COGENERATION SYSTEMS USING INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES AND ABSORPTION CHILLERS

The technical, environmental and economic viability of cogeneration systems based on the use of natural gas internal combustion engine and an absorption chiller was investigated. Projects that meet the growing demand for diversification of energy supply in Brazil have already been well studied, but the alignment between modern regulation laws with the technologies available in the market for application in supermarkets is not well understood. The study method was divided in several phases: (1) the development of technical and economic indicator for general evaluation of projects; (2) the application of environmental indicator; (3) mapping of constraints and project requirements with regard to the legislation of qualified cogeneration; (4) the identification the electrical and thermal load in the case study; (5) modeling of the cogeneration plant for the case study; and finally (6) the evaluation of all identified indicators. The results present the best combinations for technical and economic application, the CO2 emissions of these models and the viability of the system in a supermarket through the daily projection of energy billing and investment analysis. Such information is important because it presents a practical study for the application of cogeneration for one of the main commercial energy consumers in Brazil.