Sintex- 7.5 MW Natuaral gas based co-generation
Sintex Industries Limited is a Public Limited Company based at Kalol in Gandhinagar district of Gujarat, India. The company is in the business of plastic and textile production over seven decades with an optimum growth
To meet their power requirement as well as thermal energy requirements, Sintex was mostly dependent on fossil fuel dominated grid or fossil fuel such as oil. Sintex, understanding the environmental impact of fossil fuel combustion, resolved to put up a less carbon intensive technology. And thus, they planned to install a natural gas based co generation system. This project was developed under CDM.
Technical details
The project activity was installation of a 7.5 MW natural gas based co-generation system. The incorporation of the project activity results in substitution of higher carbon intensive fuel oil based power generation with comparatively cleaner mode of power generation and subsequently utilisation of sensible heat content of the waste gas emanating from the gas turbine for thermal energy generation. The cogeneration system thus replaced the existing system of individual fossil fuel based thermal and electrical energy generation.
Before installing natural based co-generation unit, the electricity demand was met partially through grid and partially through FO based generator sets. Grid is also a source of electricity dominated by fossil fuel based power plant. The thermal energy requirement was met through dedicated natural gas based boiler and natural gas based thermic fluid heater.
The gross electricity generation capacity of cogeneration unit is 7.5MW, however, after auxiliary power consumption and loading, about 7MW power is generated. Also, the exhaust heat from the steam turbine is used to meet the thermal energy demand of the unit. The cogeneration unit has a steam recovery unit which recovers heat to run a boiler of capacity 11TPH at 10 bar pressure as well as thermic fluid heater of capacity 1.4 million Kcal/hr.
Evidently, carbon intensive options such as grid and FO were replaced as well as steam recovery unit saved additional fuel combustion in the boiler and thermic fluid heater. And thus, the project established to be a cleaner option.
CDM Specific Details
The project contributes towards sustainable development through social, economical, environmental and technological well being. Social well being as infrastructure development due to the project, economical well being as project resulted in employment generation, environmental well being as project resulted in reduction of GHG emission and pollutants and technological well being as this project act as a clean technology demonstration project to encourage and promote the deployment of efficient cogeneration system in similar type of industry.
The project proponent prior to the deployment/incorporation of the project activity contacted the stake holders for obtaining their consent for setting up the project activity. Identified stakeholders mainly consisted of municipal commissioner, secretary of local co-operatives, Gujarat CDM cell, gas suppliers, members of pollution control board, members of state electricity board, CDM consultant, equipment supplier, local inhabitants, employees of Sintex and contractor. A formal stakeholders meeting was conducted and all the queries of the stakeholders were addressed satisfactorily. There were no negative comments obtained.
The project was small scale project activity but for this kind of project activity, there was no small scale methodology available. Hence, large scale methodology AM0014 was applied. The title of the methodology was “Natural Gas based package cogeneration ( AM0014 – version 04)”. The project activity comes under the purview of Sectoral Scope- 1 (Energy Industries (Renewable/Non renewable) Sectoral Scope-4 (Manufacturing industries).
The baseline scenario of the project activity was continuation of current practice of meeting up of the thermal and electrical demand i.e. electricity from grid and FO based generator and thermal energy from boiler and thermic fluid heater.
On the basis of methodology AM0014, baseline emission was estimated to be 71,358 tCO2/annum and project emissions to be 46,236 tCO2/annum. Therefore the emission reduction due to this project activity was calculated as 25,122 tCO2/annum. In other words, the project has a potential to generate 25,122 CERs annually. Fixed crediting period of 10 years was chosen for the project activity.
Why this project was first of its kind
It was the first project to be registered under methodology AM0014. Prior to this no other project from India adopting this methodology could make it to registration with UNFCCC. Till now, only six projects have been registered from all over the world. Out of these six, two are from India.
Challenges
Since, it was the first project from India under this methodology, there were many problems faced during the project development phase under CDM. Main challenges were calculation of emission reduction and devising an appropriate monitoring plan. It actually required a lot of brainstorming and use of analytical skills. In monitoring plan, a lot of parameters were to be monitored such as quantity of natural gas consumed, electricity generated by the unit, auxillary power consumption, net electricity supplied, output steam temperature , output steam pressure , steam flow rate, inlet temperature of thermic fluid, outlet temperature of thermic fluid, flow rate of thermic fluid and electricity generated by FO based generator.
Demonstration of additionality as per the CDM glossary, was also a cumbersome job but it was also completed aptly. Auditors of the project raised various queries upon the additionality as well as monitoring plan of the project activity. All of them were satisfactorily answered.
Share This: