
L.N
H.N
HDT Unit H.K
Hydrotreated Crude Oil

L.G.O
R.C.R To Vacuum
Distillation
5 Pilot Plant Experiments for Whole Crude Oil

Hydrotreating
Jarullah [20] and Jarullah et al. [22–27] considered the pilot plant shown in Fig. 5
for hydrotreating whole crude oil. The detailed description of this plant can be
found in original references.
In brief, the feed tank is a cylindrical tank with a capacity of 2 l. The feedstock
and hydrogen pass through the reactor in a downward concurrent flow mode. The
reactor tube is made of stainless steel with an inside diameter of 2 cm and a length
of 65 cm. The length of the reactor is divided into three parts. The first part, of
20 cm, was packed with inert particles (glass beads of 4 mm diameter). This
entrance section was employed to heat up the mixture to the required temperature,
to ensure homogeneous flow distribution of gas and liquid and to avoid end effects.
The following section of length 27.8 cm contained a packing of 60.3 g catalyst.
The bottom section (17.2 cm) was packed with inert particles in order to ensure as
serve as disengaging section. The reactor was operated in isothermal mode by
independent temperature control of five zone electric furnaces, which provided an
isothermal temperature along the active reactor section. The product section con-
sists of low and high gas-liquid separators and a products storage tank.
The product from the storage tank is fed to the distillation unit at atmospheric
and vacuum pressure for fractionation. This unit consists mainly of the (a) bottom
flask in which the feedstock is shipped (capacity of 5 l), (b) electric heating mantle,
(c) thermocouple (to measure the temperature of the raw material during the
Gas-Liquid Separator
High Pressure
Gas Meter
Hydrotreating Reactor
Hydrogen
Low Pressure
Separator
Cooler
Liquid Feed Pump
Feed Tank
Product Storage Tank
Fig. 5 Whole crude oil hydrotreating pilot plant (adapted from Ref. [20])
distillation process, (d) Oldershaw (15 trays), (e) condenser, (f) reflux regulator, and
(g) vacuum pump. The distillation column used in this work is shown in Fig. 6.
6 The Experiments
Details of the experimental procedures are outlined in Jarullah [20] and Jarullah
et al. [24]. In brief, the catalyst used for the hydrotreating (HDT) processes was
commercial cobalt–molybdenum on alumina (Co–Mo/c–Al2O3), similar to the type
used in the industrial reactor in the Baiji Refinery (North Oil Company—Iraq). The
properties of the catalyst are shown in Table 4.
6.1 Operating Conditions
Of note, there are many limitations in operating an HDT process. Reactor tem-
peratures above 410 °C can result in hydrocracking reactions producing not only
undesirable compounds but also reducing the catalyst life. Hydrogen pressure
beyond 10 Mpa (*100 atm) does not necessarily increase the partial pressure
required for improved conversion [13, 28, 29]. LHSV dictates the plant capacity,
and lower LHSV will require larger hydrotreating reactors in order to keep a desired
production capacity. Based on a full factorial three-level three-factor DoE, we
carried out 27 experiments in the pilot plant, and the ranges of operating conditions
(a)
Timer
8
(b)
Timer
1- Bottom flask 8
2- Heating mantle
3- Thermocouple
4- Older show
5- Thermometers 1- Bottom flask
2- Heating mantle
7 6- Divider
3- Thermocouple
7- Condenser
4- Older show
8- Reflux regulator
5- Thermometers
9- Receiver cooler
10- Receiver 7 6- Divider
7- Condenser
5 6 8- Reflux regulator
9- Receiver cooler
10- Receiver
5 6 11- Vacuum pump
12- Trap
13- Controller
9
9
4
4
10 Vacuum system
10
3
3
1 1
2 2 11 12 13
Fig. 6 a Atmospheric distillation column. b Vacuum distillation column
Table 4 Catalyst properties Chemical composition Units (%) Value

(adapted from Ref. [24])
Al2O3 wt% 78.79
MoO3 wt% 15
NiO wt% 3
SO2 wt% 2
SiO2 wt% 1.1
Na2O wt% 0.07
Fe wt% 0.04
Physical properties
Surface area m2/g 180
Mean particle length mm 4
Mean particle diameter mm 1.8
Pore volume cm3/g 0.5
Bulk density g/cm3 0.67
Table 5 Operating Run LHSV (h−1) P (Mpa) T (°C)

conditions used in the HDT
process [20] 1 0.5 4 335
2 1.0 4 335
3 1.5 4 335
4 0.5 4 370
5 1.0 4 370
6 1.5 4 370
7 0.5 4 400
8 1.0 4 400
9 1.5 4 400
10 0.5 7 335
11 1.0 7 335
12 1.5 7 335
13 0.5 7 370
14 1.0 7 370
15 1.5 7 370
16 0.5 7 400
17 1.0 7 400
18 1.5 7 400
19 0.5 10 335
20 1.0 10 335
21 1.5 10 335
22 0.5 10 370
23 1.0 10 370
24 1.5 10 370
25 0.5 10 400
26 1.0 10 400
27 1.5 10 400
used in this study are given in Table 5. In all cases, hydrogen to oil ratio used was
250L/L.
7 The Results
7.1 Trickle-Bed Reactor
The results for the HDT operation in the pilot plant for the 27 experiments under
various operating conditions (outlined in Table 5) are shown in Table 6. Conditions
at which the maximum conversion (X%) of all the toxic compounds took place are
highlighted in Table 6. These conditions are obviously the highest temperature and
pressure and longest residence time and may not necessarily be the optimum
conditions. Further details are given in Jarullah [20].
Table 6 Experimental results for the HDT operation in the pilot plant
186
RUN Sulfur (wt%) X (%) Nitrogen (wt%)*104 X (%) Vanadium (ppm) X (%) Nickel (ppm) X (%) Asphaltene X (%)
(wt%)
1 0.670 66.50 526.9 47.31 8.33 68.57 2.01 88.18 0.639 46.75
2 1.110 44.50 713.2 28.68 14.34 45.89 4.80 71.76 0.868 27.67
3 1.360 32.00 783.5 21.65 17.79 32.87 6.80 60.00 0.966 19.50
4 0.430 78.50 327.9 67.21 5.54 79.09 1.11 93.47 0.335 72.08
5 0.880 56.00 512.7 48.73 11.70 55.85 3.10 81.76 0.610 49.17
6 1.150 42.50 618.9 38.11 15.50 41.51 4.95 70.88 0.760 36.67
7 0.229 88.50 203.7 79.63 3.21 87.89 0.73 95.70 0.153 87.25
8 0.640 68.00 362.8 63.72 8.40 68.30 2.28 86.59 0.355 70.42
9 0.930 53.50 485.3 51.47 12.10 54.34 3.85 77.35 0.510 57.50
10 0.520 74.00 472.5 52.75 5.60 78.87 1.15 93.23 0.560 53.33
11 1.010 49.50 649.0 35.10 11.80 55.47 3.22 81.06 0.790 34.17
12 1.260 37.00 738.1 26.19 15.10 43.02 5.10 70.00 0.910 24.17
13 0.280 86.00 261.0 73.90 3.15 88.11 0.62 96.35 0.262 78.16
14 0.710 64.50 449.1 55.09 8.66 67.32 2.02 88.12 0.512 57.33
15 1.001 49.95 571.9 42.81 12.50 52.83 3.50 79.41 0.660 45.00
16 0.135 93.25 155.3 84.47 1.59 94.00 0.36 97.88 0.116 90.33
17 0.500 75.00 305.5 69.45 5.46 79.40 1.33 92.18 0.295 75.42
18 0.761 61.95 418.6 58.14 9.13 65.55 2.48 85.41 0.440 63.33
19 0.430 78.50 424.9 57.51 3.84 85.51 0.81 95.23 0.520 56.67
20 0.900 55.00 605.3 39.47 9.42 64.45 2.50 85.29 0.750 37.50
21 1.200 40.00 687.9 31.21 13.23 50.00 4.07 76.06 0.860 28.33
22 0.196 90.20 234.2 76.58 1.98 92.53 0.42 97.53 0.236 80.33
23 0.597 70.15 418.5 58.15 6.63 74.98 1.48 91.29 0.475 60.42
(continued)
A. T. Jarullah et al.
Table 6 (continued)
RUN Sulfur (wt%) X (%) Nitrogen (wt%)*104 X (%) Vanadium (ppm) X (%) Nickel (ppm) X (%) Asphaltene X (%)
(wt%)
24 0.898 55.10 518.3 48.17 10.27 61.24 2.71 84.06 0.620 48.33
25 0.082 95.90 130.5 86.95 0.891 96.64 0.24 98.59 0.089 92.58
26 0.376 81.20 274.4 72.56 3.95 85.10 0.93 94.53 0.255 78.75
27 0.640 68.00 387.1 61.29 6.89 74.00 1.87 89.00 0.398 66.83
Detoxification of Crude Oil
Adapted from Ref. [20]

187
The temperature of the reactor influences the mass velocity of the gases and
liquids, the diffusivities of the components, the mass transfer coefficient at the gas–
liquid and liquid–solid interfaces, the solubility, and Henry’s coefficients of
hydrogen and hydrogen compound in addition to viscosity and density of the
compounds. Increasing the reaction temperature leads to an increase in reaction rate
constants defined by the Arrhenius equations [22–26]. As a result, the reaction rates
of these reactions will increase.
The hydrogen partial pressure has an effect on the reactions used in this study.
The mechanisms utilized to describe HDS, HDN, HDAs, HDV, and HDNi reac-
tions used a kinetic equation with the order of the hydrogen concentration at the
catalyst surface set at a value less than 1 [22–26]. Therefore, conversion of S, N,
Asph, V, and Ni compounds increases with pressure. The effect of pressures above
10 MPa can be neglected due to the fact that the viscosity of the oil feedstock
increases with pressure, and the diffusivity and mass transfer coefficient decrease
with pressure. The liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV) is also a significant
operational factor that determines the severity of reaction and the efficiency of
hydrotreating, as described earlier.
7.2 Fractionation
The hydrotreated crude oil at these conditions was distilled into the following
fractions:
• Light naphtha (IBP–90 °C).
• Heavy naphtha (90–150 °C).
• Heavy kerosene (150–230 °C).
• Light gas oil (230–350 °C).
• Reduced crude residue (350 °C+).
• Gases [100−(naphtha + heavy kerosene + light gas oil + reduced crude
residue)].
Table 7 shows the experimental results for product compositions. It is clearly
observed that the conversion of high boiling point molecules (such as those con-
tained in the residue fraction) into lighter molecules increases when the reaction
temperature is increased, and LHSV is decreased. This behavior can be attributed to
the severity of the reaction at high operating conditions. At a low temperature of
335 °C (with different LHSV), there is no conversion of product compositions and
they are almost unchanged, which means that the conversion of large molecules can
be achieved at high operating conditions. The highest conversion from RCR to oil
distillates is seen at a high reaction temperature and low LHSV. Figure 7 clearly
captures these and compares against the base case.
Figure 7 shows the comparison between the yields of different fractions from the
hydrotreated crude oil at 400 °C and 0.5 h−1 LHSV and those yielded by the
conventional method. Clearly, the yield of LN, HN, HK, and LGO increases with
Table 7 Fractionation column yield results

Yields by conventional method (fractionation before HDT) %
Base case Gases L.N H.N H.K L.G.O R.C.R
3.47 5.9 8.9 12.8 19.0 49.93
Yields by new method (fractional after HDT) %
HDT temperature (°C) LHSV (1/h) Gases L.N H.N H.K L.G.O R.C.R
335 0.5 3.6 5.93 8.97 12.9 19.20 49.40
1.0 3.48 5.91 8.92 12.82 19.02 49.85
1.5 3.48 5.91 9.91 12.81 19.01 49.88
370 0.5 4.00 6.80 9.90 13.80 20.00 45.50
1.0 3.80 6.40 9.50 13.50 19.50 47.30
1.5 3.70 6.00 9.20 13.30 19.20 48.60
400 0.5 4.30 7.10 10.4 14.80 21.10 42.30
1.0 4.00 6.70 9.80 14.00 20.50 45.00
1.5 3.80 6.20 9.40 13.60 19.90 47.10
Fig. 7 Comparison of yields 50

by conventional and proposed
methods (adapted from Ref. 40
[24])
Yields, %
30
20
10
0
Gases L.N H.N H.K L.G.O R.C.R
Conventional New Method
the proposed method but with a decrease in RCR yield. The increase in the yield is
due to conversion of heavy compounds and long molecules present in heavy
fractions (like RCR) to light compounds.
7.3 Quality of the Fuel: Conventional Method Versus New

Method
Table 8 presents the quality of different grades of fuel by the conventional and new
method (the hydrotreating conditions were as follows: 400 °C reaction temperature,
0.5 h−1 LHSV, and 10 MPa hydrogen pressure). The quality of each fraction has
improved using the proposed method (method B) where the specific gravity (sp gr)
of oil cuts produced by method B is less than the sp gr of the same fractions
produced by conventional methods (method A), which gives a clear indication of
incremental productivity improvement of these fractions.
The reduced crude residue (RCR) from the bottom of the atmospheric distillation
has a boiling range above 350 °C. RCR is mainly used as a feedstock to vacuum
distillation units to produce base oils, in addition to producing vacuum gas oil and
lubricating oils under certain conditions. Also, it is utilized as a component of fuel
oil used in power plants, as fuel for furnaces, and as a component of diesel oil [36].
During hydrotreating of whole crude oil, it was observed that the properties of RCR
produced via hydrotreating of crude oil directly are better than the properties of
RCR produced by conventional processes, as shown in Table 8. The sulfur content,
nitrogen content, metals content, and asphaltene content are much lower compared
with these contents of RCR produced by conventional methods, thus producing a
good fuel oil as shown in Table 9.
Table 8 Properties of oil fractions produced by conventional (A) and new (B) methods
Property Oil fractions
Light naphtha Heavy naphtha Heavy kerosene Light gas oil (L.
(L.N) (H.N) (H.K) G.O)
A B A B A B A B
Sp gr @ 15.6 °C 0.6625 0.6513 0.7385 0.7311 0.7918 0.7723 0.8389 0.8324
Distilled (vol.) °C °C °C °C °C °C °C °C
I.B.P 40 30 100 91 171 159 220 218
5% 45 36 105 95 176 166 230 227
10% 48 40 107 101 181 171 240 236
20% 50 43 110 107 188 179 252 243
30% 52 45 113 111 193 184 264 255
40% 54 49 116 114 196 188 272 262
50% 58 54 119 116 199 191 280 271
60% 60 59 123 120 204 199 289 279
70% 65 64 127 125 209 206 295 288
80% 70 70 132 131 216 215 305 297
90% 78 75 139 137 225 223 317 314
95% 87 83 146 141 232 234 326 322
Ep% 89 85 149 144 245 237 338 335
T.D% 98.0 98.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.5 97.0 98.5
Loss% 2.0 2.0 0.5 1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Rest% 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.0 1.0 0.5 3.0 1.5
Table 9 Properties of reduced crude residue (RCR) produced by new and conventional methods
Specifications Units By conventional method By new method
Sulfur content wt% 4.0 0.811
Vanadium content ppm 59.88 16.42
Nickel content ppm 37.47 10.16
Nitrogen content wt% 0.1763 0.04122
Asphaltenes content wt% 5.9 0.91
Specific gravity @ 15.6 °C − 0.9540 0.9392
API − 16.82 19.16
Viscosity @ 50 °C cSt 236.8 191.4
Pour point °C +14 +2
It is also noted that the viscosity and density of RCR are less than those found in
RCR produced by conventional methods, which makes flow easy at low temper-
atures and gives an indication of increasing the light cuts. The bottom residual fuel
oil produced by a conventional method is less useful due to the fact that it is very
viscous and that it has to be heated with a special heating system before use. In
addition, it contains high amounts of contaminants in comparison with the new
study. The decrease in the viscosity and density during the hydrotreating process
facilitates its direct use as a fuel. Also, there is a conversion of a large part of it into
light compounds due to the cracking of the bonds of heavy compounds with long
chain and high density and viscosity [1, 3, 6, 36].
8 Process Economics
Jarullah [20] and Jarullah et al. [27] studied the process economics of the con-
ventional and the new process in terms of overall cost (both capital and operating
costs) for an industrial scale process (10,000 bbl/day). They have reported a total
yearly cost savings of more than 16%. Also, significant savings in H2 consumption
are reported for the new process.
9 Conclusions
This chapter reviewed details of pilot plant experiments that involve hydrotreating
reactions at different operating conditions (HDS, HDN, HDAs, HDV, and HDNi
reactions), and the distillation process (light naphtha (LN), heavy naphtha (HN),
heavy kerosene (HK), light gas oil (LGO), and reduced crude residue (RCR)). Also,
this chapter presented and discussed results obtained via experimental work.
The effects of different operation parameters such as temperature, pressure, and

liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV) upon the quality of crude oil are presented. It
has been observed that the whole crude oil hydrotreating before fractionation leads
to better grades fuels due to better removal of the impurities (S, N, V, Ni, and
Asph).
The oil fractions produced by distillation after the HDT process are compared
with those produced by conventional methods in terms of yields of light naphtha
(LN), heavy naphtha (HN), heavy kerosene (HK), light gas oil (LGO), and reduced
crude residue (RCR). The middle distillates showed greater yield compared with the
middle distillates produced by conventional methods. This consequently not only
reduces the yield of RCR yield but produces better quality RCR in terms of the
contents of sulfur, nitrogen, metals, and asphaltene. This leads to the production of
good lighter fuel oils expecting to reduce catalyst deactivation rate, pumping costs,
etc.
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Technip
The Sustainable Option of Power
from Fossil Fuels with Carbon Capture
and Storage: An Overview
of State-of-the-Art Technology
Maria Elena Diego, Karen N. Finney and Mohamed Pourkashanian
Abstract To limit the global rise in temperature to 1.5–2 °C, considerable

reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, especially CO2, are needed—challenging
because of the continuous increases in energy demand and the large contribution
from fossil fuels. Gas-fired power plants will be a significant part of power gen-
eration over the next few decades, and whilst CO2 emissions are significantly lower
than for coal, they must still be addressed to lower carbon intensity. This can be
achieved through carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a key enabling technology.
This chapter aims to summarize the key research on state-of-the-art gas turbine
technologies for enhanced post-combustion capture and oxy-turbine gas-CCS
cycles, including the technical challenges and opportunities. For post-combustion
systems, supplementary firing, humidification, exhaust gas recirculation and
selective exhaust gas recirculation will be assessed, which outline the CO2 increases
and electrical efficiencies achievable when considering the capture penalty. An
alternative to post-combustion capture is the use of oxy-turbine cycles, where the
relative merits are assessed. Lastly, this chapter discusses the impacts of the tech-
nical, policy, financial and social challenges on scaling-up these technologies for
full-chain commercial-level deployment. Overcoming these will be a necessity to
enable CCS to decarbonize energy for a sustainable future.
Keywords Carbon capture and storage CCS Natural gas Gas-CCS

Post-combustion capture Oxy-turbine cycles
M. E. Diego (&) K. N. Finney M. Pourkashanian

Energy 2050, Faculty of Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
e-mail: m.diegodepaz@sheffield.ac.uk
K. N. Finney
e-mail: k.n.finney@sheffield.ac.uk
M. Pourkashanian
e-mail: m.pourkashanian@sheffield.ac.uk

196 M. E. Diego et al.
1 Introduction
The global energy demand is expected to increase significantly in the near future as
a result of economic growth and population increases worldwide, with the power
sector predicted to account for 47% of the total primary energy consumption by
2035 [1]. Current predictions indicate that more than half of the electricity demand
will be provided by fossil fuels in the next few decades [1, 2], therefore making it
challenging to achieve the necessary reductions in CO2 emissions to tackle climate
change [3]. It is clear that any efficiency improvements and the current trend to
switch to less carbon-intensive fossil fuels (i.e. natural gas) will contribute to
lowering the amount of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere. However, these alone are
not enough to achieve the profound emission cuts required to keep global average
temperature rises below 1.5–2 °C, and further actions are thus required [1–3]. No
stand-alone solution is possible for this purpose, but the integration of several
options will be key to ensure a transition to a fully integrated, low-carbon economy.
This includes both efficiency improvements and fuel switching, as mentioned
above, but also an increase in the share of nuclear and renewable energy, as well as
the use of CO2 capture and storage (CCS) technologies [4].
In this decarbonization context, carbon capture and storage is expected to play an
important role within the solution portfolio, accounting for up to 14% of the total
cumulative effort in CO2 emissions reduction through to 2050 [4]. The importance
of CCS relies on its ability to decouple CO2 emissions from fossil fuel sources, thus
securing the supply of an increased energy demand whilst still attaining the CO2
emission targets associated with the most demanding scenarios [4]. It has a large
importance in the industrial sector (such as, cement, iron and steel, chemical and
refinery plants), where CCS is one of the few options that can provide substantial
cuts in CO2 emissions here. CCS is also relevant in the power sector, where
flexible, reliable, fossil-fuelled backup utilities are widely required in spite of the
increasing penetration of renewables (which are inherently intermittent), in order to
guarantee the security of supply and ensure a precise match between the instanta-
neous electricity generation and demand at all times. Although the high costs are at
present a limiting factor to deployment, further advantages of CCS could come
from an economic perspective, as it can contribute to limiting the mid- and
long-term costs of the transition towards a sustainable, low-carbon model. This is
the case of the electricity sector, where it has been estimated that excluding CCS
from the solution portfolio will increase investment costs by 40% if the same CO2
reduction targets are to be achieved [4].
Focusing on the power sector, large efforts have been initially devoted to the
development of CCS technologies for coal applications. However, coal is very
carbon-intensive and a move towards fuels with a lower carbon footprint will mean
that CCS technologies will also have to be utilized with these other resources. This
is the case of natural gas, which has experienced rapid growth in the last few
The Sustainable Option of Power from Fossil Fuels … 197
decades due to its lower carbon emissions per unit of energy generated (less than
400 kg/MWh vs. approximately 800 kg/MWh for coal), in addition to the more
flexible operation and lower capital costs of gas-fired systems with respect to
coal-fired power plants [4]. Given the increasing importance of those systems [1, 2],
this chapter aims to discuss the implementation of CCS in natural gas-fired power
plants, with a focus on the capture step. For this purpose, a summary of the different
capture systems and the current status of CCS commercialization are covered in
Sects. 1.1 and 1.2, respectively. Moreover, Sect. 2 is dedicated to adapting post-
and oxy-combustion capture options to best suit natural gas combustion, focusing
on state-of-the-art technologies and discussing the main technical challenges.
Pre-combustion systems using natural gas are not considered in detail herein due to
the less attractive economics at present, although alternatives are currently being
studied to improve the competitiveness of these systems [5, 6]. Political, financial
and social factors affecting the deployment of CCS are also commented on in
Sect. 3, where a final discussion on the opportunities of these systems is included.
The conclusions of this chapter are then presented in the last section.
1.1 Overview of Carbon Capture Systems
Carbon capture and storage technologies aim to separate the CO2 generated from
industrial processes and generate a CO2-concentrated stream that can be then
purified, compressed and permanently stored. The CO2 capture stage is key in CCS
systems, as it is responsible for reducing the CO2 emissions of a specific process
and accounts for the largest cost share of the entire CCS chain (i.e. capture,
transportation and storage) [7, 8]. Three systems can be distinguished depending on
where the separation step happens, namely post-combustion, oxy-combustion and
pre-combustion capture [7]. These are briefly discussed here.
Post-combustion systems separate the CO2 contained in a gaseous stream (i.e.
the flue gas) as a result of a fossil fuel or biomass combustion process, leading to a
CO2-rich stream that can be ultimately stored. This separation step can be carried
out using solvents, solid sorbents, membranes or cryogenic processes.
Post-combustion technologies are suitable for its implementation in existing plants
(retrofitting), as they are placed downstream of the plant thus hardly affecting the
production process.
Oxy-combustion systems burn the fuel using an oxygen-rich flow instead of air.
A gaseous stream that mainly contains CO2 and H2O is obtained after combustion,
leading to a CO2-rich flow after water condensation. Therefore, the gas separation
stage takes place in this system before combustion, i.e. O2 separation from N2 in air.
Cryogenic methods are often considered for this purpose, although the use of
chemical looping combustion systems or membranes has been proposed to reduce
the often high energy penalty and costs.
Pre-combustion processes separate CO2 prior to combustion. In these systems, a

CO/H2 stream (syngas) is produced after gasification or reforming of the fuel using
air or oxygen and/or steam. The syngas then undergoes a water–gas shift reaction,
where the CO reacts with steam to obtain a CO2/H2 mixture. The CO2 is then
separated by physical absorption or using some of the post-combustion processes
referred to above, leading to a highly concentrated H2 flow that can be used as
energy source.
The systems discussed above are mainly focused on energy generation pro-
cesses. Nevertheless, an area of great importance is CO2 capture from industrial
sources (e.g. in the cement or the iron and steel industry). Separation of CO2 from
industrial gas streams has been routinely carried out with purposes different from
CCS, such as to reduce the CO2 content in natural gas or to separate CO2 from H2
during ammonia production [7]. Nevertheless, the study of technologies aimed at
capturing CO2 from a range of industrial sources has received increasing attention
recently, as it is one of the few options to achieve deep cuts in CO2 emissions in
these systems.
1.2 Current Status of Commercial CCS Deployment

in the Power Sector: Carbon Capture from Coal
A number of large-scale CCS projects with individual CO2 capture capacities in the
range of 0.4–8.4 MtCO2/yr are currently operational [9]. Many of them are related
to CO2 separation in the natural gas processing industry, but there are dedicated
projects in the power generation sector as well. Others are also related to industrial
sectors like the iron and steel industry and the production of fertilizers, synthetic
natural gas, hydrogen and ethanol [9]. The resulting CO2 stream is employed for
enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in most of these projects, as this is an economic driver
for the development of CO2 capture initiatives in some regions (e.g. USA and
Canada). Nevertheless, there are also CCS projects that target the geological storage
of CO2. Some have been running for several years, thus injecting considerable
amounts of CO2 underground and providing valuable information for control and
monitoring purposes (see, for example, the ongoing Sleipner, Weyburn-Midale and
Snøvit projects [9] and the In Salah project (injection suspended in 2011) [10].
In the power sector, the recent deployments of full-chain CCS demonstrations
have primarily focused on coal-fired generation as mentioned in Sect. 1, with two
fully operational plants at large scale coming online in the past few years. This is
the case of Boundary Dam, which was the first power station in the world to
implement the technology at scale [11]. In this project, located in Saskatchewan
(Canada), one of the units (139 MW) of the existing power plant was retrofitted
with post-combustion CO2 capture at 90% efficiency using the Shell CANSOLV’s
combined CO2 and SO2 capture process, with a capture capacity of 1 MtCO2/yr
[12]. It became operational in 2014, and the captured CO2 is mainly transported via
pipeline to be used for EOR in the Weyburn oil field [12], although a small fraction
is taken for geological storage under the framework of the Aquistore project [13].
More recently, Petra Nova in the USA has become the largest post-combustion
carbon capture plant worldwide. It also uses solvent-based technologies—specifi-
cally, a proprietary KS-1 solvent—and can capture up to 1.4 MtCO2/yr with *90%
efficiency from a slipstream (equivalent to 240 MW) of flue gas from the associated
coal-fired power plant. The CO2 is then used for EOR purposes at the West Ranch
oil field [14].
The projects mentioned above show that CCS in the power sector is already a
reality. These are important assets for the future of CCS, providing valuable
information and operational experience that can be employed to optimize these
processes and reduce risks, uncertainties and costs for future plants. Nevertheless,
more projects are required at demonstration and commercial scale to prove and
optimize the more mature and also novel emerging capture technologies from a
variety of sources and gain additional knowledge. To this end, further potential
CCS projects at large scale are at different stages of development, including capture
projects dedicated to the industrial sector, as well as post-, pre- and oxy-combustion
options for power generation [9]. Current and future demonstration activities are
essential to reduce the costs of CO2 capture, improve system performance and gain
confidence in the entire CCS chain, which could facilitate a more rapid deployment
of CCS in the near future if adequate policies and incentives are in place. This is
discussed in detail in Sect. 3.
2 Carbon Capture from Natural Gas-Fired Power Plants:

Gas-CCS
Widespread deployment of carbon capture and storage in gas-fired power plants

(gas-CCS) requires adaptation of the capture technologies and/or the turboma-
chinery and other process units to the specific characteristics of these systems. This
section focuses on post- and oxy-combustion gas-CCS applications, highlighting
the main challenges and opportunities with a view to its commercial deployment.
2.1 Post-combustion CO2 Capture
Conventional gas-fired power plants use very high excess air ratios to limit the
temperature in the combustion chamber and protect the gas turbine from damage
occurring when working at very high inlet temperatures. This operating strategy
results in large flows of flue gas with a CO2 content of just 3–4 vol%—much lower
than that of coal-fired power plants (around 12–15 vol% CO2)—which negatively
affects the performance of any CO2 capture process placed downstream [15, 16]. As
a result, coupling post-combustion carbon capture systems with gas-fired plants is

particularly challenging, and large capture reactors are required to cope with the
increased flows, which should also capture CO2 efficiently under restricted driving
force conditions. Therefore, higher penalties and capture costs can be expected in
gas-CCS systems [15, 16]. In addition, the flue gas also contains large amounts of
oxygen (of the order of 12–13 vol%), which can increase oxidative solvent
degradation in those systems using amines as the capture technology [17], thus
increasing operating costs. A number of options have been proposed in order to
enhance the CO2 content in the flue gases generated in gas-fired systems, which
lead to lower oxygen levels and can also reduce the flue gas flow to be treated in
some cases. These therefore have a range of benefits for the capture system, as they
can potentially reduce the size, energy penalty and costs associated with the
post-combustion plant. These are:
• Supplementary firing
• Humidification
• Exhaust gas recirculation
• Selective exhaust gas recirculation.
These schemes are explained in detail in Sects. 2.1.1, 2.1.2 and 2.1.3. The
discussion in these sections is mainly focused on the use of amine scrubbing
(usually employing monoethanolamine (MEA) as the solvent) in gas-CCS systems,
especially in terms of electrical efficiencies, as they are the most mature
post-combustion capture systems as indicated in Sect. 1.2, and much information is
available on these systems. Nevertheless, it is important to highlight that all
post-combustion capture technologies could potentially benefit from the increase in
the flue gas CO2 content attained through the gas turbine configurations described
in the next sections.
In addition to the specific characteristics of the flue gas to be treated, further
challenges of gas-CCS systems are related to the need for flexible operation of the
post-combustion CO2 capture plant. Gas-fired power plants have the ability to
quickly respond to changes in demand and are often employed for backup purposes
at varying loads [18]. Therefore, any capture plant coupled to these systems will
also need to operate flexibly, exhibiting reliable and effective performance under a
wide range of conditions. Dynamic operation of capture systems is not fully
understood at the moment for any of the capture technologies proposed in the
literature, and it is currently an active R&D area. Another topic of research is
related to process optimization and intensification. There is still scope for specific
improvements in the capture systems for all of the proposed technologies, with
large efforts devoted to finding new optimized configurations that can improve the
energy penalties and costs of these systems. However, it is important to point out
that alternative layouts can often lead to increased complexity/costs of the power
plant and/or the capture system, and their effects on the overall performance of the
integrated plants and their flexibility should be carefully evaluated, especially for
gas-fired systems.
2.1.1 Supplementary Firing
Supplementary firing consists of burning additional fuel downstream the gas turbine
(see Fig. 1) by taking advantage of the high oxygen content remaining in the
exhaust gas of gas-fired systems (around 12–13 vol% O2 as discussed in Sect. 2.1).
This option was initially proposed to increase the power output of natural gas
combined cycle (NGCC) systems during periods of peak electricity demand, since
extra power can be generated in the steam cycle as a result of the higher temperature
of the flue gas entering the heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) after the sup-
plementary firing stage [19]. This idea can be also exploited to compensate for the
adverse effect of ambient conditions on gas turbines (e.g. an increase in ambient
temperature), which reduce the power output of the plant [20]. Additionally, sup-
plementary firing has been investigated for gas-CCS applications because of its
associated benefits, namely (i) a higher CO2 content in the flue gas, which increases
the driving force in the CO2 capture stage; (ii) a reduction in the flue gas O2
concentration, which can lead to lower rates of solvent degradation in amine CO2
capture systems; (iii) a decrease in NOx emissions; and (iv) the potential use of
biomass in the supplementary firing unit, which can lead to a further reduction in
CO2 emissions linked to the concept of negative emissions [15, 16, 21–25].
Moreover, some authors have claimed that further advantages can be obtained if the
power plant is designed to continuously operate under supplementary firing con-
ditions, as the flue gas flowrate arriving at the capture plant could be reduced with
respect to that of a reference NGCC plant (without supplementary firing) with the
same power output [24], thus reducing the cost of the downstream CO2 capture
system.
NGCC plants using supplementary firing are available at commercial scale—see,
for example [26]. However, there are specific challenges and limitations that need to
be considered when coupling those systems with CCS. This is certainly the case of
the maximum CO2 increase that can be achieved in the flue gas as a result of
supplementary firing, which is related to the energy consumption in the
post-combustion capture system (see [16] for amine scrubbing plants) and depends
on the amount of fuel that can be burnt in this stage. This is usually limited by
material considerations, i.e. by the maximum temperature of the flue gas at the inlet
Fig. 1 Representation of a natural gas combined cycle with supplementary firing and CO2 capture
of the HRSG. A limit of 800 °C is often considered [24, 27], but higher temper-
atures can be employed if insulated casings (up to 900 °C) or water-cooled furnaces
(up to 1300 °C) are employed in the HRSG [28]. Concentrations around 7 vol%
CO2 can be achieved assuming the supplementary firing process operates at
*1300 °C, although this can theoretically increase up to *11 vol% CO2 under
stoichiometric conditions (which imply much higher temperatures) [16].
Alternatively, sequential supplementary firing can be used, thus allowing for high
CO2 concentrations in the flue gas whilst keeping temperatures in the HRSG at
moderate values [24]. In this case, the supplementary fuel is distributed into a
number of firing stages throughout the HRSG, as opposed to the system seen in
Fig. 1. As a result, the flue gas achieves a more limited temperature increase in each
stage, and therefore, more supplementary fuel can be burnt (leading to higher CO2
concentration) without compromising material performance. The maximum flow of
fuel that can be burnt is then limited by the flue gas oxygen concentration in the last
firing stages. Concentrations close to 11 vol% CO2 have been calculated at the inlet
of the absorber reactor in NGCC systems using sequential supplementary firing
with maximum temperatures in the HRSG of 820 °C, assuming complete and stable
combustion can be performed at very low oxygen levels in the last firing stage
(around 1 vol% O2 at the exit of the last stage) [24].
Moreover, the use of supplementary firing can increase the mass flowrate of the
flue gas to be treated in the capture plant in those cases where no exhaust gas
condensation is applied, thus offsetting the benefits of an increased CO2 concen-
tration [16, 25]. Another important limitation is the associated reduction in the net
electrical efficiency of the power plant, as the fuel fed to the supplementary firing
unit is only used to produce power in the Rankine steam cycle, unlike the main fuel
stream. This cycle is less efficient than the combined Rankine and Brayton cycles,
which together with the higher temperature difference in the HRSG results in a
reduced efficiency [25]. Therefore, the potential benefits of supplementary firing in
CO2 capture applications depend on two opposite effects that impact the overall
system efficiency: the efficiency loss in the power plant versus the decrease in the
energy consumption of the capture process as a result of the higher flue gas CO2
content. This has been studied in NGCC power plants that make use of a supple-
mentary firing stage and incorporate an amine CO2 capture plant downstream
(MEA-based). Electrical efficiencies between 42 and 48% have been calculated for
these systems, which can be up to 7–8 net percentage points lower than those of a
NGCC without supplementary firing coupled to an amine capture plant [16, 24].
Similar trends were also reported in a recent study that investigates the use of
supplementary firing in NGCC plants with CO2 capture in order to compensate for
the power reduction experienced by these systems when the ambient temperature
increases [29]. Results obtained also indicate a substantial efficiency drop of around
5 net percentage points with respect to the system without supplementary firing
[29]. The efficiency drop associated with the system of Fig. 1 can be partially
compensated with the use of supercritical steam cycles in the HRSG [16, 24].
Nevertheless, this comes at the expense of a more complex system, thus affecting its
cost and flexibility [25, 30].
More complex supplementary firing configurations have been evaluated for its
application in NGCC plants equipped with amine scrubbing CO2 capture in order to
investigate further performance improvements [25]. One of these options consists
of the use of supplementary firing together with exhaust gas reheating, which can
raise the electrical efficiency by 15% compared to the conventional supplementary
firing case, but the CO2 concentration is also reduced [25]. Another alternative is
based on combining supplementary firing and exhaust gas recirculation, the latter of
which is explained in detail in Sect. 2.1.3. In this case, the effect on efficiency is
more moderate (*4% increase with respect to the conventional supplementary
firing configuration), but it largely reduces the mass flow and increases the CO2
content of the flue gas, which will reduce the costs of the CO2 capture plant.
However, there is a substantial decrease in the oxygen available in the supple-
mentary firing stages [25]. The use of a NGCC system that incorporates supple-
mentary firing, exhaust gas reheating and recirculation, as well as a supercritical
HRSG design, has also been analysed, leading to an efficiency penalty of just *3
net percentage points with respect to the NGCC system without CO2 capture [25].
Nonetheless, it is important to highlight that the alternative configurations men-
tioned here have substantially more complex process schemes than that of Fig. 1.
Therefore, this has implications in terms of operational flexibility and costs, as
discussed in Sect. 2.1, which are sensitive areas for power plants incorporating
CCS systems and should be carefully evaluated.
2.1.2 Humidification of Gas Turbine Cycles
Humidified turbines introduce moisture to a conventional gas turbine cycle so that

the working fluid is changed from air to an air–H2O mix. Such systems have
previously been utilized to: (i) improve electrical efficiencies, since the mass
flowrate of working fluid through the turbine is increased whilst keeping the
compressor power unchanged (moisture is added after compression), therefore
increasing the power output [31–39], and (ii) to control emissions, particularly of
NOx, as peak flame temperatures in the primary combustion zone are reduced by
the higher heat capacity of the working fluid [16, 35, 40, 41]. Furthermore,
humidification has also been reported to improve the specific output [42] and
specific work [43].
More recently, humidified turbine cycles have been evaluated as a means of
augmenting the CO2 level in the exhaust to aid carbon capture. Humidified cycles
increase the CO2 content of the flue gas, since the moisture replaces some of the air
and can be condensed out [16, 40, 44 ]. The amount of CO2 augmentation, how-
ever, depends on a range of factors related to the various operating parameters/
conditions, but mainly on the degree of humidification. This water–air ratio is also a
key defining parameter for efficiency improvements [16]. Various maximum CO2
concentrations have been reported for the flue gas generated in humidified gas
turbine cycles—although often these are around 5 vol% [16, 45]. This is equivalent
to an increase in the flue gas CO2 content of *25–30%, which could enable large
reductions in the reboiler duty of amine capture systems [16, 46]. As the degree of
humidification or water–air ratio is such an important parameter, the moisture
addition needs to be finely balanced, even though the amount of water/steam
required to achieve performance improvements is often substantial. High water–fuel
ratios are often needed, but at such levels, increases in emissions relating to
incomplete combustion are found—specifically CO and unburned hydrocarbons
due to the lower oxygen availability and reduced system temperatures in the pri-
mary combustion zone [16, 47]. Takahashi et al. [42] state that each system has a
different optimal point for efficiency maximization, which is often in the region of
12–14 vol% of moisture inclusion in the inlet oxidizer (water/air ratio)—this has
been corroborated by Li et al. [16]. Others have suggested that much lower levels of
humidification in the region of 5–6 vol% are sufficient [32, 33, 48].
Wet turbine cycles are classified depending on the way the moisture is intro-
duced, and there are a range of possible configurations. Methods exist for both the
injection of water in its liquid form, either directly or with evaporative cycles using
humidification towers, and as steam [40]. Humid air turbines (HAT) and steam
injected gas turbines (STIG) are considered in turn below. These are recuperative
cycles that recover the heat to use again, which means the efficiency and outputs are
increased, whilst the specific investment costs decrease [40, 49]. This can be
beneficial to mitigate, at least in part, some of the energy penalty caused by adding
carbon capture to an electricity generation process. Part-load performance is also
better than that of a combined cycle [40], and as a result, they are classed as higher
performance gas turbine technologies.
Humid air turbine systems, also referred to as evaporative gas turbines (EvGT),
utilize a saturator or humidification tower to add moisture downstream of the
compressor [44, 50], as shown in Fig. 2 in its simplest configuration. The inclusion
of heat recovery components (e.g. an economizer) means that the thermal energy in
the flue gases and in the compressor outlet gas can be recovered by using it to heat
and evaporate water, which is then used to saturate the air exiting the compressor.
This gives a single phase mixture, which can be further heated with the heat
recovered from the turbine exit stream before entering the combustor, as depicted in
Fig. 2 [49]. By recovering and reusing this heat, considerably higher thermal effi-
ciencies can be achieved for a specific system. Moreover, the increased mass flow
of the working fluid through the turbine (due to the addition of moisture to the air)
results in a higher specific power output and greater electrical efficiencies, as the
power consumption in the compressor remains unchanged [44, 51–53]. This is
equivalent to arguing that the compressor power demand decreases in HAT systems
with respect to a non-humidified gas turbine if the same power output is to be
achieved, since humidification occurs after the compressor [44, 54, 55]. HAT
systems can achieve maximum electrical efficiencies in the region of 50–52% [35,
56, 57], and decrease significantly with the addition of a post-combustion capture
system downstream, to *42% using a MEA-based scrubbing plant [16]. HAT
systems can start up faster and have a higher availability than non-humidified
combined cycles and could therefore play a valuable role in a future with significant
amounts of intermittent renewables in the grid mix [58].
Fig. 2 Schematic of a humidified gas turbine operating under HAT conditions
Another humidification option is based on steam injected gas turbine systems.

These integrate a HRSG, where the heat contained in the flue gas is recovered to
generate steam after the turbine, which is then injected into the combustion
chamber, as delineated in Fig. 3 [40, 51–53]. Additional recuperation can be
included by heating the compressed air prior to combustion [52]. As in the case of
HAT cycles, a fraction of the air is replaced by steam, which increases the mass
flowrate of the working fluid through the turbine without increasing the power
consumption in the compressor, thus leading to higher electrical efficiencies [40, 51,
53]. For STIGs in combined cycles, a single HRSG can be used, with a bleed-off to
feed steam to the combustor. Horlock [52] reports that the work output of the
turbine increases linearly with the quantity of the steam injected, and the optimum
steam quantity corresponds to the maximum steam exit temperature, along with the
minimum pinch point temperature difference. This also has limitations based on the
compressor surge and maximum steam flowrate [59]. STIG cycles typically have
much lower electrical efficiencies than HAT systems by comparison—which peak
at up to 48%, but are generally lower at around 37–41% [16, 31, 53, 60–62]. This,
together with the limited increase in the CO2 content that can be achieved in the flue
gas, makes the option of coupling STIG systems with post-combustion CO2 capture
unattractive. Advances and modifications to standard STIGs can further improve
performance up to 50% though [51].
In addition to these two main modifications (HAT and STIG), a range of other
more complex cycles and altered configurations have been proposed. These include,
but are not limited to, the inclusion of an inverted Brayton cycle, integrated bot-
toming cycles, recuperative heating of the flue gas after the condenser, part-flow
evaporative gas turbines, recuperated and intercooled-recuperated cycles,
semi-closed humidified cycles, multi-effect thermal vapour compression, chemi-
cally recuperated cycles, spray intercooling/aftercooling, humid air water injected
turbines and regenerated water injected cycles, as well as CHENG, FLECS,
Fig. 3 Schematic of a humidified gas turbine operating under STIG conditions
REVAP and advanced-HAT turbines [35, 38, 42, 43, 57, 61–65]. Hybrid systems
have also been considered, which primarily focus on the integration of low-carbon
energy sources, such as renewables (solar and biomass) or fuel cells into humidified
systems [66–70]. Whilst these have shown a range of additional benefits to the
traditional humidification technologies, such as further improvements in efficiency,
their considerable complexity can substantially increase the costs and reduce the
flexibility of such systems, and are therefore not considered viable at present.
Moreover, there are a number of common issues with humidified gas turbines
cycles. Water consumption for all ‘wet’ gas turbine cycles can be problematic,
specifically adding significant cost. Water utilization rates for STIG designs though
can be up to three times greater than for HAT systems [37, 49]. Condensing out the
moisture from the flue gas to reuse is vital to ensure the operational costs are not
excessive. Choosing the most appropriate condenser can have significant impacts
on the plant footprint and costs [71]. However, reusing the water can also lead to
problems. Demineralization of the recycled water is often required to stop build-up
of species that can cause deposition and corrosion within the system [35, 47].
Furthermore, extra components are required for all these systems to achieve the
humidification. These, and the necessary ancillary equipment, add notably to their
complexity as well as their costs. Minimizing the moisture inclusion in the cycle is
therefore necessary in terms of water consumption, but there are other reasons to
ensure an optimal moisture–air ratio is used: (i) excessive moisture addition lowers
the oxygen content of the oxidizer stream and can negatively impact flame stability,
and (ii) excess water in the outlet flue gas stream can further dilute the solvent used
for amine scrubbing carbon capture, increasing the reboiler duty [16, 56].
Moreover, modifications are sometimes required to the gas turbine system com-
ponents, which have to cope with a mismatch in the compressor and turbine flows.
Increases in the pressure ratio are often needed in optimized humidified systems,
and thus, higher-grade materials could be needed [51, 53]. Additionally, blade
cooling optimization may also be required, which presents new opportunities (or
challenges!) in the field of blade and disc cooling architecture [72].
The general consensus then is that gas turbine humidification can result in
considerable performance benefits when looking at the gas turbine itself (no CO2
capture); however, the improvements in performance are more pronounced for
systems operating with HAT than STIG. Nevertheless, these systems can only
provide a limited increase in the CO2 content of the flue gas (up to *5 vol%), and
the calculated electrical efficiencies when coupled with amine-based capture tech-
nologies are lower than those of other available options (e.g. a conventional NGCC
using amine scrubbing for CO2 capture with or without exhaust gas recirculation or
supplementary firing) [16]. This limits the interest of humidified turbine cycles for
gas-CCS applications.
2.1.3 Exhaust Gas Recirculation and Selective Exhaust Gas

Recirculation
Both exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and selective exhaust gas recirculation
(S-EGR) can increase the CO2 partial pressure in the turbine flue gases that are sent
to the post-combustion capture plant by concentrating the CO2 into a smaller
flowrate of gas. In the EGR case depicted in Fig. 4, this is achieved by recirculating
a proportion of the flue gases back to the compressor after passing through a flue
gas cooler and a water knockout unit [73]. The recirculated flow contributes to
control temperatures in the combustor and replaces a fraction of the inlet air, thus
reducing the exhaust flowrate and increasing the back-end CO2 levels, which
facilitates effective post-combustion capture in a plant with a reduced size and
energy penalty. Several studies report that using EGR decreases the volumetric flue
gas flowrate by an equivalent amount [18, 74–77]—e.g. the flue gas flow can be
halved by using recirculation ratios of *50%. At this level, the CO2 content in the
flue gas increases from *4 to *8 vol% CO2, with the specific reboiler duty of an
associated MEA capture plant decreasing by *8% [77]. Other benefits can also be
found when deploying EGR into gas-CCS systems. NOx reductions have been
extensively reported for EGR operation [16, 78–81]. Whilst this is primarily due to
the decrease in the peak combustion and flame temperatures [82], since the CO2 has
a higher heat capacity, the reduced oxygen availability may also play a role [77].
Despite the beneficial impacts of EGR, there are also limitations, as considered
herein. The recirculation ratio is the defining parameter for the CO2 increase [16],
which is related to the efficiency gains attained in the NGCC plant with CO2
capture. The overall consensus on EGR from both experimental and theoretical
studies is that EGR ratios of 40% are the most ideal, although an absolute maximum
recirculation rate, which is under much debate, of 50% could be used with small
system modifications [83].
This key defining factor needs to be chosen carefully to ensure that the maxi-
mum potential CO2 concentration is achieved, with minimal negative conse-
quences, such as increases in other emissions resulting from combustion
instabilities due to oxygen depletion in the oxidizer and/or lower peak temperatures.
The recirculation ratios reported vary widely, although typical maximum EGR
Fig. 4 Schematic of a gas turbine operating with exhaust gas recirculation
ratios employed are usually in the region of 35–40%, leading to up to 6.5 vol% CO2
in the resulting flue gas [16]. At these values, the oxygen concentration at the inlet
of the combustor is of *16–17 vol%, which ensures stable combustion and low
emissions [84, 85] without the need for major combustor redesign [16, 73, 75, 84].
High overall electrical efficiency of the NGCC (above 50%) using EGR at those
levels and with CO2 capture (amine-based) has also been reported, reducing the
energy penalty associated with the amine scrubbing system by 0.3–0.7 net per-
centage points with respect to an equivalent system without EGR [18, 75, 77].
Others though, such as Peeters et al. [83], Evulet et al. [80] and Li et al. [77], have
reported higher optimal EGR ratios of up to 50%, suggesting this is where the
electrical efficiency peaks. Whilst this is able to increase the CO2 content of the flue
gas further, up to *8 vol% [76, 80, 84, 85], as indicated above, issues associated
with depleted oxygen conditions in the combustor can start to arise, such as
instabilities in combustion and in the flame, resulting in poor burnout [77]. This is
due to the narrower flame stability limits when combusting in an air–CO2 envi-
ronment [84]. In extreme cases, where the EGR ratio is too high, this can even lead
to lean blowout [81]. EGR ratios of 60% result in excess oxygen of just around 1
vol%, with the O2 content of the oxidizer less than 10 vol% [16]. These combustion
and flame instabilities, as well as the limited O2 availability in the combustor at high
EGR ratios, can increase pollutant formation, in particular CO and unburned
hydrocarbons [76–78, 83, 85–87]. At low air–fuel ratios and altered oxidizer
compositions, variations in heat transfer, reductions in temperatures and slower
chemical kinetic reaction rates also result in more incomplete combustion [84, 85].
The techno-economics of such configurations has also been considered [18, 75].
As well as benefitting the efficiency, EGR is advantageous for the economics.
A more compact design is possible for the absorber by the use of EGR because of
the reduced gas flowrates with a higher CO2 content, thus lowering the capital costs
of the capture unit [18, 75]. Although carbon capture significantly increases the
overall costs of power generation, the integration of EGR can lower these compared
to a standard gas turbine facility with CCS. Therefore, EGR can reduce the cost of
electricity of an NGCC with an amine-based capture system from $84.3/MWh (no
EGR) to $81.9/MWh (EGR), leading to a cost of CO2 avoided *9% lower than
without EGR [75].
In addition to conventional EGR, more recent studies have started to look at
selective EGR (S-EGR), where a fraction of the CO2 from the flue gas is selectively
recycled (not all the other species), which mitigates some of the drawbacks
explored above [79, 88–91]. These configurations use a membrane (or another CO2
separating device, such as a rotary wheel [90]), where the combustion air flows
counter-currently with the flue gas (richer in CO2 due to S-EGR). The CO2 passes
through the CO2-selective membrane and enriches the oxidant before going to the
compressor, with this CO2 separation mainly driven by the difference in partial
pressure between the permeate and retentate streams (without the need for energy
consumption due to compression/vacuum) [88]. As a result, such studies consider
higher levels of CO2 in the inlet stream to the capture plant than EGR systems.
Nevertheless, the final CO2 concentration attained in the flue gas depends on the
individual capture efficiencies of the capture plant and the selective membrane.
Series configurations, where all the flue gas is treated in the capture plant and
subsequently in the CO2 separator (as outlined in Fig. 5a), can result in CO2
concentrations in the flue gas of up to 13–14 vol% if the capture plant and the
selective membrane (or CO2 separator) operate at *30 and *95% capture effi-
ciency, respectively, to ensure an overall CO2 capture efficiency of *90% [88, 90].
However, higher CO2 levels (well above 20 vol%) can be attained if the selective
membrane is forced to work at increased CO2 separation efficiencies [88, 92]. For
parallel arrangements, where the flue gas is split into two streams that go to the CO2
separator and CO2 capture plant (shown in Fig. 5b), flue gas CO2 levels in excess of
18 vol% have been reported if the capture plant and the CO2 selective separator are
able to operate at very high capture efficiencies between 96 and 98% [88, 90].
However, they diminish to around 8 vol% CO2 if these individual capture effi-
ciencies are of 95% [89]—with an overall capture efficiency of 90% in all cases.
As can be seen, parallel configurations require high capture efficiencies in both
the CO2 separator and the CO2 capture plant to ensure overall capture rates remain
high, whereas for the series design, capture efficiencies in the capture unit can be
considerably lower, whilst still maintaining high overall levels of capture [88]. If
these are balanced successfully, potential capital and operational cost savings
(CAPEX and OPEX) in the capture unit can be achieved, due to (i) the higher CO2
content in the flue gas and (ii) the greatly reduced size of the capture plant, due to
the significantly lower volumetric flue gas flowrates [88–90]. However, the overall
efficiency and cost benefits of a parallel S-EGR plant regarding the integrated
gas-CCS system (not just the capture plant) are very sensitive to the auxiliary
energy consumption and the costs associated with the selective membrane [89].
There also is potential here for process intensification and improvements in the
overall cycle efficiency.
Fig. 5 Schematics of gas turbines operating with selective exhaust gas recirculation, showing
(a) the series configuration and (b) the parallel configuration
Moreover, the use of S-EGR increases the CO2 and reduces the O2 content in the
inlet oxidizer, which can have detrimental impacts on combustion performance and
therefore emissions release. This is particularly true for unburned and incompletely
combusted species, like CO and unburned hydrocarbons, as with EGR [79, 91].
These emissions are caused by flame instabilities and the reduction in flame tem-
peratures. If the level of O2 in the combustor becomes too low and the instabilities
too great, blow-off and flame extinction can occur, which would necessitate
changes to the operating regime—notably the air–fuel ratio to allow stable com-
bustion [91]—and/or combustor redesigns to avoid those effects. Ensuring sufficient
oxygen availability in the combustor is key for S-EGR, as with EGR above.
However, with S-EGR, much more CO2 can be recirculated without approaching
stoichiometric conditions [88].
At present, preliminary economic analyses suggest that such configurations
would still be more costly than a simple EGR system. Whilst the CO2 capture
system would cost less, other plant systems, namely the selective membrane set-up,
would increase the total plant costs and therefore negatively impact on the cost of
electricity according to a recent analysis of the parallel configuration [89]. The
effect of the auxiliary consumption in S-EGR systems could also be substantial
[89]. Nevertheless, S-EGR configurations could show better competitiveness

against conventional NGCCs coupled with amine capture plants only (without EGR
or S-EGR) [88, 89, 92]. Additional cost reductions for membranes in the future
though can help in this area and are likely to be due to material advancements.
Improvements in CO2 permeance, and to a lesser extent CO2 selectivity, will reduce
the costs of the selective membrane and also make the units much more compact
and should thus be explored [88].
2.1.4 Comparison of Advanced Cycles
A brief comparison of the benefits and potential of the cycles discussed above is
carried out in this section. According to the discussion in Sects. 2.1.1, 2.1.2 and
2.1.3, simple humidified cycles, without the complexities of the bottoming cycle,
are seen to cost less than other system modifications; however, the least benefits are
observed for these when coupled with CCS systems [16, 45]. This is because they
offer lower levels of electrical efficiency than any of the other gas-fired power plant
configurations with CO2 capture (around 9 net percentage points lower than
NGCCs using MEA scrubbing), and thus, these seem a less attractive option for
gas-CCS applications [16]. NGCC power plants incorporating supplementary firing
and amine scrubbing for CO2 capture can achieve higher concentrations of CO2 in
the flue gas than EGR configurations, depending on the maximum combustion
temperature allowed, but their electrical efficiency is lower [16]. The use of NGCCs
with EGR and amine capture systems generally shows the greatest electrical effi-
ciency when compared to supplementary firing, humidified gas-fired plants [16] and
conventional NGCC schemes with amine scrubbing [18, 75]. The economics of the
EGR option in NGCCs with an amine capture plant is also better compared to
conventional NGCC+amine systems, in terms of CAPEX, cost of electricity and
CO2 avoided [18, 75]. However, careful design of the exhaust recycle control
system is required to avoid affecting the turbine performance (back-pressure) [18].
Moreover, the impacts of EGR on turbomachinery when targeting moderate EGR
ratios appear to be fairly manageable [16, 76]. Finally, S-EGR options have the
potential to significantly increase the CO2 content in the flue gas, and they could be
competitive against conventional NGCC+MEA plants [88–90, 92]. The perfor-
mance and economics of these systems are very sensitive to the assumptions
considered though [89], and the effects of the CO2-rich working fluid on the tur-
bomachinery should be considered [92]. S-EGR systems are under study and fur-
ther benefits against EGR are still under discussion [89, 90].
2.2 Oxy-Turbine Cycles
Oxy-combustion gas turbines burn the fuel using an oxygen-rich flow instead of air
in the combustion chamber, thus leading to a flue gas that contains nearly pure CO2
after H2O condensation (see Sect. 1.1). The oxygen used as oxidizer is usually
supplied by an air separation unit (ASU), which delivers a high-purity O2 stream
after separation from air. Combustion in oxy-fired systems takes place at close to
stoichiometric conditions to minimize the costs and energy penalty associated with
the ASU, as well as the requirements for subsequent purification of the CO2-rich
stream prior to storage or use (EOR). Under these conditions, extremely high
temperatures can be achieved in the combustor, and therefore, these systems usually
employ recycled CO2 or water in order to control combustion temperatures. As a
result, oxy-fired gas turbine cycles are often classified as CO2- or water-based
cycles. These differ depending on the main component in the working fluid, i.e.
CO2 (semi-closed oxy-combustion combined cycle (SCOC-CC), MATIANT cycle
and NET Power/Allam cycle) or H2O (CES and Graz cycles) [93, 94]. In addition to
these configurations (which make use of an ASU), alternative cycles have been
proposed incorporating O2 separation from air by means of high-temperature
membranes (AZEP and ZEITMOP cycles). Chemical looping combustion of gas-
eous fuels has also been proposed, where oxygen from air is transferred to oxidize
the fuel using an oxygen carrier. However, substantial development of these sys-
tems is required to achieve efficiencies competitive with NGCCs, requiring the use
of pressurized fluidized beds and high temperatures [5, 95, 96].
A summary of the main oxy-cycles investigated so far is shown in Table 1,
which has been recently published by the International Energy Agency [93]. This
presents the cycle efficiency (used as a performance indicator), together with the
degree of development of key components for each cycle, which allows the clas-
sification of the systems on the basis of their current potential [93].
As can be seen in Table 1, the most promising cycles are the semi-closed
oxy-combustion combined cycle, the NET Power/Allam cycle, as well as the Graz
and CES water-based cycles [93, 94]. Therefore, these will be described in
Sects. 2.2.1, 2.1.2, 2.1.3 and 2.2.4.
Table 1 Summary of the main oxy-fired gas turbine cycles (adapted from [93])
Cycle Efficiency Efficiency Development index Total cycle
(%) score penalty score
SCOC-CC 45–49a 7 1 6
MATIANT 40–49 7 4 3
E-MATIANT 46–47 7 2 5
NET Power/Allam 55–59 10 4 6
cycle
CES 45–50 8 2 6
Graz 49–54 9 2 7
AZEP 49–53 9 6 3
ZEITMOP 46–51 8 9 −1
a
Maximum value according to [94]
2.2.1 Semi-closed Oxy-Combustion Combined Cycle
The semi-closed oxy-combustion combined cycle is represented in Fig. 6. In this

system, a recycle stream that contains mainly CO2 is compressed and sent to the
combustion chamber, where natural gas is combusted using oxygen from an ASU.
The resulting flue gas at elevated temperature and pressure is expanded in the gas
turbine to generate electricity. The hot gases leaving the turbine are subsequently
fed to the HRSG, thus recovering heat in a steam cycle to generate additional
electricity. Water is then knocked out from the flue gas stream that exits the HRSG
—composed of CO2 and H2O mainly—after cooling, leading to a highly CO2-
concentrated flow. Most of this stream will be recycled back to the compressor to
initiate a new cycle, whereas the remaining fraction is taken to the compression and
purification unit before finally being stored or used (i.e. EOR) [15, 73, 93, 94].
The configuration of the SCOC-CC cycle of Fig. 6 is similar to that of
air-combustion NGCCs, but using a CO2-rich stream as the working fluid in the gas
turbine. No major design changes are expected in the HRSG with respect to con-
ventional combined cycles, whereas the gas turbine section (compressor, combustor
and turbine) requires some modifications to accommodate the new characteristics of
the working fluid [93, 94]. This is the case of the lower specific heat ratio of CO2
compared to air, which requires SCOC-CC systems to operate with higher pressure
ratios of around 30–40 (for a turbine inlet temperature of 1300–1400 °C) to achieve
optimum cycle efficiencies in the range of 45–49%, as shown in Table 1 [93, 94].
Considerations related to cooling of the turbine blades and the optimum tempera-
ture of the recycled CO2-rich stream are also important when designing SCOC-CC
systems [93, 94].
Fig. 6 Schematic representation of the semi-closed oxy-combustion combined cycle

2.2.2 NET Power/Allam Cycle
The NET power cycle, also named the Allam cycle, is represented in Fig. 7. It
characterizes by using supercritical CO2 as the working fluid in a semi-closed,
recuperated Brayton cycle that employs a single gas turbine operating at high
pressure (inlet pressure *300 bar) and low pressure ratio (*10) [97, 98]. The
turbine is driven by the CO2-rich flue gas generated in the high-pressure combustor,
where natural gas is burnt under oxy-firing conditions at close to 1100–1200 °C
[98]. After expanding in the turbine, the flue gas enters an economizer heat
exchanger where heat is recovered and transferred to the recycled high-pressure
CO2 stream before it enters the combustor. The low-temperature flue gas that exits
the economizer is further cooled to near ambient conditions, and water is separated
and taken out of the cycle. The resulting CO2-rich stream is then initially com-
pressed in an intercooled compressor, followed by subsequent cooling and pumping
steps (up to *300 bar). A fraction of this flow exits the system (at *100 bar) [97].
The remaining CO2 is heated in the economizer up to 700–750 °C prior to entering
the combustor.
The main benefit of the Allam cycle is the very high efficiencies that can be
achieved, which are between 55 and 59% (see Table 1) with nearly zero CO2
emissions. Additional advantages include compact designs and reduced footprint,
as well as predicted competitive costs with respect to other capture options [97, 98].
There are, however, a number of challenges related to the operating conditions in
the cycle. This is the case of the turbine design, which has characteristics of both
steam and gas turbines due to its high pressure and temperature of operation. The
combustor also requires a novel design due to the high pressures and the working
Fig. 7 Representation of the Allam cycle

fluid employed, and it has been recently tested at reduced scale during a limited
time of operation [99]. Moreover, the economizer heat exchanger is a key part of
the cycle that requires development and careful design, as it needs to cope with
large flows of CO2 and substantially different pressures and temperatures [93, 94,
97, 98]. Nevertheless, rapid progress is being made in all these areas [97], and a
50 MWth demonstration plant is being built in La Porte, Texas, to continue these
investigations. This plant will test the performance of the key components men-
tioned above and the process itself, thus allowing valuable operational experience to
be gained and providing essential information for the development of the tech-
nology [97].
2.2.3 CES Cycle
The CES cycle uses steam as the main working fluid, as depicted in Fig. 8 fol-
lowing the configuration presented by Anderson et al. [100]. In this scheme, natural
gas is combusted using oxygen from an ASU in the gas generator, which operates at
50–100 bar. Liquid water is injected and evaporated in the combustor to control
temperature, leading to a flue gas with around 90% steam content. This flue gas is
expanded in a high-pressure turbine that operates with a pressure ratio of *5, and it
is further reheated in a second oxy-fired gas combustor. The temperatures con-
sidered for the reheating stage are between 760 and 1760 °C, depending on the
development stage of the subsequent intermediate-pressure turbine (first, second
and third generation turbines have been anticipated) [101]. After final expansion in
a low-pressure turbine, the flue gas is sent to a vacuum condenser. A CO2-rich
stream is then recovered for storage/use (i.e. EOR) purposes, and water is pumped,
preheated (using heat from the flue gas that leaves the low-pressure turbine) and
sent back to the gas generator.
The efficiency of the CES cycle is highly dependent on the temperature at the
inlet of the intermediate-pressure turbine, with values close to 50% for the more
advanced designs [93, 94]. Therefore, a major technical challenge is the design of
the intermediate-pressure turbine capable of working under very high inlet
Fig. 8 Representation of the

CES cycle
temperatures with a steam-rich flow [102]. Less challenging is the design of the
high- and low-pressure turbines due to the much more limited temperatures of
operation [93, 94, 101, 102]. Tests have been performed at the 20 and 200 MWth
scale to reduce the uncertainties associated with the gas generator equipment [103].
2.2.4 Graz Cycle
The S-Graz cycle, a high-efficiency modification of the Graz cycle that uses a
steam-rich working fluid, is represented in Fig. 9. In this system, natural gas is
burnt at *40 bar in an oxy-fired combustor that uses two streams with high steam
concentrations to moderate temperature [104, 105]. The flue gas leaving the
combustor is expanded in a high-temperature turbine to atmospheric pressure and
passed through a HRSG. A fraction of the cooled gas is expanded in a low-pressure
turbine to vacuum conditions and sent to a condenser, where CO2 is separated from
steam and is then further compressed and subsequently stored. The condensed
water is then pumped and taken to the HRSG, thus recovering heat from the flue gas
exiting the high-temperature turbine and generating steam at high pressure and
temperature (*180 bar and 550 °C) [93]. This stream is then expanded in a
high-pressure turbine to *40 bar and enters the combustor to control temperature
(a fraction is also used to cool the high-temperature turbine). The remaining fraction
of the flue gas exiting the HRSG is also used to limit temperatures in the combustor
after passing through an intercooled compressor [104, 105]. This configuration has
been further improved in the modified S-Graz cycle, where condensation takes
place at higher pressure [104].
The Graz cycle can achieve efficiencies up to 54% (see Table 1), using a
combustor that operates at 40–50 bar and 1400–1500 °C [93, 94, 105, 106 ]. The
main limitation of this cycle is the need for a new design suitable for the
high-temperature turbine, capable of withstanding corrosion and operating at very
high temperatures similar to steam turbines and moderate pressures close to gas
turbines [93, 94].
Fig. 9 Representation of the S-Graz cycle

3 Scaling-up: Deployment at a Commercial Scale

and the Challenges of Decarbonization
The challenges of decarbonization via gas-CCS at a commercial level are not just
technical and policy based but also financial—which are all interconnected and
heavily dependent on each other. As the technologies develop, are scaled up and
become more commercially viable, the economic aspects should also become more
favourable, and therefore, extensive policy support will be required to bring them
from the brink of commercialization to actual full-scale deployment. All these
aspects need to be addressed in order to derisk the market and allow gas-CCS to be
deployed, whether these are integrated into new builds or retrofitted into existing
infrastructure. Much of the policy and financial aspects considered herein apply to
the CCS industry as a whole and are not necessarily specific issues to deploying just
gas-based power with carbon capture. These various barriers are therefore examined
in the wider context of CCS, as well as for gas-CCS specifically.
One of the key challenges that covers all of these aspects—technical, political
and financial—is the potentially disruptive nature of CCS technologies to the power
and industry sectors [107]. To implement carbon capture is not an easy task, neither
for new-built plant nor considering retrofits. Developing these to higher levels of
technology maturity and commercial readiness and producing the supporting reg-
ulatory and policy frameworks to surround this will go a long way to convincing
companies that not only is the technology sound, but is also vital.
3.1 Technical Aspects
Technology developments are needed to ensure that the optimized options and
configurations of gas-CCS plants are ready to be utilized reliably at the large-scale,
centralized facilities. Furthermore, knowledge transfer from demonstration projects
and their vast operational experience will go a long way to contribute to the
commercial-scale deployment of these technologies. The technical challenges for
different NGCC options have been highlighted throughout the previous sections.
Advances in the key areas will alleviate some of the issues currently seen with
demonstrating these technologies and scaling them up for deployment at a com-
mercial scale. This includes material advancements and developments for many
configurations, including humidification, EGR and S-EGR, as well as the selective
membranes that are often used with the latter. Comparative studies of the different
options considered in Sect. 2.1 have shown that whilst all these pursue improve-
ments in the overall electrical efficiency of the power plant with CCS, not all of
these options would necessarily be suitable for up-scaling—although the reasons
for these are not always technical. NGCC systems incorporating humidification and
CCS, for example, have been shown not to be competitive against other options in
terms of electrical efficiency (see Sect. 2.1). However, they may be better suited to
other applications at a smaller scale where NGCCs are not an option [51, 53, 108],
providing a CCS hub and cluster approach is followed. This leaves the other
configurations—EGR/S-EGR and supplementary firing—to be considered for
implementation in full-scale commercial plants with CCS. In fact, supplementary
firing is already used at such scales, and thus, other considerations are needed to
evaluate in detail its compatibility with CCS, related to the reduction in process
efficiency, as discussed in Sect. 2.1.1. The limited data availability, however, for
some of these options, especially S-EGR for enhanced carbon capture, at both pilot
or larger scales, means that at present it is difficult to consider which may be
preferable in terms of scaling-up and developing to a commercial level of
deployment. Consequently, these require much research into all aspects of the
technology to advance their progress from pilot-scale testing through to full-scale
demonstrations.
Moreover, the progress in the development and understanding of the different
capture technologies itself is a key. The technology readiness levels of these vary
widely, from those more mature (e.g. post-combustion amine scrubbing) to others
that only exist as a concept or at very small scales. It is important to continue the
optimization of the more mature technologies, but equally essential is the devel-
opment of second and third generation technologies. This could potentially improve
the energy penalties, costs and environmental aspects of the mature systems, and
find different application niches. Nevertheless, up-scaling any technology is fairly
challenging and scaling factors are vast. Scaling-up from laboratory to pilot scale
often involves factors of 10 or more, and when pilot to full, commercial-scale
systems are considered, these factors can be in the order of thousands to tens of
thousands [109]. Whilst the risks are high when it comes to dramatically increasing
the size of the technology process, these up-scaling risks can be notably reduced
through comprehensive process designing and extensive modelling, which all need
to be reinforced by in-depth laboratory and pilot-scale experiments, in particular for
the most key controlling parameters. This is true for both the operation of individual
system components and the complete integrated plant [109]. Moreover, optimiza-
tion and process intensification will need to be tailored specifically for individual
deployments, with a view for flexible operation.
3.2 Policy Challenges
Technical developments in this area are required to inform policy and regulation on
natural gas utilization and CCS applications in the future, especially where these are
integrated into gas-CCS systems. Strong policy drivers and regulatory framework
development are much needed to create a favourable CCS market and facilitate its
deployment in all forms, across power and industry, not just with natural gas [110].
There appears to be a ‘chicken and egg’ situation in this regard though—with
full-chain demonstration projects at scale being required to gain policy acceptance
for CCS [111], whilst full policy support being needed to diminish the risks and get
to large-scale projects in the first place. Which will come first? There is need for
risk minimization, and thus, policies where governments can underpin investment
will be of great benefit to getting ‘first of a kind’ projects of the ground. Whilst this
is already happening for coal, mainly on the North American continent (such as at
Petra Nova [112] and Boundary Dam [11], considered in Sect. 1.2), there has been
considerably less interest in natural gas. Often the technologies cannot be used
directly, and other sectors and disciplines further afield may have to be looked to, in
order to gain the knowledge and experience required to develop the relevant
integrated system infrastructure. In the UK, for example, the ‘buy, not build’
mentality means that it is not developing its own technologies specifically for the
UK market, as the requisite policy framework is currently still not in place.
Furthermore, it is a necessity for the relevant policies to be stable and developed
over time with the technologies as their deployment progresses—only this can build
the long-term confidence required for this industry. An established and secure
policy environment, among other factors, is essential to ensure the future of the
emerging CCS sector.
Other gas emissions than CO2 have been successfully minimized due to
extensive legislation being passed to limit their release. Technologies were devel-
oped and then deployed on all qualifying plants to ensure environmental safe-
guarding and regulatory bodies were formed to monitor this. As more technology
was developed and deployed, the costs were reduced (learning curve)—many
similar stories can be found for technologies in all industry sectors. Dealing with
CO2 emissions, however, is especially challenging and costly (not only at a capture
level, but also for the transportation and storage stages). Therefore, the progress
from feasibility studies and laboratory-/pilot-scale demonstrations of the basic
principles for proof of concept to full-scale, full-chain commercial CCS operation is
taking a significant period of time—highlighting the complexities of the tech-
nologies and the surrounding issues.
Industries are needed, and expected, to take the knowledge and technical
developments to the next stage, by providing business-level and business-led
development. However, if the necessary incentives, directives and regulations are
not in place, this will be increasingly difficult to achieve. The inconsistent and
conflicting messages coming from government in this respect, with regard to the
policy disconnect, are making this increasingly difficult. This is most notably in the
UK with the cancellation of yet another CCS demonstration competition [113]. It is
not just the policy, but also the politics that play a role here—recognizing that
climate change mitigation is vital and that CCS options can have an important
contribution is one thing, but actually developing the political willingness to invest
and form pertinent policy support and specific regulations is another, and not yet
forthcoming [114]. The UK, however, is not the only country to abandon or
postpone projects, with many examples across the rest of Europe and North
America particularly, where once-promising projects have been cancelled or remain
dormant [115]. In Europe, an effective policy structure to encourage the commer-
cialization of CCS still remains elusive after years of stagnation in the industry
[116]. CO2 emissions do not have borders, and therefore, the policy framework
cannot either—connectivity here between the national and international is

imperative.
Policy instruments need to be clear in their aims and objectives, and be broad
enough to comprehensively regulate all aspects of CCS. This will need to look at
not only the technologies and financial aspects, but also strategic procedures for
permitting, liability and monitoring activities by the relevant competent authority
[110]. The temporal issues with consistently postponing the decision-making on
CCS—or ‘kicking the can down the road’ as Karimi [117] terms it—are just
delaying the inevitable, whatever that might be.
A greater awareness and general public support should also be gained through
continued dissemination, and therefore, also hopefully public (and private!)
investment and acceptance could be attained [114]. CCS remains largely unknown
in the public domain, and consequently, effective communication, engagement and
outreach are essential to demonstrate to the general population that CCS is a needed
and safe technology—especially in geographical areas that may be directly
impacted by its implementation and where extensive phased consultations will
likely be compulsory [111, 118].
Even though public acceptability is something that may not be considered as an
essential requirement for CCS advancement and deployment, corporate perception
is something that cannot be ignored. Braunreiter and Bennett [107] and Karimi
[117] report that there is a lack of interest among key stakeholders as fossil fuel
companies have not shown a great deal of interest in CCS. They are the most likely
‘consumers’ of the technology though, and as something that will inform and thus
directly influence their decision-making on CCS investment, their views need to be
taken into account. Business models and strategies in this area will need to be
developed with input from the relevant policy-making bodies. Kapetaki and
Scowcroft [119] assessed the risks and enablers for CCS demonstration project
business models. Whilst the financial implications are by far the most dominant
factor, a range of other aspects play a key role and are often impacted by the overall
economics. They suggest that the efficiency of permitting processes, protracted
stakeholder engagement and clarity of regulatory frameworks, considered in detail
further along in this section, are all needed to deliver a successful project [119].
Worldwide government engagement with academia and industry for knowledge
sharing is hence vital. And this appears to be one of the best ways to engage, along
with taking advantage of previous ‘lessons learned’ from other projects, nationally
and internationally [120].
3.3 Financial Issues
The financial implications of integrating CCS into natural gas power plants and also
the wider context can only lessen over time if the above issues are addressed. The
technical challenges need to be overcome (and are currently being extensively
researched), and policy is certainly required for it to become more favourable for
investment to enable the widespread deployment of such technologies. However, it

would seem that costs (or perceived costs) are the primary driver of both devel-
opment and deployment, and therefore, to get this fledging industry off the ground,
funding and other incentives (both financial and non-financial) may be needed
[116]. Coordination is required between different financing schemes, particularly
those operating on different regional, national and international levels—greater
connectivity and complementarity are essential to incentivize interest and thus
investment [110]. It is to be expected that subsidies will be needed for many if not
all of the early CCS plants [121].
Further to this, the deployment of post-combustion CCS and other capture
systems is required to demonstrate the technologies, and this will also lead to
notably reductions in overall costs, as the majority of the derisking processes will
have already been undertaken for an ‘nth of a kind’ plant. Cost reductions here arise
through analysing the real-world experience of planning and building an actual
project and then using it to identify the potential improvements and key cost saving
opportunities [111]. Economies of scale will also be imperative to minimize
implementation costs over time, especially when it comes to geological storage of
CO2.
Temporal aspects of both projects and policies have a part in defining the way
forward [117]. Though renewables (including wind, geothermal, solar, biomass and
waste) are experiencing continued rapid growth rates [122], the delays, postpone-
ments and cancellations in developing and deploying CCS mean that there is a
much reduced prospect of achieving our 2050 greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
In the UK, reports such as that of the Parliamentary Advisory Group on CCS
[113] have stated that although the use of carbon capture technologies is vital to
ensure the lowest cost of decarbonization, a system of economic regulation is still
needed. This means that in addition to the regulatory framework considered above,
an economic framework is also required to aid deployment. These need to be in
place as soon as possible to enable CCS technologies to be used in the near future.
Most decarbonization scenarios for the UK do not have unabated gas power still on
the grid in the future (by 2050), and thus, any new builds will need to have CCS
integrated at this stage, or at least be capture-ready when they are built [113].
Without this, they are susceptible to becoming stranded assets with a limited life,
especially if/when carbon pricing comes into force and emission limits are more
severe. Moreover here, investment in new gas power is inherently risky at this point
with the deficiencies in current CCS and climate policy [113]. This is making it
increasingly difficult to form and maintain a dedicated CCS industry. The cost of
the overall system is as much dependent on the gas price as it is for the CCS
technology [123]. Carbon pricing will also have significant impacts of all aspects of
CCS deployment, and this CO2 tax could be used to incentivize investment on the
technologies [110], especially for natural gas with its lower inherent carbon
intensity than coal.
3.4 Additional Considerations
In the broader context, gas-CCS should more likely be deployed where domestic
natural gas resources are used. This protects investments, allowing the continued
use of the resources to generate power whilst still addressing the energy trilemma
issues [114]. However, it is the Middle East, Europe and Eurasia which account for
almost 75% of proven reserves [122], and although there are some gas-CCS pro-
jects in these areas, they are not yet at the scale they are required to be [115].
Demands for natural gas in the global primary energy consumption remain high and
are increasing, whilst the use of oil and coal is declining and is predicted to continue
to do so [122]. Overall, it can be seen that many of the technical, political and
financial issues of implementing carbon capture are not just specific to gas.
Developing a transport and storage infrastructure that is fully integrated with all
sources of CO2 will invariably do much to enable the deployment of CCS tech-
nologies with natural gas, as it will for coal and industrial CO2 capture. Moreover,
derisking investments, specifically the areas that others do not want to, needs to be
considered strategically by governments to ensure their climate targets are met.
Billson and Pourkashanian [116] outline the three main issues that have arisen in
Europe in particular and have resulted in the current situation for CCS deployment
in general. This essentially summarizes much of the previous discussion. These are:
(i) poor engagement and communication of the key message to the relevant
stakeholders; (ii) a market that compels industry to depend on government funding
and subsidies, which results in considerable vulnerabilities to political forces, as
seen with the UK commercialization programme; and (iii) governments not willing
to help in financing the initial CCS projects, which does nothing to bolster industrial
support [116].
It is only by addressing all of the various challenges—the technological, policy
and financial issues considered above—that we can get to a point where the
deployment of these technologies on a large scale is both feasible and favourable.
Focusing on just one of these will not be sufficient. Whilst many aspects of these
systems have been demonstrated, often at scale, integrating these different com-
ponents to form a full-chain gas-CCS system will be the only way to start to derisk
investment. Combining carbon capture with fossil fuel-based energy can realize a
number of benefits in decarbonizing the power sector, which will clearly be needed
to meet the climate change targets for emissions limits. Much research is still
evidently required here though to make this a reality and for gas-CCS to ‘catch-up’
with the developments in capture from coal.
4 Conclusions
With global energy demand increasing and the power sector needing to be rapidly
decarbonized, disruptive technologies, such as carbon capture, will be required.
This can enable energy to be produced within the confines of the energy trilemma—
of being sustainable, secure and affordable. This is the case of power generation
using natural gas as a fuel, which although significantly less carbon intense that coal
still necessitates profound emission cuts. Considerable efforts have been seen for
coal-CCS, and substantial knowledge and experience have been and are still being
gained in this sector. Nevertheless, these CCS technologies will need to be adapted
and optimized to be used with gas-fired plants.
Post-combustion systems for CO2 capture are at present the most developed and
advanced, with several operational plants online. However, separating the CO2
from the flue gas of a NGCC is difficult and costly without further adaptations. High
excess air ratios used in gas-fired systems result in large flows of flue gas with low
CO2 and high O2 levels that can negatively affect downstream capture performance.
A range of options have been proposed to enhance the CO2 content generated by
gas-fired systems to ensure high capture efficiencies are achieved with potentially
reduced energy penalties and cost—supplementary firing, humidified turbine
cycles, EGR and S-EGR have been discussed in this chapter.
Promising oxy-combustion gas turbine systems are also being researched, still
requiring significant developments. These include SCOC-CC, NET Power/Allam,
CES and Graz cycles, amongst others. It is the NET Power/Allam cycle which at
present results in the highest achievable efficiencies, using supercritical CO2 as the
working fluid. Although the compact designs and reduced plant footprint are
favourable, the challenges related to the extreme operating conditions need
addressing and further technology development is required—ongoing at present.
Particularly important for gas-fired power plants is the need to be flexible in
order to balance a grid with increasing proportions of intermittent renewables.
Therefore, any gas-CCS option will also need to be flexible by definition. At a more
general level, the technical barriers to the large-scale implementation of CCS
require knowledge transfer between the existing infrastructure to enable the
scale-up, demonstration and commercial roll-out of these options. The lessons
learned from these are needed to support and be supported by the regulatory
framework to deliver the strong policy drivers and the consequent favourable CCS
market that are required by industry. Risk minimization through the underpinning
of investments will certainly be essential to getting ‘first of a kind’ projects of the
ground. Greater engagement with key industry stakeholders, and to a lesser extent,
also the public, will also go a long way to facilitating the wider-scale utilization of
CCS on a scale to help in mitigating climate change. However, to achieve this,
conflicting and inconsistent government messages need to be prevented, to allow
projects to develop, rather than be abandoned, postponed or cancelled altogether.
The financial challenges can only lessen over time if the technology and policy
issues are overcome. Investment needs to be incentivized, but this must be
coordinated on regional, national and international levels. Other factors, as well as

the technology and commercial readiness levels, effect the costs; these are also
impacted by economies of scale, carbon pricing/tax, ‘1st of a kind’ versus ‘nth of a
kind’ plants and a system of economic regulation, which is invariably is still
needed. This is a prerequisite for a dedicated CCS industry to mature and become
sustainable.
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CO2 Capture and Utilization (CCU)
in Coal-Fired Power Plants: Prospect of In
Situ Algal Cultivation
Ranjana Chowdhury, Sumona Das and Shiladitya Ghosh
Abstract Coal-fired plants, presently sharing 90% of Indian thermal power, are the
main point sources of anthropogenic emission of CO2. Although there is a pre-
diction of significant decline in the share of coal by 2040, it will remain the obvious
choice as power plant fuels due to economic constraints and natural abundance.
Therefore, from the perspective of environmental protection, immediate measures
for the mitigation of CO2 emission are necessary. Micro- and macroalgae are the
photoautotrophs which naturally sequestrate atmospheric CO2 through photosyn-
thesis. The captured inorganic carbon derived from CO2 is stored as carbohydrates
in the algal cells. On the other hand, under nitrogen stress, many algae store oil
along with carbohydrates. Therefore, from a microalgal cultivation facility, oil can
be extracted by solvent extraction process and can be utilized in pharmaceutical
sector, and the residual oil can be converted to biodiesel. Valuable biochemicals can
be recovered from the algal solid, and the process residue can be ultimately pyr-
olyzed to generate pyro-oil, pyro-gas, and biochar. Pyro-oil and pyro-gas can be
utilized as fuels, and the biochar can be utilized for the amendment of soil.
Therefore, an algal cultivation unit, either a raceway pond or a closed reactive
system, can be integrated with coal-based power plants for their environmental and
financial sustainability through the CO2 capture and utilization (CCU) and for the
creation of revenue through the generation of biofuels and valuable biochemicals.
This chapter has assessed the prospect of application of different algal strains for the
CCU in Indian power plants with special focus on Rhizoclonium hieroglyphicum
JUCHE 1, Pithophora varia JUCHE 2, Leptolyngbya subtilis JUCHE 1, the native
algae isolated from water handling units (cooling water forebay, clarifier water tank,
and cooling tower) of Indian power plants by the present group.

Keywords CO2 emission from coal-fired power plants CCU Biofuels and

biochemicals Power plant algae Integration of algal refinery with power plant
R. Chowdhury (&) S. Das S. Ghosh

Chemical Engineering Department, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, India

232 R. Chowdhury et al.
1 Introduction
Presently, elevated emission of prime greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmo-
sphere is receiving harsh criticism for their substantial contribution to the global
warming phenomenon [1, 2]. Among the GHGs, anthropogenic CO2 emission has
been given special attention and is considered to be the single most deleterious
factor for global warming [1, 3]. CO2 emission is largely caused by combustion of
hydrocarbon fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas in thermal power plants as
primary sources of energy to produce the more easily utilizable secondary energy
sources, namely heat and electricity [4]. Presently, the thermal power plants, par-
ticularly, the coal-fired ones, are adversely regarded as one of the major point
sources of extensive emission of anthropogenic CO2 throughout the world [5, 6]. In
India, coal-based thermal power plants, perhaps, are responsible for majority of the
country’s huge CO2 emission footprint [7–9]. Average low calorific value, high
levels of non-organic impurities, and high-ash content of Indian coals further
worsen the CO2 emission scenario of coal-fired power plants by manifolds [10].
Estimation of recent statistics of the annual CO2 emission from the coal-fired
thermal power plants is necessary to understand the necessity of taking urgent
action in this area. Immediate remedial measures should be undertaken for reduc-
tion of the CO2 emission from coal combustion as well as post-combustion CO2
capture from the atmosphere to notably cut down the current CO2 emission loads of
the country [10, 11]. Joint administration of clean coal technologies (CCTs), carbon
capture and storage (CCS), and/or carbon capture and utilization (CCU) techniques
as mitigation strategies to lower the emission of CO2 from coal-fired thermal power
plants is viewed as necessary action plans for India [10, 11].
Although several physical- and chemical-based processes are commonly used
for CCS, their impacts are not always certain, regarding several technical, eco-
nomic, and environmental barriers [12–14]. Particularly, the geological storage
capacity of most of the leading CO2-emitting countries is not sufficient, and further,
the storage itself is just a ‘stopgap’ management, not completely ‘leakage-proof’ yet
[5, 12]. Therefore, utilization of the captured carbon in place of storing it is
grabbing a lot of interest worldwide, paving the way for CCU as a complementing
technology for CCS [11, 13]. Biological CCU using microalgae offers an
eco-friendly route of capturing post-combustion CO2 and its further utilization
through conversion to various value-added products [13]. Major aim of this chapter
is to provide: (1) updated information on the present CO2 emission from the Indian
coal-fired thermal power plants on a state-wise basis, (2) overview of probable
strategies for mitigation of CO2 emission from thermal power plants, (3) identifi-
cation of the capacity of algae as candidate CCU agents, (4) assessment of the
potential of native power plant algae for on-site administration of biological CCU
technology.
CO2 Capture and Utilization (CCU) in Coal-Fired Power Plants … 233
2 Coal-Fired Power Plants in India: Locations

and Capacity
It is a well-reported fact that coal is the single most reliable source of energy for
India [10, 15, 16]. About 90% of the thermal power generated in India is based on
coal. According to the most recent documentation presented by ministry of power,
it is observed that coal accounts for 194,553 MW (88% of total) thermal power
generation in India in 2017 [17]. As reported by NTPC, in the year 2016, the
coal-based thermal power generation was 167,707 MW [18]. Coal is used in the
thermal power plants for conversion to heat and electricity to back up the Indian
power sector and sustain the domestic as well as commercial sectors [15]. There are
over 100 major coal-fired thermal power plants in India, situated in 17 states [18].
The power plants vary in total capacity of power generation (GW), ranging from
below 5–20 GW [18]. As per the representation of Fig. 1, the highest coal-based
thermal power generating states are Maharashtra (17.72 GW) and Madhya Pradesh
(15.77 GW) [18]. Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh,
Tamil Nadu, and Bihar fall in the range of 10–15 GW total power generation [18].
Andhra Pradesh is the only state with a total power generation capacity lying
between 5 and 10 GW [18]. Rest of the seven states produce thermal power in small
amounts (<5 GW); they are Rajasthan, Telangana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Punjab,
Haryana, and Delhi [18]. The trend of distribution can be explained by the energy
demand and abundance of coal in that particular region [18]. In Fig. 1, state-wise
distribution of total power generation capacity (GW) of coal-fired thermal power
plants has been illustrated [18].
3 CO2 Emission Loads of Thermal Power Plants
From the analysis of the Fig. 2, it is notable that capacity and distribution of the
thermal power plants in different states are not uniform [18]. Due to this fact,
sometimes, the CO2 flux of a large state is smaller than that of a small state, as
represented in Fig. 2. From the presentation of Fig. 2, it can be seen that among the
Indian states, Delhi, the smallest one, has the highest value of CO2 flux. For the
smaller states with large CO2 flux values, the local air quality becomes poor and
unhealthy. The worst case is seen in Delhi, which is recently been tagged as a city
with heavily polluted air (according to a survey by WHO) [15]. The annual CO2
emission has been estimated using reported data for GHG emission from Indian
thermal power plants as following: 0.75 kg CO2/kWh for Mundra power plants and
1.259 kg CO2/kWh for other coal-fired thermal power plants [10]. For the repre-
sentation of CO2 flux range in Fig. 2, the values for each state have been calculated
by dividing the total annual CO2 emission from coal-fired power plants of particular
state by the total area of respective state [10, 18, 19].
Fig. 1 Coal-fired thermal power plants in different states of India with total power generation
capacity, calculations have been done as per the data reported by NTPC [18]
Fig. 2 Coal-fired thermal power plants in different states of India along with total annual CO2 flux
4 Technology Options for Mitigation of CO2
In the preceding section, it has been clearly highlighted that coal-fired thermal
power plants are the large emitters of CO2, directly contributing to the escalation of
the threat of global warming [5, 6]. Hence, mitigation of CO2 from these power
plants through administration of modern technologies is a primary concern for
India. Particularly, to keep the voluntary commitment of the country to United
Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for significant
reduction of total emissions by 2020 [20]. Globally practiced carbon/CO2 capture

technologies can be generally categorized into three major classes, namely
pre-combustion capture, post-combustion capture, and oxy-fuel combustion [13,
20–22]. Basic features of these three processes have been provided in Table 1.
Among the available technologies for mitigation of CO2 from the targeted sites,
clean coal technology (CCT) and carbon capture and utilization (CCU) are
appearing to be the most potent as well as eco-friendly options.
4.1 Clean Coal Technology (CCT)
CCT is a cluster-term, comprising several different technologies specifically

designed to enable more environmentally benign usage of coal for power generation
[10, 20–22]. While some of the CCTs are based on direct combustion of coal,
integrated with efficient combustion processes, the rest uses advanced gasification
technology for cleaner conversion of coal [20–22]. According to the recent reports,
the most fitting CCT options for implementation in India are as follows.
In the cluster of advanced CCTs, CCS is the latest addition, which possesses
better eco-friendly attributes compared to the other routes. CCS significantly differs
from other CCTs at its point of application. However, more recently, a few bot-
tlenecks of CCS technology have been observed, most of which are either technical
or economical. Huge initial capital investment and problems of CO2 leakage from
the storage sites as well as the risk of earthquakes are the major constraints asso-
ciated with large-scale CCS [12].
4.2 Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU)
Both in CCS and CCU, the carbon capture part is same and is conducted applying
common technical processes worldwide. Most commonly employed carbon capture
techniques, namely physical or chemical adsorption/absorption and membrane-
based or cryogenic separation, have been mentioned in Table 1 [12, 13, 20–22].
A variety of different liquid solvents and solid sorbents, as well as different type of
membranes, are available for chemical/physical CCS [12, 13]. CCS and CCU
mainly differ from each other in their end step. The former technology tries to store
the captured CO2 at any natural (geological or ocean) site. While in the latter
technology, the CO2 is utilized in a commercial process either directly or after
conversion to chemical/fuels/heat/electricity via different routes [13]. Among these,
sequestration of CO2 using microalgae and its conversion to fuels and chemicals
can be considered as a promising CCU platform.
Algal CO2 biosequestration is a completely eco-friendly green route for carbon
capture. Operation at ambient temperature and pressure makes the process less
energy intensive, although indoor operations require energy investment for
Table 1 Technical options for carbon/CO2 capture and clean coal technology (CCT) options for
Indian coal-based power generation sector
Carbon/CO2 capture Technologies Basic features
options involved
Pre-combustion Gasification– • N2 is separated from air and mixed with fuel
separation– (coal/other fossil fuel) in a gasifier to
combustion produce syngas
• CO2 is separated from the syngas using
physical/chemical/porous organic adsorbents
prior to the combustion stage
• Energy penalty and cost of capture is less
Post-combustion Combustion– • Fuel (coal/other fossil fuel) and air are mixed
separation and combusted to produce a flue gas
• CO2 is separated from the flue gas using
chemical absorbents/solid adsorbents/
membranes or cryogenic separation
techniques
• Energy penalty and cost of capture is high
(varies with separation techniques used)
Oxy-fuel combustion Separation– • Fuel (coal/other fossil fuel) is combusted in
combustion presence of 100% O2 (separated from air) to
produce flue gas (CO2/H2O)
• CO2 content of the produced flue gas is very
high (up to 90%)
• H2O is separated using condensation, and
residual CO2 is compressed and send for
transport and storage
CCT option Used technical Basic features
routes
1. Supercritical power Combustion • Employs thermodynamic cycles to enhance
generation thermal efficiency of coal combustion
• Operated using a steam cycle at pressure
>226 bars and temperature >537 °C
2. Ultra-supercritical Combustion • Same as supercritical, operating pressure and
power generation temperature are 357 bar and 625 °C,
respectively
3. Circulating fluidized Combustion • Combustion of air-suspended fine coal
bed combustion particles (0.07–0.3 mm) in a fluidized bed
(CFBC) with fluidization velocity of 5–10 m/sec
• Enables rapid transfer of heat and efficient
burning
• Used for high-ash, high-moisture, and
low-grade coals
4. Pressurized fluidized Combustion • Combustion of crushed coal along with a
bed combustion sorbent (limestone suspension) to capture
(PFBC) sulfur
• Operating pressure and temperature are 16–
20 bars and 850 °C, respectively
• Used for high-sulfur-containing coals.
(continued)
Table 1 (continued)
Carbon/CO2 capture Technologies Basic features
options involved
5. Integrated Gasification • Gasification of coal is conducted in an
gasification combined oxygen/air atmosphere in a pressurized (30
cycle (IGCC) bars) gasifier at or above 1000 °C
• Coal-gas is burnt in a gas turbine for power
generation
• Process heat (gasifier, hot gases) is recovered
and used in a combined cycle to run the
steam turbine
• High overall efficiency and less pollution
6. Carbon capture and Physical, • Employs different technical means to capture
storage (CCS) chemical, or emitted CO2 from atmosphere
biochemical • Adsorption is traditionally used in both
physical and chemical routes, other than
solvent absorption, membrane, and
cryogenic separation
• Biochemical CCS is mainly conducted using
micro/macroalgae
• Efficiency varies among physical, chemical,
or biochemical methods
providing illumination to the photobioreactor [23]. Since it holds the prospect of

production of low-emission renewable biofuels from the algal biomass, the overall
process can become CO2 neutral/negative [24]. On the economical front, most of
the biochemicals derived from the algal cells are high-value products, which will
compensate the high cost of algal biodiesel in comparison to conventional
petro-fuels. Hence, as the focal point of discussion of the present chapter, detail of
biochemical CCU through microalgae cultivation has been provided in the subse-
quent sections. The fundamentals of algal CCU have been covered starting from the
biochemical route of CO2 capture to the conversion of carbon-enriched biomass to
an array of biofuels, biochemicals, and biomaterials.
5 CO2 Sequestration Through Photosynthetic Pathway

by Algae: The Capture of Carbon
Photoautotrophic algae, both micro and macro, conduct oxygenic photosynthesis

alike the terrestrial plants [23, 25, 26]. While the photobiochemical process is
mainly driven by the energy obtained from light (in nature sunlight), CO2 serves as
an important inorganic reactant for the biosynthesis of several biomolecules and
biomass [23, 26]. Like the terrestrial plants, algae conduct oxygenic photosynthesis
in which the inorganic CO2 is converted to organic compounds and molecular
oxygen is produced as an end product [26]. The general biochemical reaction of

photosynthesis process can be represented as the following equation:
6CO2 þ 6H2 O þ Light energy(hmÞ ! C6 H12 O6 þ 6O2
Photosynthesis in algae is divided into two distinct stages, i.e., light-dependent

and light-independent. Light-dependent stage is the primary one in which the light
energy is captured by the antenna complexes of chlorophyll and other carotenoids
present in Photosystem I or Photosystem II of chloroplast [23]. At the expense of
the captured light energy, ADP and NADP+ are, respectively, converted to the
energy carriers, ATP and NADPH, through the transfer of electrons via the electron
transport chain (ETC), and oxygen is produced as the end product [23, 26]. CO2 is
used in the light-independent phase of photosynthesis. CO2 enters the algal cells as
either HCO3 or as CO2 through the transporters present in the cell membrane and
chloroplast membrane [23]. The biofixation or the sequestration of the inorganic
carbon from CO2 is conducted via the redox reactions of the Calvin–Benson cycle
[27]. In Calvin–Benson cycle, each molecule of CO2 gets condensed with ribulose
1,5-bisphosphate (a 5 carbon compound) to produce two molecules of 3 carbon
compound 3-phosphoglycerate through the action of the enzyme ribulose
1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase (Rubisco) using the ATP and NADPH
produced in the light-dependent stage [23, 26, 27]. From the produced
3-phosphoglycerate, the starting compound ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate is cyclically
regenerated through a series of intermediate compounds [23, 26].
3-phosphoglycerate also serves as the precursor for the biosynthesis of biomass in
form of glucose [23]. The produced glucose is transported to the cytoplasm and gets
stored in form of starch molecules. This is the overall procedure of the sequestration
of carbon of CO2 via assimilation into organic biomass of algae. The stored car-
bohydrates of algae can be harnessed and used for the production of several biofuels
through specific conversion routes.
6 CO2 Capture Potential of Different Algal Strains
Due to the inherent photobiochemical CO2 capture potential of algae, several

studies have used them as carbon capture agents for sequestration of atmospheric
CO2 [28–35]. The rate or capacity of CO2 capture hugely varies among the algal
strains, depending on their source of origin and adaptation to atmospheric condi-
tions. CO2 capture and fixation obtained by some species of algae, as reported in
recent literatures, have been presented in Table 2 for comparative assessment of
their potential. CO2 fixation rate, a major assessment factor, is the measure of mass
(g) of CO2 photosynthetically up-taken per unit time by the algal cells for the
ultimate conversion to cellular carbohydrate. The CO2 tolerance level of algal
strains signifies the highest concentration of feed concentration of CO2 up to which
the algal growth is sustained. Above this limiting value, the inhibition of algal
growth is encountered [36].
Table 2 CO2 biocapture and fixation potential of different algal strains
240
Algal strain Inlet CO2 Light Cultivation Biomass CO2 fixation Refs.
concentration intensity system productivity rate
(%v/v) (µmolm−2s−1) (g/L/d) (g/L/d)
Chlorella kessleri 6 105 2-L conical flask PBR 0.087 0.163a [28]
Scenedesmus obliquus 12 105 2-L conical flask PBR 0.076 0.142a [28]
Spirulina sp. 6 105 3-stage 2-L serial tubular PBR 0.22 0.413 [29]
Scenedesmus obliquus 12 105 3-stage serial tubular PBR 0.14 0.26a [29]
Chlorella sp. UK001 15 112 Flat culture vessel 1.67 0.8183 [30]
Scenedesmus obliquus 2.5 250 10-L PBR 0.32 0.495 [31]
CNW-N
Chlorella vulgaris 4 – 15-L PBR 0.1 ± 0.07 0.14 [32]
8 – 15-L PBR 0.08 ± 0.07 0.073 [32]
Nannochloropsis gaditana 4 – 1.5-L plastic bottle 0.07 ± 0.08 0.112 [32]
8 – 1.5-L Plastic bottle 0.06 ± 0.08 0.10 [32]
Scenedesmus obliquus 2 180–250 1-L tubular PBR 0.46–0.49 0.855–0.910 [33]
Scenedesmus obliquus 2.5 180–250 1-L single PBR 1.030 1.782 [33]
Chlorella sp. 1 136 250-ml Erlenmeyer flask 0.87 ± 0.05 1.538 ± 0.093 [34]
Pseudochlorococcum sp 1 136 250-ml Erlenmeyer flask 0.81 ± 0.04 1.18 ± 0.062 [34]
Nannochloropsis sp. 1 120 5-L bubble-column PBR 0.38 ± 0.03 0.46 ± 0.09 [34]
Scenedesmus sp. 4 – 18-L IIPBR 0.401 0.733 [34]
Nannochloropsis salina 1 – 18-L IIPBR 0.104 0.191 [35]
Rhizoclonium hieroglyphicum 15 398.71 1.8-L flat-plate 0.52 0.561 [36]
JUCHE1 photobio-bubble-reactor
Leptolyngbya subtilis 40 250 1.8-L flat-plate 0.252 0.3237 Authors own
JUCHE1 photobio-bubble-reactor data
a
Calculated from the biomass productivity according to equation, CO2 fixation rate (Pco2) = 1.88 biomass productivity (P), g/L/d which is derived from the
typical molecular formula of microalgal biomass, CO0.48H1.83N0.11P0.01 [37]
R. Chowdhury et al.
From the tabulated information, it can be seen that a variety of algal strains have
been used in laboratory-scale (small to medium) studies using different PBRs
(Table 2). Both freshwater and marine algal species have been used for CO2 bio-
capture which exhibited distinct difference in the CO2 tolerance as well as rate of
CO2 fixation. Apparent CO2 tolerance is reflected in the amount of CO2 concen-
tration used for cultivation of the algae. Some of the algal strains have been cul-
tivated using lower inlet concentration of CO2 in the range of 1–8%V/V [28, 29,
31–35], whereas a few have tolerated moderately higher inlet concentrations (12–
15%V/V) of CO2 [28–30, 36]. Scenedesmus obliquus, Chlorella sp. UK001, and
Rhizoclonium hieroglyphicum JUCHE1 belong to the high CO2-tolerant group of
algae [28–30, 36]. Leptolyngbya subtilis JUCHE 1, a very recently isolated strain of
algae, shows much higher CO2 tolerance up to 40%V/V of inlet concentration.
Among these, Rhizoclonium hieroglyphicum JUCHE 1 and Leptolyngbya subtilis
JUCHE 1 are isolated from local coal-fired thermal power plants [36]. Another algal
strain, namely Chlorella kessleri, is also isolated from a thermoelectric power plant
and used for CO2 sequestration [28]. However, the CO2 tolerance and CO2 fixation
capacities of algal strains cannot be correlated directly, because the latter is
dependent on several operational factors.
Different trends of CO2 fixation rate and biomass productivity have also been
reported for different algae. CO2 fixation rate varies from a low value of 0.073 g/L/
d to values as high as 1.782 g/L/d [32, 33]. Chlorella sp. UK001, Scenedesmus
obliquus, Chlorella sp., Pseudochlorococcum sp. have been reported to exhibit high
rates of CO2 fixation [33, 34]. Among the algal strains, Chlorella sp. UK001 has
exhibited highest biomass productivity of 1.67 g/L/d [30]. Scenedesmus obliquus,
Chlorella sp., Pseudochlorococcum sp. are some other algal strains with high
biomass productivity in the range of 0.8–1 g/L/d [33, 34]. However, it is under-
standable that the performances of different algal strains are not directly comparable
due to the differences in the cultivation conditions, photobioreactor
(PBR) configuration, and illumination. Therefore, the CO2 capture performance and
biomass productivity of the algal strains may be significantly enhanced through
optimization of bioprocesses.
7 Prospect of Generation of Specialty Biochemicals

and Biofuels from Algae
7.1 Biochemicals from Algae
By using photosynthesis process, algae efficiently convert solar energy into

chemical energy and store it in the cells. Other than biofuels, algal biomass is a
potential source of different type of biochemicals [38–47]. The major biochemicals
are mainly categorized as polyunsaturated omega 3 fatty acids, namely docosa-
hexaenoic acid (DHA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), eicosapentaenoic acid
(EPA), a-linolenic acid (ALA), and stearidonic acid (SDA) and pigments such as
chlorophyll, carotenoids (lutein, b-carotene), xanthophyll, astaxanthin [38, 46, 47].
Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAS) are mainly present in algal oil/lipid [14].
Among all the PUFAS, DHA is the most crucial due its medicinal properties [48].
Mostly marine species of algae are rich in DHA content, which is very beneficial
for human health. Its consumption as a food additive may lower the risk of cancer,
cardiovascular diseases (reduces the high blood pressure and stimulates blood
circulation), Alzheimer’s disease, etc. [48]. Due to its high utility in pharmaceutical
industries, these biochemicals are very expensive [48, 49]. EPA is a biochemical
with proven anti-inflammatory activity and enhances lipid metabolism and overall
neural health [50]. DPA also helps in the storage of EPA and DHA in human body.
According to Table 3, it has been observed that many of the algal strains produce
DHA, ALA, SDA, EPA, and DPA as fractions of the product omega 3 fatty acids
[38]. Among all the algal strains, the contents of DHA and SDA of Isochrysis T-iso
are maximum, i.e., 46 ± 4 mg/g of oil and 43 ± 2 mg/g of oil, respectively [38].
Highest concentration of ALA is present in Tetraselmis suecica (68 ± 4 mg/g of
oil) and Rhodomonas salina (92 ± 5 mg/g of oil) [38]. The Nannochloropsis
gaditana and Nannochloropsis oculata contain the highest quantity of EPA, as high
as 175 ± 12 and 193 ± 24 mg/g oil, respectively [38]. Very few strains of algae
produce only a little quantity of DPA in the order of 1–2 mg/g of oil, which is
comparatively less than other PUFAS [38]. As per the data of Table 3, only two
algal species, namely Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Thalassiosira pseudonana,
contain 1.08 ± 0.01 and 1.82 ± 0.01 mg DPA/g of oil, respectively [38].
Other categories of biochemicals extracted from algae are pigments, namely
chlorophyll (chl a and chl b), carotenoid (carotene, lutein), etc. Algal strains contain
chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and chlorophyll c, depending on the species [46, 47].
Green algae mostly contain chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b, red algae contain
chlorophyll a only, and diatoms mainly contain chlorophyll c [46]. Due to its use in
food and cosmetic industries, chlorophyll is a valuable biochemical. Carotenoids,
which are tetra-terpenoids in nature, are pigments of red, orange, and yellow colors.
Different carotenoids are lutein, beta-carotene, xanthophylls, astaxanthin, etc., are
found in algal biomass [40, 47]. Table 3 presents that most algal strains contain
chlorophyll a, as it is the most common photosynthetic pigment of algal photo-
systems. Maximum concentration of chlorophyll a is found in Isochrysis galbana,
Chaetoceros calcitrans, Isochrysisaff galbana (T-Iso), and Thalassiosira pseudo-
nana [47]. Maximum carotene production of 8.6 ± 1.9 mg/g of biomass is reported
in Tetraselmis suecica [38]. Among eight algal strains, Neospongiococcus gelati-
nosum produces lutein in highest concentration, i.e., 7.6 mg/g of dry cell weight
[45]. Similarly, the maximum carotenoid content of 2.6 mg/g of dry cell weight is
obtained from Chaetoceros calcitrans [47].
The price lists (Table 4) of some commercially available biochemicals, which
are also produced by different algal strains, clearly show that they are very highly
priced [49]. It is noteworthy that the high cost of algal biochemicals includes the
investment incurred for algal cultivation as well as the rigorous downstream pro-
cessing for the separation of the chemicals in highly pure forms. If the biochemicals
Table 3 Production of various biochemicals from different algal strains

Biochemicals Algal strains Concentration Refs.
range (mg/g)
a
DHA Tetraselmis suecica >1 [38]
(C22:6n-3) Phaeodactylum tricornutum, 1–25 [38]
Rhodomonas salina, Thalassiosira pseudonana
Pavlova lutheri, IsochrysisT-iso 25–50 [38]
a
ALA Nannochloropsis gaditana, Nannochloropsis >1 [38]
(C18:3n-3) oculata, Phaeodactylum tricornutum
Pavlova lutheri, Thalassiosira pseudonana, 1–25 [38]
Porphyridium cruentum
IsochrysisT-iso 25–50 [38]
Tetraselmis suecica, Rhodomonas salina 50 and above [38]
a
SDA Nannochloropsis gaditana >1 [38]
(C18:4N-3) Phaeodactylum tricornutum, Pavlova lutheri, 1–25 [38]
Tetraselmis suecica, Thalassiosira pseudonana
IsochrysisT-iso, Rhodomonas salina 25–50 [38]
a
EPA IsochrysisT-iso, Tetraselmis suecica, 1–50 [38]
(C22:5N-3) Rhodomonas salina, Porphyridium cruentum
Thalassiosira pseudonana, Pavlova lutheri 50–100 [38]
Phaeodactylum tricornutum 100–150 [38]
Nannochloropsis gaditana, Nannochloropsis 150–200 and [38]
oculata above
a
DPA Phaeodactylum tricornutum, Thalassiosira 1–2 [38]
(C22:5N-3) pseudonana
a
Carotene Porphyridium cruentum >1 [38]
Phaeodactylum tricornutum, IsochrysisT-iso, 1–5 [38]
Pavlova lutheri, Nannochloropsis oculata,
Nannochloropsis gaditana, Thalassiosira
pseudonana
Rhodomonas salina 5–10 [38]
Tetraselmis suecica 10 & above [38]
b
Lutein Chlorella protothecoides, Chlorella zofingiensis 1–5 [39, 40]
(C40H56O2) Desmodesmus sp., Chlorella sorokiniana MB-1, 5–10 [41, 42,
Scenedesmus almeriensis, Muriellopsis sp., 43, 44,
Chlorococcum citriforme, Neospongiococcus 45]
gelatinosum
b
Chlorophyll Chlorella vulgaris sp. 1–5 [46]
a Chaetoceros sp., Tetraselmis suecica 5–10 [47]
Isochrysis galbana, Chaetoceros calcitrans, 10 & above [47]
Isochrysisaff galbana (T-Iso), Thalassiosira
pseudonana
(continued)
Table 3 (continued)
Biochemicals Algal strains Concentration Refs.
range (mg/g)
b
Chlorophyll Chlorella vulgaris sp., Tetraselmis suecica 1–5 [46, 47]
b
b
Chlorophyll Chaetoceros sp., Thalassiosira pseudonana, 1–5 [47]
c Isochrysis galbana, Isochrysisaff Galbana (T-
Iso),
Chaetoceros calcitrans
b
Carotenoids Tetraselmis suecica, Chaetoceros sp., 1–5 [47]
Thalassiosira pseudonana, Isochrysis galbana,
Isochrysisaff galbana
(T-Iso), Chaetoceros calcitrans
a
mg chemicals/g of oil, bmg chemicals/g of algal biomass
Table 4 Price lists of some Name of the biochemical Quantity Price (INR)
biochemicals which can be
produced by algae Lutein 1 mg 31,413.53
b-Carotene 5 mg 3415.96
Chlorophyll 2 ml 7935.66
Docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) 10 mg 26,694.04
Linolenic acid (LA) 1 ml 14,090.52
Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) 100 mg 11,558.89
Stearidonic acid (SDA) 1 mg 8289.53
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) 10 mg 6420.32
a
From Sigma Aldrich, India [49]
are efficiently extracted, the revenue generated from them will be able to offset the
expenditure of algal harvesting and processing cost for the generation of biofuels
from algae.
7.2 Biofuels from Algae
Algae are considered as a potential renewable resource for biofuel production. As a

part of their metabolism, some algae can produce high amount of lipids/fats in their
cells as storage materials. This ‘oil fraction’ can be separated from the algal biomass
using particular solvent extraction method [51]. After extracting the oil-soluble
biochemicals (the omega 3 fatty acids), the residual algal oil is converted to bio-
diesel through transesterification process [51]. The oil-extracted solid biomass
fraction, rich in storage carbohydrates (mainly algal starch of the cell wall), can
serve as feedstock for production of different other biofuels. Absence of lignin in
algal biomass makes it a favorable substrate for conversion to biofuels via bio-
chemical routes [52]. Besides biochemical routes, algal biomass has been consid-
ered as an attractive feedstock in thermochemical bioenergy process as shown in
Table 5 [53–73]. Algal biomass can be directly fed to anaerobic digestion process
for its conversion to biomethane/biogas [69]. The mixed microbes of the anaerobic
digestion process can efficiently perform the necessary hydrolysis of the biomass
and subsequent conversion to biogas [67]. The algal biomass, after mild chemical
treatment to facilitate release of simple sugars, can be converted to ethanol or
hydrogen through fermentative routes conducted by dedicated microbes [58].
Biodiesel, biomethane, bio-ethanol, and biohydrogen are greatly valued as
promising renewable energy vectors. Production of these biofuels from algal bio-
mass is classified under third generation of biofuels, which is free from the con-
straints of the first-generation (food vs. fuel) and second-generation (recalcitrance
of lignin) biofuel platforms. Production of biodiesel from residual algal oil is also a
third-generation process due to the non-edibility.
Recently, the algal biomass has been popularly used in the thermochemical
processes such as pyrolysis and gasification [66]. In these processes, the residual
algal biomass, after deriving the oil and biochemicals, is used as feedstock. In
pyrolysis, the algal biomass is converted to pyro-oil, pyro-gas, and pyro-char [56,
57]. The pyro-oil is considered as a promising blend-in option for petro-fuels for the
transportation sector. In Table 5, production of various biofuels from algal oil/
biomass has been presented to clearly depict the overall usage of algae in the 3G
platform.
From Table 5, it can be seen that all the algal strains are efficiently used for
different biofuels through various routes. In case of bio-oil production through
pyrolysis of algal biomass, it has been found that all the algal strains have high
bio-oil production capacity, varying in the range of 39–58% [53–57]. Among the
reported strains, Chlorella protothecoides, Blue green algae (BGAB), and Chlorella
vulgaris exhibit maximum bio-oil yield of 57.9, 54.97, and 52.7% of dry algae
weight, at a pyrolysis temperature of 500 °C [53–55]. Another product of pyrolysis
of algal biomass is the biochar, which is used as adsorbent and soil amender. The
biochar can be considered as a biofuel, since it can be further gasified to produce
syngas. From the pyrolysis of algal biomass of different algae, biochar yield of 28–
33 g/100 g of dry algae has been reported [56, 57]. The biodiesel yield varies
among 56.31–91.6% of TAG in algal oil in different algae [62–65]. Maximum
biodiesel yield has been obtained from the alga Scenedesmus sp. [62]. Using the
biomass of three different algae in a two-step thermochemical process (pyrolysis
followed by steam gasification), hydrogen yields of 413, 937, and 1036 mL have
been obtained per gram of dry algae [66]. Algal biomass can be used as feedstocks
in fermentative processes for production of biohydrogen, with mild pretreatment
[67]. Dilute-acid-pretreated biomass of Gelidium amansii, a species of red algae,
has been used in a mixed-culture-driven dark fermentation process for production
Table 5 Production of several 3G biofuels from different algae

Biofuel Basis of Algal strains Process Yield Refs.
yield
calculation
Bio-oil 100 g dry Chlorella Fast pyrolysis at 57.9 [53]
algae protothecoides 500 °C
Blue green algae Pyrolysis at 500 °C 54.9 [54]
(BGAB)
Chlorella vulgaris Fast pyrolysis at 52.7 [55]
500 °C
Saccharina Pyrolysis at 450 °C 47 [56]
japonica Slow pyrolysis at
Spirulina sp. 550 °C 46 [57]
Spirogyra sp. Slow pyrolysis at 43 [57]
550 °C
Cladophora sp. Slow pyrolysis at 39 [57]
550 °C
Bio-ethanol 1 g dry Chlorococcum Fermentation 0.26 [58]
algae infusionum
Scenedesmus Fermentation 0.266 [59]
dimorphus
Porphyridium Fermentation 0.059 [60]
cruentum
Desmodesmus Fermentation 0.134 [61]
sp. FG
Biodiesel 100 g TAG Scenedesmus sp. Two-step catalytic 96.6 [62]
In algal oil conversion
Nannochloropsis Two-step catalytic 91.6 [62]
sp. conversion
Spirulina-platensis Acid-catalyzed 84.7 [63]
in situ
Transesterification
Chrysophyta Transesterification 56.31 [64]
Chlorella sp. Transesterification 63.78 [64]
Spirulina sp. Transesterification 79.50 [65]
Biohydrogen 1 g dry Fucus serratus Two-step 1036 mL [66]
algae thermochemical
process
Laminaria digitate Two-step 937 mL [66]
thermochemical
process
Nannochlorophsis Two-step 413 mL [66]
oculata thermochemical
process
Gelidium amansii Dilute-acid 37 mL [67]
hydrolysis and
fermentation
Chlorella Thermophilic dark 958 mL [68]
sorokiniana fermentation
(continued)
Table 5 (continued)
Biofuel Basis of Algal strains Process Yield Refs.
yield
calculation
Biomethane 1 g dry Spirulina sp. Anaerobic digestion 0.32– [69,70]
algae 0.31 L
CH4
Dunaliella sp. Anaerobic digestion 0.44– [69,70]
0.45 L
CH4
Chlorella vulgaris Anaerobic digestion 0.31– [71]
0.35aL
CH4
Spirulina maxima Anaerobic digestion 0.26 L [72]
CH4
Biochar 100 g dry Chlorella vulgaris Fast pyrolysis at 31 [73]
algae 500 °C
Saccharina Pyrolysis at 450 °C 33 [56]
japonica
Spirulina sp. Slow Pyrolysis at 31 [57]
550 °C
Spirogyra sp. Slow pyrolysis at 28 [57]
550 °C
Chladophora sp. Slow pyrolysis at 31 [57]
550 °C
a
Calculated from data given in L CH4 gCOD−1 using a COD/VS ratio of 1.5 (where COD is the
chemical oxygen demand)
of biohydrogen [67]. In another study, mild-acid-pretreated biomass of Chlorella

sorokiniana has been used in thermophilic dark fermentation process for production
of biohydrogen [68]. In the thermophilic process, hydrogen yield of 958 mL H2/g
of dry algae was obtained, which was much higher than (37 mL H2/g of dry algae)
obtained from the mesophilic process [67, 68]. Biomass of different algal strains has
been used in many studies for the production of biogas/biomethane through
anaerobic digestion process. The yield of biomethane obtained in those studies
varied from 0.26 L CH4 to 0.45 L CH4 per gram of algal biomass used [69–72].
From the information provided in Table 5, it is evident that algae or biomass of
algae is an excellent source of different 3G biofuels. The promise of integrating the
algal cultivation with CO2 capture from different industrial plants can significantly
enhance the eco-friendliness of the total process. Among this, integration of the
algal units with thermal power plants is a great way of achieving CCU in a totally
green way with significant reduction in CO2 emission from these point sources.
7.3 Complexities of Algal Cultivation
For algal biomass cultivation process, there are some important optimum param-
eters for the regulation of algal growth. These are nutrients, mainly the nitrogen,
phosphorous, and potassium sources, CO2, light, pH, salinity, temperature, etc.
From the reported studies, it is evident that mostly the growth regulating optimum
parameters are specific with respect to algal strains [38, 39, 45–47]. Therefore, the
following precautions should be taken during algal cultivation: (1) The light pen-
etration length should be short; (2) the algal biomass should be removed at regular
intervals to avoid the shading effect on light caused by overgrowth of algal biomass;
(3) the temperature should be maintained near the optimum value; (4) the con-
centration of nutrients should be maintained at their optimal levels.
8 Indian Power Plant Algae and Their CCU Potential:

Preliminary Assessments
In tropical countries, like India, algal blooms are commonly observed in almost any
and every open water bodies, where plenty of sunlight is available. Interestingly,
algae can even grow in any moist place where limited amount of sunlight is
available. They even grow in the process water and wastewater handling units of
several industries upon utilizing the CO2 generated from the concerned processes.
Very recently, few algal strains, namely Rhizoclonium hieroglyphicum JUCHE 1,
Pithophora varia JUCHE 2, and Leptolyngbya subtilis JUCHE 1, have been iso-
lated from different water handling units of coal-fired thermal power plants of West
Bengal, India. These algae, macro/micro by nature, exhibit higher CO2 tolerance,
higher CO2 uptake and sequestration, and greater biomass productivities. These
attributes of Indian power plant algae need more in-depth research attention, which
is the current focus of the present group or authors of this chapter. Cultivation of the
isolated power plant algae, assessment of their CCU potential through performance
of photobioreactor operation, extraction of algal oil and biochemicals from the algal
biomass and pyrolysis of the residual algal biomass for the production of pyro-oil,
pyro-gas, and pyro-char are currently underway.
CO2 biosequestration by R. hieroglyphicum JUCHE 1 has already been studied
in a flat-plate photobioreactor. The strain was cultivated using varying inlet CO2
concentrations from 5 to 25% under illumination of 398.71 µmolm−2s−1 light
intensity [36]. At 15% inlet CO2 concentration, R. hieroglyphicum JUCHE 1
resulted in 0.52 g/L/d biomass productivity along with 0.561 g/L/d of CO2
biofixation rate [36]. From preliminary studies on Leptolyngbya subtilis JUCHE 1,
the strain was observed to be very highly CO2 tolerant, which is a reflection of its
adaptation to high CO2-laden areas inside the thermal power plant. At 40% inlet
CO2 concentration, the strain showed a CO2 fixation rate of 0.3237 g/L/d, which is
moderately low. It is expected that the high CO2 fixation capacity of this algal strain
Fig. 3 Integrated scheme of a coal-fired thermal power plant with algal cultivation unit followed
by generation of biofuels and biochemicals
will be fully understood in near future through performance of more detailed

studies. Pithophora varia JUCHE 2 was found to be an oil-producing strain of
algae, with prospect of producing valuable biochemicals and biodiesel. Oil pro-
ductivity of P. varia JUCHE 2 was experimentally found to be 28.4% (unpublished
data). Extraction of different biochemicals, namely omega 3 fatty acids, chloro-
phyll, and carotenoids from these algal strains is currently being conducted to
enhance the overall economic feasibility of the process. Upon maximization of the
CO2 biosequestration by these algal strains through process optimization, they may
be endorsed as native ‘on-site CCU’ agents for Indian coal-fired thermal power
plants. The promising scheme has been illustrated in Fig. 3.
9 Integration of Algal Refinery with Coal-Fired Thermal

Power Plants: Present Status
Very recently, the prospect of integration of algal refinery with power plants is
attracting the interest of bioenergy researchers worldwide. Gutierrez-Arriaga et al.
[74] have investigated an integrated energy system combining algal CO2
sequestration units of open raceway ponds with a 400 MW thermoelectric power

plant operating in Mexico [74]. The model algal cultivation unit has a dimension of
100 m 10 m 0.3 m. The study also designed sequential units for harvesting of
algal biomass, extraction of algal oil, conversion of algal oil to biodiesel to com-
plete the algae-to-biodiesel chain. The used algal strain was Chlorella vulgaris. The
rationale of supplied CO2 to algal biomass was 1.83 tonne CO2 per tonne of algal
biomass for 12 h/d [74]. The algal unit has successfully captured CO2 at 70%
efficiency [74]. Very high lipid recovery yield of 80% was achieved in the oil
extraction unit using hexane as the extraction solvent [74]. Finally, 1 g of biodiesel
was produced from 1 g of triglyceride through transesterification. Lipid-extracted
algal biomass was co-combusted in the boiler to reduce the load on the fossil fuel
usage [74]. Results of this study affirmatively underlined the practicality of CCU
using microalgae for on-site CO2 mitigation in power plants and use of algal oil for
biodiesel production as an attractive revenue-generating process. A few industrial
endeavors on the integration of algal cultivation units with power plants for the
purpose of CO2 capture and biofuel generation have been reported by Schmidt,
2012 [75]. Although the success of CO2 mitigation has been highlighted by most of
the industries, the requirement of large cultivation area has been indicated as a great
concern. Moreover, it is not clear from the review whether the revenue generated
through the marketing of algal biofuels can offset the cost of chemicals and land
required for algal cultivation. However, it is understandable that better designing of
cultivation units, increase of light conversion efficiency, etc., and the derivation of
algal biochemical, as discussed in the previous section (Table 5), can significantly
brighten the economic status of the overall process to further extents. As reported
by Baral et al. [76], some initiatives of introducing algal CO2 capture units are
being considered for application in coal-fired thermal power plants, namely Angul,
Orissa, and Kolaghat, West Bengal [76]. Converting these CO2 capture units to
CCU is promising due to the expected profitability of the setups. Regarding this, the
power plants algae may be the best choice for their inherent adaptability to the plant
environment. More research and development endeavors will play the crucial role
in this regard.
10 Conclusion
In this article, an attempt has been made to project the state-wise CO2 emission
threat of coal-based thermal power plants in India. Discussing on different possible
mitigation routes, the advantages of algal CCU have been highlighted. The present
status of biomass growth, CO2 capture potential, and the capacity of generating
different biofuels as well as biochemicals by several algal strains has been revisited.
Special attention has been given for the first time on Indian power plant algae
indicating their characteristics of high CO2 capture and oil content. Although
constrained by scanty database, an attempt has also been made to reflect on the
present status of integration of algal cultivation units with coal-based thermal power
plants. It is expected that the knowledge base presented in the article will be useful
for the future endeavors on integration of algal refineries generating fuels and
biochemicals with coal-fired power plants for their greenness.
Acknowledgements The authors are highly thankful to UPEII, Jadavpur University, funded by
University Grant Commission (UGC), New Delhi, for extending the financial assistance required
to conduct the studies on power plant algae.
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Sustainability of Coal as a Source
of Energy in India
Partha S. Bhattacharyya
Abstract Indian dependence on coal as a source of commercial energy is primarily

attributed to the abundance of coal resources, unlike other fossil fuels such as oil or
natural gas. Close to 60% of power generation capacity and 80% of actual power
generation are coal-based. The aggregate coal resources—proven. Inferred and
indicated have risen from around 70 bt at the time of coal nationalization in the
early 1970s to over 300 bt currently. The capability of exploration and drilling for
faster proving of coal resources has increased manifold. Indian coal has typically
high ash and low moisture. However, through a process of continuous innovation in
boiler design, adequate capability of using such coal has been created. As a result,
almost all capacities for power generation created in main heartland are based on
such a low-grade coal. Responding to the fast growth in demand, coal production
and consumption in the country have increased manifold since nationalization. This
has raised significant issues of environmental and social sustainability around coal
mining as well as coal consumption in the power stations. Degradation of a vast
tract of land, uprooting local tribal population leading to erosion of their culture and
traditional impacts on forest cover are some of the impacts of coal mining that need
to be mitigated, if not eliminated. Similarly, inadequate management of fly ash in
power stations, emission of obnoxious gases, presence of particulate matter beyond
acceptable norms, besides the problems associated with resettlement, and rehabil-
itation of local populace are the challenges at the point of coal consumption in
power stations. Of late, in response to bidding the renewable tariff has reduced to
levels not far away from the coal-based tariff. This is fast emerging as a major issue
impacting sustainability of coal-based power in the country. However, considering
affordability as a key policy determinant, it will still be necessary to focus on
improvement in PLF of existing coal-based capacities for which substantial scope
exists. Such improvement in PLF will lead to substantially higher generation of
coal-based power reinforcing additional demand for coal. However, while creating
new capacity, coal-based power is likely to lose out to solar on consideration of
P. S. Bhattacharyya (&)
Former Chairman
Coal India Ltd, Kolkata, India

256 P. S. Bhattacharyya
economics. The article proposes to deal with the interplay of these complex and
conflicting issues and suggests an appropriate sustainable road map in keeping with
Indian commitment at COP21.
Keywords Energy sustainability Coal Indian context Environmental impact

Research needs
1 Preamble
Nationalization of coal in the 1970s happened under trying circumstances. An oil

price shock triggered a process of evaluating energy options for the country by a
high-powered committee with Dr. Sukhomoy Chakrabarti, an eminent economist
and a member of planning commission in the Chair. This led to an identification of
coal as the mainstay in the energy scenario. The growth in coal sector in 1960s was
less than 2% CAGR, clearly inadequate to fuel the then aspired GDP growth rate of
5%. The low growth was primarily due to inadequate private investments caused by
unattractive returns arising from low-administered price of coal. To set the coal
price at a remunerative level was equivalent to a political harakiri since coal was
widely used as domestic fuel in kitchens. The only option was to inject massive
public funds to the coal sector. This made nationalization imperative. This also
became imperative to redress the significant exploitative gap in the wages and
benefits of coal workers with other industrial workers. Post-nationalization of
coking coal in 1971 and non-coking coal in 1973 followed by a phase of reorga-
nization, Coal India Limited was formed as a holding company with five sub-
sidiaries in Nov 1975. The company dependent on budgetary support from the
government for the first two decades and became financially self-reliant since 1997.
Coal in India is remained as the key provider of energy security. The production
has increased manifold from less than 100 mtpa in the 1970s to over 600 mtpa
currently, 80% of which is contributed by CIL. During this period, coal con-
sumption increased even faster to over 800 mtpa; currently, the gap is being met
through imports. In the mean while, the number of subsidiaries increased from five
to eight.
At present, the share of coal in power generation is over 60% in terms of
capacity and over 80% in terms of actual generation. Among fossil fuels, coal is far
ahead of oil and gas not only in power generation but also in overall commercial
fuel businesses. The primary reason for this is ostensibly the relative abundance of
the fuel. Coal resources in the country are estimated at over 300 billion tonnes, of
which, over 125 billion tonnes are in the proven category, rest being classified as
inferred or indicated. At the current rate of consumption growing at 6% CAGR, the
proven reserves alone, assuming conservatively 60% extractability, should suffice
for over 40 years. With a steady shift of inferred and indicated resources to proven
reserves through systematic drilling and exploration, the known reserves should be
in a position to support coal consumption till the end of the current century.
Sustainability of Coal as a Source of Energy in India 257
Despite steady growth in the use of coal, India remains substantially lower than
the comparable China both in terms of per capita power consumption and emission
of green house gas. Indian share in global GHG emission is around 7% against a
share in population of 16%. In contrast, China shares nearly 30% of global GHG
emission with a population share of 17%. Not surprisingly, the per capita con-
sumption of power in India is 1030 units low per year as compared to over
2800 units for China.
Availability of better quality of coal with low ash and high GCV is restricted in
India to the coalfields of Rani Gunj and a part of Jharia in the eastern part of the
country and Korea Rewa in central India, mainly from underground mines. The coal
production from these mines/coalfields has stagnated or in most cases declined due
to difficult geo-mining conditions and high cost. Post-nationalization, the growth in
coal production has arisen mostly from Talcher, Korba and Rajmahal (lower grade)
as well as North Karanpura and Singrauli (medium grades). However, the boiler
design evolved over the period acquiring capability of running on such low-grade
coal. The inferior quality of coal in India is a constraint arising from the coal
formation being largely based on ‘drift’ as opposed to ‘insitu’
The ability of the generators to use inferior grade coal due to improved boiler
technology has significantly diluted the demand for coal washing so far. The rather
poor state of coal washing in India is attributable to reluctance of the consumers to
accept the cost of coal washing consequently disincentivize the coal producer to set
up washeries. The gains arising from cost savings on account of extending boiler
life, lesser ash disposal and handling need to be weighed against the cost of
washing, and a net advantage to consumer established before coal washing gets the
much-needed policy push.
Most Indian mines are not gassy. Only 4% of the mines are gassy. This restricts
the scope of CBM in India, unless technological breakthrough in terms of microbial
enhancement of CBM gas becomes a reality. This is a long-drawn research project
that needs to bring together outcome of research happening globally in this field.
Serious efforts are yet to commence in this direction.
2 Power for All 24 * 7
India is pursuing an inclusive development agenda—power for all 24 * 7 by 2020.

At present, around 25% of Indians lack access to electricity. Another 35–40%
access electricity for sometime in a day but not 24 * 7. Correcting these aberrations
alone will require the per capita consumption to move from current levels to at least
1800 units per year. The additional consumption arising from higher intensity of
white goods usage expected in a developing economy may get partly offset through
the use of LED bulbs and energy efficient devices in replacement of older devices.
In other words, a doubling of per capita consumption of power as soon as possible
is necessary to percolate down the fruits of development to the common man.
In order to arrive at a sustainable solution to reach the aforesaid goal, the country
has embarked on a multipronged strategy. Renewable power—both wind and solar
—has been receiving greater attention. The drastic fall in tariff of power from these
sources as revealed through successive bids has been added to the momentum. The
wind power tariff has fallen to a low of Rs. 3.46 per unit whereas the latest solar
power bid has discovered a tariff of Rs. 2.44 per unit. These rates are lower than the
expected tariff from a newly constructed coal-based power station. Placed in this
situation, the feasibility of adding fresh coal-based capacity in power generation,
besides those in the pipeline, is clearly questionable.
Placed in this situation, it is normal to suspect the future of coal as a sustainable
source of energy over a longer term. Nevertheless, a 360° understanding of the
complexities involved may lead to a different conclusion.
Of overriding importance is AFFORDABILITY of power generated. The limited
paying capacity of the marginal power consumers coupled with the stressed
financial situation of the Discoms makes it imperative for power to be generated at
the least possible cost and a mechanism to ensure that the resultant savings in cost is
passed on to the Discoms and the ultimate consumer to the extent possible.
While the lowest bids for solar and wind powers in the range of Rs. 2.44–3.46
are possibly lower than the expected tariff from a new coal-based power station, it
needs to be appreciated that:
(a) the coal-based tariff will still be lower if the capital and other subsidies for
renewable power are accounted for, and
(b) even without accounting for these subsidies, the lowest solar/wind tariff is
distinctly higher than the marginal cost of coal-based power from existing
power stations that entail only the variable cost of coal. The cost differential is
of the order of INR 0.60–1.00 with reference to the lowest offer of solar tariff.
In other words, the least-cost power is the one that the existing coal-based plants
can generate by improving the plant load factor (PLF).
3 Improving PLF of Existing Coal-Based Plants—A

Compelling Step Forward
An assessment of the potential for additional generation from these plants can be
made based on the trend of past average PLF of coal-based plants. The highest PLF
witnessed so far is around 79% in 2007–08. Since then, by 2011–12, the PLF had
witnessed a modest fall to around 75%, largely due to faster addition of coal-based
capacity without linkage to the required quantity of coal. However, in recent times,
arising from increased focus to push renewable power into the system, the PLF of
coal-based capacity fell to around 60% in 2016–17 and to an even lower level of
around 55% during the current year. The problem is partly due also to mechanically
complete power stations not receiving coal due to absence of a regular power
purchase agreement (PPA). In any case, it is policy-level hindrances to generation

of least-cost power—that needs to be addressed as soon as possible.
The low PLF, well below the level considered at the time of estimating financial
viability of the investment in the power plants is causing financial distress to the
Gencos. It is, in effect, fuelling the process of conversion of bank loans to Gencos
into non-performing assets (NPA). The collective exposure of the banks to Gencos
is of the order of a few lakh crores of rupees. The inability of the Gencos to service
the loans will eventually impact the tax payers of this country to meet the conse-
quential recapitalization needs of the nationalized banks and/or the consequential
rise in fees and charges levied by the banks, particularly the private ones, to stay
afloat. Conversely, enhancing the PLF to the levels considered at the feasibility
stage of the power plants will enable the Gencos service their debts and save the
common man from being required to bear the financial consequences of
non-servicing of bank loans.
The quality of coal-based capacity has improved significantly over the last
decade partly due to phasing out of inefficient plants, though at a lesser rate than
desirable, and partly due to introduction of plants with high-efficiency low-emission
(HELE) technology. Hence, the average PLF unconstrained by policy bottlenecks
can safely move to a level 6–7% higher than the best level of 79% witnessed a
decade ago. In other words, the potential for the average unconstrained PLF may be
estimated at around 85%.
A systematic debottlenecking can, therefore, lead to the PLF of existing plants
improving from the current 55% to say 85% over the next few years injecting the
least-cost power into the system. The current coal-based generation is around
950 bn units. The additional generation possible through PLF improvement is,
therefore, around 500 bn units. The resultant cost saving estimated at an average
tariff differential of INR 0.8 works out to INR 40,000 crores. The mechanism to
ensure that a substantial part of this cost saving gets passed on to the ultimate
consumer through Discoms is discussed subsequently.
A direct consequence of the aforesaid strategy is to create additional coal
demand of around 300 million tonnes estimated at a conservative specific con-
sumption of 0.6 kg/unit. Assuming a 5-year period for implementing the aforesaid
strategy, the existing players including Coal India Ltd can be expected to regain
growth of around 6% CAGR leading to an incremental production of around
200 mtpa 5 years hence. This leaves a gap of 100 mtpa. In addition, the efforts to
replace the import of thermal coal by domestic production are expected to create
further demand for another 100 mtpa of domestic coal. The resultant gap of
200 mtpa needs to be bridged through commercial mining. Measures are already
initiated to bring in commercial mining needs to be pursued with vigour to attain
this target. More importantly, at the average clean environment cess of INR
400 per tonne, the additional contribution to the fund from this strategy will work
out to INR 16,000 crores that can be utilized to push the renewable and clean
environment agenda even harder!
Successful introduction of mining companies with proven experience with focus
on best practices in mining and environment management holds the key to bring
competition in the coal mining space. This, in effect, will help the coal-based power
companies to source coal at competitive price and thus become cost-competitive
helping sustainability. In order to achieve this objective, the bidding process of the
blocks for commercial mining needs to be different from the bidding process
adopted so far for auction of blocks to captive users. The blocks should be large
enough to sustain coal production at a commercial scale of say 30–50 mil-
lion tonnes for a 20–30-year period. The selection should focus more on core
competence in coal mining and proven experience than on the price offer. A quality
and cost-based system (QCBS), which is widely practised and no less transparent,
may be the preferable mode to identify the successful bidder.
The success of the suggested approach will essentially depend on creating an
institutional mechanism to ensure pass through of the cost savings realised by the
power generators to the ultimate consumers via Discoms. In the current context,
generators are expected to sell power by executing long-term PPAs, where tariff is
discovered through a bidding mechanism. In order to ensure competitiveness vis a
vis the falling solar power tariff, it is suggested that such biddings are carried out
seeking discount to weighted average solar tariff (WAST) over a period of 1 year
prior to the month of bidding. The WAST is expected to gradually fall over time as
technological breakthrough occurs. Setting this as a cap to the bidding process will
ensure that the cost advantage accruing to the existing power plants from additional
generation through improvement in PLF is passed on to the Discoms through the
bidding process. In other words, the gain arising to the generators from all round
efficiency in procurement of coal competitively and improvement in PLF is com-
pellingly shared with the Discoms through a transparent market-driven process.
It needs to be highlighted in this context that even the benchmark WAST carries
a built-in discount of roughly INR 0.50 per unit on account of the levy of clean
environment cess of INR 400 per mt, since this adds to the cost of coal-based
generation to the tune INR 0.25, and its use in subsidizing solar power has the effect
of reducing solar tariff by another INR 0.25. Any discount provided by the suc-
cessful bidder over WAST will be an additional benefit.
4 Meeting Multiple Nationally Desirable Objectives
The strategy as aforesaid meets multiple objectives of:

(a) Encouraging additional generation of the least-cost coal-based power through
the improvement of PLF of existing plants thereby relieving the country from
the burden of huge cost of idle capacity.
(b) Enhancing debt service capability of the Gencos and thereby avoid the adverse
fallout on the average tax payer arising from non-servicing of bank loans.
(c) Laying down a mechanism for sharing of the cost advantage gained by the
generator with Discoms/consumers.
(d) Enabling substantial growth in coal production to continue with consequential

additional contribution to clean environment fund thereby supporting pursuit of
clean agenda.
(e) Creating a space for commercial coal mining to usher in successfully.
(f) Reaping above benefits without hindering the systematic growth and devel-
opment of solar and other forms of renewable power.
(g) On the contrary, it makes effective use of the positive developments in the
renewable space to drive down the coal-based power tariff through a bidding
system benchmarked to WAST.
(h) With a fast-rising generation of coal-based power, a breathing space gets cre-
ated for calibrated infusion of renewable power drawing full advantage of the
downward cost spiral in this field arising from disruptive technological inno-
vation happening at a frantic pace.
The strategy outlined as aforesaid will lead to the coal production growing from
the current level of around 650 mtpa to a sustainable level of 1050 mtpa in five
years time. By that time, the existing coal-based capacity will be generating at
optimum PLF, and no further coal demand is expected from this segment. The
addition to coal-based capacity beyond those in the pipeline is questionable given
the levels to which solar and wind tariff has fallen. The trigger for sustaining further
growth in coal demand can, therefore, arise only from sectors other than power.
Beyond power generation, thermal coal finds use as feedstock in certain
industries and also for conversion to liquid fuels and chemicals. The Sasol plant in
South Africa is case to highlight. The plant came into operation long back mainly
due to sanctions imposed on the country. It converts around 40 mtpa of coal, mined
captively, to oil and more than 100 chemicals. It meets more than 25% of oil
demand in SA. Because of backward and forward integration—coal mining on the
back end and diverse range of downstream chemicals, the company has weathered
the volatility of global oil prices over the decades very well and held its ground
staying profitable.
The other example is China where substantial quantity of coal is converted to
ammonia for use in manufacture of fertilizers. The technology developed in-house
is fairly robust and cost-effective.
Indian dependence on import is substantial for both oil and ammonia/fertilizers.
In fertilizers, while domestic production of urea, largely based on LNG, is close to
75% of demand, the share is substantially lower in case of complex fertilizers
(NPK). Also, a large complement of ammonia required to produce NPK is
imported. Availability of domestic gas for NPK is meagre and priority for allocation
is low. Large Indian imports of ammonia and complex fertilizers are known to fuel
cartelization creating an adverse impact on the price of such commodities. Fertilizer
being a critical input to ensure food security, it is imperative that a strategy to
reduce import dependence be implemented at the least possible time.
The aforesaid imperative can be squarely met by creating substantial capacity for
the conversion of coal into oil, ammonia and chemicals based on proven technology
long in use in other countries. As a result, the demand for coal as feedstock shall
continue to increase in the longer term supporting thereby a sustained growth in

coal production.
It is important to contain the growth in coal production within the boundary
conditions laid down by our commitments under COP21 at Paris. The two principal
commitments to be achieved by 2030 are:
(a) Renewable energy to have a minimum share of 40% in power generation
capacity, increasing from the current level of 28%. With the implementation of
the ambitious 175 GW power programme by 2022 based on renewable, this
condition is expected to be achieved well ahead of time.
(b) The emission intensity of GDP to be 33% lower than the corresponding number
on the base year of 2005.
The GDP in 2030 is expected to be 5.8 times the GDP of 2005 assuming a
CAGR of 7%. In order to meet the condition at b) the fossil fuel consumption in
2030 should be contained with 67% of 5.8, i.e. 3.9 times of 2005 consumption.
Applying the factor on coal justifies a consumption of 1500 mtpa in 2030.
Subtraction of 1050 mtpa of domestic coal and 100 mtpa of imported coal for
power generation leaves a balance of up to 350 mtpa of coal for alternate uses as
feedstock for production of oil and ammonia. In other words, the strategy described
earlier is fully consistent with COP 21 commitments.
The suggested growth in coal production from the current level of 650 mtpa to a
maximum of 1500 mtpa by 2030, though consistent with COP 21 commitments,
will call for more aggressive handling of the resultant issues of social and envi-
ronmental sustainability. This is not to suggest that these are not being handled
currently. The statutory requirements are being generally met, particularly with coal
mining being predominantly in the government sector. The focus on addressing
these issues acquired renewed thrust in 2009–10 as Coal India Ltd commenced
preparation for its stake sale through initial public offer (IPO) that eventually turned
out to be the largest Indian IPO so far and one of the top 3 globally in 2010.
A landmark effort was a GIS application to determine the adequacy or otherwise of
the restoration and reclamation activities in opencast mines through annual satellite
surveillance. It established in no uncertain terms the adequacy of restoration and
reclamation in the top 50 opencast mines. This eventually led to these mines
securing ISO 14001 certification. Incidentally, this GIS application won global
recognition at a function held at Netherlands in 2012.
The other highlight was the practice adopted for afforestation of large OB dumps
post-biological reclamation. Most of these mines required diversion of forest land
and hence afforestation was a binding imperative. It transpired that over the decades
for every hectare of forest land subsumed in coal mining, roughly 2.5 hectares of
land have been afforested! Any doubt on the quality of forest created was dispelled
by the exercise carried out by the ministry of environment and forest (MOEF)
through the Forest Research Institute of India using satellite imagery. This was to
identify high-density forests for designating those as NO GO zones. Quite a few of
these afforested areas got listed as NO GO areas!!
While the aforesaid are instances of well-meaning practices to address the

environmental sustainability issues, there are good instances of managing the social
issues as well. Creation of rehabilitation villages for displaced persons, mostly
tribals, with modern amenities including healthcare and education are fairly com-
monplace, particularly for large projects. Care is also taken to enable the com-
munity preserve their heritage and culture despite exposure to modern amenities.
Employment or indirect engagement of project affected persons (PAP) to create
more livelihood and income opportunities as compared to the scenario before the
project is taken up, holds the key to securing community buy-in for the project.
Coal mining in India is mostly in backward areas with a preponderance of BPL
and Tribal population. The livelihood opportunities are in most cases grossly
inadequate. The benefits of resettlement and rehabilitation, as well as direct and
indirect employment centring on the mines, make a significant addition to decent
livelihood opportunities. Viewed in this context, coal mining promotes sustain-
ability of human life in some of the backward areas for the underprivileged section
of the population. Besides, the aggressive focus of mining companies on
afforestation creates avenues for harnessing forest produce to help create more
livelihood opportunities among tribals and backward classes.
Nevertheless, it needs to be acknowledged that the current practices do leave
scope for further improvement in these areas. The restoration of land in large
opencast mines usually implies creating a biologically well-reclaimed afforested
hillock out of the over burden dump which originally was a levelled piece of land.
Thus, coal mining alters the land use, impairing the usefulness of mined-out areas
significantly. The global best practice of restoring land to its original form is largely
absent, even in cases where the strip ratio is not much enough to impede such
practice. Further, in the area of dust suppression by use of water sprinklers, the
domestic practice is yet to catch up with global best. In the later case, water is used
to create a fine spray that settles the dust to the soil without creation of watery mud.
India needs to encourage manufacture and use of such high-quality sprinklers. In
quite a few cases, extensive use of water sprinklers often leads to creation of muddy
areas with the resultant inconvenience to people making place in the print media
with pictures!
However, the coal producers alone cannot be blamed for this state of affairs.
Domestic coal in India has to bear a significant burden of state royalty besides the
clean environment cess. It stands to reason that states plough back a portion of the
cess collected to improve the quality of life of people around the mines. Sharing the
financial costs by the state in part will help the coal producer to stay
cost-competitive.
The convergence of domestic practices for social and environmental sustain-
ability to global best practices is expected with India opening up coal mining to
global majors through a transparent bidding process.
The low-cost coal-based development strategy intensively pursued by China
over five decades has transformed it into a giant superpower capable of meeting
consumption needs of not only its own people but also the global population. Its per
capita income is substantially higher and the economy is cost-competitive. Its
balance of trade is highly in its favour with exports exceeding imports by a wide
margin. The strategy has triggered a rethink today due to its share in global
emission exceeding its share of population by a wide margin. The situation in India
is reverse. It should, therefore, allow us to comfortably pursue the low-cost
coal-based development strategy intensively for at least two decades, allowing at
the same time the renewable sector to grow in a calibrated manner to gain out of
continuous technological innovation happening in that sector. This is expected to
bring in faster least cost-inclusive growth.
5 Conclusions
Availability of better quality of coal with low ash and high GCV is restricted in
India to the coalfields of Rani Gunj and a part of Jharia in the eastern part of the
country and Korea Rewa in central India, mainly from underground mines. The coal
production from these mines/coalfields has stagnated or, in most cases, are declined
due to difficult geo-mining conditions and high cost. Post-nationalization, the
growth in coal production has arisen mostly from Talcher, Korba and Rajmahal
(lower grade) as well as North Karanpura and Singrauli (medium grades). However,
the boiler design evolved over the period acquiring capability of running on such
low-grade coal. The inferior quality of coal in India is a constraint arising from the
coal formation being largely based on ‘drift’ as opposed to ‘insitu’
The ability of the generators to use inferior grade coal due to improved boiler
technology has significantly diluted the demand for coal washing so far. The rather
poor state of coal washing in India is attributable to reluctance of the consumers to
accept the cost of coal washing consequently disincentivize the coal producer to set
up washeries. The gains arising from cost savings on account of extending boiler
life, lesser ash disposal and handling need to be weighed against the cost of
washing, and a net advantage to consumer established before coal washing gets the
much-needed policy push.
Most Indian mines are not gassy. Only 4% of the mines are gassy. This restricts
the scope of CBM in India, unless technological breakthrough in terms of microbial
enhancement of CBM gas becomes a reality. This is a long-drawn research project
that needs to bring together outcome of research happening globally in this field.
Serious efforts are yet to commence in this direction.
Gas Hydrates as a Potential Energy
Resource for Energy Sustainability
Vishnu Chandrasekharan Nair, Pawan Gupta and Jitendra

S. Sangwai
Abstract Energy is an essential commodity for the survival and socioeconomic

development of the human race. The energy supply sector primarily comprises of
industrial, commercial, and domestic applications. The foremost challenges faced
by the energy supply sector are growing consumption levels, limited accessibility,
environmental concerns, viz-a-viz, climate change, and pollution of water and air
resources. As conventional resources of energy have started to decline and are
expected to get exhausted by 2040, the main focus has been shifted to uncon-
ventional sources [1]. In this category, natural gas resources such as gas hydrate,
shale gas, coal bed methane will provide tremendous potential for meeting the
demand. Gas hydrates are ice-like crystalline substance formed by a framework of
water and natural gas molecules. Recent exploration programs by various agencies
such as United States Geological Survey (USGS), National Gas Hydrate Program
(India), Japanese Methane Gas Hydrate R&D have proved that massive amount of
gas hydrate deposits lying across marine settings and permafrost environments.
Hydrate deposits are currently estimated to be 5 1015 m3 of methane gas [2]. If
this untapped resource of energy becomes feasible for the economic production, it
could increase natural gas reserves to multifold. Moreover, this would be consid-
erably greater than the total amount of all fossil fuels together. As reported by
USGS, gas hydrates hold more than 50% of the entire world’s carbon. It has been
estimated that commercial production of methane from 15% of natural gas hydrate
can fulfill the energy requirement of the entire world for next 200 years [3]. Hence,
natural gas hydrates are considered to be the vital sustainable energy resource.
Many pilot production tests have been completed and are underway to recover
methane from gas hydrate deposit across the world [4]. Preliminary studies and
pilot tests have shown promising results in terms of methane recovery from natural
gas hydrates by employing methods such as thermal stimulation, depressurization,
inhibitor injection. Ongoing gas hydrate research programs throughout the world
and advances in technology will certainly help to cater any technical challenges in
V. C. Nair P. Gupta J. S. Sangwai (&)

Gas Hydrate and Flow Assurance Laboratory, Petroleum Engineering Program, Department
of Ocean Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India

266 V. C. Nair et al.
order to potentially harness the huge amount of energy stored in the form of natural
gas hydrates.

Keywords Gas hydrates Gas hydrate occurrence Natural gas production

Storage Sustainable future energy
1 Introduction
1.1 Energy and Future Challenges
Energy is one of the main drivers of the economic and social development of the
nation. A major chunk of energy today is derived from conventional fossil fuel such
as coal and oil. Rapid growth and improving prosperity is the reason behind the
growth in energy demand. Rising energy demands, uncertainty in supply, and the
need to reduce release of greenhouse gases lead to an uncertain energy prospect.
Just a few years ago, uncertainty in energy supplies rose the prices of oil and gas.
The rate of growth of non-conventional resources of energy such as hydropower,
solar energy, and wind power is much slower than expected. Solar power still
accounts for just 1% of electricity generation worldwide while oil, coal, and natural
gas still account for more than 80% of the primary energy need. It is predicted that
by 2050, the energy demand is likely to get doubled [1]. However, the major
contributors to the energy basket will still be the same, viz., coal, oil, and natural
gas. The burden on fossil energy resources may rise to the threshold limit and
contribute to more uncertainty on energy future and rise in pollution [5]. Energy
prices and its highly related volatility certainly will lead to an unclear path for the
future. A faster change in politics, consumer anticipation, and technological
improvement is making energy market more and more complex. The Paris agree-
ment on climate change brings together nations to reduce the greenhouse gas
emissions and use energy efficiently. This also represents the determination of
nations to cut down the level of pollution by moving to a clean energy system.
Several countries have started to recognize the importance of alternate energy
sources with lowest greenhouse gas emission [6].
1.2 Natural Gas and Its Sources
Natural gas composed mainly of methane. It is colorless, odorless, and shapeless. It

releases about 1000 btu/ft3 of energy when burned [7]. It is now widely used in
domestic applications like water heating, coking, space heating, power generation
and as a chemical feedstock for making fertilizer [7]. New discoveries of con-
ventional reservoirs and development of unconventional reservoir and their asso-
ciated gas resources have opened up fresh gas frontiers. This resulted in more
Gas Hydrates as a Potential Energy Resource … 267
widespread presence of gas around the world geography. Gas trade has now been
dominated by gas pipeline transportation, and long-distance trade has increased
significantly in a recent decade. The usage of natural gas has been increased with
the development of transportation concepts, viz, gas liquefaction, gas compression,
and regasification. Power generation has now been the main driver of natural gas
consumption. Natural gas is likely to play a vital role in the transition from
carbon-constrained economy to closed carbon-free economy by replacing the coal
and by compensating the shortfall in output of the present source of energy. For
these reasons, there has been a significant increase in exploration, field develop-
ment, and gas production activities.
Natural gas hydrates (NGH) have gained a huge attention nowadays among
unconventional resources of energy [8]. Methane is the main constituent in the gas
hydrates and an important component in natural gas. The gas hydrate can hold
enormous amounts of methane into its structure [9]. Recent exploration programs
by various agencies such as United States Geological Survey (USGS), National Gas
Hydrate Program (India), Japanese Methane Gas Hydrate R&D suggest that
enormous deposits of gas hydrates occur in marine settings and permafrost envi-
ronments. Hydrate deposits are currently estimated to be 5 1015 m3 of methane
gas [2]. If this untapped resource of energy becomes feasible for economic pro-
duction, it could increase natural gas reserves to multifold. Moreover, this would be
considerably greater than the total amount of all fossil fuels together. As reported by
USGS, gas hydrates hold more than 50% of the entire world’s carbon. Commercial
production of methane from 15% of natural gas hydrate is able to fulfill the energy
requirement of the entire world for next 200 years; hence, natural gas hydrates are
considered to be a vital sustainable energy resource [3, 10].
2 Gas Hydrates
Gas hydrate was discovered by Sir Humphrey Davy in 1810. After the discovery,
gas hydrate was only an educational inquisitiveness for more than centuries because
there was no practical application discovered for these laboratory-made hydrates.
Only after 1934, it was noticed that an ice-like substance was plugging the oil- and
gas-transporting pipelines. Hammerschmidt [11] first discovered that this ice-like
substance is nothing but gas hydrate. Until the 1950s, the chemical structure of gas
hydrate was unknown [9]. Use of X-ray diffraction has revealed that gas hydrates
does not have fixed chemical composition. They are the crystalline structure of
water in which small guest gas molecules are trapped within a host lattice structure
of water. The physical conditions (stability) necessary to form gas hydrates have
been put forward by Makogon [12]. He predicted that gas hydrates exist few
hundred meters below the surface. The drilling programs conducted in permafrost
region in Arctic have confirmed this hypothesis. Since then several drilling pro-
grams and expeditions have established the presence of vast resource in the form of
gas hydrate around the world.
2.1 Structural Information of Gas Hydrate
Gas hydrates resemble like crystalline ice structure formed by a framework of host
molecules and guest molecules under low-temperature and high-pressure environ-
ment. Different types of structures emerge during the interaction of water and gas
framework, such as sI, sII, and sH, constituting of small and large cages. The ratio
of free cage diameter to the size of guest molecules decides the structure. The cages
formed by water molecules in methane hydrate should be partially filled (>70%) to
form a stable hydrate [13]. The percentage occupancy of the small and large cages
can fluctuate, depending on the pressure, temperature, and the types of guest gas.
As a consequence, these structures categorize as non-stoichiometric compounds. It
is found that methane hydrate has a configuration of 8CH446H2O. Various guest
gas molecules which form hydrate structure are methane, ethane, propane, carbon
dioxide, nitrogen, etc. Methane is the most common gas that forms hydrate natu-
rally. Figure 1 shows different types of hydrate structures. The most common
clathrate structure sI forms in the presence of methane and any other guest
Fig. 1 Typical gas hydrate structure (Example: 435663 cavity signifies, 3 square faces, 6
pentagonal faces, and 3 hexagonal faces [61])
molecules with diameters lying between 4 and 6 Angstroms (Å). A unit cell, of the
Structure I hydrate lattice consists two smaller cavities and six larger cavities
enclosed by 46 water molecules. When the size of gas molecules (such as ethane,
propane) increases beyond 6 Å, another structure sII may form. A unit cell of the
Structure II hydrate lattice consists of 16 smaller cavities and eight larger cavities
enclosed by 136 water molecules. Another bigger structure sH has also been
noticed when the size of gas molecules are larger than 7 Å. Typically, the formation
of structure sH has been seen for the molecules with size lying between 7 and 9 Å.
Field studies suggest that the most common structure found naturally are structure
sI and sII. The occurrence of structure sH is extremely uncommon [9].
2.2 Energy Density of Gas Hydrates
The energy density of gas hydrate is enormous. A unit volume of hydrate contains
almost 172 m3 of methane in its structure. The storage capacity calculation for pure
methane hydrate is discussed below. Method 1 is used to calculate the storage
capacity of pure methane hydrate using the information on the density of hydrate,
while method 2 uses the structural information to calculate the storage capacity of
pure methane hydrate. It can be observed that both the approaches resulted in
similar hydrate storage capacity.
2.2.1 Method 1
The storage capacity is defined as the volume of methane that can be accommo-
dated in unit volume of hydrate. The storage capacity of hydrate was calculated
earlier [14] and has subsequently been used by other researchers [15] to find out
storage capacity of clathrate hydrate.
1000 Vg q
Vgh ¼ ð1Þ
Mh
where Vgh is the volume of gas in the unit volume of hydrate at hydrate formation
temperature and pressure; Vg is the molar volume of the gas; q is the density of the
hydrate; Mh is the molecular weight of molar hydrate.
Density of hydrate can be calculated as follows [9]:
Pc PN
Nw MWH2 O þ hij #i MWj
q¼ J¼1 i¼1
ð2Þ
Nava :Vcell :
where Nw is the number of water molecules per unit cell; Nava is the Avogadro
number; MWj is the molecular weight of component j; Ɵij is the fractional occu-
pancy of cavity i by gas component j; i is the cavity type; j represents the
component in hydrate; vi is the number of type i cavity per water molecule in unit
cell; Vcell is the volume of unit cell; N is the number of cavity type in unit cell; c is
the number of component in hydrate phase.
Density of pure hydrate for structure I, fully occupied by methane gas is cal-
culated by Eq. (2). Following data is taken from the literature [9]; Nw = 46; Vcell =
(12 Å)3; Ɵij = 1(for both the cavity); vi=1 = 2; and vi=2 = 6
3
q ¼ ð48 18 þ 2 16 þ 6 16Þ= 6:023 1023 12 108
¼ 0:91854 g=cm3
Mh = molecular weight of methane + 18.02 hydration number = 16 + 18.02

5.75 = 119.615 g.
Using Eq. (1) (considering STP conditions),
Vgh ¼ ð1000 22:4 0:91854Þ=119:615 ¼ 172 m3 ðSTPÞ=m3 of hydrate
For pure methane hydrate, storage capacity value turned out to be 172 m3 (STP)/
m of hydrate (V/V) for a hydrate density of 0.91845 g/cm3. It is also found to be
3
182 m3 at 60 °F and 1 atm using above equation.
2.2.2 Method 2
The storage capacity can also be calculated if the structure of hydrate forming
species is known. With the advent of new technologies such as NMR and Raman
Spectrometry [16], it has become possible to know the structure of hydrate. The
storage capacity for the cubic-structured pure methane hydrate is calculated below
[17]. For structure I cubic hydrate, there are total eight cages where methane gas
can be trapped [9]. The volume of the unit cubic cell of hydrate with 12 Å as the
side of the cube having full occupancy is (12 10−10 m)3 = 1.73 10−27 m3.
Number of gas molecules in 1 m3 of hydrate = 8/(1.73 10−27
m ) = 4.63 1027 molecules.
3
It is also known that there are 6.023 1023 molecules in 1 g mole of gas
(Avogadro number).
Therefore, g mole gas in 1 m3 of hydrate = (4.63 1027)/
(6.023 10 ) = 7.69 10 g moles.
23 3
The volume of gas occupied by 1 g mole gas is 22.4 L at STP conditions (273 K
and 1 atm).
Hence, the volume of gas stored in 1 m3 hydrates = (7.69 103)
(22.4) = 172,179 L = 172 m3. Therefore, one m3 of gas hydrates can store 172 m3
of gas at STP conditions (same as method-1).
Tables 1 and 2 shows the parameters used for calculating hydrate volume.
Additionally, this method of calculation can be utilized to find the storage capacity
in the presence of other gases, inhibitors, and promoters in hydrate structure [17].
Table 1 Details of parameter for method 1

Structure of hydrate 8CH4.46H2O
Type of hydrate Pure water hydrate
Number of water molecules in unit cell 46
Molecular mass of water 18.02
Fractional occupancy 1
Number of small and large cavity 2, 8
Molecular mass of component in small and large 16(CH4), 16(CH4)
Volume of unit cell in cm3 1.728 10−21
Avogadro number 6.023 1023
Mass of hydrate(1 mol of CH4) 119.615
Density of hydrate 0.9185
Volume/volume(storage capacity) 172.01
Table 2 Details of parameter for method 2

Structure of hydrate 8CH4.46H2O
Type of hydrate Pure water hydrate
Number of methane gas molecules in unit cell volume of hydrate 8
Volume of unit cell in m3 1.728 10−27
Molecules of gas stored in 1 m3 of hydrate 4.62963 1027
Number of molecules in 1 g moles 6.023 1023
Gram moles of gas in 1 m3 of hydrate 7686.58
1 g moles of gas occupies liter at STP condition 22.4
Gram moles of gas in 1 m3 of hydrate will occupy in liters 172179.5
1 m3 of hydrate will occupy in m3 of methane gas 172.18
Volume/volume(storage capacity) 172.18
3 Worldwide Occurrence of Hydrate
Gas hydrates are found worldwide below seafloor and permafrost regions. More
than 230 natural gas hydrate deposits were identified worldwide with the majority
in marine settings [18]. The existence of natural gas hydrate is basically dependent
on factors, such as pressure, temperature, nature, and composition of the gas, and
the environment. There is a huge amount of natural gas preserved in the form of
natural gas hydrate. The estimates on methane gas preserved as natural gas hydrate
vary form 1.4 1013 m3 [19] to 3.4 1016 m3 [20] in permafrost regions and
from 3.1 1015 m3 [19] to 7.6 1018 m3 [20] in marine settings. This amount
surpasses the combined amount of all other fossil fuels. Figures 2 and 3 show the
detailed world map and Indian subcontinent map of gas hydrate inferred and
recovered locations. From Fig. 2, it is clear that countries like USA, India, China,
Japan, and Canada are having good amount of known hydrate reserves. The tem-
perature, pressure, and surrounding environmental conditions influence the exis-
tence of gas hydrates. Figure 4 shows the depth-temperature zones at permafrost
and marine environment where natural gas hydrates are stable. From the figure, it
can be inferred that hydrates can be possibly found 200–1100 m deep in permafrost
and 1200–1500 m below sea level in the marine environment [21, 22]. However, in
certain regions like Arctic, the hydrate occurrence depth ranges from 200 to 1100 m
below the sea level. Also, in Antarctica, it ranges from 300 to 700 m [22, 23].
Though the quantity of natural gas hydrate is huge, the numbers of technically
recoverable reserves (TRR) are limited so far. The main reason attributed to this
limited TRR is the low capability of current technologies for the hydrate dissoci-
ation and the recovery of methane from the natural gas hydrate reservoir. Figure 5
shows a simplified hydrate resource pyramid with current TRR to understand the
importance of the development of technology for tapping this huge energy reserve
for the future energy sustainability. Collet et al. [21] demonstrated a hydrate
Fig. 2 World map of gas hydrate inferred and recovered locations (courtesy, USGS Gas Hydrates
Project)
Fig. 3 Gas hydrate accumulation in Indian subcontinent [62]
Fig. 4 Depth-temperature zones at permafrost and marine environment where natural gas hydrate
is stable [63]
Fig. 5 Simplified hydrate resource pyramid with current TRR
resource pyramid by arranging the natural gas hydrate deposits according to the
gas-in—place and reservoir quality. Figure 6 shows resource pyramid of the dif-
ferent types of hydrate accumulations.
3.1 Gas Hydrate Petroleum System
Similar to the conventional petroleum system, natural gas hydrate petroleum system
has been proposed for a better understanding of natural gas reservoir [21]. The gas
hydrate petroleum system includes the following components:
(1) Gas hydrate stability conditions
(2) Gas source
(3) Availability of water
(4) Migration of gas
(5) Reservoir rocks
(6) Timing
Fig. 6 Resource pyramid of the different types of hydrate accumulations [64]
3.1.1 Gas Hydrate Stability Conditions
Natural gas hydrate is stable within certain conditions as per the hydrate phase
equilibrium. The favorable conditions for the hydrate formation are low tempera-
ture, high pressure, low pore-water salinity, and presence of higher molecular
weight hydrocarbon gases.
3.1.2 Gas Source
The gas source for the formation of natural gas hydrate is microbial and thermo-
genic origin. A lot of hydrocarbon gases from these sources are a primary requisite
for a gas hydrate reservoir. It has been experimentally shown that the availability of
huge quantities of gas from both thermogenic and microbial origin plays an
important role in controlling the formation and distribution of gas hydrates [24–26].
3.1.3 Availability of Water
As hydrate formed by the entrapment of gas molecule inside the water cages,
availability of water is essential for the hydrate formation. The gas/water ratio of sI
and sII gas hydrate is 8:46 and 24:136, respectively [21].
3.1.4 Migration of Gas
After the gas generation (thermogenic/biogenic origin), methane and other hydro-
carbon gases migrate within the sediments depending on the formation type and
structure. Migration occurs mainly by three processes [21, 27]:
(1) Dissolved gas in water and migrating with it
(2) Diffusion
(3) Buoyancy.
3.1.5 Reservoir Rocks
Hydrate found in nature associated with fine-grained muds to coarse-grained sands.

The gas hydrate reservoir rock can be of (1) Coarse-grained rocks; (2) Hydrate
nodules dispersed in fine-grained rocks; (3) Fractured rocks; or (4) Massive hydrate
mounts with a minimum amount of sediments [9, 21].
3.1.6 Timing
Unlike in petroleum system, gas hydrate forms its own trap. The timing of gas
generation and time of trap formation are not affecting much in the accumulation of
natural gas hydrate.
3.2 Classification of Reserves
3.2.1 Classification Based on Sediment Type
Gas hydrate reservoirs are classified on the basis of sediments types, in which three
types of gas hydrate accumulations are observed. Clay dominated, such as in Blake
plateau lying in the western Atlantic Ocean [28], sand dominated, like the Eileen
Tarn gas hydrate petroleum system in Northern Alaska [25, 29] and complex gas
hydrate reservoirs (clay with limited silt/sand) like in KG basin of offshore conti-
nental margin of the Indian Peninsula [30].
3.2.2 Classification Based on Initial Reservoir Conditions
Based on initial reservoir condition, gas hydrate reservoirs are classified into four
classes. Class 1 consists of two zones, a hydrate-bearing zone and an underlying
two-phase fluid zone with mobile gas and liquid water. Class 2 entails
hydrate-bearing layer overlying a mobile water zone. Class 3 has a single
Fig. 7 Hydrate reservoir classification based on initial reservoir conditions
hydrate-bearing layer, which has no underlying mobile fluid zone. Class 4 has many
oceanic accumulations consisting of dispersed low-saturation natural gas hydrate
deposits which lacks confining geologic strata and may not be a desirable system
for gas production. Figure 7 shows the schematic representation of all classes of gas
hydrate reservoirs [31, 32].
3.2.3 Classification Based on Geological Features
Another classification of gas hydrate reservoirs is based on their geological features.

This can be of (a) pore filling in the pore spaces of sediments; (b) fracture filled with
hydrate in the natural fractures of formation; and (c) massive or nodules of hydrate
in fine-grained sediments [32].
4 Gas Production Methods Form Hydrates
At the initial reservoir condition, the in situ pressure and temperature falls within
the methane hydrate stability region. By shifting the phase toward the unstable
region (low pressure high temperature), hydrate can be dissociated into water and
natural gas [9]. There are many methods proposed for the dissociation of natural gas
hydrate and production of methane from the hydrate reservoir. The most common
approaches for the natural gas production from hydrates are thermal stimulation,
depressurization, inhibitor injection, and gas replacement/exchange. All these
methods primarily depend on the phase stability alteration of hydrate. In thermal
stimulation, the hydrate reservoir temperature increases above the phase equilib-
rium temperature of the methane hydrate, while depressurization decreases the
hydrate reservoir pressure below the methane hydrate equilibrium pressure. During
inhibitor injection, a hydrate inhibitor is injected into the reservoir to dissociate
hydrate. The injection of inhibitor shifts the phase equilibrium condition toward the
low-temperature and high-pressure region. In gas replacement/exchange, a gas
(such as carbon dioxide) which forms hydrate under high temperature and low
pressure compared to methane is injected into the reservoir to exchange the
Fig. 8 Different methane production methods from the gas hydrate reservoir
methane with the injected gas, so as to release the natural gas. The combination of
these methods can also be employed for the production of methane from the gas
hydrate reservoir. Figure 8 shows the different methane production methods from
the gas hydrate reservoir.
4.1 Thermal Stimulation
Thermal stimulation can be employed by the injection of hot water/gas into the
hydrate reservoir to promote methane hydrate dissociation by means of increasing
reservoir temperature. As illustrated in Fig. 8, thermal stimulation method aims to
increase the temperature in the vicinity of a well. It includes hot water/gas circu-
lation method in which the bottomhole temperature is raised by circulating hot
water inside the wellbore. In wellbore heating method, heaters are installed in the
downhole to increase the near wellbore temperature, and in hot water huff’n’puff
method, injection of hot water into the reservoir is provided from a well (huff). The
heat from the water is then transferred to the reservoir (soak) by shutting the well
for a certain period of time, and then the well is opened for production (puff). In
thermal flooding, hot water is injected from the injection well and flooded toward
production wells to increase the temperature and thereby dissociating the hydrate
between these wells. On applying hot water circulation and wellbore heating
methods, the reservoir temperature exceeds the phase equilibrium temperature of

natural gas hydrate and hydrate dissociation thereafter [33–36]. The first ever
successful methane gas production from a hydrate reservoir was conducted at the
Mallik site in Canada in the year 2002 which applied hot water circulation method
[37]. However, the application of the thermal methods is under dispute in terms of
energy efficiency since these methods require a large supply of energy.
4.2 Depressurization
In the depressurization method, dissociation of gas hydrate is induced by reducing

the bottomhole pressure using a pump installed in the downhole and transferring
this low pressure to the reservoir to propagate the dissociation front thereby dis-
sociating the hydrate. Due to the high energy efficiency of depressurization method,
it has gained huge attention among other production methods [38, 39]. The energy
required for the hydrate dissociation during depressurization derives from the
energy contained in surrounding formation [40]. The methane production decreases
after the sensible heat in the reservoir is exhausted [41]. Besides, during depres-
surization, the formation of ice and the reformation of hydrate may occur due to the
endothermic hydrate dissociation which hinders the methane production [9, 42, 43].
4.3 Inhibitor Injection
Thermodynamic hydrate inhibitors such as salts, alcohols, glycols are injected into
the hydrate reservoir to dissociate the hydrate and produce the natural gas. It shifts
the hydrate equilibrium curve toward the high-pressure and low-temperature region.
Due to the small shift in the equilibrium curve, significant hydrate dissociation may
not be achieved. Also, there are practical limitations in the injectivity of inhibitors
into the low permeable hydrate reservoirs [44–46]. Table 3 shows different inhi-
bitors used by the industry for gas hydrate dissociation.
4.4 CO2 Sequestration
CO2 sequestration is another viable method for the production of natural gas from a
gas hydrate reservoir. As CO2 hydrate forms at much lower pressure and higher
temperature, injection of CO2 into the methane hydrate reservoir will replace the
methane with CO2 [47, 48]. This method can be very effective in places where the
availability of CO2 is not a concern or it can be connected to a gas power plant
nearby [49, 50]. The CO2− produced from the power plant can be injected into the
hydrate reservoir, and the produced methane gas can be used for the energy pro-
duction from the power plant (Fig. 9).
Table 3 Various inhibitor used by the industry for dissociation of hydrate

Sl. no. Methane hydrate Average freezing temperature References
inhibition at 10 wt% depression (approx.) (K)
1 Methanol 3.05 Sloan and Koh [9]
2 Ethylene Glycol 1 Sloan and Koh [9]
3. Tri-ethylene Glycol 1.1 Sloan and Koh [9]
4. Sodium Chloride solution 1 Sloan and Koh [9]
5. Ionic liquids 0.9 Xiao et al. [65]
Fig. 9 Closed carbon cycle: Methane production, energy generation, and CO2 sequestration
4.5 Combined Methods
Depending on environmental conditions and reservoir features like permeability

and saturation, single production method may not be a viable option for the pro-
duction of methane from a natural gas hydrate reservoir. So, in these circumstances,
a combination of the common production methods may be feasible. For example,
incase of low-temperature reservoirs, depressurization combined with thermal
stimulation can be a feasible option [51]. This will help to avoid ice formation or
hydrate reformation during depressurization [43].
4.6 Unconventional Methods
For the dissociation of natural gas hydrates, many unconventional methods are
gaining research interest nowadays. Electrothermal heating, gas lift, ultrasonic wave
irradiation method, mining are some of the examples (Table 4).
Table 4 Major production methods with their advantages and limitations

Sl. Production Basic principle Advantages Limitations
No. method
1 Thermal Increasing the Best suitable for High energy loss to the
stimulation temperature above low-temperature surrounding formation
hydrate phase high-permeable
equilibrium reservoirs
temperature
2 Depressurization Decreasing the High energy Ice formation/hydrate
pressure below the efficiency ratio reformation may happen
hydrate equilibrium to hinder the dissociation
pressure front propagation
3 Gas injection/ Replace/exchange of Least impact on Availability of huge
CO2 gas with methane the formation quantities of
sequestration exchange-gas/CO2 is a
concern
4 Inhibitor Shifts the Very effective, By inhibitor injection
injection equilibrium curve to when combined alone, significant hydrate
high-pressure and with thermal dissociation cannot be
low-temperature flooding methods expected due to the small
region shift of the phase
equilibrium.
Environmental concern
related to the
manufacturing, handling,
and disposal of chemicals
5 Electro-Thermal Increasing the Easily Limited depth of
heating temperature above implemented and penetration
hydrate phase can be operated
equilibrium remotely
temperature
6 Combined Simultaneously Reducing the Good amount of reservoir
methods increasing the limitations of data is a prerequisite
temperature and individual
decreasing the methods
pressure
7 Mining Mining hydrate out Best suitable for Not a viable option for
of the reservoir unconfined hostile and deep sea
highly saturated environments
reservoirs
5 Gas Hydrate Production Initiatives and Field Tests
With the collaboration of US Department of Energy (DOE) and the US Geological

Survey (USGS), investigation on gas hydrate as a energy resource has begun in the
1980s. USGS in 1995 estimated a total 9 1015 cubic meters (STP) of domestic
hydrate resource, which was the first systematic and scientific assessment on a
hydrate resource. Encouraged by this statistics, under the direction of Department of
Energy and USGS, the Methane Hydrate Research and Development (MHR&D)
has been enacted in the year of 2000. The main objective of MHR&D is to reveal
the geographical features, economic potential, and environmental role of natural gas
hydrate reserves. There has been a tremendous development in the field of gas
hydrate, which can be mainly attributed to the improvements in the laboratory
work, numerical simulation analyses, and national and international collaborative
field experiments [21, 52].
Onshore- and offshore-based field studies done by US researchers mainly focus
on Alaska and Gulf of Mexico. Furthermore, investigations are done via laboratory
experiments and simulation studies. In both the Gulf of Mexico and on the Northern
Slope of Alaska, several public–private partnership firms were formed for the
production of natural gas. Due to the significant availability of pipeline capacity and
market accessibility, Gulf of Mexico also has the possibility of witnessing the first
US domestic production through offshore operations which are substantially
complex in nature. Recently, on the North Slope of Alaska, methane was produced
by hydrate dissociation using CO2 + N2 with CH4 exchange [53]. Canada, a
country having a large amount of hydrate reserve is very active in exploration and
production of methane from its hydrate reservoirs. Both thermal stimulation (in the
year 2002) and depressurization (in the year 2008) tests were carried out in Mallik
field at the northwest territories of Canada [37].
Japan, another important player, started the exploration and production testing
early in the first decade of this century. In March 2003, first offshore natural gas
production test from natural gas hydrate was carried out at Eastern Nankai trough of
Japan using depressurization [54]. In March 2013, Japan has become the first
country to produce natural gas from an offshore hydrate reservoir, Eastern Nankai
Trough. From April to June 2017, the second offshore production test was con-
ducted in the same sea area with the aim of consecutively extracting natural gas for
a longer period than in the first test, which was terminated for six days due to an
accident caused by sand entering into a well [55].
To fulfill the current and future energy requirements, the government of India
has been supporting financially to its national gas hydrate program. A scientific
expedition was done in the summer of 2006 owing to the discovery of gas hydrates
in the Indian continental margin. The hydrate discovery is revealed by seismic
studies as well as samples that were found accidentally during conventional oil and
gas drilling. A vast number of hydrate-bearing cores were found in the four offshore
locations thus confirming the presence of gas hydrate deposits in the country. The
most notable hydrate deposit is 130-m-thick fractured-shale occurrence in the
Krishna Godavari basin [30].
Research and development of gas hydrate production studies in China has the
history of more than a decade. The expedition conducted by China in the South
China Sea in the year 2007 has found gas hydrate occurrences with hydrate satu-
ration up to 40% in the clay-dominated sediments at many locations [56]. Recently,
China successfully extracted natural gas from hydrate reservoir for the first time in
the Shenhu area of the South China Sea on May 8, 2017. Therefore, China has
become the first country in the world to produce steady gas continuously from
hydrate reservoirs [57].
Korean research programs are mainly focused to quantify the potential hydrate
resources in the Korean East Sea. From the surveys conducted by the Korea
Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources between 2000 and 2004 and
numerical simulation studies, Ulleung basin of Korea was found to have rich gas
hydrate deposits, and the possibilities of the production potential from these
deposits are under investigation. The drilling and coring programs in Korea’s East
Sea reported several 100-m-thick occurrences which are similar to the thick
fractured-shale deposit discovered in India in 2006 [21, 58].
Government-funded research programs are being conducted in several other
countries (e.g., Taiwan, Vietnam, and Malaysia) to investigate about the viability of
gas production from hydrate deposit. Research programs like Hydratech and
Hydramed conducted in Europe make use of funds available via various sources of
the European Union. The list of countries with hydrate occurrences and that started
production is hence expanding [21].
6 Applications: Storage and Transportation
The global consumption of natural gas is increasing rapidly. Gas markets are
usually very far away from natural gas-producing areas. There are different
know-hows of transporting gas from production area to petrochemical plants and
finally to consumer. Gas can be transported in the form of pipeline natural gas,
liquefied natural gas (LNG), compressed natural gas (CNG), and maybe as natural
gas hydrate (NGH) [17]. Natural gas storage and transportation in the form of LNG
or CNG is very expensive and less energy efficient. It is thus required to develop
alternative technologies in the area of natural gas transportation and storage. The
natural gas can be converted to gas hydrates which are used for gas storage and
transportation [59]. To improve the storage capacity of hydrate and cost associated
with it, the methane hydrate formation conditions should be shifted to moderate
environment conditions (toward the right) with the help of thermodynamic pro-
moters as shown in Fig. 10. Further, to recover the gas from hydrate, the temper-
ature is increased or the pressure is decreased. This can be achieved by the use of
chemical inhibitors. Since the natural gas hydrates are stable at high-pressure and
low-temperature settings, their use for effective transportation and storage is lim-
ited. Hence, a different type of hydrates known as semiclathrate hydrates can be
explored for such applications [60]. Semiclathrate hydrates are analogous to gas
hydrates, but structurally different compared to gas hydrates. This structural dis-
similarity occurs because semiclathrate hydrates are formed specifically in the
presence of some thermodynamic promoter. Use of Tetra-Butyl-Ammonium-
Bromide (TBAB) in gas hydrate storage and transportation saves a lot of energy and
time; thereby, it is seen as the primary agent for such application. Gas transportation
20
18
16
14
Pressure/MPa
12
Stable hydrate zone
10
4
Methane Gas + water
2
0
270 275 280 285 290 295
Temperature/K
Fig. 10 Thermodynamic phase equilibrium of pure methane hydrate (green) and methane hydrate
in presence of promoter (red)
in the form of gas hydrate technology is an idea under investigation, and its
operative settings and procedure are not well established.
7 Conclusion and Future Direction
A massive amount of methane is delineated in the form of gas hydrates. Research is

in progress to estimate the regions around the world that are probable to contain gas
hydrates using seismic acquisitions, cores, well logs details, temperature informa-
tion, and gas compositions. A minor fraction of this huge untapped energy resource
can fulfill the energy necessities of the world. If explored and produced appropri-
ately, the gas hydrates have the potential to be a sustainable source of energy in the
near future. Several pilot production tests have been completed and are underway to
recover methane from gas hydrate deposit. In addition, production tests have been
executed and are also planned in near future by Japan, USA, India, and China to
establish the sustainability of various production technologies for methane recov-
ery. Gas hydrate research programs throughout the world and advances in tech-
nology will certainly help to cater technical challenges in order to harness enormous
energy stored in the form of natural gas hydrates.
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Current Advances in Bio-Oil Upgrading:
A Brief Discussion
Abstract Conventional fuels being on their verge of depletion and regularly

increasing air pollution demand a robust need of a promising energy resource to
meet the present energy demand and diminish the pollution concerns. The
renewable energy resources, for instance, wind energy, tidal energy, solar energy,
geothermal energy, biomass are presently being employed widely across the globe.
However, out of all renewable energy resources, only biomass ensures the sus-
tainability of carbon element for existing transportation vehicles. There have been
enormous amount of research regarding the biomass and its conversion into bio-oil,
but the suitable and economical bio-oil upgradation technology is still challenging.
The raw bio-oil derived from the thermochemical conversion of lignocellulosic
biomass comprises of a huge number of oxy-compounds which vitiate its quality as
biofuel; therefore, the research regarding the upgradation of raw bio-oil is emerging
as one of the fastest and exciting research field amongst researchers across the
globe. In this chapter, a comprehensive review of types of biomass, available
methods of conversion, bio-oil chemistry, and the bio-oil upgradation is carried out.
In addition, single component-wise upgradation of raw bio-oil components,
e.g. glucose, fructose, acetic acid, furfural, glycerol, over various catalysts is
reviewed. Along with the experimental works, this article also aims for the review
of several contemporary theoretical works which are carried out for the investi-
gations of the reaction mechanisms behind the conversion of various bio-oil
components. Currently, the density functional theory (DFT) is widely applied as a
computational tool for the accurate investigation of reaction mechanisms of various
bio-oil components; therefore, numerous studies based on the DFT methods are
also included.

Keywords Biomass Bio-oil Sustainable energy Catalytic upgrading

Kinetics Density functional theory
A. M. Verma N. Kishore (&)

Department of Chemical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati 781039, India

290 A. M. Verma and N. Kishore
Abbreviations
Glu Glucose
Fru Fructose
LA Levulinic Acid
HMF 5-hydroxymethylfurfural
Fur Furfural
FAL Furfuryl Alcohol
THFAL Tetrahydrofurfuryl Alcohol
THF Tetrahydrofuran
DHF Dihydrofuran
MF 2-Methylfuran
Xyl Xylose
Sor Sorbitol
AA Acetic Acid
Acde Acetaldehyde
Gly Glycerol
PD 1,2-propanediol
HP 1-hydroxypropan-2-one
PA Propanoic Acid
1 Introduction
Due to significant surge in global population and socio-economic factors, the

energy demand has been increased enormously compared with past few decades.
According to World Energy Council (2016) [1], global electricity demand is pro-
jected to be doubled by year 2060. Particular to India, annual per capita con-
sumption of electricity has seen rise by nearly twice in last decade, 2005–2006 to
2015–2016 [2]. However, a huge population of India (and world) still lives in the
absence of electricity; an assessment by World Energy Outlook (2016) estimates
that around 244 million people (1186 million in world) are without electricity in
India [3]. It also advocates that 63% population of India (38% of world) is still
primarily dependent on biomass as fuel for cooking. It can be seen that global
energy demand is at its peak, and it will further foresee a huge escalation due to
increasing demands by developing nations like India, China, Brazil, etc. Currently,
a huge fraction of energy demand is targeted through non-renewable energy
resource, particularly fossil fuels which are on their verge of depletion and regularly
increasing air pollution caused by them is not effectively controllable; therefore, a
robust need of a promising energy resource is required to meet the present energy
demand and diminish the pollution concerns. In the recent past, the application of
clean and renewable energy resources is increased due to limited availability of
conventional fuels, increasing pollution, and increasing energy demand.
Current Advances in Bio-Oil Upgrading: A Brief Discussion 291
2 Biomass
The share of renewable energy resource (other than hydro power) in total primary
energy supply, surveyed by World Energy Resources (2013) [4], has been docu-
mented as 11% in 2011 which is further projected to achieve 16% in 2020. The
renewable energy resources such as hydropower, wind energy, geothermal energy,
tidal energy, biomass, solar energy are regularly increasing their share in global
energy demand; however, the sustainability of carbon element for transportation
fuels and value-added chemicals is ensured by only biomass as renewable energy
resource [5]. This unique feature of biomass queue itself out from other potential
renewable energy resources and has become a hot topic for research across the
globe. Biomass, a plant material, is derived from photosynthesis reaction between
CO2 and water in the presence of sunlight to produce carbohydrates to form various
fractions, i.e. building blocks, of biomass [6]. The storage of energy in biomass is in
the form of chemical bonds, and these stored chemical energies release when bonds
between carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen break due to combustion, digestion, or
decomposition [6]. It is regarded as one of the most promising alternative energy
resource to fossil fuel and if it is exploited properly then the net rise in CO2 level in
the atmosphere will be zero (see Fig. 1) [7]. Biomass is abundantly available in
most of countries and also an inexpensive renewable energy resource, therefore, in
the recent past, a major fraction of research is devoted towards biomass.
Lignocellulosic biomass belongs to most abundant class of biomass and is a per-
suasive candidate for biofuel production because of no ‘food or fuel’ concerns
which is a major issue with first generation biofuels. There are three main building
blocks of lignocellulosic biomass, viz. cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin (see
Fig. 2). Cellulose (40–50%) is a polymer composed of C6 glucose monomers
connected via b-glycosidic bonds, whereas hemicellulose (25–35%) is a polymer
composed of five different monomers, namely D-xylose, L-arabinose, D-galactose,
D-glucose, and D-mannose [7]. On the other hand, lignin (15–20%) is
three-dimensional structure (see Fig. 2) composed of three main units, i.e. coniferyl
alcohol, sinapyl alcohol, and p-coumaryl alcohol [7]. The fractions of building
blocks of lignocellulosic biomass differ with different types of biomass [5, 6, 8, 9].
In this review work, various types of biomass, its conversion to bio-oil, char-
acteristics of bio-oil, problems to bio-oil, bio-oil upgradation as a whole, and
component-wise bio-oil upgradation are discussed. Various bio-oil components
such as glucose, fructose, acetic acid, glycerol, furfural are reviewed for their
reduction into lower fraction products in the presence of numerous catalysts.
2.1 Biomass Species and Their Compositions
A general biomass species is composed of various components, e.g. celluloses,

hemicelluloses, lignins, extractives (starches, terpenes), and ash [5]. Other
Fig. 1 CO2 cycle in biomass growth and its utilization via different approaches [5, 7]
Fig. 2 Building blocks of lignocellulosic biomass [5, 10]

Table 1 Various types of biomass with their chemical compositions [5, 6, 8, 9]

Composition Biomass type
Switchgrass Pine Eucalyptus Corn grain Corn stover
Lower heating value *17 18.6 18.1 17 17.5
(MJ/dry kg)
Components (dry wt%)
Cellulose 40–45 46– 48 3 36
50
Hemicellulose 31–35 19– 14 6 23
22
Lignin 6–12 21– 29 2 17
29
Extractives (tarpenes, 0 3 2 72 6
starches)
Ash 5–6 0.3 1 – 10
components of biomass such as triglycerides, resins, pigments, sterols, waxes are

present in minute portions [5]. Although the composition of various components
depends on numerous factors such as climate, soil quality, precipitation; therefore,
each biomass species can represent different component and elemental composi-
tions [5–7]. Table 1 depicts a few types of biomass species with their chemical
compositions and energy contents [5, 6, 8, 9]. The fractions of cellulose are higher
in eucalyptus and pine biomass species compared to corn grain and corn stover.
Low ash content, high fractions of representative components (cellulose, hemicel-
lulose, and lignin), and high ‘lower heating values’ of eucalyptus and pine biomass
species present them as desirable biomass species. On the other hand, corn grain is
majorly composed of extractives which include starches and terpenes compared to
cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin fractions (see Table 1).
2.2 Conversion Routes of Biomass into Bio-Oil
The conversion of biomass into lower fraction products is mainly performed via
three primary routes, namely gasification, liquefaction or pyrolysis, and hydrolysis
[5, 10]. In Fig. 3, all three main routes and post-processing methods are shown.
2.2.1 Gasification
In gasification process, solid or liquid carbonaceous materials, e.g. biomass, coal,

oil convert into syn gas or producer gas upon reacting with air, steam and/or
oxygen. The product gases contain CO, H2, CH4, CO2, and N2 in different fractions
[6]. A complex combination of chemical reactions occur in different stages of
gasification tower during biomass gasification such as partial oxidation, water–gas
shift, pyrolysis, steam gasification, and methanation reactions [5]. Pyrolysis process
Fig. 3 Various routes for biomass conversion into unprocessed bio-oils followed by their
upgradation routes [5, 7]
decomposes biomass into lower fractions and occurs in the absence of oxygen,
whereas partial oxidation involves less amount of oxygen for combustion compared
to stoichiometric requirement. Steam gasification involves the reaction of biomass
components with water to produce CO, H2, and CO2; in water–gas shift reaction,
CO and water react to produce CO2 and H2. The temperature conditions vary in the
ranges of 700–800 °C and 900–1000 °C for conventional and high-temperature
steam gasification processes, respectively [5]. On the other hand, methanation
involves the production of methane and water from reaction of CO and H2. The
stoichiometric chemical equations of cellulose gasification chemistry are as fol-
lowing [5, 6]:
3
C6 H10 O5 ! 5CO þ 5H2 þ C
C6 H10 O5 ! 5CO þ CH4 þ 3H2 5 Pyrolysis
C6 H10 O5 ! 3CO þ CO2 þ 2CH4 þ H2 3
C6 H10 O5 þ 1=2 O2 ! 6CO þ 5H2
C6 H10 O5 þ O2 ! 5CO þ CO2 þ 5H2 5 Partial Oxidation
C6 H10 O5 þ 2O2 ! 3CO þ 3CO2 þ 5H2 3
C6 H10 O5 þ H2 O ! 6CO þ 6H2
C6 H10 O5 þ 3H2 O ! 4CO þ 2CO2 þ 8H2 5 Steam Gasifiaction
C6 H10 O5 þ 7H2 O ! 6CO2 þ 12H2
CO þ H2 O ! CO2 þ H2 Water–Gas Shift
CO þ 3H2 ! CH4 þ H2 O Methanation
The composition of product gases is dependent of composition of biomass

species, gasifier type, etc. Nevertheless, the produced syn gas, i.e. CO and H2, can
be employed in several ways, [11] such as in the production of hydrogen via water–
gas shift reactions, in the production of methanol via methanol synthesis, and in the
production of alkanes via Fischer-Tropsch process (see Fig. 3). Furthermore, the
utilization of syn gas can be in the productions of isobutane via isosynthesis,
ethanol via fermentation, aldehydes and alcohols via oxosynthesis, etc. [11].
Methanol, on the other hand, which is produced during methanol synthesis from syn
gas can be utilized in the production of dimethyl ether (DME), H2, methyl tert-butyl
ether (MTBE), etc. [11].
The clogging of tars in exit pipes is very problematic; therefore, primary aim of
gasification should be to reduce the tar formation [5]. In order to achieve low tar
formation, various catalysts such as noble metals (Pt, Pd, etc.), CeO2/SiO2 sup-
ported Ni in gasifiers have been tested by researchers [12]. Few researches have
also been performed using the addition of alkali metals with the biomass feedstocks
to reduce tar formations [13].
2.2.2 Pyrolysis and Liquefaction
Bio-oils from pyrolysis process are produced by the heating of lignocellulosic

biomass in the absence of air/oxygen at elevated temperature of 450–550 °C [14,
15]. At such elevated temperature, the decomposition of lignocellulosic biomass
occurs and produces vapour phase products which can be subsequently condensed
into liquid phase upon cooling. The unprocessed bio-oils from pyrolysis of ligno-
cellulosic biomass are comprised of high oxygen content, low carbon content, and
high moisture content [16]. The pyrolysis-derived bio-oil contains over hundreds of
oxy-compounds in various oxy-catalogues such as, acids, ketone, esters, aldehydes,
sugars, phenols, miscellaneous oxygenates [10]. A general reaction scheme 1 for
biomass pyrolysis can be given as:
On the other hand, liquefaction of biomass produces a water-insoluble bio-oil at
high pressure (50–200 atm) and low temperature (250–450 °C) [18]. The bio-oil
produced from liquefaction of biomass contains less amount of oxygen and high
amount of carbon content than pyrolysis [16]. In addition, liquefaction oils have
higher heating values compared to pyrolysis oils because of high carbon content.
Although the high pressure requirement for liquefaction causes an increase in
capital cost and so the technical problems [5]. Table 2 comprises of the properties
of unprocessed bio-oils from pyrolysis, liquefaction oil and heavy fuel oil in per-
centages [5, 19]. Liquefaction-derived bio-oils appear beneficial compared to
pyrolysis-derived bio-oils (see Table 2) but liquefaction process involves various
technical difficulties and economic problems due to high-pressure operation, that is,
why pyrolysis-derived bio-oil draws more attention than liquefaction-derived
bio-oils.
Scheme 1 A general
mechanism for biomass
pyrolysis [17]
Table 2 Properties of bio-oils from pyrolysis, liquefaction, and heavy fuel oil
Property Pyrolysis oil Liquefaction oil Heavy fuel oil
Moisture content, wt% 15–30 5.1 0.1
pH 2.5 – –
Specific gravity 1.2 1.1 0.94
Elemental compositions (wt%)
Carbon 54–58 73 85
Hydrogen 5.5–7.0 8 11
Oxygen 35–40 16 1.0
Nitrogen 0–0.2 – 0.3
Ash 0–0.2 – 0.1
Higher heating value, MJ/kg 16–19 34 40
Viscosity (50 °C), cP 40–100 15,000 (at 61 °C) 180
Solids, wt% 0.2–1 – 1
Distillation residue, wt% Up to 50 – 1
The data are taken from Czernik and Bridgwater [19] and Elliott and Schiefelbein [33]
2.2.3 Hydrolysis
Hydrolysis reaction converts cellulose into sugar monomers reacting with water
molecules. However, hydrolysis of starches is less complicated compared to the
hydrolysis of cellulose because the latter is in crystalline structure with hydrogen
bonding [5]. Figure 3 depicts the conversion of biomass via hydrolysis which
degrades it into sugars and lignin. The utilization of lignin remains challenging
because of its complex structure; however, it undergoes upgradation process to
produce etherified gasoline, while the monomers of sugar undergo fermentation,
aqueous phase processing, and dehydration to form ethanol, liquid alkanes, and
aromatic hydrocarbons, respectively [5, 20]. Ethanol as first generation biofuels is
already being used as blend or primary fuel to transportation vehicles in countries
like Brazil. Aqueous phase processing of sugars involves various reactions, for
instance, dehydration, hydrogenation, hydrogenolysis, aldol condensation and
produces long alkane chains for liquid fuels [20, 21]. On the other hand, dehy-
dration of sugars involves elimination of water molecules from sugar to produce
various intermediate products such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) which
further undergoes in production of intermediates, e.g. levulinic acid, dimethylfuran
[22]. The productions of by-products such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF),
levulinic acid (LA) are also achieved by acid-catalyzed decomposition of sugars.
3 Characteristics of Bio-Oil
Bio-oils, having a distinctive odour, are free-flowing liquid with appearance of dark
brown colour. During the conversion of biomass into bio-oil, various reactions take
place such as dehydration, hydrolysis, isomerization, dehydrogenation, aromatiza-
tion, condensation, coking [5, 7, 16]. Branca et al. [23] in their experiment of
biomass pyrolysis obtained more than 400 oxy-compounds in unprocessed bio-oil
which are classified into acids, esters, alcohols, aldehydes, sugars, miscellaneous
oxygenates, furans, phenols, guaiacols, etc. Although the composition of bio-oil
differs with different feedstock and it depends on following factor [5, 24]:
(a) the feedstock,
(b) nitrogen and protein contents,
(c) heat transfer rate and final char temperature during pyrolysis,
(d) water content of the feedstock,
(e) storage issues, etc.
Bio-oil components are derived from cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin
building blocks. For instance, guaiacols are generally formed from lignin portion,
whereas cellulose and hemicellulose parts give rise to sugars, miscellaneous oxy-
genates, furans, etc. Other oxy-components such as esters, alcohols, ketones, acids,
and aldehydes generate from the decomposition reaction of miscellaneous oxy-
genates, sugars, and furans. Table 3 demonstrates the major oxy-compounds found
in unprocessed bio-oil [10]. Sugars contain levoglucosan and glucose as major
Table 3 Major functionals of bio-oil and corresponding major components [10]

Functionals Major compounds
Water Water
Simple oxygenates Acetic acid, formic acid, propanoic acid, methyl-propionic acid,
butanoic acid, methyl acetate, methyl formate, methyl propionate,
butane-2,3-diol, methanol, ethanol, ethylene glycol, acetone,
2-butanone, 2-butenal, 2,3-butanedione, cyclopentanone, glyoxal,
formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, 2-propenal, pentanal, etc.
Miscellaneous Glycoaldehyde, 1-hydroxyl-2-propanone, etc.
oxygenates
Sugars Levoglucosan, glucose, fructose, D-xylose, etc.
Furans Furan, 2-methylfuran, dimethylfuran, furfural, 2-furanone,
4-methyl-2-furanone, furfuryl alcohol, etc.
Hydrocarbons Hexane, methyl-propene, toluene, xylene, ethyl benzene, naphthalene,
etc.
Phenolics Phenol, methylphenols, dimethylphenol, anisole, methyl anisole, ethyl
anisole, catechol, methylcatechol, ethylcatechol, guaiacol,
methylguaiacol, ethylguaiacol, syringol, methysyringol, ethylsyringol,
vanillin, vanillic acid, sinapaldehyde, syringaldehyde, etc.
High-MW species Dimmer, trimmer, and oligomer of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin
compounds. Furans contain furan, furfural and 2-furanone as primary model

compounds, whereas phenolics are classified into several phenols such as catechols,
guaiacols, syringols.
4 Snags to Raw Bio-Oil and Its Upgradation
As it is aforementioned in the ‘Characteristics of Bio-Oil’ section that the raw

bio-oil from pyrolysis contains more than 400 oxy-organic compounds, unpro-
cessed bio-oil does not display desired characteristics of a good fuel. Therefore,
bio-oils obtained from fast pyrolysis cannot be used as transportation fuel directly
because it contains a significant amount of oxy-compounds which degrade its
quality as transportation fuel in terms of low heating value, low pH, high viscosity,
less stability, etc. [5, 10, 19, 25]. The problem occurs with bio-oil subjected to
diesel engine is that it is difficult to start ignition because of corrosiveness and
coking. It has to be channelized through upgradation processes. Bio-oils must be
upgraded before being subjected as an alternative to transportation fuel such as
diesel and gasoline fuels. Bio-oils can be upgraded by three primary promising
routes, namely (1) zeolite upgrading, (2) forming emulsions with the diesel fuel,
and (3) hydrodeoxygenation using hydrotreating catalysts [5].
4.1 Zeolite Upgrading
Zeolite catalysts are widely used catalysts in the petroleum industries for oil
refining, production of special and fine chemical and for petrochemistry inside the
petroleum fuel [26]. These are crystalline microporous materials with 5–10 Å pore
structures and bio-oils can be upgraded using zeolite to reduce oxy-functionals [26].
The products from the reaction contain hydrocarbons, water-soluble organics,
gases, and coke. A number of reactions occur during zeolite upgrading such as
dehydration, cracking, deoxygenation, aromatization, and polymerization.
Advantages to zeolite upgrading are that it does not require additional hydrogen,
operates at atmospheric pressure, and temperatures are also same as of bio-oil
production [5, 26]. But some disadvantages such as poor hydrocarbon yields and
high yield of coking brand this process less suitable in bio-oil upgradation processes
[5, 26].
4.2 Forming Emulsion with the Diesel Fuel
Because of high water content in raw bio-oil derived from pyrolysis or liquefaction
of lignocellulosic biomass, it is not solvable in petroleum-derived fuel; however, it
can be blended with diesel fuel employing the use of appropriate surfactants
[27–29]. Bio-oil emulsion depicts constructive ignition characteristics, though it
becomes costly because of addition of surfactant in emulsification process.
Nonetheless, corrosion process is still a challenging task in the engine upon the
application of bio-oil emulsions [29].
4.3 Hydrodeoxygenation (HDO)
Hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) is a process of cleavage of C–O bonds using hydrogen

in the presence of appropriate catalysts; the oxygen atoms in the bio-oil react with
H2 to form water [30, 31]. The hydrodeoxygenation process for upgrading the
unprocessed bio-oil occurs at moderate temperature of 300–600 °C and at high
pressure of hydrogen. The energy density and the stability of the bio-oil increase
after HDO [5]. A general chemical reaction involving HDO reaction mechanism
can be shown as:
R OH þ H2 ! R H þ H2 O
Here, in the above chemical reaction, R is the organic or oxygenated organic

functional group, e.g. CH3, C6H5, C6H5(OH), C4H3O(CH2). The additional
hydrogen atoms cleave the C–O bonds and produce water as side product along
with hydroxyl group reduced primary product. A comprehensive review about the
hydrodeoxygenation process and its chemistry is written by Furimsky [30, 31].
Various types of catalysts have been used in HDO process such as sulfided NiMo
and CoMo-based catalysts, mono metallic catalysts, noble metal catalyst and
transition metal oxide catalysts [32]. Sulfided NiMo and CoMo-based catalysts are
very popular in the petroleum industries because these are used to remove sulphur,
oxygen and nitrogen-based functionals from petroleum feedstocks. In petroleum
feedstocks, the oxygen content is very less compared to bio-oils; therefore, petro-
leum feedstocks do not involve with much water formation during refining.
Sulfided NiMo and CoMo-based catalysts show poisonous behaviour if the reaction
involves water formation or reaction itself is in water phase [32]. Since bio-oil
contains a large amount of oxy-compounds and during upgradation, the product
stream would contain water; therefore, sulfided NiMo and CoMo-based catalysts
may not be appropriate. On the other hand, noble metal catalysts such as Pt, Pd
show exceptional characteristics of HDO in both cases but are very costly [32]. The
disadvantage to HDO process is that it requires a large amount of hydrogen in high
pressure. Table 4 depicts the properties and elemental analyzes of raw bio-oil from
liquefaction and pyrolysis and upgraded bio-oil from HDO [33, 34]. It is seen in
Table 4 that wt% of carbon is increased to 85.3–89.2% when bio-oils were sub-
jected to hydrodeoxygenation compared to the carbon content of unprocessed
Table 4 Analysis of properties of bio-oils and upgraded bio-oils

Elemental High-pressure Pyrolysis Bio-oil Hydrodeoxygenated
analysis liquefaction [33] [34] bio-oil [33]
[33]
Carbon (wt%) 72.6 43.5 46.5 85.3–89.2
Hydrogen 8.0 7.3 7.2 10.5–14.1
(wt%)
Oxygen (wt%) 16.3 49.2 46.1 0.0–0.7
Sulphur (ppm) <45 29.0 – 50
H/C atom ratio 1.21 1.23 – 1.40–1.97
Density 1.15 24.8 – 0.796–0.926
(g/mL)
Moisture (wt%) 5.1 24.8 18.9 0.001–0.008
HHV (MJ/kg) 35.7 22.6 18.7 42.3–45.3
Viscosity (cP) 15,000 (61 °C) 59 (40 °C) – 1.0–4.6 (23 °C)
bio-oils due to pyrolysis (43.5–46.5%) and liquefaction (72.6%). Similarly, the

oxygen content decreased to 0.0–0.7 wt% upon HDO of raw bio-oil and, therefore,
the higher heating value (HHV) increased to 42.3–45.3 MJ/kg. Consequently, HDO
process is able to upgrade the unprocessed bio-oil to a higher end biofuel which can
be useful to transportation vehicles.
5 Decomposition of Cellulose and Hemicellulose
The decomposition of cellulose and hemicellulose at elevated temperature produces

various oxygenated compounds including acids, aldehydes, esters, ketones, mis-
cellaneous oxygenates. Few major oxy-compounds from the pyrolysis of cellulose
and hemicellulose are depicted in Fig. 4. The unit cells of structures of cellulose (C6
sugars) and hemicellulose (C5 sugars) are depicted in Fig. 4 which produce their
monomers, glucose and xylopyranose, respectively. Various oxygenated structures
(see Fig. 4) make unprocessed bio-oil unstable because of frequent spontaneous
reactions upon its storage. Furthermore, due to these several oxy-structures, the
liquid bio-oil suffers from low heating value, highly corrosive, high viscosity, etc.
Therefore, further upgradation of these oxy-structures into lower fractions or
alkanes is required to enhance the carbon content. Table 5 comprises of various
experimental and numerical studies carried out by several researchers based on few
model compounds produced from cellulose and hemicellulose fractions along with
catalyst, support, and major products.
Fig. 4 Few major bio-oil model compounds due to cellulose and hemicellulose fractions of
lignocellulosic biomass [10]
5.1 Glucose and Fructose
Depolymerization of cellulose polymer reduces to sugar monomers containing six

carbon atoms; however, due to high oxygen content, glucose component undergoes
dehydration reactions which produce water as side product. Glucose can be a very
important candidate for the production of platform chemicals such as 5-HMF,
levulinic acid. The production of 5-HMF first involves isomerization reaction of
glucose to fructose followed by dehydration reactions of fructose (see Fig. 5b);
however, it may also be produced directly from glucose but its production from
fructose often reports favourability. Assary et al. [22] numerically investigated the
thermochemistry at 298 and 448 K for the formation of levulinic acid from glucose
with 5-HMF as an intermediate product. They observed that higher temperature
favours thermodynamic properties of the reactions. They also assessed various
functionals of density functional theory based on G4 energies reported that DFT
functionals such as PBE, PW91, and B3PW91 perform accurately with 2–5 kcal/
mol of energy differences. Along with the thermochemical analyzes, Assary et al.
[35] also presented the reaction networks based on glucose and fructose compounds
to platform chemicals such as 5-HMF, levulinic acid, and fufuryl alcohol in
aqueous phase. In an experimental work, Binder and Raines [36] presented the
mechanism of formation of 5-HMF from fructose which itself was yielded from
cellulose in the presence of chlorides of chromium and copper catalysts. Their
experiments reported 42% of transformation of dry cellulose to 5-HMF. Li et al.
[37] carried out the conversion of glucose into 5-HMF via dehydration in the
Table 5 Upgradation studies based on several bio-oil model compounds derived from cellulose
and hemicellulose fractions of lignocellulosic biomass
Authors Feed Catalyst Support Major products
Assary et al. [22] Glu – – LA
Assary et al. [35] Glu – – HMF, FAL
Assary et al. [35] Fru – – HMF, FAL
Assary et al. [64] Fru – – HMF
Binder and Raines Fru CrCl2, CuCl, – HMF
[36] etc.
Li et al. [37] Glu C4SO3HmimCl – HMF
Huber et al. [20] Glu Pt SiO2–Al2O3 C7-C15 alkanes
Verma and Kishore Glu – – C9, C12, and C15
[21] alkanes
Xing et al. [38] Xyl Ru, Pt C, SiO2– Tridecane
Al2O3
Huber et al. [39] Sor Pt SiO2–Al2O3 Hexane, CH4, C2H6,
Pd SiO2–Al2O3 C3H8, H2O
Pt Al2O3
Pallassana and AA Pd(111) – Ethanol
Neurock [40] Re(0001) –
PdRe –
Rachmady and AA Pt TiO2 Acde, ethanol, ethane
Vannice [41] Pt SiO2
Pt η-Al2O3
Pt Fe2O3
Basagiannis and AA Ru Al2O3, H2, CH4, CO, CO2,
Verykios [42] MgO/Al2O3 C3H6O
Yang et al. [65] AA Ni MgO H2, CH4, CO, CO2,
CH2CO
Pham et al. [43] AA Ru TiO2 Acetone, CO2, H2O
Shangguan et al. [44] AA Ru C Ethanol
Alcala et al. [45] AA Pt-Sn SiO2 Ethanol, Acde
Pt(111) – CH4, CO
Zhang et al. [46] AA Cu(111) – Ethanol
Pallassana and Acde Pd(111) – Ethanol
Neurock [40] Re(0001) –
PdRe –
Verma and Kishore Acde Gas & – Ethanol
[56] Aqueous
Sato et al. [47] Gly Cu Al2O3 PD
Sato et al. [48] Gly Ag SiO2 HP
(continued)
Table 5 (continued)
D’Hondt et al. [49] Gly Pt NaY PD
c-Al2O3
C
H-Beta
Verma and Kishore HP – – Acetone
[58]
Behtash et al. [57] PA Pd(111) – C2 alkenes and
Pd(211) – alkanes
Bhogeswararao and Fur Pd c-Al2O3 FAL, THFAL
Srinivas [50] Pt c-Al2O3 FAL
Sitthisa et al. [51] Fur Ni–Fe SiO2 MF
Vorotnikov et al. [52] Fur Pd(111) – Furan, FAL, MF
Fellah [53] Fur Pt-graphene – Furan
Jenness and Vlachos FAL RuO2(110) – MF
[54]
Wang et al. [55] Furan Pd(111) – Butanol, THF, DHF,
propene
Fig. 5 Decomposition mechanisms of acetic acid (a), glucose (b), glycerol (c), and furfural
(d) [35, 41, 48, 49, 52]
presence of SO3H-functionalized ionic liquids. They presented two possible path-

ways for 5-HMF production from glucose with activation energies of 32.9 and
31.0 kcal/mol. They observed that the produced water compounds from dehydra-
tion of glucose take part in the reaction by transferring protons. On the other hand,
Huber et al. [20] synthesized various long-chain liquid alkanes from glucose
compound using several reactions such as dehydration, hydrogenation,
hydrogenolysis, aldol condensation reactions. They reported that produced
long-chain liquid alkanes are significantly appropriate for transportation fuels and
contain 90% of energy of carbohydrate and hydrogen feeds. Numerical counterpart
of experimental analyzes due to Huber et al. [20] is carried out by Verma and
Kishore [21] under density functional theory (DFT) framework for thermochemical
analyzes in gas and aqueous phases. They reported aqueous phase reactions as more
stable compared to gas phase and in particular, hydrodeoxygenation reactions in
aqueous phase showed higher thermodynamic favourability compared to gas phase
because of contribution of produced water compound in proton transfer. On the
other hand, Xing et al. [38] presented an experiment for the production of jet and
diesel range fuels from hemicellulose-derived compounds. They followed similar
approach as of Huber et al. [20] and reported 76% yield for overall process.
Further, Huber et al. [39] presented the conversion of sorbitol over SiO2–Al2O3
supported Pd and Pt catalysts. They described the formation of alkanes from sor-
bitol employing various reactions such as C–C cleavage, methanation, dehydration,
hydrogenation with 90% of heating value compared to the feedstock. In addition,
the selectivity of C6 alkane was recorded in between 30 and 55% over Pt–SiAl
catalyst and different reaction parameters.
It is seen that the conversion of glucose and fructose is normally carried out for
the formation of 5-HMF which is a very important intermediate to produce
long-chain alkanes. However, further conversion of 5-HMF may lead to the pro-
duction of 5-methylfurfural, furfural, furan, methylfuran, etc. On the other hand, the
fermentation of glucose leads to the production of ethanol as biofuel which itself is
a good candidate for fuel or blend to fuel.
5.2 Acetic Acid
Acetic acid (AA) component represents ‘acids’ catalogue of oxy-groups and it is

found extensively in raw bio-oil [10]. Various experimental and numerical works
have been performed on acetic acid decomposition, ketonization, etc., in the
presence of several catalysts. Though it is an important product in daily use, but its
decomposition to non-oxygenated or less oxygenated structure is highly encour-
aging in the context of bio-oil upgradation. A decomposition mechanism of acetic
acid into several lower fractions is shown in Fig. 5a. The hydrodeoxygenation of
AA leads to the formation of acetaldehyde which can itself undergo hydrogenation
and decarbonylation reactions to produce ethanol and methane, respectively. The
elimination of OH group of AA as water compound without additional H2 may lead
to the formation of ethenone (CH2CO), whereas the ethanol component from

hydrogenation of acetaldehyde may further reduce to ethane compound upon HDO.
Pallassana and Neurock [40] carried out a numerical study based on acetic acid
feedstock over Pd(111), Re(0001), and PdRe alloy. Most favourable reaction path is
reported as the formation of acetyl which subsequently gets hydrogenated to form
acetaldehyde. Further, the formation of end product ethanol is achieved via
hydrogenation of acetaldehyde component. The bond dissociation of C–OH is
highly favourable at Re(0001), whereas the hydrogenation of acetyl favours Pd
(111) surface. Rachmady and Vannice [41], on the other hand, performed experi-
ments on conversion of acetic acid in the presence of Pt supported SiO2, TiO2,
Fe2O3, and η-Al2O3 catalysts. Each support with Pt metal showed different selec-
tivity towards product, for instance, Pt/SiO2 showed 50% methane production, Pt/η-
Al2O3 favoured 40% methane formation, Pt/Fe2O3 produced 80% acetaldehyde,
and Pt/TiO2 showed 50% ethanol formation. Basagiannis and Verykios [42] carried
out steam reforming of acetic acid over ruthenium supported with Al2O3 and MgO/
Al2O3. They observed various products, e.g. H2, CH4, CO, CO2, and C3H6O, and
reported that Ru supported with MgO/Al2O3 showed higher activity and higher rate
of carbon deposition compared to Ru/Al2O3. On the other hand, Pham et al. [43]
studied the reaction kinetics for ketonization of acetic acid over Ru/TiO2 catalyst.
They also tested other supports such as C and SiO2 with Ru but both of these
supports showed negligible ketonization activity; however, Ru/TiO2 catalyst
showed higher ketonization activity. The major products were observed as acetone,
water, and CO2. Shangguan et al. [44] carried out acetic acid conversion over Ru/C
in aqueous phase and observed that Ru/C led to form ethanol as major product
unlike the case of Ru/TiO2 due to Pham et al. [43]. Alcala et al. [45] carried out
experiments and computations for the conversion of acetic acid over Pt and
PtSn-based catalysts. They reported that Pt-based catalysts are responsible for acetic
acid decomposition into methane, carbon mono oxide, and ethane; however, the
addition of Sn into Pt undergoes for the production of acetaldehyde and ethanol. On
the other hand, Zhang et al. [46] carried out the conversion of acetic acid over
Cu(111) and they also found ethanol as end product.
5.3 Glycerol
Glycerol component is one of the oxy-compounds present in unprocessed bio-oil in

considerable amount. There have been various studies based on glycerol component
in the context of bio-oil upgradation, for instance, Sato et al. [47, 48] carried out
experiments for the conversion of glycerol over Cu/Al2O3 and Ag/SiO2 catalysts.
For both of catalytic systems, they observed different products, i.e. Cu/Al2O3 led to
the production of 1,2-propanediol (PD) and Ag/SiO2 was selective towards the
production of 1-hydroxypropan-2one (HP). In addition, D’Hondt et al. [49] carried
out the conversion of glycerol over platinum catalyst supported with NaY, c-Al2O3,
C, and HBeta. Reported products were 1,2-propanediol, ethanol, n-propanol,
1-hydroxypropan-2-one. Pt/NaY catalysts showed higher selectivity towards

1,2-propanediol, whereas Pt/c-Al2O3, Pt/HBeta, and Pt/C undergo for major pro-
ductions of n-propanol, ethanol, and n-propanol, respectively. The formation of PD
from glycerol occurs due to the HDO reaction at the terminal hydroxyl group,
whereas the production of HP from glycerol involves OH cleavage followed by
hydrogen migration reactions. On the other hand, the formation of HP from PD may
also occur due the dehydrogenation reaction (see Fig. 5c).
5.4 Furfural and Furfuryl Alcohol
Furfural is usually obtained from cellulose fraction upon dehydration reactions of

glucose or fructose. However, further reduction of furfural leads to the production
of furan using decarbonylation reaction, whereas furfuryl alcohol (FAL) can be
obtained using hydrogenation reactions of furfural (see Fig. 5d). In addition, the
HDO of FAL produces 2-methylfuran component. Furfural has been quite a popular
compound amongst researchers in bio-oil field because of its ability to produce
various specialty chemicals; therefore, numerous studies based on this component
are carried out in recent past. For instance, Bhogeswararao and Srinivas [50] per-
formed experiments based on furfural component over c-Al2O3 supported with 2, 5,
and 10% Pd and Pt noble metals. They observed that at 298 K, both metal sup-
ported catalysts underwent hydrogenation of furfural; however, at higher temper-
ature 453 K, Pd supported catalysts underwent decarbonylation reaction of furfural
to produce furan, whereas Pt supported catalysts were selective for the production
of 2-methylfuran and furan ring-opened products. Sitthisa et al. [51] carried out
furfural conversion over silica supported Ni and Ni–Fe. Over silica supported Ni
catalysts, they observed the formation of furan and furfuryl alcohol which further
underwent for the production of C4 products and 2-methylfuran, respectively.
However, silica supported Ni–Fe favours the production of 2-methylfuran in greater
extent via furfural hydrogenation and furfuryl hydrogenolysis compared to C4
products. Vorotnikov et al. [52], on the other hand, carried out computational
analyzes for the conversion of furfural to furan, furfuryl alcohol, and 2-methylfuran
in the presence of Pd(111) catalyst using density functional theory. Their thermo-
dynamic analysis showed favourability for the formation of furan with CO from
furfural via decarbonylation reaction. Similarly, Fellah [53] also carried out
decarbonylation study of furfural but in the presence of platinum-doped graphene
sheet. They calculated the rate determining step as the association of hydrogen atom
to form furan component.
On the other hand, Jenness and Vlachos [54] carried out a computational study
for the conversion of furfuryl alcohol over RuO2(110) catalyst. They concluded that
direct C–O bond scission is highly kinetic demanding; however, the insertion of a
hydrogen atom to the furan ring followed by scission of C–O bond could signifi-
cantly reduce the kinetic barrier. Wang et al. [55] performed a numerical study on
ring hydrogenation and ring opening of furan ring over Pd(111) catalyst surface.
They concluded that the ring opening reaction as high activation barrier demanding;
however, hydrogenation at the a-carbon of furan ring followed by ring opening is
facile. They observed 1-butanol component as major product at high temperature
while tetrahydrofuran as major product at lower temperature.
5.5 Other Model Compounds
There has been extensive research over other bio-oil model compounds derived from
cellulose and hemicellulose fractions apart from above-mentioned model com-
pounds, e.g. acetaldehyde, 1-hydroxypropan-2-one, 5-HMF, levoglucosan. as
shown in Fig. 4. For instance, in the conversion of acetic acid to ethanol numeri-
cally, Pallassana and Neurock [40] found acetaldehyde as one of the intermediate
product which reduced to ethanol component via ethoxy intermediate. On the other
hand, Verma and Kishore [56] carried out numerical study on the conversion of
acetaldehyde into ethanol in gas and aqueous milieus. They reported aqueous phase
reactions as more favourable compared to gas phase conversions. Behtash et al. [57]
carried out the conversion of propanoic acid computationally over Pd(111) and Pd
(211) catalyst surfaces using decarbonylation and decarboxylation reactions. They
suggested that C–OH and C–H bond scissions are overall rate controlling reaction
steps over both catalyst surfaces; however, C–C bond dissociation reaction step over
Pd(211) is partially rate controlling. Verma and Kishore [58] carried out another
numerical study with 1-hydroxypropan-2-one as bio-oil model compound. They
showed the formation of acetone using hydrodeoxygenation of feed component
under density functional theory perspective. They opted M05-2X/6-31 + g(d,p)
level of theory for single point energy over B3LYP/6-311 + g(d,p) optimized
geometry for which the activation barrier was reported as 97.27 kcal/mol.
6 Application of Density Functional Theory in Bio-Oil
Density functional theory (DFT) [59, 60] is a computational quantum mechanical

tool for investigating and predicting the atomic and molecular properties using
electronic structure method. Unlike wavefunction methods, DFT depends on
electron density which itself is dependent on only three spatial variables (x, y, and
z). Here, the electronic energies of few molecular structures such as acetic acid,
ethane, ethanol, HMF, furan involved in this study are shown in Table 6 for pro-
viding a preliminary idea about their ground-state energetics. Optimizations of all
molecular structures using Gaussian 09 [61] software package are performed under
DFT framework and at B3LYP (Becke-3-parameters-Lee-Yang-Parr) functional
[62] with the basis set of 6–31g(d) [63].
Table 6 Electronic energy added with zero-point vibrational energy (ZPVE), i.e. ETotal, and
ZPVE of few molecular structures involved in this work. The electronic energies of optimized
structures are obtained at B3LYP/6–31g(d) level of theory under DFT framework
Component Molecular structure ETotal (hartree) ZPVE (hartree)
AA −229.019760 0.062027
Acde −153.774301 0.055820
Ethane −79.755182 0.075236
Ethanol −154.953482 0.080319
FAL −344.439473 0.102980
Fur −343.266537 0.079804
Furan −229.950386 0.070196
HMF −457.759070 0.112738
HP −268.263107 0.088865
Methane −40.473159 0.045230
(continued)
Table 6 (continued)
Component Molecular structure ETotal (hartree) ZPVE (hartree)
MF −269.245658 0.098059
PD −269.446887 0.113868
DFT is one of the most successful and promising computational tool for pro-
viding a reliable information of a particular molecule. Its extensive applicability in
computational physics and chemistry allows one to investigate and study the
chemistry behind the conversion and upgradation of lignocellulosic biomass and
unprocessed bio-oil, respectively. In the recent period, the DFT tool has been
applied extensively in bio-oil upgradation research area by analyzing the domi-
nating reaction mechanisms to reduce high non-volatiles into low non-oxygenated
fractions. Various such computational studies are already cited earlier in this
review, and it has been seen that the computational means for analyzing the reaction
mechanisms are dominating because of their accuracy, preliminary idea about
reaction’s favourability, energy requirements, etc.
7 Conclusion and Future Perspective
Various issues are discussed under this review for instance biomass, biomass
species, conversion of biomass to bio-oil, glitches to bio-oil, bio-oil upgradation,
and component-wise upgradation. Out of various upgradation processes,
hydrodeoxygenation occurs as a consistent and reliable process. However, it does
require high-pressure hydrogen for upgradation of bio-oil component. On the other
hand, various bio-oil components derived from cellulose and hemicellulose frac-
tions are reviewed over various catalysts and supports, be it experimental or
numerical work. Cellulose depolymerization gives rise to glucose component which
further can be converted to fructose and other specialty chemicals. Various studies
suggest fructose as a potential intermediate and easy to dissociate compared to
glucose. Fructose also gives rise to various value-added products, e.g. 5-HMF,
levulinic acid. On the other hand, acetic acid is one of the bio-oil model compo-
nents, representing carboxylic acid, which is extensively studied because of its
higher fraction in unprocessed bio-oil. It produces lower fraction products such as
CH4, CO, CO2 upon its decomposition; also, it is often converted to ethanol as
product using hydrogenolysis and hydrogenation reactions over Ru/C, Pt/SiO2,
PtSn/SiO2, Pd(111), etc. It is observed that few supports such as TiO2 over Ru
favour ketonization of acetic acid, whereas Ru/C leads to ethanol component.

Furfural is another bio-oil model compound which is studied extensively in the
presence of various catalysts. It produces several products upon its upgradation
such as furan via decarbonylation, furfuryl alcohol via hydrogenation,
2-methylfuran via hydrogenolysis of furfuryl alcohol.
There are various potential bio-oil model compounds which are considered less
during upgradation of bio-oil such as 1-hydroxypropan-2-one, butan-2,3-diol,
butan-2,3-dione representing miscellaneous oxygenates, alcohol, ketone groups,
respectively. These components can be equally valuable to understand the bio-oil
upgradation phenomena compared to other discussed bio-oil model compounds.
However, apart from model compounds, the synthesis of appropriate catalyst is one
of the most challenging tasks in bio-oil upgradation because each catalyst/support
combination leads to different selectivity percentage towards desired product. In
this case, bimetallic catalysts may lead to interesting results because of two different
characteristics due to each metal. In addition, selection of appropriate support is
another possibility to achieve desirable product.
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A Succinct Review on Upgrading
of Lignin-Derived Bio-oil Model
Components
Abstract Increasing energy demand and depleting non-renewable energy resour-

ces have centred the researcher’s cognition to develop a sustainable technology that
can exploit renewable energies. Renewable energies include solar energy, wind
energy, tidal energy, hydropower, biomass but leaving a snag there that only bio-
mass, as the renewable energy resource, could be the sustainable alternative for
transportation fuels because it delivers sustainable carbon. Biomass comprises of
three main units, i.e. cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. In the recent past, cel-
lulose and hemicellulose have acquired much attention but, on the other hand,
lignin scuffled to get proper consideration. However, earlier it has been used to
produce a less effective heat and electricity by combustion. Currently, lignin is
magnanimous amongst researchers because of its higher energy density, great
source for phenolic fine chemicals, etc. Bio-oils derived from fast pyrolysis of
lignocellulosic biomass comprise of more than 300 oxy-compounds which vitiate
its quality in the form of low pH value, less stable, highly viscous, and low heating
value for the application as transportation fuel. Therefore, it needs the proper
upgradation technology to make it exploitable for transportation fuels. Here in this
chapter, a succinct review is carried out for the lignin-derived bio-oil model
compounds such as phenol, guaiacol, anisole, vanillin, and eugenol. Guaiacol
component is one of the key components in phenolic fraction of bio-oil because its
presence in bio-oil is often higher and, in addition, other higher molecular weight
phenolic model compounds such as vanillin and eugenol reduce to guaiacol
majorly. Furthermore, guaiacol component can successfully represent a higher
fraction of lignin structure because of attachment of hydroxyl and methoxy groups
in its molecular structure.

Keywords Lignin Bio-oil Lignocellulosic biomass Kinetics

Guaiacol Sustainable energy
A. M. Verma N. Kishore (&)

Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati,
Guwahati 781039, India

Abbreviations
PHE Phenol
BEN Benzene
CYHA Cyclohexane
CYHN Cyclohexanone
CYHL Cyclohexanol
CYHD Cyclohexan-2,4-dione
ANI Anisole
o-Cr o-cresol
m-Cr m-cresol
p-Cr p-cresol
TOL Toluene
MXCYHA Methoxycyclohexane
GUA Guaiacol
CAT Catechol
MXCYHL 2-methoxycyclohexanol
MCAT Methylcatechol
SAL Salicylaldehyde
MXCYHDL 6-methoxycyclohexa-1,5-dien-1-ol
CYHDN Cyclohexan-1,2-dione
CYHDDL Cyclohexa-2,6-dien-1,2-diol
CYPTN Cyclopentanone
DHBZD 3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde
VAN Vanillin
p-HBZD 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde
MXBZD 3-methoxybenzaldehyde
m-HBZD 3-hydroxybenzaldehyde
EUG Eugenol
ALCAT 4-allylcatechol
ALPHE 4-allylphenol
PLPHE 4-propylphenol
PLBEN Propylbenzene
PLGUA 4-propylguaiacol
PLCAT 4-propylcatechol
ALANI 3-allylanisole
ALPHE 3-allylphenol
A Succinct Review on Upgrading … 317
1 Introduction
The exploration of an alternative energy resource other than fossil reserves in the
twenty-first century is at its peak because of declining fossil resources, increasing
energy demand, and increasing pollution occurred by fossils. Fossil fuels are the
main reason for growth in the pollution levels in urban and suburban regions across
the world because it releases the oxides of carbon (carbon monoxide and carbon
dioxide), sulphur, and nitrogen which cause serious impacts on habitats [1].
Declining fossil reserves (especially petroleum fuels) and increasing energy
demands at the same time have attracted researchers’ concerns to develop a
socio-economic and green fuel technology to surpass this hurdle. In this scenario,
renewable energies are the best possible alternative to diminish the environmental
and depletion concerns due to non-renewable energy resources. Renewable energy
resources include tidal energy, solar energy, hydropower, geothermal energy,
biomass; however, out of all renewable energy resources, only biomass has the
potential to provide sustainable carbon element for transportation fuel and specialty
or platform chemicals [1, 2]. Due to this remarkable feature, biomass, as renewable
energy resource, is favourite amongst researchers compared to other
non-conventional energy resources. In addition, biomass is inexpensive, abundant,
and easily available in most of the nations; therefore, the research based on biomass
has been increased remarkably in the last decade [1, 3, 4]. Furthermore, the net rise
in CO2 level in the atmosphere due to biomass consumption is zero if exploited
properly [5, 6]. Lignocellulosic biomass, a class of biomass, is mainly composed of
three building blocks, viz. cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin [1, 7]. Cellulose is
polymer of D-glucose monomers linked together via b-1,4-glycoside linkages, and it
contributes 40–80 wt% in total biomass composition [1, 7]. Hemicellulose which
covers 15–30 wt% of total biomass comprises of five different monomers, namely
xylose, mannose, galactose, rhamnose, and arabinose [1, 5, 7]. Lignin, on the other
hand, is a complex three-dimensional polymer of different phenylpropane units
linked via ether and carbon–carbon bonds (see Fig. 1). It accounts for 15–30 wt%
of total biomass. Earlier, due to its complex structure, it used to be scrapped off or
combusted to produce low-quality heat or electricity but in the recent past, research
based on lignin fraction of lignocellulosic biomass is increased enormously irre-
spective of its very complex structure because: (a) it has high energy density
compared to other two building blocks of lignocellulosic biomass, (b) it is
by-product in pulp and paper industries, (c) it can withstand at high temperature
during pyrolysis compared to other two fractions of lignocellulosic biomass, (d) it is
an excellent platform for generation of various phenolic specialty chemicals, etc. [3,
8]. This review work focuses on chemistry of lignin, model compounds due to
lignin-derived bio-oil components, and their upgradation processes.
Fig. 1 Three-dimensional structure of lignin [53]
2 Lignin
Lignin (see Fig. 1) is highly complex three-dimensional copolymer of mainly three

phenylpropane units, namely p-coumaryl alcohol, sinapyl alcohol, and coniferyl
alcohol. All these three monomers of lignin are depicted in Fig. 2. Precise structure
of lignin is still unclear to researchers; however, it is found that monomers form
lignin polymer via various reported bond linkages such as b-O-4-aryl ether,
a-O-4-aryl ether, 4-O-5-diaryl ether, b-5-phenylcoumaran, 5-5-biphenyl,
Fig. 2 Structure of lignin monomers: p-coumaryl alcohol, coniferyl alcohol, and sinapyl alcohol
[1]
b-1-(1,2-diarylpropane), b-b-(resinol). [9]. Out of all these linkages, b-O-4-aryl

ether linkage is found to be most frequent type of coupling linkage amongst others
in both softwood and hardwood lignins [9]. The lignocellulosic biomass generally
comprises lignin fraction from 15 to 30%; however, the amount of lignin depends
on type of feedstock, e.g. softwoods contain higher fraction of lignin compared to
hardwoods followed by grasses [1, 5, 9].
The isolation of lignin from lignocellulosic feedstocks can be achieved by
various mechanical and chemical methods [9]. The isolation of lignin based on
solubilizing agent is quite popular; however, there are two approaches in the sol-
ubilizing process. First approach dissolves cellulose and hemicellulose fractions of
lignocellulosic biomass only and leaves lignin as residue, e.g. by-production of
lignin from ethanol fuel biorefinery, while second approach dissolves lignin only
and leaves cellulose and hemicellulose fractions as residues, e.g. kraft and sulphate
pulping in pulp and paper industries [9, 10]. The cellulose and hemicellulose parts
of biomass have got a considerable amount of attention and so the components
representing both building blocks in unprocessed bio-oil. But lignin part was not
majorly touched by researchers since last decade due to its complex 3D structure.
Lignins are also found as the by-product from pulp and paper industries, though
they were used to be either scrapped off or to produce low efficiency heat and
electricity. However, as it is described earlier that lignins are 3D structure of
phenylpropane units, they are a major source for obtaining phenolic platform
chemicals. On the other hand, the upgraded phenolic fraction of bio-oil, as a blend
to the transportation fuel, is a great source of aromatic hydrocarbons which are well
known to enhance the octane number of gasoline.
3 Decomposition of Lignin
A major disadvantage of lignin fraction is that it is little complicated to decompose

and produces huge amount of solid chars compared to other two building blocks of
lignocellulosic biomass. Nevertheless, the conversion of lignin can be carried out
primarily via pyrolysis, gasification, thermolysis, hydrogenolysis, hydrolysis, oxi-
dation, and combustion [1, 3, 8, 9]. Pyrolysis process of lignin occurs in the absence
of oxygen or steam/air at elevated temperature, while gasification process involves
oxygen content to break down heavy molecular weight species. On the other hand,
thermolysis is process of breakdown of lignin in the presence of heat; pyrolysis is a
type of thermolysis. Under hydrogenolysis, the C–C or C–O bonds are cleaved with
hydrogen, while hydrolysis process involves the presence of water to assist in
breaking bonds. Furthermore, the conversion of lignin through oxidation and
combustion processes is also considered by various researchers due to the presence
of oxy-functional groups [11, 12]. These conversion processes convert lignin into
four forms of products, namely gases, liquid oils, chars, and heat [1, 5, 8, 9]. The
products from different decomposition processes of lignin are listed in Table 1 [13].
Chars and heat can be utilized in the production of electricity. Gaseous products
Table 1 Different decomposition processes of lignin and their products [13]

Process Feed Products from lignin
Combustion Lignin Flue gases
Gasification Syngas
Pyrolysis Bio-oil, char
Hydrolysis Char
include CO, H2, CO2, and CH4, while liquid oils include phenols, aldehydes, and
aliphatic components. The utilization of gaseous products can be in the production
of methanol by methanol synthesis, H2 by water–gas shift reaction, and alkanes by
Fisher–Tropsch process. On the other hand, the liquid unprocessed bio-oils which
include a huge range of phenolic oxy-compounds such as phenol, anisole, guaiacol,
vanillin, eugenol suffer from various drawbacks, e.g. low heating value, low pH,
low stability, high viscosity, due to these oxy-compounds. A pyrolytic experiment
is carried out by Jiang et al. [14], and they have reported a huge range of major
phenolic components. A few major phenolic bio-oil model compounds due to
pyrolysis of lignin are depicted in Fig. 3. Furthermore, the presence of major
phenolic model compounds is also reviewed by Mu et al. [8]. The unprocessed
liquid bio-oils due to various conversion processes of lignin feedstocks cannot be
applied to the transportation vehicles due to high amount of oxygen containing
compounds; therefore, it must be channelized to upgradation processes. There are
various chemical processes for the upgradation of unprocessed bio-oil derived from
pyrolysis and/or liquefaction of lignocellulosic biomass, for instance, upgradation
on zeolite catalysts, emulsification, hydrodeoxygenation (HDO). Corma [15]
Fig. 3 Major phenolic bio-oil model compounds derived from lignin fraction of lignocellulosic
biomass [54]
carried out a comprehensive review regarding the zeolite catalysts and their
applications in bio-oil and petroleum refineries. Zeolite catalysts, however, present
advantage of no additional hydrogen requirement for bio-oil upgradation but lack
with disadvantage of coking over pores of the catalyst surface which reduces their
catalytic activities [1]. Emulsification of bio-oils with appropriate surfactants may
show the similar characteristics of diesel fuel but the corrosion process inside
vehicle engine due to high water content is still challenging [1]. On the other hand,
hydrodeoxygenation process for bio-oil upgradation is reviewed to be the best
technique by far; however, this process requires high pressure of hydrogen [1, 3, 8].
4 Hydrodeoxygenation (HDO)
Hydrodeoxygenation is a chemical process of cleaving C–O bonds using hydrogen

gas over appropriate catalytic system. In 1983, Furimsky [16] first published the
review paper on the catalytic hydrodeoxygenation in which he pointed out the
chemistry of hydrodeoxygenation, catalyst behaviour, mechanism, and kinetic study
related to HDO process in crude oil upgrading. At that time, a very limited infor-
mation was available due to the novelty of the subject and also because the
hydrodeoxygenation process was not attracting the attention that time. The main
reason of unfamed hydrodeoxygenation process earlier in 1980 and 1990s was that
in crude petroleum oil, the oxygen content is very less and sulphur content is high;
therefore, hydrodesulphurization (HDS), hydrodenitrogenation (HDN), etc., are
major processes in petroleum refining industries [3]. However, because of declining
fossil fuels, increasing pollution, and energy demand, researchers diverted their
concerns towards biomass to bio-oil process. The case with raw bio-oil from
pyrolysis or liquefaction is quite reverse with the petroleum fuel because, in the raw
bio-oil, oxygen content is quite high and sulphur appears as trace amounts; therefore,
hydrodeoxygenation process is dominating in the bio-oil upgradation era [1, 3]. In
2000, Furimsky [17] reviewed another catalytic hydrodeoxygenation process with
further extended range. This time, more detailed information was included about the
components such as phenol, furan, ether, and other bio-oil components. Further,
Huber et al. [1] presented a thorough review on synthesis of transportation fuels from
biomass. They reported the chemistry of biomass, routes of transformation of bio-
mass to bio-oil, and catalysis in bio-oil upgradation. They also reported transfor-
mation of biomass, feedstock types, production of bio-oil, upgrading routes, and
their processes. Mu et al. [8] reviewed the upgradation of lignin-derived bio-oil
components from pyrolysis. They gave a detailed phenomenon of various catalysts
and their deactivation along with supports and promoters for the catalyst. Saidi et al.
[3] also reported a review about the upgradation of lignin-derived bio-oils by cat-
alytic hydrodeoxygenation. They reviewed the catalytic upgradation of the
lignin-derived model compounds such as guaiacol, phenol, and anisole with their
reaction networks and mechanisms. Catalytic behaviours have been reported for
mono-metallic, bimetallic, metal sulphides, metal phosphides, metal nitrides cata-

lysts along with the promoters and supporters to the catalyst.
There are several phenolic bio-oil model compounds present in the
lignin-derived bio-oil (see Fig. 3) such as phenol, guaiacol, anisole, vanillin,
eugenol which are great source of generating platform chemicals and can be
decomposed to obtain various aromatic hydrocarbons. Considerable amount of
experimental works is available on phenol, guaiacol, anisole, etc., in the presence of
various catalysts; however, research based on theoretical studies involving these
model compounds is lacking. Nevertheless, the discussion on various reaction
mechanisms and catalytic works based on five phenolic bio-oil model compounds,
i.e. phenol, anisole, guaiacol, vanillin, and eugenol, derived from pyrolysis or
liquefaction of lignin is presented below.
4.1 Phenol
Phenol component is a very good representation for phenolic fraction of unpro-

cessed bio-oils derived from pyrolysis of lignin feedstock because of hydroxyl
group attached with phenyl ring [3]. In fact, the structure of p-coumaryl alcohol
which is one of the three monomers of lignin represents one hydroxyl group
attached to aromatic ring; however, there is another hydroxyl group in p-coumaryl
alcohol but that is attached with chain (see Fig. 2). Therefore, upgradation study of
phenol can be very important in order to understand the cleavages of Caromatic–OH
bonds in lignin structures. Figure 4 depicts the conversion mechanism of phenol.
Phenol can be upgraded via various routes such as hydrodeoxygenation of phenol
yielding benzene, keto-enol tautomerization of phenol to convert the C–O single
bond into ketone group by migrating the hydrogen to aromatic carbon followed by
two molecular hydrogenation reactions to saturate the ring to produce cyclohex-
anone, three molecular hydrogenation reactions to saturate the phenyl ring to
produce cyclohexanol. The production of cyclohexanol can also be achieved via
hydrogenation of C=O double bond of cyclohexanone. On the other hand, the
elimination of water compound via HDO of cyclohexanol produces cyclohexane
structure. However, the production of cyclohexane can also be achieved via ring
saturation of benzene (see Fig. 4). Various experimental and computational studies
have been performed for HDO of phenol component (see Table 2); for instance,
Şenol et al. [18] in their experiment of phenol conversion observed the production
of benzene over c-Al2O3-supported CoMo catalytic system; however, NiMo/
c-Al2O3 catalyst showed major production of cyclohexane. On the other hand,
silica-supported Ni catalyst showed higher selectivities of cyclohexanone, cyclo-
hexanol, and benzene in the phenol conversion experiment carried out by Shin and
Keane [19] in the temperature range of 423–573 K. However, the production of
benzene was observed only at higher temperature cases. Furthermore, the Pd/C and
HZSM-5 catalysts showed the formation of cycloalkanes instead of aromatics in the
experiments performed by Zhao and Lercher [20]. The HY zeolite catalysts for the
Fig. 4 Conversion mechanisms of phenol
Table 2 Upgradation of lignin-derived bio-oil model compounds over various catalysts and
supports
Şenol et al. [18] PHE CoMo c-Al2O3 BEN
NiMo CYHA
Shin and Keane PHE Ni SiO2 CYHA, CYHL, BEN
[19]
Zhao and Lercher PHE Pd C, Cycloalkanes
[20] HZSM-5
Hong et al. [21] PHE – HY zeolite
Pt HY, Hb, CYHA
HZSM-5
Huuska and ANI CoMo c-Al2O3 PHE, cresols
Rintala [27] NiMo
Zhu et al. [23] ANI Pt Hb-zeolite BEN, xylene, toluene
SiO2 BEN
Hurff and Klein ANI CoMo Al2O3 CYHA, PHE, BEN
[24]
Huuska [26] ANI Mo c-Al2O3 PHE, cresol, 2,6-dimethylphenol
Ni c-Al2O3, PHE, BEN
SiO2
Olcese et al. [28] GUA Fe SiO2 BEN, CYHA
Bykova et al. [31] GUA Ni–Cu SiO2 CYHA, CYHN
Al2O3
Lee et al. [33] GUA Pt(111) – Catechol
Lu et al. [34] GUA Pt(111) – Catechol
(continued)
Table 2 (continued)
Lu et al. [36] GUA Ru – Phenol
(0011)
Bindwal and VAN Ru C Creosol
Vaidya [37]
Jiang et al. [42] VAN Pd Carbon Creosol
nitride
Nimmanwudipong EUG Pt c-Al2O3 PLGUA
et al. [46] HY – GUA, isoeugenol
zeolite
Zhang et al. [47] EUG Pd C 2-methoxy-4-propylcyclohexanol
HZSM-5 –
Chen et al. [50] EUG Ru CNT Propylcyclohexane
conversion of phenol were not reported to be suitable by Hong et al. [21], though
HY zeolite upon impregnation of Pt metal showed very high conversion of phenol
to cyclohexane. On the other hand, noble metal Pt supported with silica and alu-
mina separately is reported to be favourable for the production of cyclohexanol.
Along with dispersion of Pt over HY zeolite, Hong et al. [21] also tested their
experiments on Hb and HZSM-5-supported Pt catalytic systems and testified
cyclohexane as major product. The conversion of phenol, an intermediate in the
conversion of guaiacol, in the production of cyclohexanone component is studied
recently by Verma and Kishore [22]. They carried out two competitive reaction
schemes to produce cyclohexanone numerically in the gas phase and in the absence
of catalyst employing the framework of density functional theory (DFT). Under first
route, phenol was subjected for a partial ring saturation followed by keto-enol
tautomerization reaction and a molecular hydrogenation reaction to completely
saturate the ring and produce cyclohexanone. Under second route, phenol under-
went keto-enol tautomerization reaction followed by two molecular hydrogenation
reactions to produce cyclohexanone component. They concluded latter reaction
mechanism as a favourable reaction from thermo-chemical point of view.
4.2 Anisole
Unlike the component phenol, anisole comprises of methoxy functional attached

with phenyl ring which is often repeated oxy-functional in three-dimensional lignin
structure (see Fig. 1). The research based on conversion of anisole as a represen-
tation of lignin fraction-derived bio-oil has got numerous attractions in past [23–
27]. Various conversion reaction mechanisms are demonstrated in Fig. 5. For
instance, demethylation reaction of anisole using a hydrogen molecule gives rise to
Fig. 5 Conversion mechanisms of anisole to various products
phenol and methane molecules, followed by conversion of phenol to benzene and

water molecules via hydrodeoxygenation reaction. The production of benzene can
also be achieved by direct demethoxylation reaction of anisole which produces
methanol as side product. The conversion of phenol into cyclohexanol and cyclo-
hexane, and conversion of benzene into cyclohexane component follow similar
reaction mechanisms as of shown in Fig. 4. On the other hand, ring saturation
reaction of anisole using three hydrogen molecules produces methoxycyclohexane
as product which further can be decomposed into cyclohexane, cyclohexanone, and
cyclohexane components. Various literatures [26, 27] have shown the possibility of
formation of cresols (o-, m-, and p-cresol) from anisole which can probably be
achieved by alkylation reactions upon the formation of phenol. The productions of
phenol and o-cresol from anisole are studied by Huuska and Rintala [27] over
c-Al2O3-supported CoMo and NiMo catalysts in fixed bed reactor at 573 K and
50 bar reaction conditions (see Table 2). Figure 5 depicts the formations of all three
isomers of cresols from anisole which further reduce to toluene upon
hydrodeoxygenation reaction. However, Huuska and Rintala [26] did not advocate
the formation of toluene but Zhu et al. [23] have reported the formation of toluene
along with the productions of benzene and xylene from conversion of anisole over
Pt/Hb-zeolite catalyst. However, at Pt/SiO2 catalyst, Zhu et al. [23] observed only
benzene as major product. Hurff and Klein [24] also carried out an experiment of
anisole conversion over CoMo catalyst but with Al2O3 support, and they observed
the productions of cyclohexane along with phenol and benzene. On the other hand,
Huuska [26] carried out another experiment for anisole conversion over
Mo/c-Al2O3 and Ni metal supported with two different supports c-Al2O3 and SiO2.
The Ni catalyst with both supports showed selectivities for phenol and benzene as
major products, whereas Mo/c-Al2O3 underwent the formations of phenol, cresol,
and 2,6-dimethylphenol as main products.
4.3 Guaiacol
Guaiacol component, in recent past, has acquired various attentions amongst

researchers because of representing two oxy-functionals, hydroxyl and methoxy
groups, in its molecular structure. Because of this representation, guaiacol com-
ponent is most preferred model compound for the study of lignin-derived bio-oils
[3, 22, 28, 29]. Therefore, numerous studies on conversion of guaiacol component
have been devoted in the presence of several catalysts, e.g. Ru/C [30], Fe/SiO2 [28],
Ni/SiO2 and Ni supported with SiO2 and Al2O3 [31], CoMoS/c-Al2O3 [32].
Figure 6 depicts various conversion mechanisms of guaiacol model compound. For
instance, demethylation reaction of guaiacol converts into catechol intermediate
which further reduces to phenol upon hydrodeoxygenation reaction, whereas water
elimination from guaiacol component produces anisole component which further
reduces to various products via reaction mechanisms as shown in Fig. 5. The
demethoxylation reaction of guaiacol directly produces phenol component which
Fig. 6 Various reaction mechanisms for the conversion of guaiacol

can further undergo into formations of several products using reaction mechanisms
shown in Fig. 4. The methyl transfer reaction of guaiacol produces
4-methylcatechol which could be utilized for the production of 4-methylphenol by
water removal. Various catalytic systems show the favourability of ring saturation
reactions prior to cleavage of C–C or C–O bonds; therefore, a reaction route is
devoted to the formation of 2-methoxycyclohexanol which can be converted into
cyclohexane, cyclohexanol, and cyclohexanone upon cleavages of functionals. On
the other hand, Gao et al. [29] showed the possibility of formation of cyclopen-
tanone as product (see reaction mechanism in Fig. 6) which is numerically inves-
tigated in the absence of catalyst by Verma and Kishore [22] in gas phase under the
framework of density functional theory. The production of cyclopentanone from
guaiacol initiates with partial ring saturation of guaiacol followed by demethylation
and keto-enol tautomerization reactions; further, the ring opening of
cyclohexane-1,2-dione, in order to eliminate CO, produces cyclopentanone. Further
conversion mechanisms of phenol and anisole are not included in Fig. 6, and they
can be obtained in Figs. 4 and 5, respectively.
Olcese et al. [28] carried out experiments of HDO of guaiacol over Fe/SiO2
catalyst, and according to their observations, guaiacol favoured demethoxylation
route to produce phenol and methanol which is followed by the production of
benzene and water. Further hydrogenation reaction of benzene produces cyclo-
hexane. The formations of cyclohexane and cyclohexanone as major products are
also observed by Bykova et al. [31] in their experiments on kinetic studies of
guaiacol HDO over Ni–Cu bimetallic catalyst using SiO2 and Al2O3 supports. On
the other hand, Lee et al. [33] carried out guaiacol conversions over Pt(111) catalyst
numerically and they reported that the conversion of guaiacol component proceeds
through dehydrogenation reactions of methoxy functional instead of direct dehy-
droxylation, demethylation, and demethoxylation routes. They observed catechol as
major product. Furthermore, the guaiacol conversion study using computations is
also carried out by Lu et al. [34] over Pt(111) catalyst and they also affirmed
catechol as major product. Chiu et al. [35], on the other hand, performed guaiacol
HDO in the presence of Ru(0001) catalyst numerically under DFT framework.
Their computations involved the formation of benzene as end product with inter-
mediates catechol and phenol; however, catechol production was observed as
favourable product because further conversions of catechol into lower fractions
were kinetically demanding. In addition to the work of Chiu et al. [35], Lu et al.
[36] performed a microkinetic modelling study for HDO of guaiacol over Ru(0001)
catalyst and they observed phenol as major product.
The experimental work using guaiacol is considered by various researchers in
past but the numerical works are very limited. However, the numerical works can
provide a very good preliminary idea about the favourability of products and their
kinetics over different catalysts. Though few computational works are carried out
for conversion of guaiacol over bulk catalysts such as Pt(111) and Ru(0001), there
is huge information gap in the literature; for example, authors have not found any
numerical work employing catalyst support to the metal catalyst for guaiacol model
compound.
4.4 Vanillin
The presence of vanillin (4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde) component is often

reported by researchers, and it is one of the chief model components of phenolic
fractions of bio-oil [14, 37, 38]. For instance, Peng et al. [39] performed pyrolysis
experiment of rice husk and observed 2.37 area % of vanillin in raw bio-oil. It
possesses three oxy-functionals, viz. hydroxyl, methoxy, and formyl groups;
therefore, it is considered as one of the important representations of lignin-derived
bio-oil [37, 40, 41]. Major conversion mechanisms of vanillin into lower fraction
products are displayed in Fig. 7. The conversion of vanillin is shown in Fig. 7 via
four reaction routes: (i) demethylation reaction of vanillin to produce
3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde which is further converted to 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde,
(ii) HDO of vanillin to produce 3-methoxybenzaldehyde followed by the produc-
tions of 3-hydroxybenzaldehyde and benzaldehyde, (iii) decarbonylation reaction of
vanillin to produce guaiacol which is further converted into catechol and phenol
using aforementioned mechanisms in subsection of ‘Guaiacol’, and (iv) direct
demethoxylation reaction of vanillin to produce 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde. The
intermediate 3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde further undergoes to two more pathways,
apart from production of 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, for the productions of catechol
and 3-hydroxybenzaldehyde via decarbonylation and hydrodeoxygenation reac-
tions, respectively. Similarly, the structure 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde follows two
Fig. 7 Conversion mechanisms of vanillin into several lower fractions

reaction possibilities for the productions of phenol and benzaldehyde via decar-
bonylation and hydrodeoxygenation reactions, respectively. Further, phenol and
benzaldehyde convert to benzene via hydrodeoxygenation and decarbonylation
reactions, respectively. The formation of anisole, however, not included in Fig. 7, is
also possible via decarbonylation reaction of 3-methoxybenzaldehyde. It is to be
noted that further conversion mechanisms of phenol, anisole, and guaiacol can be
obtained in Figs. 4, 5, and 6, respectively.
Various catalytic systems for vanillin conversion show hydrogenation of vanillin
to vanillyl alcohol instead of its decomposition; for instance, Bindwal and Vaidya
[37] carried out an experiment of vanillin in the presence of Ru/C catalyst and 313–
338 K temperature range. They observed vanillyl alcohol as an intermediate, while
creosol as the end product; using temperature dependence analysis, they deduced
the reaction as second-order reaction kinetics with 9.84 kcal/mol of activation
energy. Similarly, Jiang et al. [42] also observed creosol as major product with 98%
yield in their experiment of vanillin conversion over mesoporous carbon nitride
modified Pd at 363 K; however, they also observed that formation of creosol occurs
with vanillyl alcohol as intermediate product. On the other hand, Shin et al. [43]
performed experiments on pyrolysis of vanillin and reported a range of products, for
instance, phenol, benzene, guaiacol, 3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde. Similarly, Liu
et al. [44] carried out an experimental analysis on pyrolysis of vanillin for a tem-
perature range of 673–873 K. They observed major production of guaiacol with
other detected components such as catechol, phenol, hydroxybenzaldehyde, carbon
monoxide, 5-formylsalicylaldehyde. Recently, Verma and Kishore [38] carried out
a numerical study on the pyrolysis of vanillin and they performed theoretical
counterparts for the formations of almost all observed products by Liu et al. [44] in
their vanillin pyrolysis experiment such as phenol, CO, guaiacol,
2-hydroxybenzaldehyde.
Since various experiments have suggested the formation of creosol from
vanillin, its reaction mechanism is also explained here. For the formation of creosol,
the vanillin component first undergoes hydrogenation reactions to convert C=O
double bond to C–O single bond which converts vanillin into vanillyl alcohol.
Further, the vanillyl alcohol intermediate undergoes to OH group removal using
hydrodeoxygenation reaction which removes OH in the form of water with addi-
tional hydrogen molecule. This reaction step forms creosol as the product.
4.5 Eugenol
Out of various components observed in phenolic fraction of bio-oil derived from

pyrolysis or liquefaction of lignin, eugenol component is also detected to be one of
the most appropriate model components because of possession of two oxy-groups,
viz. hydroxyl and methoxy groups, and an alkenyl group [45–48]. Eugenol com-
ponent is also found as one of the major products in many pyrolytic studies of
lignocellulosic biomass [8, 14, 49]. Therefore, eugenol can also be considered as
one of the potential model components to perform bio-oil upgradation study.

Furthermore, the number of carbon atoms in eugenol (C10H12O2) component is
higher than other phenolic bio-oil model compounds such as phenol (C6H6O),
anisole (C7H8O), guaiacol (C7H8O2), catechol (C6H6O2), vanillin (C8H8O3), etc.;
this feature can be very important in the production of various phenolic platform
chemicals [38, 45–47, 50–52]. The conversion mechanisms of eugenol can be seen
in Fig. 8, for instance, the formations of: guaiacol using deallylation of eugenol,
4-propylguaiacol using hydrogenation of eugenol, 3-methoxy-allylbenzene using
hydrodeoxygenation of eugenol, 4-allylcatechol using demethylation of eugenol,
and 4-allylphenol using demethoxylation of eugenol. Further, 4-allylcatechol
undergoes the formation of 4-allylphenol followed by the formations of
4-propylphenol and propylbenzene. The components 4-allylcatechol and
4-allylphenol also undergo the formations of catechol and phenol, respectively,
using their deallylation reactions; and the formations of 3-allylphenol and allyl-
benzene, respectively, using their hydrodeoxygenation reactions. The hydrogena-
tion reaction of allylbenzene produces propylbenzene. The component
4-propylguaiacol undergoes to demethoxylation reaction, to produce
4-propylphenol, and demethylation reaction to produce 4-propylcatechol which
further reduces to 4-propylphenol via its HDO reaction. Further elaborated reaction
mechanisms can be found in the recent work of Verma and Kishore [48] who
performed a numerical study for the pyrolysis of eugenol in gas phase at wide
temperature ranges. They showed the formations of various possible products such
as guaiacol, phenol, 4-propylphenol, allylbenzene, propylbenzene using several
competitive reaction mechanisms.
Fig. 8 Reaction networks based on eugenol component

Several experimental works have been devoted in recent past for the conversion
of eugenol over various catalysts; for instance, Nimmanwudipong et al. [46] per-
formed experiments for the conversion of eugenol over Pt/c-Al2O3 and HY zeolite
catalysts. They observed several products such as phenol, guaiacol,
4-propylguaiacol, p-cresol, 4-propylphenol. However, they observed guaiacol and
isoeugenol as major products in the presence of HY zeolite catalyst, while
4-propylguaiacol as major product in the presence of Pt/c-Al2O3 catalyst. Similarly,
Zhang et al. [47] performed experimental analyses for hydrogenation/
deoxygenation of eugenol over Pd/C and HZSM-5 catalytic systems. Their
observations suggest that eugenol favours allyl hydrogenation first instead of
decomposition of eugenol followed by the production of
2-methoxyl-4-propylcyclohexanol using ring saturation reactions. Furthermore,
Deepa and Dhepe [51] performed HDO experiments of phenol, guaiacol, and
eugenol over noble metals and similar to the work of Zhang et al. [47], they also
concluded that eugenol proceeds through saturation of allyl to propyl followed by
ring saturation reactions. Similarly, Horácek et al. [45] carried out eugenol con-
version experiments over zeolite-supported platinum catalyst and they too sug-
gested that eugenol proceeds through allyl hydrogenation of eugenol. On the other
hand, Chen et al. [50] carried out HDO of eugenol in the presence of Ru/CNT
catalyst and observed propylcyclohexane as end product with intermediate products
as 4-propylguaiacol and 4-propylcyclohexanol.
5 Concluding Remarks and Future Perspectives
The upgradation of liquid bio-oils derived from pyrolysis or liquefaction of

lignin-derived biomass feedstocks is reviewed here using commonly found phe-
nolic bio-oil model compounds such as phenol, anisole, guaiacol, vanillin, and
eugenol. Because of higher content and a wide range of oxy-compounds in
lignin-derived bio-oils, the upgradation of bio-oil as a whole is very challenging;
therefore, most research works are carried out using a model compound which can
successfully represent a range of oxy-groups in the molecular structure of feedstock.
However, the presence of higher amount of oxy-compounds in bio-oil also features
its ability to deliver various phenolic specialty chemicals. In this review work,
various reaction mechanisms based on five phenolic bio-oil model compounds, i.e.
phenol, anisole, guaiacol, vanillin, and eugenol, are discussed. Furthermore, several
experiments based on aforementioned phenolic bio-oil model compounds are
reviewed for their catalysts, supports, reaction conditions, selectivity towards
desired product, etc. Guaiacol component is one of the key components in phenolic
fraction of bio-oil because its presence in bio-oil is higher, and in addition, other
higher molecular weight phenolic model compounds such as vanillin and eugenol
reduce to guaiacol majorly. Furthermore, guaiacol component can successfully
represent a higher fraction of lignin structure because of attachment of hydroxyl and
methoxy groups in its molecular structure.
Recent computational advancements employing density functional theory tool

for understanding reaction mechanisms based on aforementioned model com-
pounds are also discussed. Computational models are reported to be very successful
for achieving accurate preliminary knowledge of any reaction, e.g. favourability of
product, reaction conditions, suitable catalytic systems. Presently, there has been a
very little work in bio-oil upgradation using computational means compared to
experiments; however, the research based on upgradation of phenolic bio-oil model
compounds is also in the early phase and there is a huge information gap regarding
synthesis of suitable catalytic system which can show higher catalytic activity and
selectivity towards desired product. Till now, no successful technological
advancement regarding commercialization is achieved which can be utilized in
order to accomplish optimum bio-oil upgradation.
Apart from aforementioned phenolic bio-oil model compounds such as phenol,
anisole, guaiacol, the research based on even heavier molecular weight fractions of
lignin compounds such as compounds with b-O-4, a-O-4, and 4-O-5 linkages is
very limited; therefore, a wide research analysis is needed to unravel and under-
stand complete bio-oil upgradation process. The integration of biorefinery to pre-
sent petroleum refineries needs a complete catalytic analysis because of utilization
of different hydrotreating catalysts in the latter. Also because of differences in
feedstocks as petroleums contain trace water content and unprocessed bio-oils
comprise a huge fraction of water content.
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Sustainability of Microalgal Biorefinery:
Scope, Challenges, and Opportunities
Geetanjali Yadav and Ramkrishna Sen
Abstract The potential of microalgae as a source of renewable energy is of con-

siderable interest. During recent initiatives being taken at the 2015 United Nations
Climate Change Conference (COP21) held in Paris, about 196 attending nations
have set goals to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius (°C) com-
pared to pre-industrial levels and move toward attaining zero net anthro-
pogenic greenhouse gas emissions by the second half of the twenty-first century.
This necessitates curtailing the usage of non-renewable resources, primarily fossil
fuels, which are one of the biggest contributors of GHGs and explore more
bio-based alternatives, such as microalgae. A key attraction of algae as biofuel
feedstock lies in the potential for high annual oil productivity per unit of area. Due
to the wide availability and potential of cultivation or occurrence in naturally
occurring habitats including harsh environments such as extreme temperatures,
salinity, pH, multiple products could be obtained from a variety of algal species.
This multi-product paradigm makes it a suitable candidate for the biorefinery
concept. An algal biorefinery aims to increase value from green biomass by
recovering every component for its use as feedstock in myriad applications such as
biofuels, food and feed, fertilizer, and pharmaceuticals. However, existing biore-
finery methods have to be duly modified, improved, and widely adapted for the
sustainable production of microalgal biomass and its associated benefits. Thus, this
chapter presents a framework to analyze sustainability as cultivation, harvesting,
and processing of microalgal biomass and use of bioenergy/refinery has a large
range of associated sustainability issues. The process economics of biomass facility
production, carbon sequestration, and waste mitigation have been discussed to
comply various sustainability criteria for the successful implementation of
algal-based biorefinery at commercial scale.
Keywords Algal biorefinery Sustainability Bioenergy Co-culture

Life cycle assessment
G. Yadav R. Sen (&)

Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur,
Kharagpur, West Bengal 721302, India

336 G. Yadav and R. Sen
1 Introduction
The first and second generation of bioenergy strategies involved biofuel production
from edible resources viz. sugar, starch, vegetable or animal oils, and non-edible
resources such as waste vegetable oils and agricultural wastes, respectively [20].
However, these technologies were based on deriving energy from terrestrial feed-
stocks; thus, concerns related to indirect emissions, food vs. fuel debate, carbon
debt due to land requirement, etc., were raised. Subsequently, third generation
bioenergy feedstock algae became popular with researchers worldwide due to their
excellent characteristics. Microalgae are fast-growing photosynthetic microorgan-
isms that exhibit greater CO2 fixation rates, can utilize waste flue gases and
wastewater streams as inexpensive growth medium [30]. Moreover, they accu-
mulate sufficient quantity of lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, pigments, etc., which
can be suitably converted into multiple products. Various conversion techniques
such as thermochemical, biochemical, direct conversion, transesterification, and
electrochemical routes lead to different kinds of products that widen the market
opportunities of microalgal products [4].
The microalga exists in a variety of habitats and can yield multiple coproducts in
biorefinery approach. They can be cultivated in open ponds like circular or race-
ways or closed systems (column, flat panel, helical, tubular, horizontal photo-
bioreactors) that involve mixing and/or aeration and provide controlled
environmental conditions. An open system is cheaper to construct, less energy
intensive, and feasible for commercial scale production, whereas closed systems
provide better process control, enables attaining higher cell density and avoids
contamination [11]. Microalgal lipids can be utilized for biodiesel production.
Carbohydrates can be used as carbon source in fermentation industries to produce
bioethanol. In addition to this, microalgal pigments, carotenoids, and certain
bioactive exopolymeric molecules have important functions in immune responses,
health care, and act as food supplements. Microalgal proteins are a good source of
nutrients which can be used for animal feeding and as a source of crop fertilizer. In
this chapter, we discuss sustainability of microalgal biorefinery from economic,
environmental, and social dimensions. In order to qualify the sustainability criteria,
a biorefinery must satisfy these three dimensions. For the same, strategies have been
discussed in brief which can help to establish ways that will make the process of
microalgal production sustainable.
2 Microalgal Biorefinery
2.1 The Concept of Biorefinery
The concept of biorefinery came from “refinery” which refers to the conversion of a
raw product into several other value-added products. A microalgal biorefinery is
Sustainability of Microalgal Biorefinery: Scope … 337
essentially similar to the traditional petroleum refinery, where microalgal biomass,

unlike crude petroleum, is converted into a variety of products like biofuels, food
and feed supplements, fertilizer, pharmaceuticals, and other products (Fig. 1). The
only significant difference between the two lies in the type of raw material (biomass
or crude oil) and the technology employed for the conversion [33]. It is a promising
way to mitigate CO2 emissions, wastewater remediation, and establish an alternate
bioenergy pathway for sustainable production of biofuels and bioproducts.
2.2 Routes of Biomass Conversion: “Waste-to-Value”
2.2.1 Thermochemical Conversion
Thermochemical conversion involves the thermal decomposition of algal biomass

so that the organic components in the biomass are decomposed to yield fuel
products such as bio-crude oil. It is an energy-intensive process. There are three
different types of thermochemical conversion: (1) hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL),
(2) pyrolysis, and (3) gasification. HTL involves heating the biomass to high
temperature of about 250–350 °C and pressure (5–15 MPa). Pyrolysis is a process
of decomposition of biomass to form volatile matter at very high temperature (400–
600 °C) in absence of oxygen [4]. As the volatile matters re-condenses into the
aqueous phase, bio-oil is formed which could be used as a fuel. On the other hand,
Fig. 1 Microalgal biorefinery and its applications in various sectors

the solid fraction consisting of solid carbon is separated out as bio-char which is
used as fertilizer. Gasification is a process that converts biomass or any carbona-
ceous materials into carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and traces of
methane that forms syngas. This is acheived at higher temperatures of 700 °C with
limited oxygen environment. Syngas can be used directly as a fuel or intermediate
for making wide range of fuels.
2.2.2 Biochemical Conversion
Biochemical conversion of biomass encompasses the biological processing of

biomass into bioenergy. This mainly includes fermentation, anaerobic digestion,
and photo-fermentative hydrogen production. Fermentation or alcoholic fermenta-
tion involves the conversion of organic substrates into their mono or dimeric forms
by the action of enzymes released from microorganisms. Anaerobic digestion
involves the conversion of organic substrates into biogas. Photo-fermentative H2
production entails conversion of water to hydrogen ions and oxygen by the help of
algae [27].
2.2.3 Direct Utilization
Microalgae cells have the ability to bioadsorb chemicals and charged moieties due
to its surface property. They also release certain compounds like exopolysaccha-
rides which are charged moieties that help in coagulation. This property is exploited
for clearing of certain dyes and colors from the industrial effluents. Many industries
discharge color bearing dyes in the waste effluent that pollute the water bodies
where it is released and affect aquatic flora and fauna. Defatted algal biomass is
used to remove such dyes from the wastewater effluents because it contains more
exposed sites after cell rupture and has more contact surface area for charged
species. Thus, it helps in coagulation and removal by flocculation by an
eco-friendly method. Marzbali et al. [18] studied the adsorption of direct yellow dye
(DY 12) by Spirulina and recorded the maximum absorption capacity of
714 mg g−1 of the dye by the alga, which is highest among previous works.
2.2.4 Transesterification
Transesterification is the process whereby lipids (triglycerides) extracted from

microalgal biomass is reacted in the presence of alcohol and acid/base catalyst into
fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), i.e., biodiesel. Several factors play a role in this
process, mainly reaction time and temperature. Along with FAME (biodiesel),
glycerol as a by-product is formed which has many industrial applications [8].
2.2.5 Bioelectrochemical Conversion
Microbial fuel cells are bioelectrochemical devices that use bacteria as the catalysts
to oxidize organic and inorganic matter. The oxidation leads to generation of
electrons that are transferred to anode and flow to cathode via external circuit.
Recently, researchers have been exploiting biological organisms such as algal at the
cathode to steer cathode reduction. Microalgae are photosynthetic organisms that
capture CO2 and release O2. Thus, this property is being exploited to enhance
cathode reduction reactions and “green electricity” production [24]. This synergistic
action helps to treat biodegradable wastes at the anode and CO2 fixation at the
cathode with concomitant electricity and algal biomass production.
3 Applications of Microalgal Biorefinery
3.1 Bioenergy and Biofuel
In recent years, microalgae are seen as potential biofuel feedstock as it contains

significant quantities of lipids (20–70%) and carbohydrates (10–30%) [12]. Lipids
and carbohydrates can be converted into biodiesel and bioethanol by transesterifi-
cation and fermentation reactions. Microalgal-derived fuels have been considered as
safe and carbon neutral and are found to meet the International Biodiesel Standard
for Vehicles (EN14214) [26]. Lipid accumulation takes place as a response when
microalgal administers some kind of stress viz. environmental (temperature,
salinity, pH etc.), nutrient limitation (nitrogen and phosphorous) etc. The compo-
sition of fatty acids and its profile, however, could depend upon genetic makeup and
phenotypic factors such as medium composition, temperature, aeration rate, influ-
ence of photoperiod, and light intensity [26].
As the microalgae have high light conversion efficiency, it accumulates greater
amounts of carbohydrates. Algal carbohydrates are composed of glucose, starch,
cellulose, and various kinds of polysaccharides. Conventionally, microalgal starch
or glucose is the main precursor for biofuel production.
3.2 Food and Feed
Microalgae constitute PUFA in their cell accumulated in complex polar lipids (i.e.,
glycolipids and phospholipids) while TAGs are predominantly constituted of sat-
urated (SFA) and monounsaturated (MUFA) fatty acids. PUFA or polyunsaturated
fatty acids are essential nutritional components having nutraceutical and pharma-
ceutical applications [2]. Potential therapeutic applications of omega-3 long-chain
polyunsaturated fatty acids such as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), eicosapentaenoic
acid (EPA), and arachidonic acid (AA) have been demonstrated in recent clinical
and epidemiological studies [22]. Generally, maximum levels of PUFA are syn-
thesized during early stationary phase, decreasing throughout the stationary phase
and increasing proportions of SFA and MUFA especially 14:0, 16:0, and 16:1 fatty
acids [10]. However, a study is the first to show that a high light intensity combined
with N replete conditions could synchronously maximize the yield of biomass
(34.14 mg L−1 h−1), neutral lipids (11.83 mg L−1 h−1), the high value C20 (AA
plus EPA, 1.50 mg L−1 h−1), and C14–C18 FAs in the NLs (12.38 mg L−1 h−1)
obtained from N. oceanica IMET1. The defatted algal biomass constitutes protein
and carotenoids fraction which finds suitable application for animal feeds.
Microalgal polysaccharides such as exo- (EPS) or endo-polysaccharides have cer-
tain biological functions as storage, protection, and structural moieties. It also has
some role in immune functions and pharmaceutical applications in cosmetic
industries [18].
3.3 Fertilizer
In order to develop a successful microalgal-based biorefinery, it is required to use

every component of biomass for deriving value out of it. It is found that the de-oiled
algal biomass is rich in protein, minerals, and elements such as magnesium, iron,
and other nutritional components such as phosphorous. The basic need of the crop
is nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, (NPK) as major elements and minerals as
microelements. Thus, it is a critical nutritional source for crops and exploited as a
source of green fertilizer. Microalgal-bacterial (MaB) flocs were used to treat
aquaculture wastewater and at the same time as organic fertilizer to cultivate
tomato. It was found that microalgal fertilizer improved the fruit quality by
increasing sugar and carotenoid content [6]. Thus, microalgae offer the potential to
recover nutrients from waste streams and its subsequent usage as slow-release
fertilizer.
4 Sustainability of Microalgal Biorefinery
According to the classic definition of sustainability, “sustainable development is a

development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs.” The typical microalgal biorefinery
consists of algae cultivation, harvesting, pre-treatment, metabolites extraction, and
its conversion (i.e., transesterification, fermentation, etc.). Microalgal biorefineries
are considered to be inherently sustainable due to their property of being renewable
in nature. However, this may not essentially be true because 70% of the total
production cost (PC) of algal biofuels on a commercial scale goes into algal cul-
tivation, harvesting, and dewatering [14] which have associated economic and
environmental constraints. Sustainable production of biomass should protect the
environment and reduce wastage of resources. Sustainable development of an algal

biorefinery requires embracing green measures during the upstream and down-
stream processes such as:
• selection of robust algal strains having enhanced growth characteristics and lipid
productivity;
• cultivation strategy with an optimized photosynthetic and nutrients use
efficiency;
• use of the co-location strategy to take advantage of the industrial wastes of
energy, CO2, water, and nutrients;
• extraction of valuable chemicals from the biomass that can increase the whole
value of microalgae biomass;
• adopting green ways to pretreat, extract, and process the valuable metabolites
for its applications in various energy and non-energy sectors.
For the sustainable development of a biorefinery project, it is necessary to
establish a balance along three dimensions of sustainability viz. social, environ-
mental, and economic. These three are inter-linked among each other in a way that
the poor performance of one may hinder that of others [19].
Thus, it is necessary to develop processes where all dimensions of sustainability
are taken into account in a single analysis. In case of a microalgal biorefinery, the
valorization of each and every component of a biomass can significantly leverage
the total value of the biomass and solve many of today’s world problems. It should
be able to protect the environment by not causing any kind of irreversible change,
should be economically viable and beneficial to the society. This is illustrated in the
Fig. 2. The environmental dimension includes mainly use of natural resources,
pollution prevention, biodiversity conservation, and maintenance of ecological
health. The social pillar includes standards of living, availability of education and
jobs, and equal opportunities for all members of society. The economic factors are
drivers for growth, profit, reducing costs, and investments into research and
development [1].
Fig. 2 Interplay of the

environmental, economic, and
social aspects of sustainable
development
4.1 Sustainable Practices of a Microalgal Biorefinery
4.1.1 Economic Sustainability
In the design of microalgal biorefinery projects, the dimension of economic sus-

tainability is considered mostly through assessing profitability or techno-economic
analysis (TEA) where technical aspects of engineering projects are analyzed in
terms of process economics. There are numerous indicators which are used to define
economic analyses viz. actual sequestration cost (ASC), capital cost (CC), operating
cost (OC), production cost (PC), transportation cost (TC), total savings (TS), gross
operating margin (GOM), credited gross operating margin (GOM cr), gross profit
(GP), internal rate of return (IRR), minimum selling price (MSP), net present value
(NPV), payback time (PBT), return on investment (ROI), stakeholder value (SKV),
total economic (TEV).
In order to produce a particular product by comparing various biorefinery
alternatives, economic performance is evaluated by costs indicators. For example,
Coleman et al. [5] have compared the PC of different microalgal fuel production
systems and locations combining biomass assessment and logistics models [5].
However, costs metrics per se do not reflect the actual economic performance of the
project since expected revenues are not considered for their calculation. Therefore,
another measure should be included in the calculations to derive maximum benefits.
Profit is an indicator based on costs and revenues and can thus be used for com-
parisons of systems with different products. Many researchers have used different
abovementioned indicators to describe the economics of process [5]. These eco-
nomic metrics generally reflect the performance of a project on microeconomic
terms, mostly to analyze costs and profits related to the project. Some authors have
not considered these as true parameters for economic sustainability since they do
not add value to the economy [16, 32]. Gheewala et al. [9] have suggested the
increase in gross domestic product and tax revenues as the quantifying criteria for
addressing human development and assessment of a biorefinery project.
4.1.2 Environmental Sustainability
Environmental sustainability consists of methods that indicate environmental bur-

den of a product or process, and an indication of social impacts through the analysis
of damage on human health, climate, ecosystem resources, etc., is included in the
analysis. Calculating the environmental impact of microalgal cultivation, harvest-
ing, dewatering, extraction, and conversion into valuable products is necessary [25].
In order to call a microalgal biorefinery sustainable, all three dimensions of sus-
tainability (Fig. 2) must be satisfying the criteria. The production of multiple
coproducts in the form of high-value products and biofuel promotes the sustain-
ability of this process when designing biorefinery projects. Eco-Indicator 99 (EI99)
is the most widely used impact assessment method in life cycle assessment (LCA).
It is the successor of Eco-indicator 95, the first endpoint impact assessment method,
which allowed the environmental load of a product to be expressed in a single score
[21]. However, the major limitation with this method lies with its modeling that is
mainly based on European situations and not global categories like climate change,
ozone depletion. Thus, it may not be really helpful for cases present in other
geographical locations.
4.1.3 Social Sustainability
Generally, the social dimension of sustainability is not so common in the design of

biorefinery projects in contrast to economic and environmental sustainability. This
may be due to lack of engagement between social and the natural and engineering
sciences. The social impact of a process must be included while designing any
biorefinery project. For example, while allocating lands and infrastructure, the food
and energy security must be checked in addition to education and life expectancy at
the entry level. Few indicators of social sustainability are energy security index
(ES), food price increase (FPI), sustainability factor (SF), human exposure risk
(R_HE), employment creation (EC), labor requirements (L). Food and energy
security among other indicators have a strong economic and political importance in
bioeconomy [28]. More and more reports encourage the inclusion of feedstocks that
do not create food versus fuel debate or food insecurity especially in a developing
nation like India. Microalgal-based biorefineries are suitable candidates in these
scenarios since they do not really require fresh lands or water, CO2 source and have
a diverse range of habitats, growth conditions to thrive. Although, there is going to
be acute shortage of non-renewable fuel sources in future, need is to look for
alternate energy generating sources. Because “fuel only” option is economically
unviable due to overwhelming capital and operation costs, microalgae appear as an
excellent candidate to explore in a biorefinery. Thus, high-value coproducts should
be produced from microalgal biorefinery to improve the economics of a microalgal
biorefinery and maintain sustainability.
4.2 Incorporation of Sustainability in Design Activities
There has been a rise in the inclusion of sustainability criteria during the design of
biorefineries by including different methods, indicators, and impact categories.
Generally, most of the case studies, publications, and scientific reports consider
only economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability and do not focus on
social sustainability. All three sustainability criteria (economic, environmental, and
social) should be considered in the design stage per se. It has a potential to result in
alternate design options as well as significantly influence the overall performance of
a microalgal biorefinery.
Cheali et al. [3] have presented a framework for sustainable design of algal
biorefineries with respect to economic and environmental objectives. They have
identified a challenge that refers to the availability of significant number of pro-
cessing alternatives of algal biomass as it can generate wide variety of products and
therefore difficulty in selecting the most suitable processing alternative. Thus, a
systematic framework that uses super-structure-based optimization for synthesis
and design was developed to create the processing network of an algal biorefinery
using verified database (Fig. 3). First, database and design space for all the pro-
cesses are generated. Secondly, the identification of optimal designs is done by
techno-economic criteria and life cycle analysis. This leads to creation of a
super-structure that represents the design space of an algal biorefinery containing
various alternatives in terms of choice of microalgal species, pre-treatment steps,
conversion, and purification or separation technologies to produce multiple
products.
Consequently, the database consisting of process specific parameters is inte-
grated with the formed super-structure. Subsequently, the optimization problem is
solved using mathematical formulations to identify the most optimal designs with
respect to techno-economic criteria and life cycle analysis-related constraints.
4.3 Strategies Toward Achieving Sustainable Microalgal

Biomass Cultivation, Harvesting, and Processing
For the successful development of a microalgal-based biorefinery industry, it is

important to have a continuous flow of feedstocks, nutrients, raw materials, water,
and energy that should derive from inexpensive sources and generate value-added
products from the processed biomass. Additionally, it is desirable to choose most
efficient options for cultivation, harvesting, and dewatering. This can be achieved if
Fig. 3 Flowsheet of data

management and
identification for optimal
design networks framework
the choices are made judiciously. For example, raceway ponds which are less
expensive cultivation systems could be used. Instead of expensive nutrients for
biomass cultivation, different effluent streams (municipal, industrial, or agricultural
run offs) could be exploited [31]. Microalgae are known to grow phototrophically,
heterotrophically, and mixotrophically utilizing the waste organic and inorganic
carbon sources. The waste gaseous CO2 from various point sources could also be
utilized to feed microalgal cultures, and in return, microalga can capture CO2 and
reduce the effect caused by greenhouse gases on climate. Following section
describes various strategies by which a sustainable microalgal biorefinery can be
aimed.
4.3.1 Waste Mitigation and Waste-to-Wealth Conversion
Microalgae can grow under a broad range of environmental conditions. It can utilize
waste resources present in water and air efficiently, thus is considered to be a
suitable candidate for mitigation of environmental load caused due to
over-exploitation of non-renewable resources in world. Different industries daily
emit pollutants in their liquid effluent streams which are treated to safe limit before
their disposal in water streams (industrial wastewater). Municipal and domestic
sectors release effluents that contain lot of organic contaminants. Agricultural water
from runoff is a rich source of nutrients such as N, P, and K which are preferred
nutrients for microalgal growth. Several reports have been published where
microalgae have been cultivated in different kinds of wastewater streams [15].
Additionally, presence of toxicants and some nutrient limitation not only limits
biomass growth, but leads to accumulation of lipid and carbohydrates as part of
their defense mechanism. Lipids and/or carbohydrates from the microalgal biomass
is extracted and converted into biofuel derivatives. The gaseous pollutants of var-
ious industrial units as well as thermal power plants which use non-renewable fuel
sources to produce electricity emit huge amounts of CO2. It is reported that
microalgae can utilize concentrated forms of CO2 efficiently to produce biomass
rich in metabolites of significant industrial applications [30]. Further, these two
individual approaches can also be coupled which can result in zero waste emission
and add no environmental footprint.
4.3.2 Co-location of the Biomass Production Facility to an Industry
For the sustainable production of microalgal biorefinery, it is believed to use

resources that are inexpensive and do not pollute environment. Availability of those
resources at the biomass production facility is not always possible. Thus, there are
huge TCs involved in bringing the resources near the production facility. However,
for the utilization of waste resources, it is essential to avoid these TC and develop
biomass production facilities near wastewater collection or treatment plants and/or
CO2 emitting point sources. Co-location of algal production facilities with power
plants and/or wastewater treatment plants can result in substantial construction cost
savings and environmental benefits relative to stand-alone facilities with depen-
dence on fresh water intakes. This approach will help provide nutrients and energy
from one facility to be used up by another, thus working in tandem and coherent. It
will also result in reducing atmospheric emissions significantly and improve the
wastewater effluent discharges. For example, the waste heat generated by thermal
power plants during electricity production could be used to dry algae [13]. The
waste energy from the plant can also be used to control the temperature of algal
reactors during winter seasons. Similarly, algae could be co-fired along with coal to
reduce load on non-renewable fuels and move toward green economy. Lohrey et al.
in their case study integrated algal biodiesel production with cane sugar production
due to the easy availability of flue gas CO2 from combustion of bagasse, water, and
energy at the sugar mill. Upon simulation of the process using the program
Sugars™, it was found that utilization of available waste resources from a
10,000 ton/d cane sugar mill may lead to a 530 ha algae farm that can produce
5.8 million L of biodiesel/year and reduce CO2 emissions of the mill by 15% [17].
Seambiotic (www.seambiotic.com) produces algae which are colocated with a
4 GW fossil fuel burning electricity generation plant for high value dietary sup-
plements at its 1000 m2 facility in Ashkelon, Israel. As a result of co-location,
many costs related to transportation, energy, pipelines, nutrients, etc., could be
avoided as compared to a stand-alone facility.
4.3.3 Nutrients Recycling
Nutrient recycling is required especially in those cultures where initial medium

nutrient concentration is low, and a supplementation is desired for maximizing
growth and product formation. An effective strategy should be formulated wherein
nutrients from external sources are included which again is not cost intensive. There
could be several sources (i) unused nutrients from a previous experiment systems
(ii) nutrients remaining in the media after product recovery (iii) exploiting rich
nutrient sources from inexpensive and waste resources such as poultry litter, pig-
gery waste, aquaculture waste [14, 15].
4.3.4 Co-culture
Harvesting/dewatering of biomass is conventionally being done by centrifugation

which incurs lot of energy and cost. In order to operate the microalgal biorefinery at
larger scales, the idea of using centrifuges or costly chemicals such as flocculants
and coagulants is not wise. Efforts have been made time to time to devise new
techniques. Recently, co-culturing of algae with bacteria is gaining tremendous
attention due to their high phyco-remediation potential and biomass yield. In case
of microalgal biorefinery, it has great potential to be used for improving microalgal
cultivation and subsequent dewatering. According to a study by Gonzalez and
Bashan, green microalga Chlorella vulgaris was co-immobilized and then

co-cultured with a plant growth promoting bacteria (A. brasilense). A brasilense
boosted the growth of green algae and also improved its harvesting by releasing
bio-flocculants from its biomass [7]. Co-cultivation of fungi (A. fumigatus) cells
with algae showed synergistic on wastewater bioremediation, biomass production,
and lipid yield efficiency [29]. Such reports pave path for future researches to be
focusing on such alternatives in order to make the microalgal biorefinery truly
sustainable.
4.4 Techno-economic Analysis and Life Cycle

Assessment (LCA)
To determine the economic viability of process technologies for a microalgal

biorefinery in the research and development stage, it is desired to perform an overall
TEA of the system. TEA helps to predict the PC of a given process technology.
Microalgal biorefinery comprises of various products from a single efficient feed-
stock which has promising characteristics of high lipid yields, better photosynthetic
efficiency, potential to utilize waste resources of water, and gaseous CO2 from
industrial effluents. In this scenario, TEA along with LCA has been used as fun-
damental tools in evaluating the feasibility of microalgae biorefinery for commer-
cial scale. These tools have the capability to analyze alternative processing
technologies for the sustainable production of product. For example, microalgal
cultivation is carried out in open systems (raceway ponds, circular ponds) as well as
closed photobioreactor (PBR). A satisfactory biorefinery system should include an
inexpensive cultivation system such as raceway pond and utilize the algal oil free
cake for other uses such as fermentation into bioethanol and/or use for animal feeds
in order to satisfy economic, environmental, and social performance. Generally,
open raceway ponds are relatively inexpensive, easier to construct, and feasible
option for the commercial microalgal cultivation as compared to closed PBR that
are costly but have better process control, ability of reaching higher culture density
and productivity.
According to ISO 10440, LCA is a “compilation and evaluation of the inputs
and outputs and the potential environmental impacts of a product system
throughout its life cycle” [23]. It is a significant tool for assessing the environmental
aspect of a product or process for its sustainable production. Outcome of LCA study
depends on the system boundaries such as level of biomass and lipid/protein/
carbohydrates content that can be achieved during the cultivation process (Fig. 4).
When compared with closed photobioreactors, raceway ponds appear as an eco-
nomical and feasible alternative for large-scale microalgal cultivation for biofuel
and bioproduct production. However, there still are scope of improvements of
microalgal feedstock to create a more economically viable and sustainable system
which can be done by carrying out a thorough analysis of environmental analysis by
LCA methodology.
Fig. 4 System boundaries of life cycle assessment for microalgal biorefinery. The studied system
includes biomass cultivation, algae oil extraction, conversion into biodiesel (product generation),
and its life cycle assessment where all the system inputs such as energy and materials and
emissions are evaluated
5 Challenges, Scope, and Opportunities of a Sustainable

Microalgal Biorefinery
Despite several advantages of microalgal-based biorefinery approaches toward

meeting demands related to supply of biofuels, food, feed, pharmaceuticals,
microalgal biorefinery suffers a major challenge associated with its sustainability in
larger and futuristic context. There is usually large cost associated with microalgal
cultivation, raw materials, and techniques employed during downstream processing
of the biomass for extraction of value-added products. These costs sometimes
surpass the benefit or costs derived from the product. As a result, there is net CO2
emission from the process, although microalgal-based technology is considered to
be renewable and carbon neutral. The present techniques of biomass conversion are
not lucrative and sustainable due to higher biomass PC and low market price of
biofuels. For obtaining desired benefits, the choice of the microalgal strain is
important. In order to address these issues, an integrated approach is required where
a biorefinery is designed by keeping all three dimensions of sustainability. Never
should any dimension be compromised which would otherwise make the process
unsustainable. Thus, there is a need for the incorporation of sustainability right at
the design step of biorefinery projects. Also, more and more of tools, such as
mathematical programming, simulation tools, and database, should be referred
before starting on any biorefinery-based project. Further, genetically transformed
microalgal strains with improved performance in terms of enhanced lipid content,
improved light utilization efficiency, accumulation of pigments, etc., should be in
included in designing step of the algal-based biorefinery.
The declining prices of crude oil in recent times and high capital and investment
costs in algal production have a marked negative impact on the market of
algae-based products. Innovative strategies should be devised for cost-effective
dewatering, harvesting, and lipid recovery. Co-location of flue gas emitting
industrial units with algal production and co-culturing seems to be promising
strategies of biomass harvesting and production of renewable resource with addi-

tional advantages of phytoremediation and CO2 mitigation. The lower biomass
productivities at higher production scales is a major challenge which needs to be
addressed by incorporating cheaper sources of nutrients (waste resources), inno-
vative PBR designs, and lighting strategies as well as different nutrients feed
approaches. At last, biorefinery enthusiasts must integrate social and sustainability
sciences in their future developments toward the establishment of a high-volume
microalgae-based biorefinery industry.
Acknowledgements Geetanjali Yadav acknowledges the financial support provided by Council

of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India, during her doctoral studies.
Authors thankfully acknowledge their institute IIT Kharagpur for providing library and computer
facilities.
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Indian Agro-wastes for 2G Biorefineries:
Strategic Decision on Conversion
Processes
Ranjana Chowdhury, Shiladitya Ghosh, Biswajit Debnath

and Dinabandhu Manna
Abstract Biorefineries are globally contemplated as the viable platforms for the
highly anticipated substitution of fossil-based economy by the bio-based economy.
A biorefinery offers the advantage of converting a remarkable variety of biomass
feedstocks to different types of biofuels and biochemicals. A great extent of rig-
orous effort is currently being made for the upgrading of existing biorefinery
frameworks to fully attain the sustainability standards required to warrant their
full-scale implementation. As a consequence of the mandatory inclusion of the
sustainability goals into the biorefinery concept and the escalating concern on the
‘food-fuel conflict’, the second generation (2G) of biorefineries are garnering quick
popularity over their first-generation counterparts. In India, there exist huge pro-
spects of development of 2G biorefineries exploiting the abundant resources of the
lignocellulosic agro-wastes. Indian agro-wastes display an extraordinary variety of
lignocellulosic biomass and round-the-year availability in copious amounts.
Unfortunately, due to lack of awareness and poor valorization, these valuable
agro-wastes are often destroyed in mass scale for waste management instead of
being utilized in a productive way. The major focus of the present chapter is to
present a categorical classification of Indian agro-wastes based on their appearance
in the supply chain. The adaptability of Indian agro-wastes towards 2G biorefinery
has been assessed using their availability, thermochemical properties and compo-
sition of a few specific feedstocks, namely, rice straw, rice husk, wheat straw, oil
seed press cakes, sugarcane bagasse, coconut shell, banana peels and stems. The
analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has been used to decide on the strategy of
application of stand-alone biochemical or thermochemical processes and their
hybrids for the conversion of different candidate feedstocks in the 2G biorefineries
with respect to sustainability parameters.

Keywords Agro-wastes Abundance in India Energy potential

2G biorefineries analytic hierarchy process (AHP) Guideline on strategic decision
on conversion route
R. Chowdhury (&) S. Ghosh B. Debnath D. Manna

Chemical Engineering Department, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, India

1 Introduction
Notable attempts for the switch over from ‘fossil-dominated’ to ‘bio-based’ econ-
omy have already been initiated worldwide [1, 2]. Rapid decline in fossil fuel
reserves and consequent tremendous future energy insecurity, rapid environmental
deterioration due to GHG emission, progressive global warming and threatening
issues of stagnation of socio-economic growth are the prime drivers of this para-
digm shift [1–3]. The utilization of renewable resources (biofuels, biochemicals,
biomaterials) in place of exhaustible non-renewables (petro-fuels and petrochemi-
cals) bears the vital significance in this particular context and should be made
compulsory worldwide through governmental enforcements. As envisioned by the
international energy agency (IEA), this will require the ultimate diversification of
primary energy sources by the countries around the world as an immediate measure
[4]. Biomass, more specifically the solid lignocellulosic ones, originated from
different natural resources can become the dependable alternatives of petro-based
fuels as the primary energy source upon proper planning and implementation [5–7].
Significant technological progress made in the past few decades in the conversion
of solid biomass to different liquid and gaseous biofuels has incremented the effi-
cacy of end use of the biomass to several folds [8–13]. However, the current status
of biofuels regarding competition with the conventional fossil fuels is far behind the
baseline required to replace their usage as primary energy source. The major bar-
riers are absence of proper categorization and poor valorization of biomass,
unplanned use in non-compatible conversion processes resulting in incomplete
recovery of energy and waste of valuable by-products due to lack of planning. It is
apparent that the biofuels can never attain a competitive space with the crude-oil
fuels if the high cost of production is not scaled down to significant extents [14, 15].
To achieve this particular goal, IEA has brought the focus of bioenergy planners on
the concept of ‘bio-refining of biomass’ to facilitate the simultaneous production of
(bio)chemicals, heat, power, food, feed and (bio)materials along with (bio)fuels
from different variety of biomass in a single facility combining multi-step pro-
cesses, popularly known as a ‘biorefinery’ [4]. The biorefinery concept has quickly
garnered widespread acceptance all over the world and now exhibits a myriad of
conceptual, technological and regional variants.
The developing countries with dynamically emerging industrial and economic
growth, like the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), display
massive requirements of energy in form of oil and other fossil-based fuels to sustain
the pace of rapid development [15, 16]. Demand of energy and security of energy
availability differ significantly among these countries. Regarding energy security,
India portrays a precarious nature, reflected from a history of continually increasing
dependence (roughly 30% of energy demand) on imported sources of primary
energy vectors [17]. According to the latest report by MPNG, India imports 14, 70
and 30% of its primary energy demand, respectively, in terms of coal, oil and
natural gas, totalling in almost worth 150 billion USD [17]. It is being envisaged
that cost of this energy import will reach a soaring 3.6 trillion USD by 2030 if
Indian Agro-wastes for 2G Biorefineries … 355
alternative measures are not administered urgently [17]. In this context, the con-
version of varieties of Indian lignocellulosic biomass, often mistreated as just waste
materials, to energy efficient biofuels has become a supreme concern of Indian
bioenergy researchers as well as energy policy makers [18, 19]. India is largely
known as an agriculture-based country with huge land coverage of productive
agricultural fields spread throughout the country’s vast rural expanse. Naturally,
enormous quantities of agro-residues are annually generated in India as by-products
of the crop cultivation and crop-processing sectors [19, 20]. Besides year-round
availability, most of these agro-residues possess suitable biochemical composition
and excellent energy content to be utilized as potential candidate feedstocks for the
development of agro-waste-based biorefineries [21, 22]. Strategic planning and
successful implementation of such biorefineries hold great promise in lessening of
the country’s forthcoming energy insecurity and existing wide gap between the
energy demand and supply.
2 Classification of Biorefineries
As already mentioned in the preceding section, biorefineries currently display

myriads of variants based on different basis of classification. Biorefineries have
been majorly classified based on the sources of feedstock, generation technology
and biomass conversion routes used and/or product/s targeted [23, 24]. Cherubini
et al. classified the biorefineries based on four selected features namely platforms,
products, feedstocks and processes in a recently published article [25]. In the article,
they clearly stated that ‘classification approach is flexible’ for biorefineries, as new
subgroups are continually appearing from the rapid progress of the emerging field.
Taking advantage of this flexibility of classification, a simplistic approach of
classifying the biorefineries has been adopted keeping direct accordance with the
well-known generations of biofuels based on feedstock sourcing [23, 26, 27]. On
the basis of origin and type of feedstock to be handled, we have simply classified
the biorefineries into three major ‘generations’ as the following: (1) first-generation
(1G) biorefinery, (2) second-generation (2G) biorefinery and (3) third-generation
(3G) biorefinery. The classification of biorefineries is schematically represented in
Fig. 1.
The 1G biorefineries use different simple sugar, cereal starch, vegetable oils and
animal fats as feedstocks for production of biofuels and biochemicals [23]. The 2G
biorefineries, also referred as the advanced biorefineries, will particularly use sev-
eral lignocellulosic feedstocks including agro-wastes, energy crops, woody forestry
residues and lignocellulosic fraction of industrial and municipal solid wastes
(MSW) as feedstocks [23]. 3G biorefineries will rely on different freshwater and
marine algal biomass as the feedstocks for biofuel and biomaterial production. It is
distinctively ascertained that the feedstocks used in the 1G biorefineries are having
food/feed value and are fit for human consumption, whereas all feedstocks of the
Fig. 1 Three classes of biorefineries based on feedstock sourcing
2G biorefineries are completely non-food in nature [28, 29]. This distinction in

feedstock resourcing renders superiority of the 2G biorefineries over the 1G ones
from the perspective of ‘food versus fuel’ issues, which makes the 1G technology
highly unsustainable [28, 29]. In our discussion, we will specifically focus on the
2G biorefineries meant for the conversion of various Indian lignocellulosic
agro-wastes to biofuels and multiple added-value products. The usage of dedicated
energy crops has been intentionally excluded due to another controversial issue of
‘land versus fuel’ [28], which should be avoided in an exclusively
agriculture-oriented country like India. Most compatible combinations of ‘feed-
stocks and conversion routes’ will be assessed and recommended for future
implementation based on the maximized level of attainable sustainability standard
in the Indian context.
3 Categorization of Indian Agro-wastes
Before planning the utilization of different Indian agro-wastes as feedstock for

biofuel production either through individual conversion routes or in a 2G biore-
finery facility, proper categorization is a requisite. This will greatly help in
assessing the probable economic value of the particular feedstocks and eventual
valorization through policy making from the perspective of their usage in biofuel
and biochemical production. This is rather a difficult job because of the existence of
extremely diverse types of Indian agro-biomass [18–20]. To categorize the Indian
agro-wastes, primarily they have been divided into two distinct classes, depending
on their appearance on the supply chain (from the cultivation field to the
agro-processing sectors). First class is the agro-wastes directly produced during or
after the harvesting of the crop/agricultural plants, termed as ‘post-harvesting
residues’. Post-harvesting leftovers may also be regarded as the ‘field residues’ as
most of the times these are left in the field at/or close to the site of cultivation.
Second class of agro-biomass is represented by the remainings generated as
by-products of different processing units handling the crops to harness the edible
parts, termed as ‘post-processing residues’. Varieties of different major Indian
agricultural crops and the residual agro-wastes derived from them [18, 19, 30], both
post-harvesting and post-processing, have been tabulated in Table 1.
Depending on the variation in climatic conditions and soil properties, different
types of agricultural crops are cultivated in different parts if India. Rice, being the
staple food of majority of Indians, is the most prominently cultivated crop in India.
Rice is cultivated in mass scale in 21 states among the total 28 major states of the
country [30]. Naturally, quantity-wise a huge fraction of the Indian agro-wastes is
dominated by the residues produced from rice. Besides rice, the other crop varieties
cultivated in large scale are reported in Table 1 along with the agro-wastes sub-
sequently produced from them. The lignocellulosic agro-wastes generated from all
these crops can serve as potential feedstocks for generation of bioenergy through
different conversion routes.
Table 1 Major types of Indian crops and the post-harvesting and post-processing residues derived
from them
Indian crops Post-harvesting residue Post-processing residue
Rice Straw/stalk, leaves, stubble, Husk/hull
Wheat Straw/stalk, leaves, stubble Pod/panicle
Sugarcane Top, leaves Bagasse
Maize Stalks Cobs
Banana Leaves, pseudo-stem, fruit branch Pith, fruit peels
Mustard Stalks Husk, press cakes
Sesame Stalks Press cakes
Castor Stalks Husk, press cakes
Soybean Stalks N.A.
Coconut Fruit brunch, fronds Husk/coir, pith, shell
Areca nut Fruit brunch, fronds Husk
Groundnut Stalks Shell
Bajra Stalks Husk, cobs
Jowar Stalks Husk, cobs
Ragi Stalks N.A.
Pulses* Stalks Husk
Sourced from [18, 19, 30], *Arhar, gram, masoor, moong, urad
4 Availability and Conventional Use of Indian

Agro-wastes
Table 1 provides an overview of the extremely diversified agro-waste varieties

produced in India. Most of the tabulated agro-wastes are available round the year
due to the continuous production of the crops in rotational manner for the pro-
duction of food and feed to satiate the hunger of the huge population of India. As a
natural consequence, the non-edible lignocellulosic agro-residues originating from
the cultivation and processing of the Indian food crops are absolutely huge for the
prime crop varieties [18, 19, 30]. Regarding the quantity, agro-wastes produced
from rice, wheat, sugarcane, maize, banana, oilseed crops (mustard, sesame, castor),
nuts (coconut, areca nut, ground nut), millets (jowar, bajra, ragi) and pulses are
substantially huge in India [19]. Annually available amount of these agro-wastes
have been tabulated and presented in Table 2.
From the data presented in Table 2, it is evident that among the Indian
agro-wastes generated through the cultivation and processing of crops, residues of
rice hold the majorly significant fraction of produced agro-wastes. Other than rice,
wheat, sugarcane, banana, maize, coconut, groundnut, jowar, bajra are the other
Indian crop varieties, which produce significantly high amount of lignocellulosic
wastes. Agro-wastes produced from the oilseeds are also considerably high, par-
ticularly for mustard (Table 2). However, the availability of data on the quantity of
the ‘press cakes’ produced as post-processing residues from the oilseeds is scarce,
which can be significantly added to the agro-wastes of Indian oilseeds. Also,
quantitative data on the amount of stubble of rice and wheat are not available,
which are important lignocellulosic agro-wastes of these two cereal crops.
Clearly, there is an absolute abundance of agro-wastes in India, which also poses
difficulties in proper management and handling of the massive volume of solid
biomass continuously being produced. In India, there are mainly two conventional
ways/methods, through which the agro-wastes are managed. The first method has a
long history of traditional usage in India, which is the use of dry agro-residues as
solid fuel in earthen/clay ovens or house stoves in the rural areas for cooking and
producing heat [31]. Huge amount of GHGs (particularly CO2, NOx, SOx) and
respirable particulates are produced during the burning of the lignocellulosic
agro-residues in this method of usage [31]. This is neither an eco-friendly nor a
healthy way of utilization of the agro-wastes. It notably adds up to the atmospheric
GHG load in one hand, and on the other, it adversely affects the respiratory system
of the persons directly exposed to the smoke caused during the burning [31]. The
straws or stalks, residual leaves, nut shells and fronds of the crop plants are pri-
marily used through this method. The second way of agro-waste management
practiced in India is leaving the wet parts of the agro-wastes openly in the site of
cultivation for the amendment of soil by the fertilizer produced through the
microbial decay of the biomass. This process, although apparently looks harmless,
causes emission of another potent GHG, viz. CH4 to the environment in mass
scales. The CH4 is produced during the microbial degradation of the agro-biomass
Table 2 Annual availability of agro-wastes of major agricultural crop varieties of India

Indian crops (corresponding agro-wastes) Annual availability (Kt/year) Reference
Rice waste 161893.00 [20]
Rice straw 141120.00
Rice husk 20773.00
Wheat (straw) 122991.00 [20]
Sugarcane wastes 114761.00 [20]
Sugarcane bagasse 73775.00
Sugarcane tops and leaves 40986.00
Maize waste 33720.00 [20]
Maize straw 28396.00
Maize cobs 5324.00
Banana waste 67776.00 [20]
Banana fruit peels 393.00
Banana pseudo-stem 67383.00
Mustard waste 16877.00 [20]
Mustard press cake 2681.00
Mustard seedpod 1355.00
Mustard stalks 12841.00
Sesame (stalks) 1207.70 [19]
Soybean husk 671.00 [20]
Coconut waste 9060.00 [20]
Coconut fronds 7769.00
Coconut shell 726.00
Coconut coir pith 565.00
Areca nut (fronds, husk) 1000.80 [19]
Groundnut (shells) 1385.00 [20]
Bajra(stalks, cobs, husk) 15831.80 [19]
Jowar (cobs, stalks, husk) 24207.80 [19]
Ragi (straw) 2630.20 [19]
Cotton waste 38281.00 [20]
Cotton stalks 35397.00
Cotton hull 2884.00
Pulses* (stalks, husk) 13462.90 [19]
*Arhar, gram, masoor, moong, urad
by the native decaying microorganisms present in the soil. So, from an environ-
mental perspective, this method is also not eco-friendly. This method is particularly
used for the agro-biomass of the pulses for recycling back the nitrogen into the soil
in a traditional belief. Another commonly practiced method for managing the
enormous volume of straw and stubble is the open-field burning for mass
destruction of the dry agro-wastes [32, 33]. It is easily understandable that this is an
environmentally detrimental process due to the massive GHG (CO2, CO, NOX, SOX
etc.) emission, during the open-air combustion of the carbonaceous straws/
stubbles [33]. Lack of awareness and infrastructural inabilities are the two major
reasons for the persistence of these malpractices in India. True valorization of the
Indian agro-wastes through proper identification of their prospects for the pro-
duction of biofuels and additional value-added products is urgent to stop the mis-
handling of the immensely valuable agro-wastes.
5 Characterization of Indian Agro-wastes
It is of crucial importance to clearly understand the physico-chemical characteristics

of the lignocellulosic agro-wastes to facilitate optimal processing and efficient
conversion into biofuels and other value-added products in a 2G biorefinery.
Principal components of all of the tabulated agro-wastes, both post-harvesting and
post-processing, are the three complex biopolymers, namely lignin, cellulose and
hemicellulose [34]. Lignin is the rigid aromatic hetero-biopolymer which forms the
outermost protective layer of all lignocellulosic biomass [35]. The polysaccharide
duo, cellulose and hemicellulose form the core carbohydrate moiety of lignocel-
luloses and are the target components for biofuel production [35]. Contents of
lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose substantially vary among various lignocellulosic
biomass depending on species, season, region and climatic conditions [19, 30, 34,
35]. Owing to the natural recalcitrance and compositional complexity, lignin con-
tent plays the pivotal role regarding the choice of the conversion route, namely
biochemical or thermochemical or their hybrid, for the generation of biofuels from
the agro-residues. Hence, it seems beneficial to primarily select the route of con-
version for the Indian agro-wastes to biofuels based on the lignin content; this
strategy is discussed in detail in a later section. Lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose
contents of some major agricultural wastes have been presented in Table 3.
5.1 Lignin-Based Classification of Indian Agro-wastes
Based on the lignin contents of the Indian agro-wastes, as reported in Table 3, a

three-class categorization has been done. The three classes of agro-wastes are
namely low lignin (LL), medium lignin (ML) and high lignin (HL). The charac-
teristic range of lignin contents (%) of the three classes are 1–10 (LL), 10–20
(ML) and HL (above 20), respectively. According to this lignin-based classification,
the distribution of different agro-wastes (Table 3) is as follows:
1. HL: rice husk, sugarcane tops, sugarcane leaves, coconut shell, groundnut shell,
barley straw.
2. ML: rice straw, wheat straw, sugarcane bagasse, maize stems, coconut coir.
3. LL: mustard stalks, soybean husk, sesame press cake, banana pseudo-stem.
Table 3 Lignocellulose contents of different Indian agro-wastes

Agro-waste Lignin (%) Hemicellulose (%) Cellulose (%) Reference
Rice straw 17.00 22.00 42.00 [20]
Rice husk 24.60 31.60 43.80 [34]
Wheat straw 13.00 30.00 42.00 [20]
Mustard press cake – 3.00 4–5 [46]
Mustard stalks 2.20 18.70 39.50 [47]
Soybean husk 9.88 17.15 33.49 [48]
Sesame press cake 1.00 – – [49]
Sugarcane bagasse 13.40 9.20 58.20 [20]
Sugarcane tops 21.70 32.00 39.70 [50]
Sugarcane leaves 22.70 28.70 40.80 [50]
Maize stems 19.90 21.10 – [51]
Coconut shell 28.70 25.10 36.30 [52]
Coconut coir 17.80 25.90 47.70 [52]
Banana pseudo-stem 8.07 18.40 44.00 [53]
Groundnut shell 30.20 18.70 35.70 [52]
Barley straw 20.78 – – [54]
5.2 Elemental Analysis
The elemental composition of different Indian agro-wastes has been presented in

Table 4.
5.3 Energy Potential of Indian Agro-wastes
Estimation of total energy potential of candidate agro-wastes in a year-wise basis is

an important consideration to select the most promising feedstocks for 2G biore-
finery. This will help in the primary decision-making process considering the
abundance and higher heating value (HHV) of a particular agro-waste ensuring its
uninterrupted availability. The elemental composition, particularly C–H–O analysis
of any lignocellulosic biomass, affects the energy content of the feedstock. The
higher heating values (HHV) of the Indian agro-wastes have been calculated using
the Dulong’s equation as follows [36]:
HHVðkJ/kgÞ ¼ ½ð337:7 CÞ þ f1437:9 ðH ðO=8ÞÞg ð1Þ
The values of C, H and O have been obtained from Table 4.

Table 5 represents the quantitative data on the HHV and total energy potential of
some major Indian agro-wastes, calculated based on the annual availability of the
wastes, as provided in Table 2.
Table 4 Elemental composition of different agro-wastes and their higher heating values
Agro-waste C (%) H (%) O (%) N (%) S (%) Reference
Rice straw 38.80 6.70 38.80 0.20 0.20 [55]
Rice husk 39.80 5.70 39.80 0.50 0.20 [55]
Wheat straw 41.70 5.00 41.70 0.40 0.30 [55]
Mustard press cake 40.26 6.03 46.14 6.46 1.11 [46]
Mustard seedpod 44.30 8.80 43.00 0.38 0.19 [20]
Mustard stalks 43.80 5.90 43.80 0.30 0.30 [55]
Castor shell 49.80 5.30 43.90 0.90 0.10 [56]
Soybean husk 43.10 6.40 44.50 0.80 0.09 [20]
Sesame press cake 45.19 7.55 39.27 7.26 0.72 [57]
Sesame stalks 49.16 6.59 34.06 0.85 0.31 [58]
Sugarcane bagasse 48.60 5.90 42.80 0.16 0.04 [20]
Sugarcane tops and leaves 39.80 5.60 46.80 1.70 – [20]
Maize straw 47.09 5.54 39.79 0.81 0.12 [20]
Maize cobs 41.40 6.00 51.30 0.14 0.01 [20]
Coconut fronds 48.60 5.80 42.40 – – [20]
Coconut shell 52.30 6.60 39.50 0.30 0.80 [20]
Coconut coir pith 50.30 5.10 39.60 0.45 0.16 [20]
Banana pseudo-stem 43.28 6.23 49.02 0.98 0.49 [59]
Banana fruit peels 35.58 4.62 57.16 2.19 0.45 [59]
Areca nut husk 44.70 3.80 51.20 0.40 – [60]
Groundnut shell 33.90 2.00 59.90 1.10 0.12 [20]
Cotton stalks 41.50 6.20 47.50 1.81 0.02 [20]
Cotton hull 50.40 8.40 39.80 1.40 0.10 [20]
Barley straw 45.67 6.15 38.26 0.43 0.11 [61]
Barley chaff 46.77 5.94 39.98 1.45 0.15 [61]
From the data presented in Table 5, it is evidently seen that agro-wastes derived
from rice possess the highest annual energy potential and are much greater than any
other agro-wastes. This is followed by wastes of wheat, banana, sugarcane, cotton
and maize; the annual energy potentials of which are also significantly high for
India. Other noteworthy agro-wastes with substantially high energy potential
ranging between 100 and 200 PJ/year are namely mustard and coconut. Hence, it is
assessed that agro-wastes of these crops can serve as abundant source of feedstocks
for an Indian agro-waste-based 2G biorefinery. Total annual energy potential of the
agro-wastes of 8591.67PJ is comparable to the total coal-based thermal power of
194553 MW in India [37]. The actual potential is, however, dependent on the
efficiency of the conversion process to be selected for the generation of energy from
the wastes.
Table 5 Total annual energy potential of selected Indian agro-wastes

Agro-waste HHV Energy potential in PJ/year (= Annual Reference
(MJ/kg) availability * HHV)
Rice straw 15.76 2224.05 [55]
Rice husk 14.48 300.79 [55]
Wheat straw 13.77 1693.58 [55]
Mustard press cake 13.97 37.45 [46]
Mustard seedpod 19.88 1.37 [20]
Mustard stalks 15.40 197.75 [55]
Soybean husk 15.76 10.57 [20]
Sesame stalks 19.95 24.09 [58]
Sugarcane bagasse 17.20 1268.93 [20]
Sugarcane tops 13.52 554.13 [20]
and leaves
Maize straw 16.72 474.78 [61]
Maize cobs 13.39 71.29 [20]
Coconut fronds 17.06 132.54 [20]
Coconut shell 20.05 14.55 [20]
Coconut coir pith 17.20 9.72 [20]
Banana 14.77 995.25 [59]
pseudo-stem
Banana fruit peels 8.38 3.29 [59]
Groundnut shell 3.55 4.91 [20]
Cotton stalks 14.39 509.36 [20]
Cotton hull 21.94 63.27 [20]
Total 8591.67
6 Biomass Conversion Processes of 2G Biorefinery

Platform
Lignocellulosic biomass can be converted to an array of various biofuels and

chemicals/biochemicals via selection of different route of conversion. Both ther-
mochemical and biochemical conversion processes are in common practice
worldwide [9, 38]. As individual processes, all of the biomass conversion routes
produce some energy products (heat and fuels) and some material products
(chemicals, biochemicals, biomaterials). In a 2G biorefinery platform, more than
one of these processes are advantageously used together to increase the extent of
biomass conversion, number of marketable products and reduction of waste gen-
eration. However, selection of particular conversion processes in 2G biorefinery
platforms in different countries is highly dependent on several factors. Type and
availability of biomass, awareness and willingness of the biomass producers to
supply biomass residues to conversion plants, progress in biomass conversion
technologies and proper planning of utilization by the bioenergy leaders are some
prime driving factors. As a primary focus of this chapter, suitability of different

conversion routes for the conversion of Indian agro-wastes, categorized on the basis
of lignin content, has been assessed. Table 6 provides the thermochemical, bio-
chemical conversion routes and their hybrids under consideration.
7 Strategies for the Utilization of Indian Agro-wastes

in 2G Refinery
Lignin is the most recalcitrant substance present in all lignocellulosic materials,

including the agro-wastes; it highly influences the rate of conversion of biomass
through any route, particularly the biochemical ones [35]. Hence, it seems bene-
ficial to primarily select the specific route, either thermochemical or biochemical, to
ensure maximum biomass conversion with enhanced efficiency. It is understandable
that biomass with very high percentage of lignin is not suitable as feedstocks for
biochemical routes due to the requirement of extensive pre-treatments. Although it
is not very easy to assess the difficulties or advantages of using any agro-waste as
feedstock for any conversion route, an assessment considering major influencing
factors is necessary. To facilitate the clear understanding on proper and specific
selection of biomass and its most compatible conversion route, a strategic
decision-making approach has been adopted here. In the approach, lignin content of
the agro-wastes has been considered as the first basis of categorization to be used
for the selection of the best conversion route among available options. Afterwards,
a well-known strategic decision-making tool has been used to assess the feasibility
of agro-waste conversion in a 2G biorefinery framework shown in Fig. 2.
Figure 2 depicts the overall scheme of the proposed 2G biorefinery framework
comprising all options of biomass classes, pre-treatment units, conversion routes
and product series. In Fig. 2, the three-class categorization of lignin-based biomass
has been shown along with their probable point of entry in different option of
conversion routes. For the three biomass classes, a total of five conversion routes
(Table 6) have been proposed as options as following:
A. Thermochemical routes (no biomass pre-treatment is considered)
1. Gasification (GA)
2. Gasification followed by Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (GA-FT)
3. Pyrolysis (PY)
B. Biochemical routes (acid hydrolysis (AH) of biomass is considered as an initial
step)
1. Anaerobic digestion (AH-AD)
2. Alcohol fermentation (AH-AF)
C. Hybrid process (thermochemical + biochemical)
1. Gasification followed by alcohol fermentation (GA-ALF)
Table 6 The biomass conversion processes of the 2G biorefinery platform
Conversion process Technology used Reactions Product uses
Thermochemical Gasification C þ O2 ! CO2 Fuel
processes CO2 þ C ! 2CO
C þ H2 O ! CO þ H2
CO þ H2 O $ CO2 þ H2
C þ 2H2 ! CH4
Gasification followed by: Fischer– Catalyst Fuel
nCO þ ð2n þ 1ÞH2 ! Cn H2n þ 2 þ nH2 O
Tropsch Catalyst
nCO þ 2nH2 ! Cn H2n þ nH2 O
Pyrolysis Char: adsorption and soil
amendment;
Indian Agro-wastes for 2G Biorefineries …
Oil: fuel and biochemical

Gas: fuel
Biochemical processes Alcohol fermentation Alcohol: Fuel

Lignin residues: Chemical
Microorganisms
C6 H12 O6 ! 2C2 H5 OH þ 2CO2
Biogas production Biogas: Fuel;
Solid waste: Fertilizer
Hybrid process Syngas fermentation 6CO þ 3H2 O ! CH3 CH2 OH þ 4CO2 Lower alcohols: Drop-in fuel;
2CO2 þ 6H2 ! CH3 CH2 OH þ 3H2 O Higher alcohols: Drop-in fuel
365
Fig. 2 Schematic of the Indian agro-waste-based 2G biorefinery framework
After defining all the available options for biomass and conversion routes,
feasibility analysis has been conducted to clearly assess the suitability of conversion
of particular agro-wastes from Indian context.
7.1 Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) Model
The analytical hierarchical process (AHP) in this study has been carried out using
the super decision software following the basic steps proposed by Saaty [39–43].
The AHP used in this study is a four-tier structure consisting of one goal, one
criteria cluster, one sub-criteria cluster and one alternatives cluster illustrated in
Fig. 3.
The goal of this study is to find out the best compatible route for conversion of
biomass of varying lignin content in the Indian context. The criteria set for the
analysis is environmental aspects, economical aspects and the maturity of the
technologies considered for conversion of biomass. The sub-criteria have been set
to be different lignin content of biomass, i.e. high lignin content, medium lignin
content and low lignin content. The alternatives chosen are pyrolysis (PY), gasi-
fication followed by alcohol fermentation (GA-ALF), gasification followed by
Fischer–Tropsch process (GA-FT), anaerobic digestion with acid hydrolysis as
pre-treatment (AH-AD) and alcohol fermentation with acid hydrolysis as
Fig. 3 Four-tier AHP model of the Indian agro-waste-based 2G biorefinery

Fig. 4 Variation of criteria in

case 1 and 2
pre-treatment (AH-ALF). Since direct conversion through biochemical route is

impracticable for high lignin biomass, the alternatives are set to PY, GA-ALF and
GA-FT. For both medium and low lignin biomass, all the five alternatives are
applicable. The ratings have been provided by means of detailed literature review,
subsequent analysis and brain-storming sessions. The Saaty scale has been strictly
followed for this purpose [44, 45]. In order to avoid any ambiguity and biasness
towards the ratings, the AHP has been carried out twice by assigning different
weightage to the environmental and economic criteria, defined as case 1 and case 2,
respectively (Fig. 4). The technological maturity has been left unperturbed as that
dictates a fact or current status about that technology, and introducing perturbation
in that is meaningless. On a scale of 100, for case 1, weightages on economics,
environmental impact and technological maturity are set in the ratio of
26:41.2:32.8. In case 2, the weightages on environment and economics have been
interchanged. Thus, the eco: env: tech is set as 41.2:26:32.8.
7.2 AHP Results for Three Classes of Biomass
7.2.1 High Lignin Biomass
For high lignin content biomass, for case 1, the pyrolysis is the most preferable
route followed by GA-ALF and GA-FT. This is justifiable as pyrolysis has lesser
environmental footprint than gasification process. In addition to that, the pyro-char
obtained as a product of pyrolysis is used in soil fixation which has positive
environmental footprint. With respect to the economical preference (case 2) for high
lignin biomass, GA-FT is the best suitable route followed by GA-ALF. In this case,
GA-FT is the best solution because the economics of this process is well established
and the demands of the final products are also high. Also, gasification is a
self-sustained process compared to pyrolysis, and no additional cost is required to
maintain an inert atmosphere inside the reactor. Pyrolysis comes as second option
as the process is economically feasible more than the GA-ALF process as the yield
is less in case of GA-ALF. The results are depicted in Fig. 5.
Fig. 5 AHP rating for

suitable conversion processes
for HL
7.2.2 Medium and Low Lignin
For medium and low lignin biomass, pyrolysis followed by AH-AD and AH-ALF
is the most suitable options, and GA-ALF and GA-FT are the least suitable options
when the analysis is biased on environmental impact. Due to the positive envi-
ronmental footprints, as discussed before, pyrolysis comes up as the best preference
compared to AH-AD and AH-ALF, as both the latter processes have energy
requirement and water footprint. In addition to that, AH-AD have higher footprint if
methane leakage occurs. GA-ALF and GA-FT are least preferable options as the
overall environmental footprint is much higher. For case 2 with higher biasness to
economics, AH-AD, pyrolysis and GA-FT are the best suitable routes, whereas
AH-ALF and GA-ALF are the least suitable routes. AH-ALF and GA-ALF lag
behind mainly due to low conversion. AH-AD dominates the top position as
installation cost, operating cost and maintenance cost are less compared to pyrolysis
and GA-FT. The results are depicted in Fig. 6.
Fig. 6 AHP rating for suitable conversion processes for ML and LL

8 Recommendation on Strategic Decision on Feasible

Conversion Processes
From the AHP analysis, it is clear that the choice of the conversion processes to be
used in the 2G biorefineries depends on the type of agro-waste and the environ-
mental and economic impacts of the process. Different sets of conversion processes
are suitable if the biasness on environment and economics is interchanged.
Therefore, for the setting up of a 2G refinery in any agricultural hub, the policy
makers have to decide on the priority consideration, i.e. whether environmental
impact or economic returns is to be given more stress. For the same level of
environmental impact, better economy is expected if the technological maturity
increases. Hence, more thrust should be given on research and development to
unwind the mechanisms to address the challenges of the conversion processes. The
analysis also indicates that parallel processing of high, low and medium lignin
feedstocks should be done using different conversion processes in the same 2G
biorefinery to exploit the maximum benefit from all agro-residues.
9 Conclusions
From the available database, an assessment on the abundance of Indian

agro-residues and their overall energy potential has been made. Based on the lignin
content, the residues have been classified as high lignin, medium lignin and low
lignin ones. Considering an array of thermochemical, biochemical and hybrid
processes, an AHP model has been developed to draw a guideline for the strategic
decision on the utilization of the conversion path for different types of biomass in a
single 2G refinery. The analysis clearly indicates that the suitability of routes
changes with the interchange of priority on environmental impact and economic
return. It is expected that the findings presented in the article will be useful for the
scientists to focus on the research and development on suitable conversion pro-
cesses for different types of agro-residues and for the policy makers to decide on
setting up of 2G biorefineries near agricultural hubs in rural sectors.
Acknowledgements The corresponding author acknowledges INNO-INDIGO for the selection of

collaborative CONVER-B project on Biobased Energy. All authors acknowledge the valuable
comments made by the learned reviewers for the upgradation of the quality of the manuscript.
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Technical report
Energy Conservation and Sustainability
Due to Passive Daylight System of Light
Pipe in Indian Buildings
Abdus Salam Azad and Dibakar Rakshit
Abstract With continuous increase in energy usage in Indian building sector, share
of electricity has risen to 35% of total electricity consumption. Therefore, achieving
energy efficiency in buildings by adopting solar passive design strategies is
lucrative. It is important to mention that in India, electricity consumption in lighting
a commercial building is high and about 25% of the total electricity consumption. It
is therefore imperious to evolve techniques that cut down the energy consumption
for lighting load and thus develop energy efficient buildings. Tubular light guide is
modern and innovative system which can be used to improve illumination for
buildings that require more electrical light during daytime. This is done by utilizing
the natural light to illuminate the interior space and save a significant amount of
lighting energy. The study involves analytical and experimental investigation of a
tubular light pipe for prediction of illuminance distribution inside a room of
3 3 2.7 m3. For this purpose, predictive performance of existing empirical
models has been compared with two commercially available software EnergyPlus
and Holigilm. The daylight penetration factor (DPF) has been evaluated on the
horizontal working plane through available empirical models. The DPF obtained by
these empirical models and software is compared with experimental values and is
found to have a good agreement. Besides this, annual energy saving potential
having windows and light pipe in a room for different Indian climatic conditions has
been evaluated.
Keywords Daylighting DPF Light pipe Lighting energy
A. S. Azad D. Rakshit (&)

Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institute
of Technology Delhi, New Delhi 110016, India
A. S. Azad

376 A. S. Azad and D. Rakshit
1 Introduction
In Indian building sector, residential and commercial buildings share 23 and 12% of
the total electricity demand, respectively [1]. Lighting systems consume 25 and
28%, respectively, of the total electricity in commercial and residential buildings,
respectively [2]. The electrical energy demand in the buildings will continue to rise,
as it is estimated that the construction industry in the country is growing at a rapid
growth rate of over 9% per year [3]. Therefore, energy conservation in buildings is
a major challenge nowadays.
In energy efficient buildings, reduction in energy consumption can be achieved
by adopting low energy/solar passive design strategies, such as proper orientation,
shading, natural ventilation and daylighting. Sharma et al. [4] have analysed the
performance of a building with respect to orientation, and thus, it has been
appraised that longer facade to be in north–south direction for Indian conditions.
Daylighting [5] is an important passive method of building design in achieving
energy conservation. Effective utilization of daylight can be achieved by the
effective positioning of windows and skylights, along with the lighting controls that
respond according to the daylight available.
It is also important to develop new techniques that utilize the renewable energy
(most importantly solar energy) in yielding sustainable buildings. Use of natural
light from the sun can reduce significant amount of lighting energy consumption.
Therefore, modern and passive technique of tubular light pipes [6, 7] has been
invented which provides natural light to interior windowless parts of the buildings.
In daytime, light pipe can effectively utilize the sunlight to illuminate the interior
space, and hence, a significant amount of lighting energy can be conserved.
2 Scope of Energy Conservation in Lighting
Artificial lights consume major portion of energy usage in buildings. The use of
artificial lighting also adds to the cooling load of the building by dissipating waste
heat. In order to improve the situation, new lighting fixtures with increased effi-
ciency are being developed. Due to the result of research and testing conducted by
researchers, nowadays LEDs having luminous efficacy of 100 lm/W are available in
the market. Along with this, it is always recommended that daylight should be
integrated in building design to conserve lighting energy. However, familiarizing
daylight into buildings is not as simple as having glazed areas or windows on the
building facade. Architect or building designers should understand the mechanism
of how daylight works and how to incorporate daylight in intelligent way to ensure
the visual and thermal comfort inside the building.
Energy Conservation and Sustainability Due to Passive Daylight … 377
2.1 Passive Methods of Daylighting
There are several passive methods of daylighting being in practice. Most useful and
popular methods have been summarized and discussed below:
2.1.1 Windows
Windows considered as potential passive technique in contributing to lighting

energy in any type of building since past. Daylight received through windows can
significantly contribute in reducing lighting energy consumption and improving the
visual comfort. Installing window also has impact on the cooling load of the
building as solar gain through exterior envelop is a major contributor to the thermal
load. In buildings, the net energy gain through windows depends on the thermal
properties of the glazing material. Therefore, many researches have been carried out
by different researchers [8, 9, 6], and it has been found that different commercially
available glazed windows are suitable in different conditions.
Singh and Garg [10] explored the capability of daylighting in reducing electrical
lighting load for various Indian climatic conditions. In the study, analysis was
carried out of an office building for four different types of windows (all double
glazed) equipped in all four directions. Lighting energy saving was calculated by
using both daylighting software ADELINE 3.0 and Perez model and was compared.
Ihm et al. [11] developed and validated a simplified method for estimation of annual
energy savings associated with electrical lighting. The simplified method includes
the building geometry, the window size and the type of glazing. They investigated
the potential of daylighting to save energy utilizing the dimming and stepped
daylighting control strategies for an office building.
Fasi and Budaiwi [12] conducted a study with the purpose to investigate the
impact of different glazed windows type on energy and visual comfort inside the
building in the hot climate of Saudi Arabia. The influence of daylight integration
with electrical lighting to increase the energy savings while maintaining the visual
comfort was assessed. The results showed that reduction of 16% in total annual
energy consumption can be achieved for double-glazed low-E windows with
daylight integration.
2.1.2 Skylight
A skylight is an opening surface having a slope of less than 60° from the horizontal
plane (Plate 1). It is installed with the roof system providing daylighting and
ventilation to the building. As the skylights are located on the roof, they may have
adverse effects in terms of unwanted solar heat gain during period of summers and
heat leakage during winters. Skylight glazing is usually glass or acrylic material,
although advanced glazing technologies have been developed and can be used for
Plate 1 Skylight
solar heat control. The size of skylight significantly affects the illumination level
and heat leakage to the space below. The position of skylight plays an important
role to maximize daylighting and/or passive solar heating potential. Al-Obaidi et al.
[13] reviewed several skylight systems for Malaysian climatic conditions, but they
found it inappropriate for the practical application because of the energy imbalance
between thermal and lighting loads. Therefore, they suggested that these systems
should be integrated with shading, glare control, advanced glazing systems and
taking advantage of different geometries.
2.1.3 Light Shelves
Light shelves are passive technique to enhance daylighting from windows, and this
can be obtained by placing a horizontal reflective surface outside the window. It has
three main components: a window, an inside shelf and outside shelf (Fig. 1). The
inside shelf reflects the all transmitted light from the upper window onto the room
ceiling. The outside shelf reflects the incident light upward to illuminate the room
Fig. 1 Light shelves (Source

Ref. [14])
Outside Shelf Inside Shelf
Window Daylight Zone

ceiling. This reflected light to the ceiling reduces the need of artificial illumination.
The window is divided into two window surfaces. Only the upper interacts with the
daylighting and provides way to reflected rays.
It has also been found that by integrating shelves on south-facing facades of the
buildings, the daylighting quality increases significantly and improves the inner
space illumination through the enhancement of light distribution. This leads to the
reduction in glare and increases the degree of human health and comfort [15].
2.1.4 Light Pipe
Tubular light pipes are modern, but passive technique which utilizes the daylight to
illuminate the interior space of the buildings. The use of light pipe can provide
illuminance without the use of artificial light and hence can significantly reduce the
lighting energy consumption in a building. It works on the principle of propagation
of light from ambient to indoor due to multi-reflections on high reflective internal
surfaces. Light pipes mainly have three components (Fig. 2): receiving part
(hemispherical dome) in which sunlight gets collected, the received light goes to
multi-reflections through the reflecting tube, and the lower part (diffuser) is
responsible for uniform distribution of light throughout the space.
Shin et al. [16] conducted experimental studies for Korean climatic conditions.
For the prediction of internal illuminance, they developed a prediction model for
straight light pipe with two aspect ratios and found good agreement with experi-
mental values. Energy conservation and CO2 mitigation potential of light pipe at
test room were also evaluated for the considered location. Patil [17] fabricated a
windowless test room on the roof fitted with light pipe in composite climatic zone of
(a) Test room with light pipe set-up (b) Light pipe with (c) Diffuser
dome
Plate 2 a Test room with light pipe set-up, Plate b light pipe with dome and Plate c diffuser
New Delhi, India. External illuminance and internal illuminance under clear,
intermediate and overcast sky were measured. Effects of sky clearance index on
internal illuminance and on daylight penetration factor (DPF) were analysed.
2.2 Advantage of Light Pipe Over Other Daylight Methods
Light pipe utilizes about two-third of the available global illuminance in a clear sky
day. It receives both direct and diffuse components of sunlight, which transmitted
and diffused into the interior space of the building. Because of having long and
sealed reflecting part, it has additional advantage of reducing unnecessary solar heat
gain [18].
To increase daylight inside the building, larger window exposure is not rec-
ommend because it will add more cooling load on the air-conditioning system. In
place, utilizing light pipe with window gives us an opportunity to reduce glare and
further improve the balance of daylight within the interior space. We receive
redirected and diffused daylight from light pipe; it can reduce the problem of glare
and would give daylight of better uniformity. Skylight introduces diffuse light
inside the building; increasing the facade area to admit more diffuse light can be
responsible for adding undesirable sunlight. In place, light pipe transmits both
direct and diffuse light by multi-reflection mechanism. Therefore, we can receive
more uniform and diffused daylight than that by a skylight.
In this study, it is aimed to model tubular light pipe for the prediction of illu-
minance distribution inside a small room. For this purpose, tubular device is
modelled using two existing prediction models as well as two simulation softwares
(EnergyPlus™ Version 8.3 and Holigilm™). The DPF has been computed using
both predictions models and simulation software and has been compared and val-
idated. Secondly, the energy saving opportunities utilizing different glazing with
varied glazed areas and light pipe have been assessed for different Indian climatic
conditions. Both the analyses have been carried out in separate sections.
3 Evaluation and Analysis of DPF for Light Pipe System
3.1 Methodology
In present study, experimental observations have been carried out in the composite
climatic zone of New Delhi, India. The monitoring period was during the month of
March–May of a year. The experimental observations have been conducted for a
windowless test room made up of wooden ply boards sized 3 m 3 m 2.7 m
(Plate 2a). During the experimental observations, the door was remain closed to
keep the room interior free from ambient conditions. To avoid the effect of light
Fig. 2 Tubular light pipe

Hemispherical
dome
Reflector
Diffuser
reflectance from the inner walls and ceilings, they were painted black. The light
pipe installed on roof along with diffuser is shown in Plate (2b, c). The light pipe
has a diameter of 23 cm, with a pipe length of 1 m getting aspect ratio of 4.3.
The horizontal working plane (floor) has been divided into grid of 5 5
(Fig. 3). The hourly illuminance distribution at different points of the working plane
has been measured using photosensors and luxmeter. The observations have been
conducted for worst case scenario.
In next sections, the expression of DPF is described. The prediction models used
in the study is explored. Simulation parameters used by the EnergyPlus and
Holigilm for the study are also presented.
0.3 m 0.6 m 0.6 m 0.6 m 0.6 m 0.3 m
1 2 3 4 5
10 9 8 7 6
3.0 m
11 12 14 15
North
20 19 18 17 16
21 22 23 24 25
Fig. 3 Grid points of horizontal working plane (floor)

3.2 Daylight Penetration Factor (DPF)
It is defined as the ratio of internal illuminance at a given point inside any building
to the external global illuminance ðEext Þ on the horizontal plane. It is a dimen-
sionless factor similar to daylight factor (DF). Advantage of DPF over DF is that it
also includes the effect of both internal and external environmental factors and light
pipe configuration. It can be noticed that the ratio is dependent on the points of
interest. Mathematically,
Eintðx;y;zÞ
DPFðx;y;zÞ ¼ 100 ð1Þ
Eext
where Eintðx;y;zÞ is the internal illuminance at the given point Pðx;y;zÞ , and DPFðx;y;zÞ is
daylight penetration factor for the given point.
Using DPF, the internal illuminance at a given point with coordinates (x, y,
z) due to a given light pipe can be calculated from the Eq. (2),
Eintðx;y;zÞ ¼ DPFðx;y;zÞ Eext ð2Þ
3.3 Light Pipe Prediction Models
To predict the daylight performance of light pipes, several prediction models have
been developed by researchers. The semi-empirical models considered in the study
require light pipe’s configuration and the local climatic condition as input
parameters.
3.3.1 Zhang–Muneer Model
Based on the experiments conducted by the authors [19], a mathematical model was
developed. The model includes the input parameters of light pipe’s length and
diameter as well as solar altitude (as) and sky clearness index (kt), which is given
by:
DPFðx;y;zÞ ¼ ð62:5 17:2kt þ 2:6as Þ

1:3
Vl
qð136 þ 4:3Ap þ 1:1 cot as 0:4Ap cot as Þ R2 =D2 ð3Þ
D
where
kt sky clearance index,
as solar altitude,
q light pipe reflectance,
L length of the light pipe
R diameter of the light pipe
r radius of light pipe
Ap aspect ratio of the light pipe (L/R)
Vl vertical distance from the diffuser to the point of interest
D direct distance from the diffuser to the point of interest
Internal illuminance ðEint Þ is given by:
Eint ¼ Eext DPF ð4Þ
3.3.2 Jenkins–Muneer Model
This semi-empirical model has been developed by Jenkins et al. [20], for prediction
of the output from the light pipe. The model can be used for straight light as well as
bent type. The model estimates illuminance distribution at any point below the
diffuser. The outline of model is based on the cosine rule of light propagation. The
required input parameters are external illuminance along with light pipe configu-
ration as shown in the Fig. 4.
Fig. 4 Input parameters of Jenkins–Muneer model

Indoor illuminance ðEint Þ on the working plane due to straight light pipe is given
as:
u cos4 h
Eint ¼ 0:494 ð5Þ
Vl2
u ¼ 0:82 Eext e0:11Ap Pr 2 ð6Þ
cos4 h
Eint ¼ Eext 0:402 e0:11Ap Pr 2 ð7Þ
Vl2
3.4 Overview of Simulation Tools and Parameter
Among many available lighting simulation tools, only three are used to model the
tubular device. For our comparative study, we have considered EnergyPlus and
Holigilm. EnergyPlus is an internationally accepted tool, and Holigilm is dedicated
to modelling of light pipe. Apart from these two, DIALux also simulates the tubular
device.
3.4.1 EnergyPlus
EnergyPlus is new generation simulation engine, which integrates the best features
of two energy simulation engines DOE-2 and BLAST. EnergyPlus is developed by
the help of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and U.S. Department
of Energy (DOE). To predict more accurate results, EnergyPlus has been validated
with building energy simulation tests (BESTests)—developed by the International
Agency of Energy (IAE).
In addition to its versatile application, the EnergyPlus also predicts daylighting
through windows, skylight, tubular light guide, etc., inside the building. For day-
lighting prediction, EnergyPlus uses DElight [21]. The calculation method is based
on daylight factor (DF) interpolation for the direct daylight coming from sun.
To model a light pipe in EnergyPlus, it is considered as a separate zone on the top
of the daylight zone as depicted in the Fig. 5. The daylight zone considers no
window opening. The tubular light pipe model includes simultaneously three distinct
and related phenomena: daylighting, solar gains and conductive/convective gains.
Simulation of solar and conductive/convective gains is based on zone heat
balance, though daylighting is simulated separately. To include the advantage of
many of the standard daylighting and heat transfer sequences, the dome and diffuser
are treated as special window surface (Fig. 6) for both daylighting and heat balance
simulations. Dome and diffuser are together considered as “receiver” and “trans-
mitter”, respectively, i.e., radiation entering the dome ends up the diffuser.
Fig. 5 Light pipe modelled

in EnergyPlus
Fig. 6 Dome and diffuser

surfaces
The reflecting tube (pipe) is simulated by an independent code module. Though

several different empirical models for characterizing tubular light pipe performance
are present [22, 7], using the transmittance of the light pipe is most compatible with
the existing EnergyPlus daylighting and heat balance code.
3.4.2 Holigilm
Holigilm is a calculation tool developed to predict indoor illuminance from the

straight and tubular hollow light guides. The name HOLIGILM is an abbreviation
of hollow light guide interior illumination method.
The modelling using Holigilm is based on classical and analytical approach of
integrating sky and sun illuminances developed by Kocifaj et al. [23]. The program
does not use a weather file, and it is only based on the theoretical calculations of the
solar position. One more limitation of the programme is it only simulates straight
and tubular pipe equipped with a Lambertian or transparent diffuser.
The simulation parameters assumed to model tubular light pipe in EnergyPlus
and Holigilm have been summarized in Table 1.
3.5 Results and Discussion
From the observations, it has been found that the illuminance distribution through
the diffuser is uniform. The illuminance received in afternoon is sufficient to illu-
minate a small room, though in morning and evening time it will be required to use
Table 1 Simulation parameters in EnergyPlus and Holigilm

Energy Plus Holigilm
Building Length: 3.0 m Length: 3.0 m
Width: 3.0 m Width: 3.0 m
Height: 2.7 m Height: 2.7 m
Orientation: 45° Orientation: 45° (Azimuth)
Working Horizontal floor Horizontal floor
Plane
Weather file IND_New.Delhi.421820_ISHRAE 13 CIE Clear polluted, urban
Dome and Rectangular (0.21 m 0.21 m) Transmittance of the dome: 0.92
diffuser Transmittance of the dome: 0.92 Transmittance of the diffuser: 0.75
Transmittance of the diffuser: 0.9 (Lambertian)
(Lambertian) Grid density on the optical interface:
Medium
Reflecting Reflectance: 0.95 Reflectance: 0.934
pipe Length: 1 m Length: 1 m
Diameter: 0.23 m Diameter: 0.23 m
Position: centre of the room Position: centre of the room
Morning, 9 AM Afternoon, 1 PM
Evening, 5 PM
Fig. 7 Illuminance distribution through the light pipe in morning, afternoon and evening time
artificial light along with light pipe. The illuminance is measured on the floor (worst
case scenario); therefore, it is possible to achieve adequate amount of light on the
working level. Utilization of two light pipes in the same room can provide more
light in achieving the adequate lighting level [24]. The illuminance distribution in
morning, afternoon and evening has been depicted in the Fig. 7.
3.5.1 Analysis of Daylight Penetration Factor (DPF)
As mentioned before, the DPF being a dimensionless ratio, we can get more
inference in the results which relate us with external weather conditions. This
parameter is very useful in showing the deviation in the results obtained from the
prediction models and selected software. A series of DPF has been computed for
different set of points on the working plane. Variation of DPF for three points has
been shown in the Figs. 8, 9 and 10.
Figure 8 shows that most of the DPF values lie between 0.05 and 0.15% for the
point below the diffuser. Exceptions are the values computed from Jenkins–Muneer
model and EnergyPlus software. The computed DPFs from Jenkins–Muneer model
0.200
0.150
DPF, (%)
0.100
0.050
0.000
8.00 9.00 10.00 11.00 12.00 13.00 14.00 15.00 16.00 17.00
Day Time (hour)
Experimetal Zhang - Jenkins -
values Muneer model Muneer model
Holigilm EnergyPlus
Fig. 8 DPF under the diffuser (point 13) on March 19, 2016
0.120
0.100
0.080
DPF, (%)
0.060
0.040
0.020
0.000
8.00 9.00 10.00 11.00 12.00 13.00 14.00 15.00 16.00 17.00
Day Time (hour)
Holigilm EnergyPlus
Fig. 9 Average DPF of points 7, 9, 17 and 19 during March 19, 2016
0.100
0.080
DPF, (%)
0.060
0.040
0.020
0.000
8.00 9.00 10.00 11.00 12.00 13.00 14.00 15.00 16.00 17.00
Day Time (hour)
Holigilm EnergyPlus
Fig. 10 Average DPF of points 1, 5, 21 and 25 during March 19, 2016

are little higher compared to experimental values and are constant throughout the
day. On the other hand, the computed DPFs using EnergyPlus are little lower. It can
be observed that the DPFs are minimum in morning time, reach the maximum in
afternoon and then decrease.
As the points (7, 9, 17 and 19) are symmetrically placed with respect to central
point, the computed average DPFs of the points have been shown in the Fig. 9.
Most of DPF values lie between 0.04 and 0.1%. The values are again little higher
for Jenkins–Muneer model as compared to experimental values. The trend for
increase and decrease is same as that of the previous case.
For the farthest points (1, 5, 21 and 25) on the working plane, the computed
DPFs values lie between 0.02 and 0.08% as shown in Fig. 10, almost following the
similar pattern as witnessed in the previous plots.
Considering the three Figures (Figs. 8, 9 and 10) together, it can be concluded
that for the point below the diffuser (centre), DPF value is higher. As we move
away from this point, the DPF decreases and is lowest for the farthest points. It can
also be observed that DPFs are lower in morning and evening time because of low
external illuminance. As the high external illuminance, DPFs reach the maximum in
afternoon. In all the cases as per Jenkins–Muneer model, the DPF is constant for
particular point irrespective of the daytime. Reason for this is model is dependent
on constant input parameters of light pipe configuration only. While in case of
Zhang–Muneer model, the model is dependent on the variable input parameters of
sky clearness index and solar altitude angle. Also, it has been inferred that Zhang–
Muneer model and Holigilm software show good agreement with experimental
values, while Jenkins–Muneer model and EnergyPlus software show a little devi-
ation in the results compared to others.
4 Input Data for Energy Savings in Lighting
In the section, the energy saving opportunities utilizing different glazing with varied
glazed areas and light pipe have been assessed for different Indian climatic con-
ditions. The building has been modelled using DesignBuilder and simulated using
EnergyPlus. Simulations were performed for a standard conference/meeting room
sized 5.5 m 5.5 m 3.5 m. Diametrical representation of the building sample is
shown in Fig. 11. Construction details of external wall and roof have been depicted
in Fig. 12a, b, and layer-by-layer material details are given in the Table 2. Four
different types of glazing (Table 3) have been taken into consideration with glazed
area (window to wall ratio) varied from 10 to 40%. The visible light transmittance
(VLT) for the glazed materials varied from 0.07 to 0.88. Considering window
installed on the specified orientation, simulation has been carried out in all four
directions. The occupancy schedule is taken as from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM. During
the period, the room temperature is maintained at 25 °C. The illuminance level of
400 lx is maintained at the working height of 0.8 m as recommended by BEE [2].
Continuous dimming is used to control the illuminance level inside the room. It is
Fig. 11 Model of building for simulation
Fig. 12 a and b Construction details of external wall and Roof
Table 2 Layer-by-layer material details of external wall and Roof

Layer-by-layer materials (outer surface to Thickness U-value (W/
inner) (mm) m2 K)
External Gypsum plaster 13 1.65
wall Concrete block (medium) 200
Gypsum plaster 13
Roof Asphalt 19 1.55
Fibreboard 13
Cast concrete (lightweight) 100
Table 3 Properties of different glazing

Glazing type Glass thickness U-value (W/m2 K) SHGC VLT
and air gap (mm)
Single glazed, clear 6 5.78 0.82 0.88
Double glazed, clear 6, 12 3.16 0.76 0.81
Double glazed, tinted, low e-coated 6, 6 2.43 0.40 0.44
Double glazed, clear, reflective 6, 13 2.22 0.14 0.07
assumed that there is a sensor which senses the total lux at the interior space and
adjusts the electric light accordingly in a continuous mode. Lighting power density
(LPD) is assumed 14 W/m2 as per Indian building standard [25]. No other internal
load (equipment and occupancy load) is being considered in the study as they will
be remain constant and do not have any effect on analysis.
The light pipe also has been modelled in DesignBuilder and simulated using
EnergyPlus for the same above input parameters. The modelled light pipe is having
diameter of 0.23 m and length 1.0 m.
4.1 Energy Saving Assessment
The energy saving assessment has been carried out for four different Indian climatic
conditions. One location from each climatic zone [26] is being considered
(Table 4). The location from the cold climatic zone is being ignored as the analysis
is based on the cooling load calculations. Simulated results obtained from
EnergyPlus present the annual energy usage in terms of kWh/m2-yr. In the study,
effect of varied area for different glazing on lighting and cooling load has been
analysed. Due to varied glazed area, the lighting and cooling load will be different
for different glazed windows. Also, the total annual energy saving per unit area has
been computed for evaluating the overall effect.
In Table 5, the lighting, cooling and total energy saved for different types of
window glazing, different glazed areas and for different orientations have been
summarized for New Delhi. As the LPD is 14 W/m2 and required illuminance level
Table 4 Details of different locations in Indian climatic zone

Climatic Location Latitude (°) Longitude (°) Elevation Standard Pressure
zones (°N) (°E) (m) (Pa)
Composite New 28.58 77.20 216 98,757
Delhi
Hot and dry Bikaner 28.0 73.30 224 98,663
Moderate Pune 18.53 73.85 559 94,787
Warm and Chennai 13.0 80.18 16.0 101,133
humid
392
Table 5 Delhi: Annual lighting, cooling and total energy saved for different types of window, different glazed area and for different orientation
Window type % Glazing Lighting energy saved (kWh/m2- Cooling energy saved (kWh/m2-yr) Total Energy Saved(kWh/m2-yr)
area yr)
North South East West North South East West North South East West
Single glazing 10 21 22.2 28 17.6 11.9 11 14 9.7 33 33.1 42 27.3
20 30.4 30.5 30.9 14.8 15.9 15.5 14.8 45.2 46.4 46.4 43.7
30 31.2 31.2 31.3 30.7 15.1 17.2 15.9 15.5 46.3 48.4 47.3 46.2
40 31.5 31.4 31. 31.3 15.2 18.7 16. 15.9 46.7 50.1 47. 47.2
5 2 7
Double glazed, clear 10 19.4 20.5 27.1 16.2 13.6 11.4 10 9 30.8 30.5 40.8 25.2
20 30 30.1 30.7 28.3 14.8 15.7 15.4 14.5 44.8 45.8 46.1 42.9
30 31.1 31.0 31.2 30.3 16.5 17.1 16 15.5 47.5 48.1 47.2 45.8
40 31.4 31.3 31.4 31.1 15.3 18.6 16.3 15.9 46.7 49.9 47.7 47
Double glazed, 10 5.9 8.4 19.8 7.0 4.6 3.2 10.2 4.7 10.5 11.6 30 11.7
e-coated 20 25.1 26.1 27.6 23.1 13.4 12.9 13.9 12 38.5 39 41.5 35
30 28.4 29 29.8 26.5 14.4 14.9 15 13.7 42.9 43.9 44.8 40.2
40 29.6 30.1 30.4 28.3 14.8 16 15.4 14.6 44.4 46.1 45.9 42.9
Double glazed, 10 2.5 2.8 4.6 3.5 1.4 1.2 2.5 2 3.9 4.1 7.2 5.5
reflective 20 4.9 5.8 8.8 6.4 2.7 2.5 4.5 3.5 7.6 8.3 13.3 9.8
30 6.8 8.4 11.6 9.1 3.8 3.8 5.9 4.9 10.6 12.2 17.6 14.1
40 8.3 10.8 13.5 11.3 4.6 4.9 6.9 6 13 15.7 20.3 17.3
Light pipe, dia 0.23 m 0.8 19.8 20.6
A. S. Azad and D. Rakshit
is 400 lx, the maximum total energy saving of 50.1 kWh/m2-yr has been achieved.
The maximum energy saved utilizing daylight is achieved for the single-glazed
south-oriented window with 40% glazed area. It has been observed that when VLT
is high (e.g. 0.88 for single-glazed clear glass and 0.81 for double-glazed clear
glass), the total energy saved is maximum which is about 46.7–50.1 kWh/m2-yr.
The energy saved is low for small glazed area, increases with increase in glazed
area and remains almost constant for 30–40% glazed area. For high-VLT glasses,
total energy saved is almost same for all orientations. Only exception is for low
glazed area; total energy saved is highest for east orientation.
The lighting energy savings have direct impact on cooling energy saved, as the
waste heat is generated by the artificial lights. It can be concluded that utilizing
daylight through window has greater impact on lighting load than on cooling load,
which is opposite in case of light pipe. Savings in both lighting and cooling energy
increase with increase in glazed area. As the VLT decreases, the amount of energy
saved reduces and is lowest for the double-glazed reflective window (VLT of 0.04
only). Reason for this is: less amount of visible light is transmitted inside the room.
The energy saving is also computed for a light pipe with diameter of 0.23 m. For
this case, no glazed area is being considered on the building walls. The daylight
enters through the light pipe installed on the roof. The total energy saved due to
light pipe is comparable to the high-VLT glasses and low glazed areas & with
low-VLT glasses and high glazed areas.
In Fig. 13, the effect of window orientation on energy savings has been depicted
for New Delhi. The results are shown for 30% glazed area only (for other glazed
area, refer to Table 4). It can be inferred from the plot that when the transmittance
of glass is high (VLT > 0.80), energy savings are nearly same in all directions.
50
Total energy saved, (kWh/m2-yr)
40
30
Light pipe
20
10
0
North South East West
Orientation
Single Double Double Double
glazing, clear glazed, clear glazed, low e-coated glazed, reflective
Fig. 13 Effect of orientation on total energy saved for glazed area of 30%
Total energy saved (kWh/m2-yr) 60
50
40
30
Light pipe
20
10
0
10% 20% 30% 40%
Area
Single Double Double Double
glazing, clear glazed, clear glazed, low e-coated glazed, reflective
Fig. 14 Effect of glazed area on total energy saved for glazed area in south direction
Reason of this is: more visible radiation is entering through these windows, and this
is ample to maintain illuminance level of 400 lx. It is also prevailing that when
transmittance is low (VLT < 0.07), the energy saving is minimum for north ori-
entation. As the light pipe is independent of any orientation, the energy saving has
been shown as separate point. The energy saving from the light pipe is very sig-
nificant and in fact higher than low-VLT glasses.
The effect of variation of glazed area on total energy savings for south direction
is shown in the Fig. 14. It can be seen that energy saving increases with increase in
glazed area. When the glazed area increases to more than 20%, energy saving
becomes significant. When VLT is high, total annual energy saving of 50 kWh/m2
can be achieved for 40% glazed area. But when VLT is low, the maximum of only
15.7 kWh/m2 of total annual energy saving can be achieved which is lower than the
energy saved from the considered light pipe.
Simulated results for other locations from different climatic zones are presented
in the Tables 6, 7 and 8. It can be concluded that for varied glazed area and that of
different orientation, the energy saving trends of these locations are similar to that of
New Delhi. However, the total annual energy saved that was achieved for Chennai
and Pune is slightly higher.
The annual energy saving for varied glazed areas and for double glazing, clear
type installed in south direction along with light pipe for four locations from
different climatic zones has been presented in the Fig. 15. It can be observed that as
glazed area increases, energy saving for all the locations increases. But, when the
glazed area is 30–40%, the difference in energy saving is not very significant. The
energy saved from the light pipe is lower compared to any glazed areas.
Table 6 Bikaner: Annual lighting, cooling and total energy saved for different types of window, different glazed area and for different orientation
Window type % Glazing Lighting Energy saved (kWh/m2- Cooling Energy saved (kWh/m2-yr) Total Energy Saved(kWh/m2-yr)
area yr)
Single glazing, clear 10 19.4 21.8 28.3 16.3 12.0 12.1 15.1 9.8 31.4 33.9 43.4 26.1
20 29.7 30.7 31.3 28.1 16.0 18.1 17.2 15.8 45.7 48.8 48.5 43.9
30 30.9 31.5 31.7 30.2 16.5 19.5 17.6 17 47.4 51 49.3 47.1
40 31.5 31.7 31.8 31.0 16.6 20.1 18.1 17.6 48.1 51.8 49.9 48.7
Double glazed, clear 10 17.6 20.0 27.3 15.0 11.2 10.5 15 9.1 28.9 30.5 42.2 24.1
20 29.2 30.3 31.2 27.4 16.0 17.7 17.7 15.5 45.2 48 48.3 42.9
30 30.6 31.3 31.6 29.7 16.5 19.4 17.6 16.9 47.2 50.7 49.3 46.6
40 31.3 31.6 31.8 30.7 16.8 20.1 18.1 17.6 48 51.7 49.9 48.3
Double glazed, 10 4.3 7.7 19.3 6.4 3.8 3.1 10.8 4.5 8.1 10.9 30.1 11
e-coated 20 23.9 25.7 27.8 22.2 13.9 13.9 15.3 12.6 37.9 39.6 43.1 34.7
30 27.5 29.0 30.3 25.5 15.4 16.6 16.6 14.5 42.8 45.6 46.9 40
40 28.8 30.3 30.9 27.4 15.9 18.2 17.2 15.7 44.8 48.6 48.1 43.1
Energy Conservation and Sustainability Due to Passive Daylight …
Double glazed, 10 2.3 2.8 4.6 3.2 1.4 1.3 2.7 1.9 3.7 4.1 7.4 5.1
reflective 20 4.5 5.6 8.8 6.4 2.7 2.7 5 3.7 7.3 8.4 13.8 10.1
30 6.4 8.2 11.7 9.3 3.8 4.1 6.5 5.4 10.2 12.3 18.2 14.7
40 7.8 10.6 13.4 11.2 4.7 5.3 7.5 6.5 12.5 15.9 20.9 17.7
Light pipe, dia 0.23 m 1.1 23.9 24.9
395
396
Table 7 Chennai: Annual lighting, cooling and total energy saved for different types of window, different glazed area and for different orientation
Window type % Glazing Lighting energy saved (kWh/m2- Cooling energy saved (kWh/m2-yr) Total Energy Saved(kWh/m2-yr)
area yr)
Single glazing 10 26.0 20.5 28.2 20.2 17.7 14.1 19.3 13.7 43.7 34.3 47.5 33.9
20 31.2 30.2 30.6 30.6 21.0 20.6 20.9 20.7 52.3 50.5 51.5 51.3
30 31.5 30.9 31.2 31.4 21.2 21.0 21.2 21.3 52.7 52.0 52.4 52.7
40 31.6 31.2 31.4 31.6 21.2 21.2 21.3 21.3 52.9 52.4 52.7 53.0
Double glazed, clear 10 24.9 18.5 27.6 18.7 17.1 12.7 19.0 12.7 42.0 31.2 46.6 31.3
20 31.1 29.9 30.4 30.2 21.1 20.5 20.8 20.5 52.1 50.4 51.2 50.7
30 31.4 30.8 31.0 31.3 21.3 21.1 21.3 21.3 52.7 51.9 52.3 52.6
40 31.6 31.1 31.3 31.5 21.4 21.3 21.4 21.5 53.0 52.4 52.7 53.0
Double glazed, 10 12.1 5.7 21.4 8.0 8.4 3.9 14.7 5.4 20.6 9.6 36.1 13.4
e-coated 20 28.8 24.9 28.0 25.1 19.5 17.0 19.2 16.9 48.3 41.9 47.1 42.0
30 30.4 28.7 29.5 28.6 20.6 19.6 20.2 19.4 51.0 48.3 49.8 48.0
40 30.9 29.8 30.1 30.1 20.9 20.4 20.7 20.4 51.8 50.2 50.8 50.6
Double glazed, 10 3.3 2.5 5.1 3.0 2.2 1.7 3.5 2.0 5.5 4.1 8.6 5.0
reflective 20 6.4 5.0 9.5 6.2 4.4 3.4 6.6 4.1 10.8 8.4 16.1 10.3
30 8.9 7.3 12.5 9.0 6.1 4.9 8.6 6.0 15.0 12.2 21.1 15.0
40 10.8 9.2 14.5 11.0 7.4 6.3 10.0 7.3 18.2 15.5 24.5 18.3
Light pipe, dia 0.23 m 0.5 23.3 23.8
A. S. Azad and D. Rakshit
Table 8 Pune: Annual lighting, cooling and total energy saved for different types of window, different glazed area and for different orientation
Window type % Glazing Lighting Energy saved (kWh/m2- Cooling Energy saved (kWh/m2- Total Energy Saved(kWh/m2-yr)
area yr) yr)
Single glazing 10 22.4 20.3 28.8 16.9 13.7 12.3 17.3 10.5 36.1 32.5 46.1 27.4
20 30.5 30.7 31.5 28.8 17.9 19.6 19.6 17.6 48.4 50.3 51.1 46.4
30 31.6 31.6 31.9 30.8 18.6 20.7 20.6 18.8 50.1 52.3 52.5 49.7
40 32.0 31.9 32.0 31.7 18.9 21.0 21.0 19.4 50.9 53.0 53.0 51.1
Double glazed, clear 10 20.9 18.2 28.0 15.5 13.0 10.9 16.7 9.7 34.0 29.0 44.7 25.1
20 30.1 30.2 31.3 28.1 17.9 19.3 19.5 17.2 48.0 49.5 50.8 45.4
30 31.3 31.4 31.8 30.4 18.7 20.6 20.5 18.7 50.0 52.0 52.4 49.1
40 31.8 31.8 32.0 31.4 19.1 21.1 21.6 19.5 50.9 52.9 53.5 50.8
Double glazed, e-coated 10 7.7 5.7 20.3 6.1 5.2 3.0 12.1 4.0 12.8 8.7 32.3 10.1
20 26.1 24.6 28.4 22.6 15.8 15.1 17.2 13.8 42.0 39.7 45.6 36.5
30 28.7 28.6 30.4 26.2 17.3 18.2 18.9 16.1 46.0 46.8 49.3 42.3
40 29.8 30.1 31.1 28.1 17.9 19.5 19.7 17.4 47.8 49.6 50.8 45.5
Energy Conservation and Sustainability Due to Passive Daylight …
Double glazed, 10 2.7 2.5 4.9 2.9 1.7 1.4 3.0 1.8 4.4 3.9 7.9 4.6
reflective 20 5.3 5.1 9.2 5.9 3.3 3.0 5.5 3.6 8.6 8.0 14.7 9.5
30 7.4 7.4 12.0 8.5 4.6 4.4 7.1 5.2 12.0 11.8 19.1 13.7
40 9.0 9.5 13.8 10.3 5.6 5.7 8.4 6.4 14.6 15.2 22.2 16.7
Light pipe, dia 0.23 m 0.8 21 21.8
397
Total Energy Saved (Kwh/m2-yr)

60
50
40
30
20
10
0
10% 20% 30% 40% Light
pipe,
0.23m
dia
Composite (New Delhi) 30.5 45.8 48.1 49.9 20.6
Hot and Dry (Bikaner) 30.5 48 50.7 51.7 24.9
Warm and Humid (Chennai) 31.2 50.4 51.9 52.4 23.8
Moderate (Pune) 29.0 49.5 52.0 52.9 21.8
Fig. 15 Effect of climatic zones on annual energy saved. Window is double glazing, clear type
and south-oriented
5 Conclusions
The DPF of light pipe system has been computed using semi-empirical models and two
commercially available softwares (EnergyPlus & Holigilm). A graphical comparison
of all the computed DPF values has been shown, and a good agreement has been found
for Zhang–Muneer model and Holigilm software. Although, a little deviation has been
observed for Jenkins–Muneer model and EnergyPlus. The DPF achieved from the light
pipe is found low in morning and evening time, but by changing the light pipe con-
figuration (length and diameter), we can enhance its performance.
The energy saving opportunity utilizing daylight from passive techniques of
window and light pipe has been assessed. It has been found that when VLT is low,
the energy saving increases with increase in glazed area and maximum for
east-oriented window. When VLT is high, energy saving first increases and then
becomes constant for 30–40% glazed area irrespective of window orientation. From
the previous studies, it has been found that the longer facade of a building should be
in north–south direction for Indian conditions. But, no orientation has been clearly
found suitable for the present case studied. For the present analysis within the range
of parameters studied, it has can be seen that weather conditions of a particular
station have little impact on energy savings.
The energy saving achieved from the considered configuration of light pipe is
quite significant and comparable with energy saved from low-VLT glasses and
high-VLT glasses with less glazed area. Therefore, it is always appreciable to look
for utilization of passive methods inside any building which in turn has positive
environmental impact and leads towards sustainability.
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Thermal Performance Evaluation
of Building Roofs Embedded PCM
for Multi-climatic Zones
Pranaynil Saikia, Abdus Salam Azad and Dibakar Rakshit
Abstract Phase change material (PCM) is used as a thermal energy storage

medium in building roofs and walls, which reduces heat gain and temperature
fluctuation inside buildings by virtue of latent heat property. Different geographical
regions experience different values of climatic parameters such as ambient tem-
perature, sky clearness, intensity of solar radiation, precipitable water quantity. All
these parameters affect the thermal performance of the PCM used in a particular
geographical region. As the performance of PCM is sensitive to a large number of
climatic parameters, estimation of the performance of a PCM in a particular region
requires the knowledge of the variation of the thermal performance of PCM with
respect to each of the climatic parameters and then computing the performance of
the PCM for specific values of the parameters for that region. The estimation of the
performance of PCM will be less tedious if the thermal performance can be assessed
as a function of a single parameter rather than a set of parameters. This study aims
at finding such a composite parameter which alone can determine the thermal
performance of PCM in a particular climate. In this study, a mathematical model is
developed for the purpose of computing and comparing the thermal performances
of three different PCMs in three different climatic conditions. The study specifically
focuses on variation of climatic parameters in hot atmosphere where PCM is used to
reduce interior heat gain and temperature fluctuation.
Keywords Phase change material Heat gain Roof Climate

Latent heat
P. Saikia A. S. Azad D. Rakshit (&)

Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi,
New Delhi 110016, India
P. Saikia
A. S. Azad

402 P. Saikia et al.
Nomenclature
t Time (s)
T Temperature of the heat-conducting material (K)
Ti Inside temperature of the room (K)
To Outside temperature (K)
hi Heat transfer coefficient (HTC) from PCM to inside air (W/m2K)
ho Heat transfer coefficient (HTC) from PCM to outside air (W/m2K)
Ig Global solar radiation (W/m2)
abs Absorptivity
Emissivity
a Thermal diffusivity (m2/s)
k Thermal conductivity (W/m K)
q Density (kg/m3)
Tsol Sol-air temperature (K)
m Total mass of PCM (kg)
Lf Latent heat of fusion (J/kg)
C Specific heat capacity of any material in general (J/kg K)
Cs Specific heat of solid phase (J/kg K)
Cl Specific heat of liquid phase (J/kg K)
Qin Heat input to PCM (W)
Qout Heat going out of PCM (W)
Bi Biot number
Fo Fourier number
DR Long-wavelength radiation exchange (W/m2)
1 Introduction
Buildings consume about one-third of the total energy usage and emit around 24%
in terms of CO2. In Indian building sector, residential and commercial buildings
share 23 and 12% of the total electricity demand, respectively [1]. The electrical
energy demand in the buildings will continue to rise, as it is estimated that the
construction industry in the country is growing at a rapid growth rate of over 9%
per year [2]. Therefore, energy conservation in buildings is a major challenge
nowadays. To reduce heat ingress inside the building through building envelop, one
of the important methods is incorporating thermal insulation [3, 4]. In similar
manner, another method is utilization of latent heat thermal energy storage
(LHTES) materials. LHTES using phase change materials (PCMs) can improve the
energy performance and indoor thermal comfort of building.
PCMs provide a large heat capacity over a limited temperature range, and they
can act like an almost isothermal reservoir of heat. Due to its ability to exhibit high
Thermal Performance Evaluation of Building Roofs Embedded … 403
enthalpy of fusion in a relatively small volume, PCMs store or release large

amounts of energy as latent heat during melting and solidification. The ability of a
material to store a large quantity of heat as latent heat without undergoing change in
temperature promises wide use of PCM in construction industries. PCM included
inside concrete walls and roofs of buildings can reduce fluctuation of room air
temperature which brings thermal comfort inside the building.
Soares et al. [5] explored the evaluation of how and where PCMs are used in
passive latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) systems and how these con-
struction solutions contribute to building’s energy efficiency. It was concluded that
improvement can be made in indoor thermal comfort using PCM in LHTES systems.
Pomianowski et al. [6] studied the various PCM technologies integrated in building
applications. The methods to determine the correct thermal properties of PCM
materials were identified and discussed. Also, the procedures to determine the energy
storage and saving potential were explored. Many authors have studied the different
methods of incorporating PCM in building walls [7–12], and a detailed review of the
applications of PCM in buildings can be found in the literature [13–16].
Kylili and Fokaides [17] investigated the effect of natural convection in the
liquid phase of PCM as it melts under incident solar radiation. They also high-
lighted the importance of natural convection within the liquid PCM using numerical
simulation. They identified several factors which can directly improve the thermal
performance of the PCM. Waqas and Kumar [18] studied the use of PCM in hot and
dry climate of South Asia region. It was reported that PCM can be used as better
heat source for ambient air during hot daytime. The stored heat can be easily
discharged due to cooler night temperatures.
Researchers have also conducted studies incorporating PCMs in the building
roofs, which is major source of heat ingress inside the building. Alqallaf and
Alawadhi [19] carried out study on the thermal performance of building roofs with
cylindrical holes containing PCM. The objective of incorporating PCM in roof was
to reduce heat gain inside a room during peak hours of electricity demand by
utilizing its latent heat of fusion. A similar study was conducted by both of them
[20] where building roof was constructed with vertical conical holes containing
PCM. The PCM n-eicosane filled inside conical frustum showed improved per-
formance with a heat flux inside the room reduced up to 39%.
Vakilaltojjar and Saman [21] developed a latent heat storage system encom-
passing two different PCMs which can be utilized for producing thermal comfort
during both summer and winter months. Ravikumar and Sirinivasan [22] reported
that heat ingress inside the room can be attenuated by about 50% when the PCM is
integrated in the roof of a building. Hamza et al. [23] studied the consequences of
integrating two different PCM layers in the roof of a building. They also evaluated
the optimum thickness and location of the PCMs to minimize energy usage while
maintaining thermal comfort inside the building.
Recently, melting and solidification phenomenon of the PCMs has been inves-
tigated experimentally [24–26] by some authors. Pasupathy et al. [27] con-
ducted experimental investigation to analyze thermal performance of the roof
utilizing PCM for Chennai City, India. They also carried detailed study on the
effects of variation in the ambient condition through the year, variation in heat
transfer coefficient on the outer surface of the roof, and the PCM panel thickness.
Several practical experiments have been carried out to determine thermal per-
formances of different PCMs under different climatic conditions. But for estimating
the performances of a large number of PCMs in different climatic conditions, a
mathematical model will be very useful for quick assessment and comparison
purposes. This study involves the development of such a mathematical model along
with its application for computing and comparing the thermal performances of three
different PCMs in three different climatic zones. Also the effects of different cli-
matic parameters are combined into a single parameter which can determine the
relative thermal performance and suitability of PCM in different climates.
2 Problem Statement and Modeling Method
The mathematical model and the numerical solution methodologies for a

PCM-embedded concrete roof system are presented in this section.
2.1 Problem Statement
When solar radiation is incident on the PCM-embedded roof, it absorbs heat. At the
same time, the PCM roof exchanges heat with the ambient and room interior by
convection. If heat input to the PCM is more than heat lost by the PCM, then there
is accumulation of heat in the PCM. This accumulated heat serves to change the
phase of the PCM from solid to liquid while at constant temperature. If heat
accumulation proceeds further, the whole PCM melts and after that sensible heating
(superheating) of the liquid occurs.
If the heat input to the PCM is less than the heat loss by the PCM, then there will
be reduction in the net heat stored in the PCM. This will facilitate phase change
from liquid to solid. If the whole PCM solidifies and still the input radiation is less
than the heat lost by PCM, there will be sensible cooling (subcooling) of the solid
PCM.
It is desirable to minimize sensible heating and cooling of the PCM as the aim of
incorporating PCM in concrete roofs is to keep inside temperature constant. Once
sensible heating or cooling of PCM begins, its thermal behavior becomes similar to
that of concrete material and it ceases to serve its purpose of latent heat storage.
A change in the geographical region results in variation of climatic parameters
which alters the performance of PCM. The variation of performance of PCM with
respect to variation of climate is discussed in the present study.
2.2 Model Geometry
The schematic of the geometry is presented in Fig. 1. The concrete properties are
typically those of a reinforced concrete [28].
Following are dimensions of the roof containing PCM:
Thickness of outer concrete = 12 cm
Thickness of PCM = 2 cm
Thickness of inner concrete = 12 cm
Area = 2 m 2 m
Fig. 1 Dimensions of the PCM-embedded roof

2.3 Mathematical Model
For the mathematical model of the above-stated problem, following assumptions

are made:
i. One-dimensional heat transfer (x-direction only).
ii. Temperature is uniform over the PCM surface.
iii. 15% void is maintained initially in the space inside the concrete roof where the
PCM is incorporated (to accommodate the volumetric changes in phase
transition and possible superheating/subcooling of PCM).
iv. Temperature inside the room is kept constant at 300 K by some
air-conditioning unit. The purpose of incorporating PCM in the concrete roof
is to minimize temperature fluctuation on the inner surface of the concrete roof
so that variation in convective heat transfer between the inner surface of the
concrete roof and room air is reduced.
The governing equation and the boundary condition are developed as below.
Governing equation for heat transfer by conduction with no internal heat generation
is given by
@2T @2T @2T

þ þ ¼ qCdT=kdt ð1Þ
@x2 @y2 @z2
where x, y, and z are three mutually perpendicular directions. ‘T’ is the temperature
of the heat-conducting material having density ‘q,’ specific heat capacity ‘C,’ and
thermal conductivity ‘k.’ ‘dT’ is the change in temperature in time ‘dt.’
Governing equations for latent and sensible heating of PCM can be expressed as
ðQin Qout Þdt ¼ mLf ðPhase transformationÞ ð2Þ
ðQin Qout Þdt ¼ mCl dT ðSuperheating of liquidÞ ð3Þ
ðQout Qin Þdt ¼ mCs dT ðSub cooling of solidÞ ð4Þ
where Qin is the heat input to the PCM and Qout is the heat going out of the PCM.
The inner and outer concrete layers are subdivided into smaller nodes of size equal
to that of the PCM. Basic energy conservation equation is applied to all the nodes
considering all the thermal properties of the concrete and PCM.
The current heat transfer problem includes two independent variables x (along
the direction of roof thickness) and t (time) and a dependent variable
T (temperature).
T ¼ f ðx; tÞ ð5Þ
Fig. 2 Transient heat transfer

along the thickness of the
PCM-embedded roof
For transient one-directional heat transfer, the time derivative of temperature is

written in the following explicit form [29] as shown in Fig. 2.
dT T ðx; t þ DtÞ T ðx; tÞ

¼ ð6Þ
dt Dt
The nodal form of Eq. (6) is given as
dT Ti;j þ 1 Ti;j
¼ ð7Þ
dt Dt
where the nodal variable ‘j’ is defined by t = (j − 1) Dt and j = 1 corresponds to

t = 0.
The x (thickness) derivative of temperature is expressed by the following explicit
equation.
@ 2 T T ðx Dx; tÞ 2T ðx; tÞ þ T ðx þ Dx; tÞ

¼ ð8Þ
@x2 Dx2
The nodal form of Eq. (8) is as follows:
@ 2 T Ti1;j 2Ti;j þ Ti þ 1;j

¼ ð9Þ
@x2 Dx2
Combining Eqs. (6) and (8), we get the explicit Eq. (10) which facilitates
temperature calculation at any node at any time step.

aDt aDt
T ðx; t þ DtÞ ¼ 2 ½T ðx Dx; tÞ þ T ðx þ Dx; tÞ þ 1 2 2 T ðx; tÞ ð10Þ
Dx Dx
The nodal form of Eq. (10) can be expressed as follows:

aDt aDt
Ti;j þ 1 ¼ T i1;j þ T i þ 1;j þ 1 2 Ti;j ð11Þ
Dx2 Dx2
For the first element (i = 1) which is exposed to ambient, following equation is

used to compute the temperature at any time step t.
T1;j þ 1 ¼ T1;j ½1 2Fo ð1 þ Bi Þ þ 2Fo Bi To þ 2Fo T2;j ð12Þ
aDt
where Fo is the Fourier number defined by Fo ¼ Dx 2 and Bi is Biot number
defined by Bi ¼ k .hDx
The case discussed in the study involves heat input to outer concrete by radia-
tion, conduction of heat through PCM and concrete. Then, there is convective heat
transfer between ambient and outer concrete surface and again between inner
surface of concrete and room. Such boundary condition is known as Robin-type
boundary condition. Since rate of heat transfer varies with time, the analysis is
transient. For the inner concrete surface, the heat transfer coefficient for horizontal
surface is taken as hi = 7.7 W/m2-K from [28]. Considering the effect of wind
velocity, average outer surface heat transfer coefficient is taken as ho = 22.7 W/
m2 K. Also from [30], monthly average solar insolation (global radiation, Ig and
water precipitable, w) and ambient temperatures, Ta, of different cities of Bikaner
(hot–dry), Chennai (warm-humid), and Hyderabad (composite) in India have been
taken. Summer and monsoon months of May, June, and July are chosen for the
assessment of thermal performance of the PCM.
Sol-air temperature for roof has been calculated from the collected solar inso-
lation data for the different cities from the below expression [31]:
abs Ig 2 DR
Tsol ¼ Ta þ ð13Þ
ho ho
where Tsol is sol-air temperature, abs is absorptivity of the surface (taken as 0.8 for
the concrete roof), is emissivity of the surface (taken as 0.8 for concrete roof), and
DR is long-wavelength radiation exchange (taken as 63 W/m2 for the horizontal
surface) [28].
3 Methodology
The general procedure for the numerical simulation can be summarized in the
following steps:
1. Data collection and material selection.
2. Validation of the numerical model.
3. Initial simulation and check for the cycle independence.
4. Final simulation run, save, and stop.
3.1 Data Collection and Material Selection
The numerical simulation requires solar irradiance on horizontal surface, ambient

temperature, and precipitable water which has been presented in the Tables 1, 2,
and 3. The data has been collected from the weather files available on the
EnergyPlus Web site [30]. The weather data contains database of average of
25 years measured values for different cities.
Sol-air temperature for roof has been computed using the Eq. 13. Hourly vari-
ations of sol-air temperatures for roof along with ambient temperature for three
consecutive days are depicted in Fig. 3.
PCMs considered in the study have melting temperatures in the range of 302–
309 K. Reason for selecting the PCMs in this temperature range is that their melting
temperatures are closer to the ambient temperature in the daytime. Therefore, the
Table 1 Monthly mean hourly global solar irradiance, ambient temperature, and precipitable
water for Bikaner location
Time (h) Global radiation Ambient Temp. (°C) Precipitable water
(W/m2) (mm)
May June July May June July May June July
1 0 0 0 31.1 32.5 31.1 23 36 48
2 0 0 0 30.2 31.8 30.5 23 36 47
3 0 0 0 29.4 31.0 30.0 23 36 47
4 0 0 0 28.5 30.3 29.4 23 36 47
5 0 0 0 27.6 29.6 28.8 24 37 48
6 0 0 0 26.8 28.8 28.2 24 37 49
7 69 75 49 28.3 30.4 29.2 25 38 50
8 246 228 189 30.3 32.0 30.6 25 38 51
9 438 399 351 32.5 33.7 32.1 25 38 51
10 614 548 467 34.5 35.3 33.5 24 38 51
11 722 682 570 36.3 36.9 34.7 24 37 51
12 829 774 633 37.8 38.2 35.7 23 37 50
13 882 830 681 39.1 39.3 36.5 23 36 50
14 859 766 674 40.0 40.0 37.1 22 36 49
15 764 706 638 40.4 40.3 37.5 22 36 49
16 635 611 533 40.4 40.4 37.5 23 36 50
17 465 446 373 39.9 39.9 37.1 23 37 50
18 278 262 238 38.8 39.0 36.5 24 37 51
19 86 109 101 37.3 37.8 35.6 24 38 52
20 0 0 0 36.2 36.7 34.6 24 38 52
21 0 0 0 35.2 35.8 33.9 24 38 52
22 0 0 0 34.2 34.9 33.2 24 38 51
23 0 0 0 33.1 34.0 32.5 24 37 50
24 0 0 0 32.1 33.2 31.7 23 37 49
water for Chennai location
(W/m2) (mm)
1 0 0 0 30.3 29.4 25.8 56 48 51
2 0 0 0 29.7 28.8 25.3 55 48 51
3 0 0 0 29.1 28.2 24.9 55 47 50
4 0 0 0 28.5 27.7 24.5 54 47 50
5 0 0 0 27.8 27.1 24 54 47 50
6 0 0 0 27.3 26.5 23.6 54 47 50
7 82 72 57 28.7 27.8 24.7 57 49 52
8 269 237 213 30.3 29.4 26.6 59 51 54
9 479 415 376 32.1 31.0 28.5 61 52 55
10 661 572 513 33.8 32.6 30.5 62 52 55
11 768 692 627 35.2 34.0 32.2 62 53 55
12 852 730 717 36.3 35.0 33.8 62 52 55
13 855 749 723 37.2 35.8 35 62 52 55
14 810 717 686 37.7 36.3 35.8 62 52 54
15 688 630 564 37.8 36.5 36.1 62 52 54
16 522 489 478 37.5 36.3 36 62 52 55
17 320 307 300 36.7 35.6 35.2 62 52 55
18 119 118 128 35.5 34.5 33.9 62 53 55
19 0 5 10 34.7 33.4 32.5 62 53 55
20 0 0 0 34.0 32.7 31.6 62 53 55
21 0 0 0 33.2 32.0 30.8 61 52 55
22 0 0 0 32.4 31.3 29.9 60 51 54
23 0 0 0 31.7 30.7 29.1 59 50 53
24 0 0 0 30.9 30.0 28.3 57 49 52
PCMs can be easily get melted by absorbing heat during daytime and getting have
enough time to release the heat during nighttime. If we choose PCMs having lower
range of melting temperature, most of the PCMs will easily get melted to liquid
state in short time and no more heat will be added. Also, because of high ambient
temperature during nighttime, they will not be able release heat and will remain in
liquid state. Other important properties which influenced the results are latent heat
of fusion (Lf), thermal conductivity (k), and specific heat (C). The properties of
PCM considered in the study are listed in Table 4 [26, 16].
water for Hyderabad location
(W/m2) (mm)
1 0 0 0 30.0 26.7 25.4 31 37 40
2 0 0 0 29.2 26.1 25.0 31 37 40
3 0 0 0 28.5 25.5 24.5 31 37 40
4 0 0 0 27.8 24.9 24.1 31 37 40
5 0 0 0 27.1 24.3 23.6 32 37 40
6 0 0 0 26.3 23.7 23.1 32 37 40
7 78 68 55 28.0 25.1 24.1 33 39 41
8 261 215 213 29.9 26.7 25.5 33 40 42
9 474 368 340 32.0 28.3 26.7 33 40 43
10 659 506 454 34.0 29.8 27.8 33 41 43
11 782 591 557 35.7 31.1 28.8 33 41 43
12 852 642 624 37.1 32.1 29.7 32 40 43
13 860 641 635 38.1 32.8 30.3 32 40 42
14 848 620 619 38.8 33.3 30.7 31 40 42
15 712 567 531 39.0 33.5 30.8 31 40 42
16 537 447 408 38.7 33.4 30.6 32 40 42
17 357 307 275 37.9 32.8 30.2 32 41 43
18 154 167 143 36.6 31.9 29.5 33 41 43
19 16 28 27 35.1 30.7 28.5 33 41 43
20 0 0 0 34.2 30.0 28.0 33 41 43
21 0 0 0 33.3 29.3 27.5 33 41 43
22 0 0 0 32.5 28.6 26.9 33 40 43
23 0 0 0 31.6 27.8 26.4 32 39 42
24 0 0 0 30.8 27.1 25.8 32 39 41
3.2 Numerical Model Validation
The results of the numerical model are validated by comparing with the results of
the experimental work carried out by Pasupathy et al. With similar input data such
as PCM properties, incident solar radiation, ambient temperature variation, the
numerical model can successfully replicate the temperature variation profile of
PCM for a diurnal cycle as obtained by Pasupathy et al. (Fig. 4). Slight discon-
formities occur because the incident solar radiation values obtained from
EnergyPlus may deviate to some extent from the actual values of incident solar
radiation during the experiment of Pasupathy et al.
80 Ta, Chennai Tsol, Chennai Ta, Hyderabad

Tsol, Hyderabad Ta, Bikaner Tsol, Bikaner
70
60
Temperature, ˚C
50
40
30
20
10
0
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23
Time (hr)
Fig. 3 Variation of ambient temperature and sol-air temperature for the selected locations
(Bikaner, Chennai, and Hyderabad) w.r.t. time
4 Results and Discussion
The numerical simulation yields the values of net heat gain into the room through
the roof for the months of May, June, and July in the cities Bikaner, Chennai, and
Hyderabad. A few sample plots of net heat gain versus time have been depicted in
Figs. 5, 6, and 7. From net heat gain data, average daily heat gain through the roof
is calculated for the three cities and for the three months (Tables 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and
10). Two different cases are studied for the three cities. First is without considering
the effect of wind (still air), and the second includes the effect of wind on heat gain
and PCM performance.
4.1 Thermal Performance of PCM Roof in the Absence

of Wind
The heat transfer coefficient for a horizontal surface in contact with still air can be
conveniently taken as 7.7 W/m2K. Under such condition, the performances of the
three PCMs (BioPCM, OM32, and OM35) are evaluated in three different places
which belong to three different climatic zones of India. All the three PCMs give
maximum average daily heat gain for the month of May (Tables 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and
10). It is observed that the amount of precipitable water quantity is minimum in
May (Tables 1, 2, and 3) which is an indicator of clear sky with more incident solar
radiation on the roof. Ambient temperature is also high in May. All these factors
lead to increased heat gain into the room. In May, BioPCM gives minimum average
Table 4 Properties of PCMs
PCM Melting Latent heat Density of Density of Thermal Thermal Specific heat Specific heat
point of fusion solid phase liquid phase conductivity of conductivity of of solid phase of liquid phase
(Tm) (K) (Lf) (kJ/kg) (qs) (kg/m3) (ql) (kg/m3) solid phase (ks) liquid phase (kl) (Cs) (J/kg-K) (Cl) (J/kg-K)
(W/m-K) (W/m K)
BioPCM 302 219 860 860 0.2 0.2 1970 1970
OM32 305 200 928 870 0.219 0.145 1950 2300
OM35 309 197 900 870 0.20 0.16 1650 2300
Thermal Performance Evaluation of Building Roofs Embedded …
413
Fig. 4 Validation of the numerical model
Fig. 5 Net heat gain through the roof in the presence of wind (Bikaner, June)
daily heat gain into the room and OM32 gives maximum heat gain into the room
out of the three PCMs studied. In June and July, the precipitable water quantity is
greater than in the month of May. This indicates a relatively overcast weather in
June and July resulting in less amount of solar radiation incident on the roof. As a
result, heat gain into the room reduces. A change in the trend of relative perfor-
mances of PCM is observed in June and July. Now, BioPCM gives minimum heat
gain into the room and OM35 gives maximum heat gain. Heat gain for OM32 lies
in between that for BioPCM and OM35. The heat gain values through all PCMs are
less than the corresponding values for a bare concrete roof.
Fig. 6 Net heat gain through the roof in the absence of wind (Hyderabad, July)
Fig. 7 Net heat gain through the roof in the presence of wind (Chennai, May)
4.2 Thermal Performance of PCM Roof in the Presence

of Wind
The effect of wind is primarily to increase heat transfer rate from the roof to the air
resulting in a decrease in the average daily heat gain to the room. It is observed that
the relative performances of all the three PCMs follow the same trend in the
presence of wind. Here, BioPCM gives the minimum average daily heat gain
and OM35 gives the maximum average daily heat gain (Tables 8, 9, and 10).
Table 5 Average daily heat gain in the absence of wind (Bikaner)
Average daily heat gain (kJ/day)
May June July 3 months average
BioPCM 19385 15548 12869 15934
OM32 19430 15590 12902 15974
OM35 19410 15598 12911 15973
Bare Concrete 20818 16748 13896 17154
Minimum average daily heat gain (kJ/ day)
Maximum average daily heat gain (kJ/ day)
Table 6 Average daily heat gain in the absence of wind (Chennai)
BioPCM 16960 13502 11639 14033.7
OM32 17001 13539 11671 14070.3
OM35 16990 13554 11689 14077.7
Bare Concrete 18240 14575 12588 15134.3
The performance of OM32 falls between BioPCM and OM35. The heat gain values
through all PCMs are less than the corresponding values for a bare concrete roof.
Referring to Tables 5, 6, and 7, it is observed that the relative performances of
the three PCMs change above and below a critical value of average daily heat gain
through the bare concrete roof. If we look specifically in Table 5, we can observe
the shift in the trend of relative performances of PCM. In third column (June
month), the average daily heat gain through bare concrete is 16,748 kJ/day and
OM35 gives maximum heat gain through the roof out of the three PCMs. But if we
Table 7 Average daily heat gain in the absence of wind (Hyderabad)
BioPCM 18510 9763 9802 12691.7
OM32 18553 9833 9879 12755
OM35 18539 9871 9915 12775
Bare Concrete 19888 10541 10625 13684.7
Table 8 Average daily heat gain in the presence of wind (Bikaner)
BioPCM 11708 8141 6957 8935.3
OM32 11742 8185 6987 8971.3
OM35 11751 8275 7067 9031
Bare Concrete 12740 8915 7642 9765.7

Table 9 Average daily heat gain in the presence of wind (Chennai)
BioPCM 9775 7221 5751 7582.3
OM32 9808 7265 5797 7623.3
OM35 9870 7345 5883 7699.3
Bare Concrete 10664 7926 6342 8310.7
Table 10 Average daily heat gain in the presence of wind (Hyderabad)
BioPCM 11265 4106 4627 6666
OM32 11301 4165 4735 6733.7
OM35 11324 4170 4769 6754.3
Bare Concrete 12264 4471 5119 7284.7

look at the 3 months’ average column where the average daily heat gain through
bare concrete is 17,154 kJ/day, then OM32 gives the maximum heat gain.
Therefore, the critical value lies between 16,748 and 17,154 kJ/day. And similar
trend can be observed in all other tables. Whenever the value of average daily heat
gain through bare concrete is above 17,000 kJ/day, the trend of relative perfor-
mances of PCMs is different than the cases with average daily heat gain through
bare concrete being lower than 17,000 kJ/day. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact
value in the interval between 16,748 and 17,154 kJ/day in Table 5 where the shift
in the trend occurs primarily because average daily heat gain cannot be varied as an
independent variable in the mathematical model as it is the combined effect of all
the climatic and roof configuration parameters. Therefore, a ballpark number of
17,000 kJ/day can be considered for the shift in relative performances of the PCMs.
Thus, the combined effect of variation in incident solar radiation, ambient
temperature, precipitable water quantity, and wind speed for different climatic zones
on the relative performances of PCMs can be summarized into a single factor which
takes into account all these climatic factors. This single factor is average daily heat
gain into the room. Firstly, average daily heat gain into the room through bare
concrete roof is computed. If average heat gain through the concrete roof is below
17,000 kJ/day, then BioPCM is the most suitable PCM out of the three for all the
climatic zones studied, while OM35 is the least suitable one. If the value exceeds
17,000 kJ/day, then BioPCM is the most suitable PCM and OM32 is the least
suitable PCM. This conclusion is supported by the fact that the three PCMs’ relative
performance depended on this threshold value of average daily heat gain in all the
three different climatic zones. In order to account for roofs of different dimensions,
heat gain per unit area of the roof can be considered. For a horizontal plane roof of
any surface area, if the average daily heat gain through unit surface area of the bare
concrete roof is more than 4250 kJ, then OM32 is the least suitable PCM and if the
average daily heat gain per unit area of the bare concrete roof is less than 4250 kJ,
OM35 is the least suitable PCM (BioPCM being the best PCM in both the cases).
Another round of computation is performed by taking PCM thickness of 4 cm
(in place of 2 cm PCM thickness in the previous cases thereby increasing the total
thickness of the PCM roof by 2 cm) and in the absence of wind. The results
obtained from the numerical model are presented in Tables 11, 12, and 13. As can
be seen from the new results, the critical value of average daily heat gain through
bare concrete still lies within the interval of 16,748–17,154 kJ/day as determined
from Table 5. Table 11 further shows that the trend shift occurs somewhere near
16,835 kJ/day which is close to 17,000 kJ/day as determined before.
Changing PCM and roof thickness may affect the value of average daily heat gain
for a particular place in a particular month, but the critical value where the shift in
the trend of relative performances of the PCMs occurs remains unaltered.
Table 11 Average daily heat gain in the absence of wind (Bikaner) with 4 cm PCM thickness
18183 14648 12063 14964.667

BioPCM
OM32 18243 14700 12104 15015.667
OM35 18216 14703 12113 15010.667
Bare Concrete 20351 16498 13656 16835
Table 12 Average daily heat gain in the absence of wind (Chennai) with 4 cm PCM thickness
15926 12667 10936 13176.333

BioPCM
OM32 15980 12712 10975 13222.333
OM35 15963 12725 10989 13225.667
Bare Concrete 17879 14333 12423 14878.333

Table 13 Average daily heat gain in the absence of wind (Hyderabad) with 4 cm PCM thickness

17342 9219 9206 11922.333
BioPCM
OM32 17400 9489 9295 12061.333
OM35 17380 9562 9541 12161
Bare Concrete 19431 10506 10519 13485.333
5 Conclusion
The comparative study demonstrates that heat gain through the roof can be con-
sidered as a deciding factor which takes into account several climatic factors
affecting the performance of PCM in building roofs. Suitability of PCM can be
determined by computing the heat gain through the bare concrete roof. The tem-
perature of the inner surface of the roof can be measured by simple temperature
measuring instruments, and applying convective heat transfer equation between
inner surface of roof and room interior (kept at constant temperature by air con-
ditioner), one can compute the heat gain. After this, a suitable PCM can be selected
based on the computed value. This method is an easy alternative to determine
relative performances of PCMs in different geographical regions rather than con-
sidering the effect of each climatic factor (such as ambient temperature, wind,
precipitable water quantity) individually on the performance of PCM and then
drawing an overall conclusion.
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Enhancement of Energy Efficiency
at an Indian Milk Processing Plant Using
Exergy Analysis
Babji Srinivasan, Jaideep Pal and Rajagopalan Srinivasan
Abstract The dairy sector in India is the largest milk producer in the world.
Substantial amounts of freshwater and energy are consumed during milk processing
with concomitant impacts on sustainability. In this chapter, we study the energy
efficiency at India’s largest milk processing plant and propose retrofits for
improving the plant’s sustainability. Specifically, we report on exergy analysis of a
milk powder manufacturing unit. Exergy of a system at a certain thermodynamic
state is the maximum amount of work that can be obtained when the system moves
from that state to one of equilibrium with its surroundings. In contrast to a con-
ventional energy analysis, which maps the energy flows of the system and suggests
opportunities for process integration, an exergy analysis pinpoints the locations,
causes, and magnitudes of thermodynamic losses. The milk powder plant that is the
focus of the current study consists of two sections—an evaporation section and a
drying section. Our results reveal that exergy efficiency of certain units is very low
(<20%). Significant improvements in energy efficiencies can be achieved through
simple, low-cost retrofits to these units.
Keywords Energy efficiency Diary industry Process integration

Exergy Retrofit
B. Srinivasan J. Pal R. Srinivasan (&)

Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Gandhinagar, India
R. Srinivasan
Department of Chemical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India

426 B. Srinivasan et al.
Nomenclature
Letter Symbols
Cp Specific heat capacity at constant pressure (in kJ/kg K)
ex Specific exergy (in kJ/kg)
h Specific enthalpy (in kJ/kg)
_
ṁ Mass flow rate (in kg/s)
p Pressure of a system (in bar)
Q_ Heat flow (in kJ/s or kW)
R Mass-based (substance dependent) gas constant (in kJ/kg K)
s Specific entropy (in kJ/kg K)
t Time (in s)
T Temperature of a system (in °C or K)
W_ Power (or work per time) (in kW)
Greek Symbols
D Change in property
η Exergy efficiency
Superscript
P Pressure
T Temperature
Subscripts
0 Thermodynamic state with ambient conditions
1 Thermodynamic state
2 Thermodynamic state
a Fluid a
b Fluid b
cv Control volume
ex Exergy
i Initial
in Inlet stream
f Final
out Outlet stream
p Constant pressure
vap Vaporization
Enhancement of Energy Efficiency at an Indian Milk Processing … 427
1 Introduction
Increasing the energy efficiency of the industrial sector has the potential to sig-
nificantly reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the consumption of
fossil fuels and the operating costs associated with energy use [1]. In the dairy
processing industry, a very small amount of processing energy is actually stored in
the final products and hence the vast majority of processing heat is eventually
wasted. Since recovery of the waste heat and its subsequent utilization imply
reduction in the net purchased energy, recovery of this waste heat is highly nec-
essary [2].
India is now the largest producer of milk [3] owing to “Operation Flood” [4], a
project launched by National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in 1970 and led
by late Dr. Verghese Kurien. India, with its enormous vegetarian population, is the
largest consumer of its own dairy products such as butter, cheese, ghee, milk
powder as these are the only acceptable sources of animal protein for the vege-
tarians [5]. Thus, dairying is a persistent source of income for the rural India. As per
NDDB, the Indian dairy industry is all set to experience high growth rates in the
next few years with demand likely to reach 200 million tonnes by 2022 [6].
The subject of this case study, Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers’
Union Limited, widely known as Amul Dairy, is located in Anand, Gujarat. Amul is
the largest food brand in India majoring in production of milk and milk products.
Back to 1946, this dairy was the significant center of “white revolution.” It is run by
collection of milk from around 700 thousand villagers [5]. With a daily milk
handling capacity of 4.5 million liters, it manufactures ghee, butter, processed milk,
milk powder, and flavored milk. Every unit has its own production capacity. This
dairy processes 1800 m3 of raw milk per day. It produces 75 metric tonnes of milk
powder, 75.5 metric tonnes of butter, 25 metric tonnes of flavored milk, 14 metric
tonnes of ghee, and 55 metric tonnes of skim milk powder every day. The milk
packaging section packs 90 m3 of processed milk every day.
The rest of the chapter is organized as follows: Sect. 2 gives a brief overview of
exergy analysis. The milk powder production process is described in Sect. 3.
Section 4 describes its exergy analysis. Two strategies are devised to make the
overall plant more energy efficient. These are also discussed in this section.
2 Exergy Analysis
The term Exergy was first used by Rant [7] in 1956, and it refers to the Greek words
ex meaning external and ergos meaning work. Szargut [8] defined exergy as:
“Exergy is the amount of work obtainable when some matter is brought to a state of
thermodynamic equilibrium with the common components of its surrounding nature
by means of reversible processes, involving interaction only with the
above-mentioned components of nature” [8]. Since the term reversible processes is
involved, in other words, the exergy of a system at a certain thermodynamic state is

the maximum amount of work that can be obtained when the system moves from
particular state to a state of equilibrium with the surroundings. Thus, the basic
difference between the first and second laws of thermodynamics is that the former
states that energy is conserved but makes no distinction between energy forms,
while the latter states that the energy transformation processes in a system can only
proceed from a higher-quality form to a lower-quality form unless there is some net
input of energy quality (such as work) from the surroundings, thereby inferring that
different energy forms have different energy qualities.
Energy can be broadly classified into: (1) high-grade energy and (2) low-grade
energy. High-grade form of energy is highly organized in nature, and conversion of
such energy to some other high-grade form (W ! W, such as electrical
energy ! thermal energy in electrical heater) is not dictated by the second law of
thermodynamics. Conversion of high-grade energy to low-grade energy, although
not desirable, takes place in our environment. This is because of dissipation of heat
due to friction (e.g., mechanical work ! electricity; some losses are there due to
the friction in bearing of machineries). Thus, both the first and second laws of
thermodynamics are to be considered for the analysis. Low-grade energy such as
heat due to combustion, fission, fusion reactions and internal energies are highly
random in nature, and their conversion to high-grade form (Q ! W) has been of
interest. But the second law of thermodynamics dictates that complete conversion
of low-grade energy (Q) to high-grade energy (W) is never possible. That part of
low-grade energy which is available for conversion is termed as available energy,
availability, or exergy, and the part which gets rejected is known as unavailable
energy or irreversibility [9]. Thus, the exergy analysis provides comprehensive and
deeper insight into the process and new unforeseen ideas for improvements and
hence is applicable for process evaluation and optimization purposes [10]. Not only
does it help to determine the type, location, and magnitude of energy losses in a
system, but by enabling the engineers to recognize the individual components
efficiency it also helps to find means to reduce these losses to make the system more
energy efficient [10, 11].
For the determination, quantification, and prioritization of possible energy sav-
ings in complex and large-scale industrial processes, including dairy production
process, several scientific and engineering methods exist and are in continuous
development [1]. One such method is the basic energy analysis which is a tradi-
tional approach to estimate various energy consumption processes [12]. The energy
analysis is based on the first law of thermodynamics, which expressed the principle
of conservation of energy. However, it provides no information about the irre-
versibility aspects of thermodynamic processes. The energy analysis is unable to
distinguish the different qualities of energy such as heat quality which is dependent
on the heat source temperature [13]. Due to these deficiencies and shortcomings of
energy analysis, the exergy analysis which provides a more realistic view of the
systems and processes has proved to be a more powerful tool for engineering
evaluations. This is because exergy analysis considers the maximum amount of
work obtainable from a stream of matter, heat, or work when some matter is
brought to a state of thermodynamic equilibrium with the common components of

natural surroundings by means of reversible processes, and is a measure of the
potential of a stream to cause change, as a consequence of not being completely
stable relative to the reference environment [14–17].
In a real processing operation, there are many product and waste streams—some
requiring heating and others requiring cooling—and each stream may have different
start and end temperatures, different flows and heat capacities. If a process stream
needs to be cooled over a particular temperature range, it can take place against
another process stream that needs to be heated over a similar temperature interval
using a heat exchanger between the streams—and this is more attractive than using
steam to heat one stream, and chilled water to cool the other. This situation presents
a range of options for arranging heat transfer between these streams. This technique
has been developed to formalize this design process: A process integration analysis
of a processing operation will consider all the process streams that require heating
collectively, and develop a representation of their total heat requirement in each
temperature interval; the analysis will then do the same for all the process streams
that require cooling [2].
Exergy analysis gained importance in chemical engineering after the year 1990.
The current applications of exergy analysis in distillation operation, membrane
technology, and CO2 capture are reviewed by Luis [18]. Review of exergy analysis
of energy-intensive processes like cement, paper, iron, and steel is carried out by
Luis and Bruggen [19]. Exergy analysis of methanol production shows that con-
vective reforming process is 40% more exergy-efficient process than the steam
reforming process [20]. The refrigeration cycle in the petrochemical plant that uses
ethylene and propylene as refrigerant shows more losses in compressor and evap-
orator [21]. Energy efficiency, waste minimization, and effective raw material use
can be measured and optimized by using utilizable exergy coefficient in chemical
process design. Exergy load distribution analysis carried out for final optimal flow
sheet topology shows an increase in exergy efficiency by 10% [22]. Second law
concept is used to reduce energy consumption in the chemical industry by following
some consequences suggested by Leites et al. [23]. Exergy analysis by Gao et al.
shows that polygeneration systems for the production of energy and a chemical are
promising in the future [24]. Thus, it can be seen that many design-related appli-
cations of exergy analysis are helpful to evaluate, compare, and improve the process.
Bühler et al. [25] analyzed the energy and exergy efficiencies, as well as the
destroyed and lost exergy, of 22 industrial sectors in Denmark for the years 2006 and
2012 [25]. The paper showed that the thermal process efficiencies range from 12 to
56% while industries with high-temperature processes such as cement and metal
production achieve the highest efficiencies. The paper also gave a basis for future
analyses toward undertaking energy efficiency measures in the industry by targeting
the high-temperature processes, where large quantities of energy was found to be
recoverable. Ertesvåg [26] compared the exergy scenario of different societies with
the motivation that such studies may be able to create an awareness of the notion of
Fig. 1 Interdisciplinary
triangle of exergy [54, 55]
energy quality and degradation of energy. His findings explain that societies with a
large contribution from thermal power plants had relatively low total efficiencies
while the industries generally had a higher efficiency [26].
The exergy-based performance evaluation and subsequent optimization of drying
facilities have been a growing interest among the researchers in recent years. The
main objective of exergy analysis of drying systems is to provide a clear picture of
the process, to quantify the sources of inefficiency, to distinguish the quality of
energy consumption, to select optimal drying conditions, and to reduce the envi-
ronmental impact of drying systems [13]. Energy, exergy, and their impact on the
environment are closely related as shown in Fig. 1. For instance, we all know that
the environmental impact of emissions can be reduced by increasing the efficiency
of resource utilization. However, increasing efficiency has sustainability implica-
tions as it lengthens the lives of existing resource reserves, but generally entails
greater use of materials, labor, and more complex devices. Depending on the sit-
uation and the players involved, the additional cost may be justified by the added
security associated with a decreased dependence on energy resources, by the
reduced environmental impact, and by the social peace obtained through increased
productive employment. Thus, it is suggested that the impact of energy resource
utilization on the environment and the achievement of increased resource-utilization
efficiency are best addressed by considering exergy. On the other hand, since these
topics are critical elements in achieving sustainable development, exergy also
appears to provide the basis for developing comprehensive methodologies for
sustainability (shown in Fig. 2). Since the exergy of an energy form or a substance
is a measure of its usefulness or quality to cause a change, it should be able to
provide the basis for an effective measure of the potential of a substance or energy
form to impact the environment [27].
Fig. 2 Qualitative illustration of the relation between the environmental impact and sustainability
of a process, and its exergy efficiency [15, 16]
Fig. 3 A reversible device

(module) for determining
thermomechanical energy
[28]
2.1 Methodology
A process stream with temperature T1 and pressure P1 with negligible kinetic and
potential energies, undergoing reversible physical processes as shown in Fig. 3, is
considered. The heat transfer to/from the ideal reversible module shown in Fig. 3
takes place at ambient temperature T0, and the work produced is the maximum
possible (the processes being reversible in nature) when the process stream at a state
P1, T1 is brought to equilibrium with its natural surroundings (referred to as the
environment), which is at the thermodynamic state of P0, T0. An energy balance for
this system yields the following[28]:
dEcv
¼ 0 ¼ Q_ cv W_ cv þ m_ ðh1 h2 Þ ð1Þ
dt
Similarly, the entropy balance assuming no irreversibility yields the following

[28]:
dScv Q_ cv
¼0¼ þ m_ ðs1 s2 Þ ð2Þ
dt T0
Equation (2) can then be solved to establish an expression for specific heat
transfer [28]:
Q_
¼ T0 ðs1 s2 Þ ð3Þ
m_
Equation (1) can then be solved with respect to specific work and rearranged to
give the following[28]:
_ cv
W
¼ T 0 ð s 1 s 2 Þ ð h0 h1 Þ ð4Þ
m_
The specific exergy of the process stream entering the ideal device can be
derived from Eq. (4) as follows [28]:
ex;1 ¼ T0 ðs0 s1 Þ ðh0 h1 Þ ¼ ðh1 h0 Þ T0 ðs1 s0 Þ ð5Þ
The change in specific exergy when a system undergoes a process from ther-
modynamic state 1 to state 2 is then given by the following expression (the enthalpy
and entropy functions at the surrounding conditions (h0, s0) cancel due to sub-
traction) [28]:
Dex ¼ ðex;2 ex;1 Þ ¼ ðh2 h1 Þ T0 ðs2 s1 Þ ¼ Dh T0 Ds ð6Þ
This change in specific exergy, if negative, accounts for irreversibility, I.

A fundamental difference between energy and exergy is that while the former is
conserved, the latter is destroyed in all real processes due to irreversibility. This
exergy is lost in two different ways: internal losses caused by irreversibility in the
process like chemical reaction, mixing, unrestricted expansion and external losses
due to effluent streams like exhaust gases, purge, and bleed streams that are not
utilized. Thus, it is common to define exergy efficiency as a ratio of useful exergy
from the process to total exergy to the process and given by:
X X
ge x ¼ ex = ex ð7Þ
out in
where the subscripts out and in denote the outgoing and incoming streams,
respectively. The reversible device can be replaced with real industrial equipment
like evaporator, dryer, heat exchanger.
For instance, in case of heaters and heat exchangers, the working fluid is to a
higher temperature and hence the entropy change is given as follows:
Sf Si ¼ mCp lnðTf =Ti Þ ð8Þ
Then, the irreversibility and efficiency are calculated with the help of the fol-
lowing equations:
I ¼ T0 ½ðS2a S1a Þ þ ðS2b S1b Þ ð9Þ
½ðmb hx2b mb hx1b Þ ðT0 Sx2b T0 Sx1b Þ

g¼ ð10Þ
½ðma hx1a ma hx2a Þ ðT0 Sx2a T0 Sx1a Þ
where
T0 Ambient temperature (298 K)
Cp, milk 3.93 kJ/kg K
Cp, water 4.18 kJ/kg K.
In pumps, compressors, and the thermal vapor recompression (TVR) unit, the
work input which is the work done by electricity is to be considered in the cal-
culation of irreversibility, I. The total exergy is calculated by taking into account the
change in exergy caused by change in temperature as well as change in pressure in
these devices. Thus, the exergy expression is given by the following equations:
ex ðT Þ ¼ Cp ½T T0 ð1 þ lnðT=T0 ÞÞ ð11Þ
ex ðPÞ ¼ T0 RlnðT=T0 Þ ð12Þ
ex ¼ ex ðT Þ þ ex ðPÞ ð13Þ
From here on, irreversibility and efficiency are calculated with the help of
Eqs. 14 and 15:
mex1 þ Welec ¼ mex2 þ I ð14Þ
Welec
g¼ 100% ð15Þ
½mðex1 ex2 Þ
In evaporators, due to the heating potential of the generated vapors, the exergy of
the vapors needs to be considered as a part of useful exergy obtained from the
process and is given as follows:

g ¼ 100 ex;a1 ex;a2 þ ex;vap = ex;b2 ex;b1 % ð16Þ

I ¼ ex;a1 ex;a2 þ ex;b2 ex;b1 ð17Þ
where
a1 Heating medium (steam/vapor)
a2 Condensate
b1 Incoming working liquid
b2 Outgoing working liquid.
However, in dryers no such added exergy term is used in efficiency calculation
due to the absence of any vapor. This is the basic difference between an evaporator
and a dryer in terms of calculating exergy efficiency even though both the equip-
ments are used to increase the concentration of the working fluid. The exergy
efficiency of the dryer is given as follows:

g ¼ 100 ex;a1 ex;a2 = ex;b2 ex;b1 % ð18Þ

I ¼ ex;a1 ex;a2 þ ex;b2 ex;b1 ð19Þ
Applying the above equations, irreversibility and exergy efficiencies can be

obtained for various equipments in the process.
3 Milk Powder Production
Milk drying is an energy-intensive process as it usually requires hot air as heating

medium to allow simultaneous heat and mass transfer between the drying air and
the milk. For dairy products, the most widely used technique for dehydration is
spray drying after evaporation. These processes preserve food properties as they do
not involve severe heat treatments and allow storage of powders at an ambient
temperature [29]. The drying operation generally takes place in three sequential
stages: (i) spray chamber, in which drying occurs within a few seconds; (ii) internal
stationary fluid bed, added at the conical base of the spray chamber to better control
particle agglomeration and drying [30]; and (iii) external fluid bed to fine-tune the
powder moisture and to cool the out-feed product stream.
When the milk receives enough energy in the form of heat, its water molecules
escape as vapor. The rate at which the water molecules escape depends on various
factors, viz. temperature of milk, temperature of surroundings, the pressure above
the milk surface, and the rate of heat transfer. Milk powder possesses various
physio-chemical and functional properties which are important to both industrial
and consumer uses.
3.1 Process Description
Milk powder manufacturing involves the gentle removal of water at the lowest
possible cost under stringent hygiene conditions while retaining all the desirable
natural properties of the milk—color, flavor, solubility, nutritional value [31].
During the process, the water present in the milk is removed by boiling the milk
under reduced pressure at low temperature in a process known as evaporation. The
resulting concentrated milk is then sprayed in a fine mist into hot air to remove
further moisture, thereby producing the powder. Approximately 13 kg of whole
milk powder (WMP) or 9 kg of skim milk powder (SMP) can be made from 100 L
of whole milk [31]. The conventional process for the production of milk powder
starts with taking the raw milk received at the dairy factory and pasteurizing and
separating it into skim milk and cream using a centrifugal cream separator. If whole
milk powder is to be manufactured, a portion of the cream is added back to the skim
milk to produce milk with a standardized fat content.
There are two sections in milk powder production: the evaporation section and
the spray drying section. The pasteurized milk at 6–10 °C with around 13–14%
solids is pumped into the five-effect evaporators, each accompanied with a pre-
heater, where the water present in the milk gets vaporized with the help of vapor fed
in the reverse direction. In Fig. 4, the hyphenated lines represent the flow direction
of the pasteurized milk from left to right in the evaporation section, while the dotted
lines represent the flow direction of the steam or vapor from right to left. Preheating
causes a controlled denaturation of the whey proteins in the milk along with
Fig. 4 PFD of base scenario

destroying bacteria, inactivating enzymes and generating natural antioxidants

thereby imparting heat stability [31]. The steam which is fed in the first effect is
generated by thermally compressing a part of the vapor generated in the third effect.
The pressure in the five effects ranges from around 650 mmHg in first effect to
around 500 mmHg in the last effect with a difference of about 30–50 mmHg
between any two adjacent effects. The vapor generated in the evaporator-preheater
assembly is split into three parts where first part is sent to the next effect, the second
part to its accompanying preheater for heat exchange, and the third part for CIP
water heating, thereby ensuring that no external source of heating is required (can
be observed from Fig. 4). Condensate from the first effect, because of being in large
amount as compared to other effects, gets collected in the pure condensate tank,
while for all the other effects, the condensates get collected in the murky condensate
tank as these condensates carry traces of solids present in the milk. The concen-
trated milk leaving the evaporation section has a temperature of around 92–93 °C
and a solid content of around 30% [32].
A part of the milk leaving the five effects is flash cooled to around 58 °C and fed
to the scraped surface heat exchanger where it is heated to 75 °C before being fed to
the spray dryer (refer Fig. 4). Spray drying involves atomizing the milk concentrate
from the evaporator into fine droplets. This is done inside a large drying chamber in
a flow of hot air at a temperature of 180–200°C using either a spinning disk
atomizer or a series of high-pressure nozzles. The milk droplets are cooled by
evaporation, and they never reach the temperature of the air. The concentrate may
be heated prior to atomization to reduce its viscosity and to increase the energy
available for drying. The atomized particles come in contact with hot air, and water
in it gets evaporated leaving a fine powder of around 4% moisture content with a
mean particle size typically of <0.1 mm diameter which is collected in the silos
[31]. Sometimes a secondary drying takes place in a fluidized bed through which
hot air is blown to remove some more water to give a product with a moisture
content of 2–4% [31]. Some amount of dried product may also get entrained with
the exhaust air which is then separated in a high-efficiency cyclone separator and
recycled back to the chamber. As shown in Fig. 4, the milk powder formed is then
collected at the bottom of the dryer in bags or silos and sent for storage. More
details about the process conditions with respect to the process flow diagram have
been provided in Sect. 4.1 of the chapter.
3.2 Energy Efficiency Studies
There are a number of heat-recovery issues specific to the manufacturing dairy

industry. For semi-batch operations, the availability or duty cycle of the source and
target streams must be checked carefully. Heat exchangers can develop leaks, and
heat recovery creates the possibility of contamination between streams. This is
unacceptable in milk processing, and isolation by pressure differential double-plate
heat exchangers or intermediate circuits is essential in such cases. Also many gas
and liquid waste streams carry contaminants which may affect the surfaces of
heat-recovery equipment. Good engineering solutions are available for most of
these problems, but surface cleaning must be designed into the heat-recovery
equipment. In the recovery of gas from waste gas streams, there is also the pos-
sibility of contaminants presenting a fire hazard. Many waste gas streams contain
significant moisture that will condense if the temperature is lowered significantly. It
is quite possible to design heat exchangers for operation with a gas stream below
the dew point, and indeed such streams often represent large heat sources. There are
significant problems of physically installing major heat-recovery equipment as
dairy processing buildings are frequently crowded. Large heat exchangers impose
back pressure on boilers and spray dryers. The ability of original equipment to
tolerate this back pressure must be checked. In this context, the optimized use of the
condensate should also be considered for the recovery of the condensate imparts
some added benefits to the milk drying process such as savings of (i) water and
water treatment costs, for replacing the lost condensate, (ii) heat, for prewarming
new boiler feed water, and (iii) wastewater, because less condensate gets into the
wastewater [2].
Reducing energy use associated with milk powder production has been the
subject of numerous studies. Previous studies have mainly focused on three areas:
(i) heat recovery from the spray dryer exhaust air, including source/sink integration
options [33], industrial case studies [34, 35], and heat exchanger modeling [36],
(ii) zonal and total site heat integration of dairy factories, including integration of
the milk treatment process that occurs preceding the drying operations [37] and the
application [38, 39] and design [40] of heat-recovery loops to semi-continuous
processes, and (iii) an overview of good energy-efficient practices in spray drying
[41]. More recent studies have looked heat-recovery targeting methods and heat
exchange synthesis between the evaporator and spray dryer operations of a powder
process.
Some energy analyses of the dairy industry in terms of exergy have been con-
ducted in the last few decades. However, these have primarily analyzed the milk
processing [42, 43] or the drying process [44]. Quijera et al. [42, 45] use the pinch
and exergy methods to evaluate and optimize the integration of solar thermal
technologies for the production of cheese and yoghurt. An exergy analysis of milk
pasteurization was performed by Fang et al. [43], where the process was also
optimized. The usefulness of exergy as a tool for the dairy industry was discussed
by Vidal et al. [46]. A milk powder production facility in New Zealand was ana-
lyzed in this study, and product input/output states were studied on a
component-wise basis. The exergy losses of flavored yoghurt production were
determined by Sorgüvan and Özilgen [47]. The production of other ingredients than
milk was also included from a cumulative exergy perspective. A study by Trägårdh
[48] used exergy as a quality factor. Dincer and Sahin [49] proposed a new ther-
modynamic model for drying processes, based on exergy analysis. Evaporation in
food processes was discussed in [50, 51], and different evaporator configurations
for citrus processing were analyzed. Winchester [52] analyzed the modeling and
operation of falling film evaporators at the example of a dairy plant. Choi in [53]
focused on exergy analysis of thermal vapor recompression evaporators, suggesting

new designs and operating parameters. From the above examples, it can be con-
cluded that exergy analysis is a promising approach to study the energy efficiency
for Amul’s milk powder production process.
4 Improving Energy Efficiency by Process Integration
In this section, the simulation of the normal operation of the milk powder plant
which is the base scenario will be presented followed by its exergy analysis. With
the exergy analysis, first the regions where the heat loss is comparatively more will
be located which will be followed by developing strategies through process inte-
gration to make the entire plant much more energy efficient.
4.1 Simulation Results: Base Scenario
The process conditions of milk powder production are presented in Table 1. The
model presented in Fig. 4 was simulated in CHEMCAD, and the simulation results
are summarized in Table 2. These were validated with plant measurements. The
drying of moisture from the milk takes place in two parts as discussed earlier—first
in the evaporator and then in the dryer. Apart from these two sections, there is one
more section where the regenerative heating and cooling of the milk takes place.
The following gives a detailed picture of the simulation results in these three
regions of the milk powder plant.
Table 1 Process conditions for milk powder production

Sl. Condition Value
No.
01. Incoming milk temperature 6–10 °C
02. Incoming milk solid concentration 13–4%
03. Milk flow rate 25–30 m3/h
04. Pressure in the evaporators 650 mmHg in E1 to
500 mmHg in E5
05. Pressure drop between consecutive effects 30–40 mmHg
06. Net rise in milk temperature in the five effects 2 °C
07. Rise in CIP water temperature 10 °C
08. Temperature of milk entering scraped HEX after it is flash 55–58 °C
cooled in the regenerative heater
09. Temperature of milk entering spray dryer 70–75 °C
10. Incoming hot air temperature 180–200 °C
11. Dryer temperature 80–90 °C
Table 2 Simulation results of base scenario

No. Simulation condition Value
1 Temperature of milk leaving the evaporators 93.75 °C
2 Solid concentration of milk leaving the evaporators 30.03%
3 Pure condensate collected 400.9 kmol/h
4 Murky condensate collected 819.9 kmol/h
5 Solid concentration of milk leaving the dryer 95.79%
6 Moisture content of milk powder 4.21%
Evaporation: As shown in Fig. 4, the evaporator used in the plant is of back-

ward feed type which means that the milk and vapor flow in opposite directions.
The reason behind using backward effect evaporator in food processing industries
like milk powder production is that here the milk of highest concentration will
remain in the first, that is, the hottest effect. Therefore, the viscosity of the milk will
remain low, leading to a high heat transfer coefficient which, in turn, will enhance
the capacity of the system. So the pasteurized milk enters the evaporator at 6 °C
where it gets concentrated from 14.9% solids to 30.03% solids. The pressure in the
five effects ranges from 630 mmHg in first effect to 500 mmHg in fifth effect with a
difference of about 30 mmHg between two adjacent effects. The partially concen-
trated milk leaving the evaporator section is at a temperature of 93.75 °C with an
overall rise of 1.5–2 °C in the five effects. The extent of evaporation in the second
and the third effects (21.44% in second and 25.61% in third) was found to be
significantly more than the rest of the effects (<7%). This is due to the splitting of
the vapor stream in the split fractions. To utilize the full potential of these two
effects, the vapor splitters just preceding these two effects, that is, splitter first and
second were given a fraction of 0.75 in favor of the vapors entering the second and
third effects, respectively, while the remaining 0.25 was split between the vapors
fed to the preheaters and that sent for CIP heating for each of these two effects. The
water used for CIP cleaning is heated from 25 to 34.33 °C with a part of vapor
generated in the evaporators. The amount of pure condensate and the amount of
murky condensate collected are 400.9 kmol/h and 819.9 kmol/h, respectively. The
pure condensate collected from first effect is sometimes used as CIP water or
pumped back to boiler house depending on requirement.
Regenerative heating and cooling: The milk leaving the evaporator section (at
93.75 °C) is then sent to the regenerative heater where a part of the milk is cooled to
58.75 °C by flash cooling and the other part is heated to 94.21 °C (shown in
Fig. 4). The latter is fed back for regenerative purpose. The part of the milk which
is leaving at 58.75 °C is then fed to the scraped surface heat exchanger, where it is
heated to 75.75 °C by steam at 3000 mmHg and fed to the spray dryer for removing
the remaining moisture and concentrating it to the required solid concentration.
Spray drying: The milk leaving the scraped heat exchanger at 75.75 °C enters
the spray dryer from the top where it gets atomized by a series of high-pressure
nozzles. The dryer temperature is maintained at around 85 °C. The vaporization of
Table 3 Exergy result for base scenario

No. Equipment Irreversibility (KJ/h) Efficiency (%)
1 Preheater 1 5.35 104 22.02
2 Preheater 2 6.615 104 12.58
3 Preheater 3 9.784 103 50.61
4 Preheater 4 1.2799 104 16.79
5 Preheater 5 1.11 104 43.76
6 Preheater 6 1.287 105 41.81
7 CIP heater 1.397 106 65.64
8 Regenerative heater 1.532 106 69.94
9 Scraped HEX 7.64 105 56.24
10 Thermal vapor recompressor 1.0053 106 32.36
11 Pump 1 6.133 104 61.60
12 Pump 2 1.88 105 63.38
13 Pump 3 2.24 105 61.23
14 Pump 4 2.59 105 56.63
15 Pump 5 5.23 106 31.62
16 Evaporator 1 2.662 107 22.03
17 Evaporator 2 4.475 107 25.87
18 Evaporator 3 1.17 108 17.17
19 Evaporator 4 2.399 107 48.8
20 Evaporator 5 1.945 107 21.59
21 Dryer 2.09 107 68.28
moisture from the milk takes place due to the transfer of heat from the hot air to the
milk. As a result, the atomized milk gets dried from 30.03% solids to 95.79% solids
when it comes in contact with hot air blown from the bottom at a temperature of
185 °C and a pressure of 2000 mmHg (refer Fig. 4). The milk powder formed at a
temperature of 40 °C and a moisture content of 4.21% is then collected at the
bottom of the dryer and sent for storage. In this context, it can be mentioned that the
final moisture content of the milk powder that is obtained is in sync with that of the
actual process, which is around 4%.
4.2 Exergy Analysis of Base Scenario
To find the extent of heat loss in each section of the plant, exergy analysis of the
base scenario was performed with the help of the equations discussed in Sect. 2 and
the results are shown in (Table 3). From the results obtained, it could be concluded
that some of the major equipments of the plant were running on significantly low
energy efficiencies due to major heat losses which in turn bring down the energy
efficiency of the entire plant. On close investigation, it was observed that major
Table 4 Simulation results of Scenarios 1 and 2 with respect to base scenario

No Condition Value with respect to base
scenario
Scenario 1 Scenario 2
1 Temperature of milk leaving the evaporators +0.12 °C +0.21 °C
2 Solid concentration of milk leaving the evaporators +1.37% 2.27%
3 Pure condensate collected +37.7 kmol/h +52.6 kmol/h
4 Murky condensate collected −16.49 kmol/h +49.22 kmol/h
5 Solid concentration of milk leaving the dryer +0.12% +0.197%
6 Moisture content of milk powder −0.12% −0.197%
exergy destruction occurs in equipment which is a part of the evaporation section

while the equipment present in the drying section shows relatively compatible
efficiencies.
Preheaters, CIP heater, Regenerative heater, and Scraped heat exchanger:
For equipment like preheaters, CIP heater, regenerative heater, and scraped surface
heat exchanger, the method employed for calculating the exergy efficiency is same
for all these four types of equipment, the working fluids (water for CIP heater and
milk for the rest) do not exhibit any change of state. First, the change in entropy is
calculated for both the two fluids between which the heat exchange is taking place.
The net entropy change in both the fluids is then multiplied by the ambient tem-
perature to obtain the irreversibility or net loss in heat in these equipments, which is
nothing but the difference in exergy change of the cold stream and that of the hot
stream. The exergy efficiency was then calculated by taking the ratio of the exergy
gained by the cold stream (output exergy) to the exergy lost by the hot stream (input
exergy). Compiling the results, it was observed that among the preheaters, only the
ones belonging to the third (50.61%) and fifth (43.76%) effects showed decent
efficiencies while the CIP heater, regenerative heater, and the scraped surface heat
exchanger exhibited above par exergy efficiency values (55–70%); hence, they do
not require any improvement as such.
TVR and pumps: For equipment like the pumps and the thermal vapor
recompression unit, the work done by electricity also comes into the picture while
doing the exergy analysis. An energy balance between the work done by electricity
and the exergy content of the incoming and outgoing fluids gives us the value of the
net irreversibility developed. One more key feature of this exergy analysis is the
fact that here the exergy is contributed both by temperature and pressure because in
these equipments the working fluid undergo change in temperature as well as
change in pressure. The exergy efficiency was then calculated by dividing the work
done by electricity by the net change in exergy of the working fluid.
The vapor from the third effect enters the TVR at 90.6 °C with a flow rate of
1754 kg/h, and the steam leaves at 271.66 °C. The enthalpy values corresponding
to the inlet and outlet temperatures are −2.27 107 kJ/h and −1.89 107 kJ/h,
respectively. The work done by electricity is 4.81 105 kJ/h. By using
Cp = 4.18 kJ/kg K, To = 298 K, and R = 0.462 kJ/kg in Eqs. (11), (12), and (13)
(along with the process conditions), ex1 and ex2 were found to be −20.68 kJ/kg and
279.83 kJ/kg, respectively. These details are used in Eqs. (14) and (15) to get the
lost heat or irreversibility as 1.0053 106 kJ/h and efficiency as 32.36%.
Thus, the results obtained showed that the efficiency of TVR is below par
considering the significance of the equipment in the entire process. Most of the
pumps, on the other hand, exhibited above par efficiencies (>55–60%). Observing
the result, the fact that the thermal vapor recompression unit, one of the most
integral parts of the process, showed considerably low efficiency became promi-
nent. Thus, it was determined that the primary approach toward devising a strategy
to improve on the current scenario should first focus on reducing the exergy loss in
this unit.
Evaporator and dryer: For the evaporator and the dryer, the methodology
followed for doing the exergy analysis is more or less similar. The hot utility which
is steam or vapor for the evaporators, is hot air for the dryer and the corresponding
counterparts at the exit are condensates and exhaust for the evaporator and dryer,
respectively. The only difference between these two equipments is that while cal-
culating the exergy efficiency, the exergy content of the generated vapor must be
included for the evaporators while no such exergy addition is needed for the dryer
as no vapor is generated in this case. The reason being, the exergy of the vapor is
considered as a part of exergy improvement as the energy content of this vapor is
later utilized to vaporize the moisture content of the milk in the next effect or even
CIP heating for that matter. It was observed that among the evaporators, the third
effect, the one from which a part of the vapor is sent for thermal compression into
steam, showed the least efficiency (17.17%). The dryer, on the other hand, turned
out to be exhibiting one of the highest efficiency values (68.28%) in the whole
analysis.
Thus, it is concluded that the exergy efficiency varies from a large extent in
different sections of the milk powder plant and there is a wide scope in devising
strategies to improve the situation. After verification of the above-mentioned exergy
results, a couple of such strategies are discussed in the next chapter of the work
where some of the flaws of the base scenario have been duly addressed.
4.3 Strategies to Improve Energy Efficiency
To reduce the amount of heat loss in the equipment and thereby improve the energy
efficiency of the plant, different strategies that have the potential to improve the
present situation were analyzed. As discussed earlier, it was identified that not only
was the third effect showing the least efficiency among the evaporators, but also the
thermal vapor recompression unit, where a part of the vapor generated in the third
effect is thermally compressed into steam, also showed below par efficiency. This
analysis presented us with a scope to devise a strategy to improve the exergy
situation by keeping these two equipments at the focal point. Thus, there can be two
options that can be pursued in this regard, which are to send either the vapor
generated from second effect or that from fourth effect for thermal compression in
place of that from the third effect.
First, the fourth effect was tried in the analysis. A part of the vapor generated in
the fourth effect which was earlier being sent for CIP heating is now sent for
thermal compression to steam which would then be fed to the first effect as the
primary source of evaporation, while the part of vapor which was earlier sent for
thermal compression is now sent to the CIP heater. Subsequent simulation of this
new strategy followed by its exergy analysis yielded results which turned out to be
below par even when compared to that of the base scenario. Earlier, the exergy
efficiencies of TVR and third effect were 32.36 and 17.17%, respectively. After this
new development, these values have further decreased to 28.96 and 15.72%,
respectively. One reason of such an occurrence can be attributed to the fact that
vapor sent to CIP heater from fourth effect is lesser than the vapor from third effect
which is sent for thermal compression. Since these two have been interchanged in
the new strategy, both TVR and third effect have suffered more losses. Hence, this
strategy was dismissed.
Next, the second effect vapor is partly sent to TVR instead of the fourth effect
and the portion which was earlier being sent to TVR is now sent to the CIP heater as
before. Simulating this second model followed by its exergy analysis gave a
glimpse of a better result with respect to the TVR and the third effect as compared
to the base scenario. A detailed exergy analysis showed significant improvement in
a few other major equipments, and this in turn formed the first strategy which could
be proposed to Amul. The second strategy was developed by using the murky
condensate as a hot utility to heat up the CIP water instead of the vapors, thereby
utilizing the full potential of the vapors to evaporate the water present in the milk in
all the five effects. These proposed strategies, believed to bring better results when
implemented in the dairy, are discussed in the following.
4.3.1 Scenario 1
It is observed that in the base scenario, the part of the vapor leaving the third effect
that is sent for CIP heating is more than the part sent for thermal compression into
steam. Since, for the purpose of drying, the CIP heating is not of major priority, it
can be concluded that there are scopes for the improvement in this section of the
plant. Also, the amount of vapor sent for CIP heating from the second effect is
much more than that from third effect (because of the split ratio at the splitters).
Hence, the vapor from second effect which was earlier sent for CIP heating is now
sent for thermal compression to steam and the vapor from third effect that was
earlier sent for thermal compression is now sent for CIP heating in the new strategy
(shown in Fig. 5). The following describes the simulation results obtained after
implementing this new strategy:
Evaporation: With this new strategy now implemented in the existing plant
operations, the milk leaving the evaporators now has a solid concentration of
Fig. 5 PFD of Scenario 1 (modification only)
31.4%, which earlier used to be 30.03%. The milk temperature has also risen a little
to 93.87 °C. The pure condensate generated from first effect has increased from
400.9 to 438.6 kmol/h due to the fact that the amount of steam fed to first effect is
more now, due to which the pure condensate obtained is also more. But the amount
of murky condensate is reduced from 819.9 to 803.41 kmol/h due to the fact that
now the vapor used for CIP heating is comparatively lesser which in turn results in
lesser condensate generation (as shown in Table 4). At the exergy front, the effi-
ciency of TVR in this scenario has showed a jump from 32.36% to 46.47% which is
more than 10% while the efficiency of the third effect is at par with that of base
scenario (shown in Table 5). Along with this, the first- and second-effect evapo-
rators including their corresponding preheaters have showed a significant jump in
efficiency (around 20%). The rest of the equipment has shown only minor
variations.
Regenerative heating and cooling: The partially concentrated milk from the
evaporators entered this section at 93.87 °C, and a part of it is again flash cooled to
its design value of 58.75 °C. It is then heated to 75.75 °C in the scraped heat
exchanger and fed to the spray dryer. This shows that there are not many changes in
the process conditions involved at this section, and hence, the exergy values are
more or less at par with that of base scenario. The regenerative heater now has an
exergy efficiency of 69.7%, a minute drop from 69.94%, value in case of base
scenario while the scraped surface heat exchanger shows a slight upward growth
from 56.24% at base scenario to 56.98% in this new strategy.
Spray Drying: The fact that in the evaporators, milk already got concentrated to
31.4% (1.37% more than the base scenario) had a direct effect in the extent of
drying as well. The final dried powder in this new strategy had an overall moisture
content of 4.09%, which is 0.12% lesser than the base scenario (shown in Table 4).
Table 5 Exergy results of Scenarios 1 and 2 with respect to base scenario

No Equipment Irreversibility (KJ/h) Efficiency (% change
with respect to base
scenario)
Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Scenario Scenario
1 2
1 Preheater 1 3.13 104 2.981 104 +16.74 +19.11
2 Preheater 2 3.97 104 3.24 104 +19.81 +24.76
3 Preheater 3 1.01 104 9.82 103 −3.24 −0.59
4 Preheater 4 1.52 104 9.88 103 −0.34 +6.92
5 Preheater 5 1.48 104 1.003 104 −0.84 +0.43
6 Preheater 6 1.462 105 9.76 104 −0.61 +3.59
7 CIP heater 1.52 106 1.453 106 −3.86 −2.29
8 Regenerative heater 1.58 106 1.61 106 −0.24 −0.73
9 Scraped HEX 7.42 105 7.428 105 +0.74 +0.66
10 Thermal vapor 1.001 106 1.0007 106 +14.11 +14.86
recompressor
11 Pump 1 5.84 104 5.37 104 +0.70 +0.95
12 Pump 2 1.823 105 1.83 105 +2.13 +2.09
13 Pump 3 2.49 105 2.52 105 −0.34 −0.47
14 Pump 4 2.81 105 2.823 105 −0.22 −0.74
15 Pump 5 5.47 106 5.561 106 −0.29 −1.22
16 Evaporator 1 2.083 107 2.004 107 +21.75 +24.75
17 Evaporator 2 3.477 107 3.238 107 +22.31 +25.29
18 Evaporator 3 1.1743 108 1.159 108 −0.58 +4.58
19 Evaporator 4 2.469 107 2.35 107 −0.66 +0.64
20 Evaporator 5 1.98 107 1.47 107 −0.48 +5.34
21 Dryer 2.04 107 2.01 107 +0.82 +1.50
The final solid temperature was also maintained at around 40 °C in the presence of
hot air blown from the bottom of the dryer at 185 °C and 2000 mmHg. As a result,
the dryer efficiency rose a little from 68.28% in the base scenario to 69.1% in
Scenario 1.
Thus, it is clear from Table 4 that in Scenario 1, due to improved efficiency of
evaporation in first and second effects, the overall drying has improved. Thus, this
strategy more or less addressed those equipments which were earlier exhibiting low
exergy efficiency under base scenario and improved them to decent values. In the
second scenario, another strategy is devised which when implemented with this
Scenario 1 will show further improvement in the exergy results.
4.3.2 Scenario 2
In the previous model, vapor generated in the evaporators was used to heat the CIP
water (for its 10 °C rise). But it was observed that instead of using the vapor if the
condensate was used for CIP heating (since it is not a major priority in milk drying),
then the energy efficiencies could be further improved. On implementing this
change in Scenario 1, it showed significant rise in the efficiency values and
reduction in the heat losses due to the fact that now more amount of vapor, which
was earlier sent for CIP heating, was now used for the evaporation of the water
present in the milk in the five effects. The modification made in Scenario 2 with
respect to Scenario 1 is shown in Fig. 6. A detailed picture of the simulation results
is presented in the following:
Evaporation: Adding this new strategy along with Scenario 1 has resulted in an
increase in solid concentration in the milk leaving the evaporation effects from
31.4% solids in Scenario 1 to 32.3% solids under this combined strategy. The total
water removal in all the five effects has also jumped further, from 51.77% in
Scenario 1 to 52.54% under the present scenario. Since now more amount of vapor
is being sent for evaporation, the condensates collected in both the pure and murky
condensate tanks have increased (pure condensate: 453.5 kmol/h from 400.9 kmol/
h in base scenario and murky condensate: 869.12 kmol/h from 819.9 kmol/h in
base scenario). The final temperature of the CIP water, which is now 34.72 °C, is
also found to have increased a little in this scenario (34.33 °C in base scenario and
34.41 °C in Scenario 1). From the exergy perspective, significant growth has been
noticed in the third effect, both in the evaporator and in its corresponding preheater.
Compared to Scenario 1, where the efficiency values of third evaporator and pre-
heater were 16.59 and 47.37%, respectively, these values have now jumped to
21.75 and 50.02%, respectively. The detailed results are shown in Table 5. All the
preheaters under this new strategy have shown decent improvement, while rest of
the equipment exhibited minor variations.
Fig. 6 PFD of Scenario 2 (modification only)

Regenerative heating and cooling: The milk now leaves the evaporator at a
temperature of 93.96 °C, which is a slight rise from Scenario 1 where the milk
leaving the five effects and entering this section had a temperature of 93.87 °C.
A part of the milk is cooled to its designed value of 58.75 °C and fed to the scraped
surface heat exchanger where it is heated to 75.75 °C before being fed to the spray
dryer. The exergy efficiency of both the regenerative heater and the scraped surface
heat exchanger showed a slight drop, negligible enough to affect the overall exergy
scenario of the whole plant.
Spray drying: The improvement in solid concentration in the evaporation
section had a direct effect in the final moisture content of the milk powder as well.
There had been a rise of 2.27% in the overall solid concentration in Scenario 2 from
the base scenario, as a result of which the milk powder moisture content has
reduced from 4.21% in base scenario to 4.013% in Scenario 2. These details are
shown in Table 5. The final solid temperature remained within its designed limit of
around 40 °C. All these have resulted in an improvement in the dryer efficiency,
from 68.28% in base scenario and 69.1% in Scenario 1 to 69.78% in this combined
strategy.
These two scenarios discussed above clearly depict how process integration
helps to improve the overall efficiency of any process. A graphical representation
depicting the comparative analysis of all the three scenarios for those equipments
which show significant improvements has been presented in Fig. 7.
Fig. 7 Graphical representation of the exergy results for the major equipment
5 Summary
This work addresses opportunities to improve energy efficiency of a large-scale

milk powder production unit through process integration based on exergy studies.
A model of the milk powder plant of Amul Dairy was built and simulated in
CHEMCAD to get an idea of all the equipment efficiencies under the normal
operation of the plant. On the basis of exergy analysis, two strategies were proposed
which if implemented can lead to significant improvement (more than 20% in some
major equipment) in the exergy efficiencies.
The proposed approach for improving the energy efficiency can be extended to
develop a holistic framework that can foster water and energy sustainability. This
framework can be realized by an optimization approach that minimizes the energy
and water usage using the proposed techniques while accounting for cost con-
straints and plant dynamics through appropriate models. The strategies suggested
here are best applicable to milk powder plants worldwide and can be further
generalized for various other industries to promote water and energy sustainability,
respectively.
Acknowledgements The authors gratefully acknowledge Mr. S.S. Sundaran (OSD, Public
Relations) and Mr. Deepak R. Sharma (Deputy Manager, Production) of Amul Dairy, Anand, for
their constant support in this project.
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Green Energy and Technology

Mohsen Assadi Deb A Mukherjee

Santanu Bandyopadhyay Deb A Mukherjee

ISSN 1865-3529 ISSN 1865-3537 (electronic)

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018

Printed on acid-free paper

This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature

Low Carbon Energy Growth is Steadily Increasing in India

In 2015, on Gandhi Jayanti, India submitted its Intended Nationally Determined

The Transformation is Turbulent … and is not Inevitable

The Government of India’s (Gol) resolve to combat climate change and

The Next Steps

To Add From Letter to Foundations (of August 2017) About

Ajay Mathur, Ph.D.

smooth phasing out of these technologies is required with the development of

Kolkata, India Sudipta De

Sustainability of Energy Systems: Views from Technology

CO2 Capture and Utilization (CCU) in Coal-Fired Power Plants:

Sudipta De is currently a Professor at the Mechanical Engineering Department,

Mohsen Assadi is a Professor at Faculty of Science and Technology, University of

To take away today from England her steam engines would be

Recently a multinational corporation announced a global research collaboration on

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018 1

from geological carbon. The signal importance of energy sustainability is derived

2 Basic Facts of Energy and Its Sustainability

2.1 Nonrenewable Energy

2.2 Renewable Energies

3 Signiﬁcance of Energy Use

Energy consumption is the life blood of material development of any society.

4 Energy Sustainability of Systems

Fig. 4 Water requirements for energy production

Fig. 6 Land use of power production systems

Fig. 7 Comparative safety records of various power systems

Fig. 9 Sustainability considerations for nuclear vis-a-vis fossil power

Fig. 10 Sustainability considerations of biomass for transportation vis-a-vis fossil fuels

5 Discussion and Conclusions

21. Energy sustainability is also considered central to all sustainability discussions.

1. Dunlap R (2015) Sustainable energy. Cengage Learning, Stamford

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018 21

Fig. 1 a During two different

Air Mass m ¼ ðh2 =h1 Þ ¼ ð1=sin bÞ ð1Þ

b is the altitude of the Sun. AM1.5 corresponds to b 42°, which is also

0.0 0.4 0.5 0.8

The energy emitted by Sun has a spectral distribution corresponding to a

Fig. 3 Collector receiving direct radiation

Fig. 4 Collector receiving diffused radiation

ISC ¼ d IDG ð1 þ cos XÞ=2 ð3Þ

Electrical conductivity of inorganic materials mainly gets decided by the nature of

The semiconductor [18] has a characteristics band structure as shown in Fig. 5.

It is possible to increase the free carrier concentration of electrons and holes by

0.0 λ cut-off 1 (1.24/Eg2) λ cut-off 2 (1.24/Eg1)

Fig. 9 Three stacked

4 Electrical Characteristics of Photovoltaic Devices

Fig. 10 Cross section of a p–n junction diode acting as a solar cell

VOC ¼ ðkT=qÞln½ðIL =IS  1Þ ð6Þ

FF ¼ ðVm Im Þ=ðVOC ISC Þ ð7Þ

5 Solar Photovoltaic Technology

MG Poly Silicon PV Cell PV PV

Fig. 16 Solar PV value chain

VOC ¼ ðkT=qÞln½ðIL =IS 1Þ ð6Þ