Thermodynamic, economic, and environmental analysis of a biomass gasification power plant based on the Allam cycle

A biomass gasification Allam cycle is proposed and assessed to aid in renewable energy utilization and carbon emission reduction of power plants in this work. The influence of five different biomass feedstocks as the energy supply on the system efficiency is evaluated. The energy efficiencies of the systems using coconut shell, almond shell, ash tree wood, red lentil hull, and cornstalk as the feedstock are 43.96 %, 42.23 %, 41.65 %, 40.79 %, 38.00 %, respectively. The net present value of biomass gasification Allam cycle with different types of feedstocks ranges from 276.589 M$ to 462.388 M$, denoting great financial availability. The sensitivity analysis indicates that the electricity price significantly affects the economic feasibility. The net present value varies from -29.868 M$ to 583.016 M$ as the fluctuation of electricity price from -30 % to +30 %. The base case using ash tree wood is studied to investigate the environmental performance of the biomass gasification Allam cycle. The combination of biomass with the Allam cycle could have negative emission of -0.7445 kg/kWh along the life cycle. The results present the advantages of the biomass gasification Allam cycle in power efficiency, financial feasibility, and negative emissions, which are promising for tackling environmental issues and realizing carbon neutrality.