An Externally Fired Micro Gas Turbine Plant for Combined Heat and Power Generation from Solid Biomass: A Practical Experience

Small plants able to directly use solid biomasses collected in the plant neighbourhoods have the chance to overcome the typical drawbacks of other solutions which need large sizes and/or complex fuel processing treatments. The University of Pisa, jointly with some local manufacturers, has designed, built and tested an externally fired micro gas turbine (EFMGT) supplying 70kW of electricity from the direct use of solid biomasses, as well as useful heat for local thermal users. The plant adopts a Turbec T100 microturbine, which has been adapted for the use without conventional burners. Some units have been sold to industrial users and some more orders have been recently placed. The paper presents the details of the plant and shows the experience from the operation of some installations which are currently running in various conditions and discusses the results achieved.