Design and Fabrication of Biomass Turbine Generator
Abstract
Biomass is a renewable energy source that is sustainable and also provides solution to the growing pollution problem. Poor electricity production in Nigeria is a major contributor to the country’s low industrial development, despite the fact that the country is endowed with oil and other numerous natural resources. This might get worse as the country’s population keeps increasing added to more energy demand by the ever expanding industrial sector. Biomass for heat and power production holds a large potential as a source of renewable energy and reduction of greenhouse gas emission. If energy derived from renewable energy sources is added to the current energy supply in the country, it could be enough to place the country in the category of industrial nations without significant increase in environmental pollution. Sawdust which is treated as waste in Nigeria because of its low burning efficiency could be used to power steam turbine for production of electricity. In this way, power production in the country will be increased. The aim of this study is to design and fabricate a biomass steam turbine that will use sawdust as its source of fuel to produce electricity.
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Introduction
Low energy production persists in Nigeria despite the fact that the country is endowed with oil and other natural resources. Adeola (2003) pointed out that electricity generation, transmission and distribution accounts to less than one percent (1%) of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and 50% of utility supply. Currently, energy supply in Nigeria is estimated at 41% indicating that demand for energy outweighs its supply. The Federal Government is deeply concerned about this problem and is making efforts to increase power supply to the country.
However, if energy is to be produced from renewable energy sources and added to the current energy supply, the country may achieve self-sufficiency in energy which can place her among the category of the industrial nations. This can be achieved without significant increase in environmental pollution (Olaoye et al., 2016). According to Wilson (2010), biomass for heat and power production holds enormous potentials as a source of renewable energy and greenhouse gas emission reductions, but this potential is only being realized at a slow pace. As the population of the country is increasing, energy consumption also will increase and the only solution is to increase power production. The gradual decreasing of fossil fuels and its negative effect on the atmosphere by causing global warming and climate change have made nations to resort to alternative energy sources to meet their energy demands and to save the ecosystem. Also, carbon based non-renewable energy is unsustainable (RC, 2004; Akintunde, 2002; Adegoke and Akintunde, 2003; Emevon, et al., 2010).
However, Nigeria still depends on the off-grid supplies for her energy needs thereby running at high overhead costs. This has caused many businesses to wind up and some others to relocate from Nigeria to other countries where energy cost is relatively lower. The issue remains how the energy crisis in the country could be solved whilst taking into consideration environmental conservation, since atmospheric pollution, carbon loading and climate change have put humanity at a high risk. It is therefore imperative that usage of non-renewable energy sources should be controlled.
Conclusion
Biomass steam turbine is an important invention in Nigeria today owing to the fact that less greenhouse gasses are released which results to low environmental pollution, as well as the fact that biomass is quite easy to source and a renewable source of energy. The modification carried out on the biomass steam turbine improved the longevity of the power generated by the system by increasing the pressure generated by the steam and the retention of heat produced. The startup time was greatly reduced by changing the source of fuel (sawdust) which has a low calorific value and replacing it with charcoal thereby producing heat sufficient to attain the desired pressure at shorter time duration. The machine’s mobility was improved as well by changing the material (clay) used to lag the water chamber to sawdust. The power generated by the biomass steam turbine was also measured and this was able to power a LED lamp and also charge a phone over a longer period of time than it initially prior to the modification.