Optimization of sorghum-methane production systems.
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
1984.
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Link to ProQuest Copy |
| Abstract: | This dissertation concerns a study of the utilization of sorghum biomass as the fuel for a methane production system. The objective of this research is to determine an optimal sorghum-methane production system based on anaerobic batch digestion technology. The system is described as the interaction of three components: estimation of available biomass, storage of biomass, and the gas production. Levelized costs are obtained for each component. The biomass supply is assumed to decay exponentially in quality with storage time. The gas production process is a batch type of digestion with an exponential production rate. Gas production is formulated for a fixed planning horizon (one year) as a function of the number of batches and the batch residence times. The cost equation is then described as a function of these gas production equations and their levelized costs. The structure of this resulting equation is exploited to obtain the minimum unit gas cost. This analysis establishes the digester plant size, storage capacity, and optimal batch timings which yield the minimum cost. A sensitivity analysis, which studies the effect of in the initial biomass on the current optimal unit gas cost, is conducted. This analysis shows that a reduction of the initial biomass increases the unit gas cost when the digester capacity is fixed. In conclusion, the solution procedure of this research compares favorably with simulation results from both a solution cost effectiveness point of view and the total system cost. Moreover, the analytic result derived in this research obtains the optimal solution. It is also stated that the solution procedure of the decay-allocation problem in this paper can play a role in dealing with the allocation problem of perishable items, which is one of the underdeveloped areas in the field of Operations Research. |
|---|---|
| Item Description: | Typescript (photocopy). Vita. "Major subject: Industrial Engineering." |
| Physical Description: | viii, 80 leaves : illustrations ; 29 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-69). |