Operation management of hybrid biomass power plant considering environmental constraints

Crop straw can not only be used as a raw material for bioenergy, but also can protect the soil after returning to the field. This research constructs a hybrid operation management model for combined power generation with multiple biomass fuels, with the purpose of exploring the impact of environmental protection on the operation and maintenance of biomass companies. First, the potential straw supply under different soil function protection scenarios was calculated. Based on this, a biomass power plant operation strategy was formulated under the mixed supply of multiple biomass. Lastly, taking Shandong Province as a sample case to verify the effectiveness of the model, we found that, (1) the theoretical amount of straw in Shandong Province in 2019 is about 78.57 million tons. Taking into account the agricultural, industrial and household use of crop straw, the total available straw in Shandong Province is 10.3–22.31 million tons. (2) owing to the heterogeneity of different straws, soil function protection will have great impacts on the inventory management of straw power plants. Reasonable straw allocation under different soil function protection scenarios can greatly improve the efficiency of different crop straws. In the case of high return to the field, the selection of maize decreased by 20%, and the amount of straw represented by potato increased by 40%. (3) Prioritizing soil function protection will reduce the total amount of straw that can be used for bio-energy production and reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the process of power generation. Therefore, when planning arbon capture and storage (CCS) technology based on straw power generation, the impact of soil function protection should also be fully considered.