Abstract

This paper presents the simulation and analysis of biomass/diesel system for remote households. It assumes a location in the southeast of Nigeria as a test case where biomass feedstock such as rice husk is available for electricity generation. The work considers the use of biogas produced from rice husk to run a generator that can power a demand of 106.38 kWh/d by 18 households. HOMER tool was employed to simulate the power system and three scenarios are examined such as the biogas-only, diesel-only, and biogas/diesel options; the performances of these systems are compared in terms of the annual energy delivered, availability, and the emissions produced. The size of the biogas-only generating (gen) system is 13 kW and it produces 42,237 kWh/yr of energy with availability (avb) of 100 %. For the diesel-only system, a 13 kW diesel gen system is obtained which delivers 42, 237 kWh/yr of energy with avb of 100 %. However, the biogas-only gen achieves avb of less than 100 % for 20 % increase in demand. A 2.3 kW diesel gen capacity is then added to the biogas system to realize avb of 100 %. The values of CO2, CO, unburned hydrocarbon (UH), particulate matter (PM), SO2 and NOx emissions by the three scenarios are 3.44, 0.357, 0.0157, 0 and 0.335; 42,113, 265, 11.6, 1.61, 103 and 249; and 3,976, 25.4, 1.11, 0.154, 9.73 and 23.8, respectively. These results present the biogas/diesel power as a suitable option in terms of availability and avoiding significant quantity of emissions compared to the other two options that have the issue of availability and emissions, respectively. The paper will help to understand local energy planning and design.