Cogeneration: Technologies, Optimisation and Implementation

Book Preface

Cogeneration of electricity and heat was initiated in 1880–1890 and soon reached a level that most of the electricity needed in the industrial sector at least in the United States of America in the early 1900s was supplied by cogeneration systems. After several decades of decline, the interest and the investments in research, development and applications of cogeneration were revitalised in the 1970s, when it was realised that rejecting more than 50% of the energy contained in fuels burned in power plants to the environment in the form of heat, with no utilisation, was disastrous for both the depletion of non-renewable energy resources and the negative effects on the environment.

During the 40 years that followed, cogeneration technology has reached maturity, and several books on the subject have been published. So, the reader may wonder what one more book could add to the related body of knowledge. It is important to note that cogeneration has many aspects: technical, economic, financial, environmental and legal. All these aspects are treated in the available bibliography, but an integrated treatment that shows how they are interweaved was still missing. Furthermore, the design and operation has been addressed with a conventional approach based on common experience and comparison with alterative options. However, such a treatment may not lead to the technically and economically best system, due to the complexity of cogeneration systems and the fact that conditions, such as loads and the tariff systems, change with time. Instead, the formal application of mathematical optimisation at three levels (synthesis, design specifications and operation) is proposed and presented here.

The book is intended for instructors and students at advanced undergraduate as well as graduate level, for professional engineers who design, build and operate cogeneration systems, and for researchers on analysis and optimisation of energy systems. Fundamental knowledge of Engineering Thermodynamics is necessary for better understanding of the analysis of the systems, whereas knowledge of optimisation techniques is necessary for better understanding of the related chapter and for applying optimisation on cogeneration systems.

I would like to thank the Institution of Engineering and Technology, UK, for inviting me to act as the editor of the book, and its personnel for supporting me throughout this endeavour.

Many thanks are due to all the authors of the various chapters, who accepted the invitation to contribute to the book. Without their cooperation, it would be impossible to present so many diverse aspects of cogeneration.

Special thanks are due to Dr. Jacob Klimstra, who joined the effort since the beginning and had a crucial role not only in writing and reviewing several chapters, but also in contributing to the development of the whole content of the book.

Also, I take the opportunity to thank all my collaborators in projects related to research and promotion of cogeneration, as well as the members of legislative committees I participated in, who helped me not only in completing the tasks successfully, but also in better understanding cogeneration and its complexities.

Christos A. Frangopoulos
School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering
National Technical University of Athens, Greece
October 2016