TY - JOUR A1 - Alexopoulos, Spiros T1 - Biogas systems: basics, biogas multifunction, principle of fermentation and hybrid application with a solar tower for the treatment of waste animal manure JF - Journal of Engineering Science and Technology Review N2 - Two of the main environmental problems of today’s society are the continuously increasing production of organic wastes as well as the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the related green house effect. A way to solve these problems is the production of biogas. Biogas is a combustible gas consisting of methane, carbon dioxide and small amounts of other gases and trace elements. Production of biogas through anaerobic digestion of animal manure and slurries as well as of a wide range of digestible organic wastes and agricultural residues, converts these substrates into electricity and heat and offers a natural fertiliser for agriculture. The microbiological process of decomposition of organic matter, in the absence of oxygen takes place in reactors, called digesters. Biogas can be used as a fuel in a gas turbine or burner and can be used in a hybrid solar tower system offering a solution for waste treatment of agricultural and animal residues. A solar tower system consists of a heliostat field, which concentrates direct solar irradiation on an open volumetric central receiver. The receiver heats up ambient air to temperatures of around 700°C. The hot air’s heat energy is transferred to a steam Rankine cycle in a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). The steam drives a steam turbine, which in turn drives a generator for producing electricity. In order to increase the operational hours of a solar tower power plant, a heat storage system and/ or hybridization may be considered. The advantage of solar-fossil hybrid power plants, compared to solar-only systems, lies in low additional investment costs due to an adaptable solar share and reduced technical and economical risks. On sunny days the hybrid system operates in a solar-only mode with the central receiver and on cloudy days and at night with the gas turbine only. As an alternative to methane gas, environmentally neutral biogas can be used for operating the gas turbine. Hence, the hybrid system is operated to 100% from renewable energy sources Y1 - 2012 SN - 1791-2377 N1 - Special Issue on Renewable Energy Systems VL - 5 IS - 4 SP - 48 EP - 55 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Alexopoulos, Spiros A1 - Kluczka, Sven A1 - Vaeßen, Christiane A1 - Roeb, M. A1 - Neises, M. T1 - Scenario development for efficient methanol production using CO2 and solar energy T2 - Eurosun 2012 : Solar energy for a brighter future : conference proceedings : Rijeka, 18.-22.09.2012 Y1 - 2012 SP - ID 99 CY - Rijeka ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Baumann, Torsten A1 - Teixeira Boura, Cristiano José A1 - Eckstein, Julian A1 - Dabrowski, Jan A1 - Göttsche, Joachim A1 - Hoffschmidt, Bernhard A1 - Schmitz, Stefan A1 - Zunft, Stefan T1 - Properties of bulk materials for high-temperature air-sand heat exchangers T2 - 30th ISES Biennial Solar World Congress 2011 : Kassel, Germany, 28 August - 2 September 2011. Vol. 2 Y1 - 2012 SN - 978-1-61839-364-7 SP - 1270 EP - 1278 PB - Curran CY - Red Hook, NY ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Alexopoulos, Spiros A1 - Rau, Christoph A1 - Hoffschmidt, Bernhard A1 - Breitbach, Gerd A1 - Latzke, Markus T1 - Modelling and validation of a transient heat recovery steam generator of the solar tower power plant Juelich T2 - Eurosun 2012 : Solar energy for a brighter future : conference proceedings : Rijeka, 18.-22.09.2012 Y1 - 2012 SP - ID 97 CY - Rijeka ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Hoffschmidt, Bernhard A1 - Alexopoulos, Spiros A1 - Rau, Christoph A1 - Sattler, Johannes Christoph A1 - Anthrakidis, Anette A1 - Teixeira Boura, Cristiano José A1 - O'Connor, P. A1 - Hilger, Patrick T1 - Concentrating solar power T2 - Comprehensive renewable energy / ed. Ali Sayigh. Vol. 3: Solar thermal systems: components and applications Y1 - 2012 SN - 978-0-08-087872-0 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-087872-0.00319-X VL - 3 SP - 595 EP - 636 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Alexopoulos, Spiros A1 - Hoffschmidt, Bernhard A1 - Rau, Christoph A1 - Sattler, Johannes Christoph T1 - Simulation of hybrid solar tower power plants T2 - 30th ISES Biennial Solar World Congress 2011 : Kassel, Germany, 28 August - 2 September 2011. Vol. 5 Y1 - 2012 SP - 4044 EP - 4050 PB - Curran CY - Red Hook, NY ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vieira da Silva, Maria Eugenia A1 - Schwarzer, Klemens A1 - Hoffschmidt, Bernhard A1 - Pinheiro Rodrigues, Frederico A1 - Schwarzer, Tarik A1 - Costa Rocha, Paulo Alexandre T1 - Mass transfer correlation for evaporation–condensation thermal process in the range of 70 °C–95 °C JF - Renewable energy Y1 - 2013 SN - 1879-0682 (E-Journal); 0960-1481 (Print) VL - Vol. 53 SP - 174 EP - 179 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Alexopoulos, Spiros T1 - Biomass technology and bio-fuels: Heating/cooling and power T2 - Renewable energy systems : theory, innovations, and intelligent applications / eds.: Socrates Kaplanis and Eleni Kaplani Y1 - 2013 SN - 9781624177415 SP - 501 EP - 523 PB - Nova Science Publ. CY - Hauppauge, NY ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Achenbach, Timm A1 - Bosch, Timo A1 - Breitbach, Gerd A1 - Göttsche, Joachim A1 - Sauerborn, Markus T1 - Theoretical and experimental investigations regarding open volumetric receivers of CRS T2 - Energy procedia : proceedings of the SolarPACES 2013 International Conference Y1 - 2013 SN - 1876-6102 VL - Vol. 49 SP - 1259 EP - 1268 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kronhardt, Valentina A1 - Alexopoulos, Spiros A1 - Reißel, Martin A1 - Sattler, Johannes Christoph A1 - Hoffschmidt, Bernhard A1 - Hänel, Matthias A1 - Doerbeck, Till T1 - High-temperature thermal storage system for solar tower power plants with open-volumetric air receiver simulation and energy balancing of a discretized model JF - Energy procedia N2 - This paper describes the modeling of a high-temperature storage system for an existing solar tower power plant with open volumetric receiver technology, which uses air as heat transfer medium (HTF). The storage system model has been developed in the simulation environment Matlab/Simulink®. The storage type under investigation is a packed bed thermal energy storage system which has the characteristics of a regenerator. Thermal energy can be stored and discharged as required via the HTF air. The air mass flow distribution is controlled by valves, and the mass flow by two blowers. The thermal storage operation strategy has a direct and significant impact on the energetic and economic efficiency of the solar tower power plants. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2014.03.094 SN - 1876-6102 (E-Journal) ; 1876-6102 (Print) VL - 49 SP - 870 EP - 877 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER -