Quadgeneration and Trigeneration Plants: Likely Future for Many Carbonated Beverage Plants, Breweries, and Horticultural Greenhouse Operations

     What are quadgeneration plants? Like combined heat and power plants, or cogeneration plants, they combine heat and power, but they also add cooling and CO2 capture. The heating often includes facility heating and some industrial process heating and likewise, the cooling often includes facility cooling and support for refrigeration. The CO2 captured is most often used on-site for carbonating beverages or for plants in greenhouses. It could also be sequestered or stored in wells, but this would add significantly to the cost and would not have the benefit of offsetting the cost of buying CO2.

     Additional benefits of quadgeneration plants include off grid capabilities to leverage against blackouts that can harm food industries, the ability to meet company emissions reduction goals and accompanying social benefits, and possibly selling excess heat or power to the local utility or neighboring businesses. The power for these systems comes mainly from natural gas reciprocating engines or small turbines, but renewable natural gas can be used if available, and hydrogen can also be added if and when available in the future. The CO2 scrubbers have the additional benefit of scrubbing NOx emissions as well, further reducing pollution from the natural gas engines. Since power is generated onsite it is usually cheaper to supply and cost benefits continue to accumulate after the initial costs of the engines or turbines are recouped. Greenhouses and other operations may not utilize cooling so they would be considered to be trigeneration plants. Carbonated beverage plants and some bakeries and processed food facilities can utilize quadgeneration plants.

 

 

    Quadgeneration Schematic. Source: Edina

 

Hug Engineering’s Codinox CO2 Fertilization System for Commercial Greenhouses

     Hug Engineering’s Codinox CO2 Fertilization System was first introduced in 1993 but has had many client-focused upgrades since then. It is in widespread use in the greenhouses in the Netherlands. The codinox system is designed to be compact, all-in-one, and plug-and-play. Hug Engineering claims significant cost-savings of their system over liquid CO2 dosing systems.

     Of course, CO2 fertilization in greenhouses enhances plant growth, typically by up to 40%. By making CO2 onsite, less or no CO2 has to be trucked in, resulting in further emissions reductions. Some beverage manufacturers have also upgraded their beverage delivery fleets to run on natural gas, especially if they have a tapable source near or on-site.

 

 

Codinox CO2 Fertilization System, Source: Hug Engineering 

Absorption Chillers for Cooling

     The cooling part of quadgeneration plants that can offer direct cooling support for refrigeration is provided by absorption chillers. Absorption refrigeration cycles differ from vapor-compression cycles in that the compressor is replaced by an absorber, pump and generator, while the condenser, expansion device, and evaporator are the same. The energy source is steam or hot water. The DOE describes absorption chilling as follows:

 

“Like a mechanical compressor in a vapor compression chiller, the thermal compressor takes low pressure/low temperature refrigerant vapor from the evaporator and delivers high pressure/high temperature refrigerant vapor to the refrigerant condenser. Instead of directly compressing the refrigerant vapor using a large amount of mechanical energy (typically electricity), a thermal compressor uses an absorbent fluid to chemically bond with the refrigerant vapor (essentially compressing it by changing phase from a gas to a liquid). This dilute solution of absorbent/refrigerant is easily pumped to the generator using a relatively small electric pump. In the generator, the refrigerant is boiled using thermal energy, and the refrigerant vapor then migrates to the condenser where it is changed back into a liquid refrigerant to begin the process over again. The absorbent is returned from the generator to the absorber to bond again with refrigerant vapor.”

 

 

 

 Absorption Chiller Schematic. Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy

 

Reciprocating Natural Gas Engines

     Reciprocating natural gas engines have been the power generation choice for cogeneration, trigeneration, and quadgeneration plants. More efficient aero-derivative gas turbines could also be used for larger operations as they are in larger cogeneration plants, but many greenhouses and beverage plants do not require that much power and are better served by reciprocating gas engines. While gas turbines provide the highest efficiency for higher output applications, for smaller power output needs reciprocating gas engines are more efficient. These engines also have very good start/stop capabilities. GE’s Jenbacher gas engines are in widespread use globally for these plants. They may also be equipped with digital power control systems to optimize efficiency. Caterpillar and Cummins also manufacture these engines and are in the market for these plants.

 

45Q Enhancements Will Likely Lead to More Tri- and Quadgeneration Plant Announcements in the U.S.

     The enhancement of the 45Q tax credits for carbon capture as part of the Inflation Reduction Act and the previous bipartisan infrastructure bill have already led to new announcements of trigeneration and quadgeneration plants and many more will likely follow. The higher market cost of CO2 in 2022 may also be a factor in self-supplying CO2. The higher cost was due to shortages in supply caused by sources such as ammonia fertilizer plants being offline for maintenance and ethanol plants being offline due to economics, and lower supply throughout the pandemic. Apparently, hot summers have also increased demand for cold carbonated beverages, including soda and beer.

     The Liberty Coca-Cola Beverage Company in Elmsford, New York is currently building a quadgeneration plant on their 21.5-acre site. They are partnering with experienced plant provider Clarke Energy and utilizing GE Jenbacher engines for power.  Liberty thinks the investment will pay out in 3.5 years with the help of the generous 45Q tax incentives. Liberty is also hedging against blackouts in New York which have been more common in recent years. The engines will provide them with 1.7 WW of electricity to power their needs. They plan to use some of the steam heat for sanitation processes. They plan to store some CO2 in tanks on-site, enough for 7-10 days. They also note that producing their own CO2 will offset the cost of buying 200 annual truckloads of CO2 and the accompanying diesel emissions of those deliveries. Liberty is a large operation that produces 41 million cases of beverages annually. This quadgeneration plant is part of their wider sustainability effort. They expect to begin the quadgen system operation in January 2024.  

 

 

 

 

References:

This Coca-Cola bottler will capture carbon dioxide to put the fizz in its drinks. Heather Clancy. Greenbiz. August 24, 2023. This Coca-Cola bottler will capture carbon dioxide to put the fizz in its drinks | GreenBiz

 

What is Quadgeneration? Edina. Quadgeneration | Combined Cooling Heat Power and CO2 Recovery (edina.eu)

 

Quadgeneration. Clarke Energy. Quadgeneration | Combined Cooling Heat Power and CO2 Recovery (clarke-energy.com)

 

Exhaust Gas Purification & CO2 Dosing: Greenhouse Power Generation: COdiNOx. Hug Engineering. COdiNOx _2018_15.08.18.indd (nes-wes.com)

 

The 3 Types of Absorption Chillers Explained. EnergyLink. January 5, 2021. The 3 Types of Absorption Chillers Explained | EnergyLink (goenergylink.com)

Absorption Chillers for CHP Systems. U.S. Department of Energy. May 2017. Absorption Chillers for CHP Systems (energy.gov)

CHP helps growth in the greenhouse. Gas Technology. August 25, 2017. CHP helps growth in the greenhouse | Plant Engineering

Your beer needs carbon dioxide, but the price skyrocketed over the summer. Bill Chappell. NPR. September 22, 2022. A carbon dioxide shortage threatens the beer industry : NPR