Pre-feasibility study of a biogas plant for peyrelevade community

Abstract

This work presents a technical and financial pre-feasibility assessment for heat generation from biogas for a retirement home in the community of Peyrelevade, France. The heat demand of the retirement home currently relies on fuel oil boiler and electric heaters. The biogas is to be produced mainly from grass silage. As result of the feedstock abundance in the community, electricity can be also generated in an 80kWe CHP unit operating in full power capacity. The electricity produced can be then sold to the national electricity utility in France. The financial analysis was carried out using RETScreenTM. An efficiency of 62.9% is achievable in this CHP (Combined heat and power) biogas plant, with a total life cycle saving/income of 0.05€ for each MJ of heat supplied to the retirement home. A company set-up has also been proposed for the development of a community based company