Australian coal mine methane emissions mitigation potential using a stirling engine-based CHP system

Mehdi Aghaei Meybodi, Masud Behnia*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Methane, a major contributor to global warming, is a greenhouse gas emitted from coal mines. Abundance of coal mines and consequently a considerable amount of methane emission requires drastic measures to mitigate harmful effects of coal mining on the environment. One of the commonly adopted methods is to use emitted methane to fuel power generation systems; however, instability of fuel sources hinders the development of systems using conventional prime movers. To address this, application of Stirling engines may be considered. Here, we develop a techno-economic methodology for conducting an optimisation-based feasibility study on the application of Stirling engines as the prime movers of coal mine CHP systems from an economic and an environmental point of view. To examine the impact of environmental policies on the economics of the system, the two commonly implemented ones (i.e. a carbon tax and emissions trading scheme) are considered. The methodology was applied to a local coal mine. The results indicate that incorporating the modelled system not only leads to a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, but also to improved economics. Further, due to the heavy economic burden, the carbon tax scheme creates great incentive for coal mine industry to address the methane emissions.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)10-18
Number of pages9
JournalEnergy Policy
Volume62
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2013
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Coal mine methane
  • Environmental policy
  • Stirling engine-based CHP system

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Australian coal mine methane emissions mitigation potential using a stirling engine-based CHP system'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this