Cogeneration plant in a pasta factory: Energy saving and environmental benefit.

Italy produces approximately 4,520,000 tons of pasta annually, which is about 67% of its total productive potential. As factories needelectric and thermal energy simultaneously, combined heat and power (CHP) systems are the most suitable. This paper describes afeasibility study of a CHP plant in a pasta factory in Italy while analyzing energy saving and environmental benefits. Commerciallyavailable CHP systems suitable for the power range of energy demand in pasta production use reciprocating engines or gas turbines. Thisstudy demonstrates how their use can reduce both energy costs and CO2 equivalent greenhouse gas emission in the environment. Aneconomic analysis was performed following the methodology set out by Italian National Agency for Technology, Energy andEnvironment (ENEA) based on a discounted cash flow (DCF) method called ‘‘Valore Attuale Netto’’ (VAN), which uses a cash flowbased on the saving of energy when using different energy processes.