Planetary circulations:

Jet stream
Trade winds
Polar jets Polar jets
Geostrophic winds
Thermal winds
Gradient winds
Katabatic / Anabatic winds topographic winds
Bora / Foehn / Chinook downslope wind storms
Sea Breeze / Land Breeze
Convective storms / Downdrafts
Hurricanes/ Typhoons
Tornadoes
Gusts / Dust devils / Microbursts Gusts
Nocturnal Jets
Atmospheric Waves

17. The Betz limit - and the maximum efficiency for horizontal axis wind turbines.
Can it be exceeded and does it apply to vertical axis wind turbines?
The simplest model of a wind turbine is the so-called actuator disc model where the turbine is replaced by a circular
disc through which the airstream flows with a velocity Ut and across which there is a pressure drop from P1 to P2 as
shown in the sketch. At the outset, it is important to stress that the actuator disc theory is useful (as will be shown) in
discussing overall efficiencies of turbines but it does not help at all with how to design the turbine blades to achieve
a desired performance.

The power developed by the wind turbine is

where At is the turbine disc area. Volume flow continuity gives
From momentum conservation, the force exerted on the turbine is equal to the momentum change between the flow
far upstream of the disc to the flow far downstream of the disc. Thus

The final basic equations are Bernoulli's equation applied upstream and downstream of the actuator disc

where P is the ambient pressure in the flow both far upstream and far downstream of the actuator disc.
From equations (4a),(4b), (3) and (2)

whence

i.e. the velocity through the actuator disc is the mean of the upstream and downstream velocities in the stream tube.
Finally, from equations (1), (5) and (3), the efficiency is given by

The figure below shows the variation of efficiency (often referred to as the power coefficient, cp) with the ratio of
downstream to upstream velocity. By differentiating equation (7), it is easy to show that the maximum efficiency
oocurs when Ud/Uu=1/3 (i.e. when Ad/Au=3). The efficiency is then =16/27 59%. This is the maximum achievable
efficiency of a wind turbine and is known as the Betz limit - after Albert Betz who published this result in 1920. There
are assumptions in the above anlysis such as the neglect of radial flow at the actuator disc but these have only a
small effect on the final limiting result.

The point to note here is that as you reduce the downstream velocity in the expectation of increasing the power
extracted from the wind, the area of the upstream stream tube that passes through the turbine reduces in size. In
the limit as the downstream velocity is reduced to zero, the area of the upstream stream tube that passes through
the turbine is just half the turbine area and the efficiency is thus 50%.

Wind Energy System

Wind energy simply means kinetic energy of air in motion. Air flown on the earth due to uneven heating of the
Earths surface by radiant energy from the sun. We know that the Earths surface is containing very different types
of land and lots of water (approximately earth 71 % surface covered by water ). It sucks up the suns energy at
unusual rates means the sun heat is not uniformly distributed over the earths surface. Wind or flow of air on earth
is caused by massive convection currents in the atmosphere. As long as the sun heats up the earth, there will be
wind energy available on the earth.
Formation of wind can be clearly visible at ocean bank where land and huge water meet. If we see during the day
time, the air on top of the land becomes hot more quickly than the air above water. The warm air above the land
expands, becomes less dense.
But air over water becomes hot less quickly then that on the land hence air above the water remains heavier, denser
compared to the air above the land. The hotter air above the land gets higher due to it's less density. As soon as this
air gets high, cooler air over the water flows in to take the vacant place and consequently there is a wind hence wind
energy. Again at night time, the land radiates heats more rapidly than water. Hence land portion becomes cooler
more quickly than water. Because of that the air above the land becomes cooler than air above the water. Hence at
night the hotter air above the water gets high because of lesser density. This vacant space will be occupied by cooler
and heavier air from land portion. Hence there will be again a wind but in reverse direction compared to day time. In
the same cycle, the full of atmosphere winds that surround the Earth are produced because of the land near the
equator is heated more by the sun than land near the North and South Poles. The kinetic energy available in the
wind is referred as wind energy and that energy can be efficiently utilized for generating electricity.

Wind is renewable or non-conventional source of energy. This is clean, has no any effect of greenhouse on the
atmosphere. Most important thing - it is substitute of fossil fuels such as coal, oil or petroleum and natural gas etc.
These are in limited quantity on earth and but primary source of producing electricity. Globally, 67 % of electricity
generated from fossil fuels, 13 % from nuclear energy and rest of 20% from renewable energy source such as hydro
energy, solar energy, wind energy, tidal energy etc. So we see how much the world depends on fossil fuel for
producing electricity and that is why we focus on wind and other renewable energy sources to generate electricity for
overcoming the dependence on fossil fuels. Running cost of electricity produced by wind is low once the turbines are
installed and no much maintenance is required for long time. It also takes some land for installation but most of the
land they are on can be still farm or used to crop animals so using of land is not an issue. One important thing is
that, most cases wind plant is installed at the good height to obtain sufficient wind to produce electricity. It is the
worlds fastest growing electricity resource.
During generation of electric energy by means of wind energy through wind turbines, numbers turbines are
connected together to obtain desire output. This assembly of wind turbines together is called wind farm. Actually,
single wind turbine may not be sufficient to produce desired electricity as our requirement thats why we build a
wind farm to produce larger electricity. We must choose the place for constructing wind farm where the wind speed
is sufficient to move the blade of turbine. When the wind flows through the blades of turbine, the turbine rotates for
running a generator to produce electricity. This electricity flows down through the cable attached to turbine tower.
This cable is also interconnected with cables from other wind turbines in the wind farm.
Hence, electricity from all turbines comes to a common node from where it is taken for further ends. After all this
electricity is used directly for domestic or industrial load or is drawn by any grid to fulfill the requirement of
electricity. This was a brief discussion on the basic of wind energy.

How wind turbine works? We all are aware of wind energy that is converted into electrical energy by a wind
turbine. But it is very interesting how wind turbine converts kinetic energy from the wind into electrical energy and
what are the major parts of a wind turbine.

Major Parts of Wind Turbine

Nacelle of Wind Turbine
Nacelle is big box that sits on the tower and house all the components in a wind turbine. It houses Power Converter,
Shaft, Gearbox, Generator, Turbine controller, Cables, Yaw drive.
Rotor Blades of Wind turbine
Blades are the mechanical part of wind turbine that converts wind kinetic energy into mechanical energy. When the
wind forces the blades to move, it transfers some of its energy to the shaft. Blades are shaped like airplane wings
blades can be as long as 150 feet.
Shaft of Wind Turbine
The shaft is connected to the rotor. When the rotor spins, the shaft spins as well. In this way, the rotor transfers its
mechanical, rotational energy to shaft which enters to an electrical generator on the other end.
Gearbox
The rotor turns the shaft at low speed ex. 20 rpm but for generator to generate electricity we need higher speed.
Gearbox increases the speed to much higher value required by most generator to produce electricity. For example, if
Gearbox ratio is 1:80 and if rotor speed is 15 rpm then gearbox will increase the speed to 15 80 = 1200 rpm that is
given to generator shaft.
Generator
Generator is electrical device that converts mechanical energy received from shaft into electrical energy. It works on
electromagnetic induction to produce electrical voltage or electrical current. A simple generator consists of magnets
and a conductor. The conductor is typically a coiled wire. Inside the generator shaft connects to an assembly of
permanent magnets that surrounded by magnets and one of those parts is rotating relative to the other, it induce the
voltage in the conductor. When the rotor spins to the shaft, the shaft spins the assembly of magnets and generate
voltage in the coil of wire.

Power Converter
Because wind is not always constant so electrical potential generated from generator is not constant but we need a
very stable voltage to feed the grid. Power converter is an electrical device that stabilizes the output alternating
voltage transferred to the grid.

Turbine Controller
Turbine controller is a computer (PLC) that controls the entire turbine. It starts and stops the turbine and runs self
diagnostic in case of any error in the turbine.
Anemometer
It measures the wind speed and passes the speed information to PLC to control the turbine power.
Wind Vane
It senses the direction of wind and passes the direction to PLC then PLC faces the blades in such a way that it cuts
the maximum wind.
Pitch Drive
Pitch drive motors control the angle of blades whenever wind changes it rotates the angle of blades to cut the
maximum wind, which is called pitching of blades.
Yaw Drive
Blades and other components in wind turbine is housed in Nacelle , whenever any change in wind direction is there
Nacelle has to move in the direction of wind to extract the maximum energy from wind. For this purpose yaw drive
motor are used to rotate the nacelle .It is controlled by PLC that uses the wind vane information to sense the wind
direction.
Working of Wind Turbine

When the wind strikes the rotor blades, blades start to rotating. Rotor is directly connected to high speed gearbox.
Gearbox converts the rotor rotation into high speed which rotates the electrical generator. An exciter is needed to
give the required excitation to the coil so that it can generate required voltage. The exciter current is controlled by a
turbine controller which senses the wind speed based on that it calculate the power what we can achieve at that
particular wind speed. Then output voltage of electrical generator is given to a rectifier and rectifier output is given
to line converter unit to stabilise the output ac that is feed to the grid by a high voltage transformer. An extra units
is used to give the power to internal auxiliaries of wind turbine (like motor, battery etc.), this is called Internal
Supply unit. ISU can take the power from grid as well as from wind. Chopper is used to dissipate extra energy from
the RU for safety purpose. Internal Block diagram of wind turbine

Types of Wind Turbine

There are generally two kinds of wind turbines. Horizontal axis and vertical axis. Horizontal axis is divided as
upwind and downwind whereas vertical axis is divided as a drag based and lift based as shown in below.

Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine or HAWT Up wind

Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine or HAWT Down wind
Vertical Axis Wind Turbine or VAWT Drag based
Vertical Axis Wind Turbine or VAWT Lift based

In Horizontal Axis Up Wind turbine, the shaft of turbine and alternator both are aligned horizontally and the
turbine blades are placed at the front of the turbine that means air strikes the turbine blades before the tower. In
the case of Vertical Axis Down Wind turbine the shafts of the rotor and generator are also placed horizontally but
turbine blades are placed after the turbine that means the wind strikes the tower before the blades.
If we observe VAWT drag based turbine, the generator shaft is located vertically with the blades positioning up and
the turbines are normally mounted on the ground or on a tiny tower. This type is also called the Savonius turbine,
after its inventor, S.I. Savonius. In the case of VAWT lift based turbine, the generator shaft is placed vertically with
the blade's position is up. Now days Horizontal axis wind turbines are most popular because of high efficiency. Since
the blades always move perpendicularly to the wind, and receive power through the whole rotation.
Tower of Wind Turbine
Tower is very crucial part of wind turbine that supports all the other parts. It is not only support the parts but raise
the wind turbine so that its blades safely clear the ground and so it can reach the stronger winds at higher
elevations. The height of tower depends upon the power capacity of wind turbines. Larger turbines usually mounted
on tower ranging from 40 meter to 100 meter.
Theory of Wind Turbine
For determining power extracted from wind by wind turbine we have to assume a air duct as shown in the figure. It
is also assumed that the velocity of wind at the inlet of the duct is V 1 and velocity of air at the outlet of the duct is V 2.
Say, mass m of the air is passed through this imaginary duct per second.

Now due to this mass the kinetic energy of wind at the inlet of the duct is,

Similarly, due this mass the kinetic energy of wind at the outlet of the duct is

,
Hence, kinetic energy of wind changed, during flow of this quantity of air from
inlet to outlet of the imaginary duct is

,
As we already said that, mass m of the air is passed through this imaginary duct in one second, hence the power
extracted from the wind is same as the kinetic energy changed during flow of mass m of the air from inlet to outlet of
the duct.
Since, power is defined as change of energy per second. Hence, this extracted power can be written as,

As mass m of the air passes in one second, the quantity m is referred as mass flow rate of the wind. If we think of
that carefully, we can easily understand that mass flow rate will be same at inlet, at outlet and as well as at every
cross - section of the air duct. This is because, whatever quantity of air is entering the duct, the same is coming out
from the outlet.
If Va, A and are the velocity of the air, cross - sectional area of the duct and density of air at the turbine blades
respectively, then mass flow rate of the wind can be represented as,

Now, replacing m by VaA in equation (1), we get,

Now, as the turbine is assumed to be placed at the middle of the duct, the wind velocity at turbine blades can be
considered as average velocity of inlet and outlet velocities.

To obtain maximum power from wind, we have to differentiate equation (3) in respect of V 2 and equate it to zero.
That is

From, the above equation it is found the theoretically maximum power extracted from the wind is in the fraction of
0.5925 of it's total kinetic power. This fraction is known as Betz Coefficient. This calculated power is according to
theory of wind turbine but actual mechanical power received by the generator is lesser than that and it is due to
losses for friction rotor bearing and inefficiencies of aerodynamic design of the turbine.
From equation (4) it is clear that the extracted power is
1.
2.

Directly proportional to air density . As air density increases, the power of the turbine increases.
Directly proportional to swept area of the turbine blades. If the length of the blade is increased, the radius of
the swept area increases accordingly so turbine power increases.
3.
Turbine power also varies with velocity 3 of the wind. That indicates it velocity of wind is doubled, the turbine
power will increase to eight folds.

The Betz Limit shows the maximum possible energy that may be derived by means of an infinitely thin rotor from a
fluid flowing at a certain speed.
In order to calculate the maximum theoretical efficiency of a thin rotor (of, for example, a windmill) one imagines it to
be replaced by a disc that withdraws energy from the fluid passing through it. At a certain distance behind this disc
the fluid that has passed through flows with a reduced velocity.

Assumptions
1. The rotor does not possess a hub and is ideal, with an infinite number of blades which have no drag. Any
resulting drag would only lower this idealized value.
2. The flow into and out of the rotor is axial. This is a control volume analysis, and to construct a solution the control
volume must contain all flow going in and out, failure to account for that flow would violate the conservation
equations.
3. The flow is non-compressible. Density remains constant, and there is no heat transfer.
4. Uniform thrust over the disc or rotor area.

1 physical method of bio mass conversion

Pelletization and its Process Description

The biomass pelletization process consists of multiple steps including raw material pre-treatment,
pelletization and post-treatment.

The first step in the pelletization process is the preparation of feedstock which includes selecting a
feedstock suitable for this process, its filtration, storage and protection. Raw materials used are
sawdust, wood shavings, wood wastes, agricultural residues like straw, switchgrass etc.

The moisture content in biomass can be considerably high and are usually up to 50% 60% which
should be reduced to 10 to 15%.

Rotary drum dryer is the most common equipment used for this purpose. Superheated steam dryers,
flash dryers, spouted bed dryers and belt dryers can also be used.

Drying increases the efficiency of biomass and it produces almost no smoke on combustion.

It should be noted that the feedstock should not be over dried, as a small amount of moisture helps in
binding the biomass particles.

The drying process is the most energy intensive process and accounts for about 70% of the total
energy used in the pelletization process

The process of manufacturing fuel pellets involves placing ground biomass under high pressure and
forcing it through a round opening called a die. When exposed to the appropriate conditions, the biomass
fuses together, forming a solid mass. This process is known as extrusion. Some biomass (primarily
wood) naturally forms high-quality fuel pellets, while other types of biomass may need additives to serve
as a binder that holds the pellet together.

However, the creation of the pellets is only a small step in the overall process of manufacturing fuel
pellets. These steps involve feedstock grinding, moisture control, extrusion, cooling, and packaging. Each
step must be carried out with care if the final product is to be of acceptable quality.

Feedstock Grinding
Standard-sized pellet mills generally require biomass that is ground to particles that are no more
than 3 millimeters in size. Several types of equipment are available to carry out this task. If the biomass is
quite large and dense (e.g., wood), the material is first run through a chipper, and then run through a
hammer mill or similar device to reduce the particles to the required size. Smaller and softer biomass (e.g.,
straw) can be fed directly into the hammer mill without first being chipped.
Moisture Control
Maintaining an appropriate moisture level in your feedstock is vital for overall quality of the final
pellets. For wood, the required moisture level of the feedstock is at or near 15 percent. Other types of
biomass have other requirementsyou may need to experiment a bit. Moisture can be removed from the
feedstock by oven-drying or by blowing hot air over or through the particles. If the feedstock is too dry,
moisture can be added by injecting steam or water into the feedstock.
Extrusion
The pellet is actually created in this step. A roller is used to compress the biomass against a heated
metal plate called a die. The die includes several small holes drilled through it, which allow the biomass
to be squeezed through under high temperature and pressure conditions. If the conditions are right, the
biomass particles will fuse into a solid mass, thus turning into a pellet. A blade is typically used to slice the
pellet to a predefined length as it exits the die. Some biomass tends to fuse together better than other
biomass. Sawdust is an especially suitable feedstock for pelleting because the lignin that is naturally
present in the wood acts as a glue to hold the pellet together. Grasses tend to not fuse nearly as well, and
the resulting pellets are less dense and more easily broken. The proper combination of input material
properties and pelleting equipment operation may minimize or eliminate this problem. It is also possible to
add a binder material to the biomass to help it stick together, or to mix a fraction of sawdust, with
similar results. Distillers Dry Grains (a product of the corn ethanol industry) are reported to improve the
binding properties of some biomass.
Cooling
Pellets, as they leave the die, are quite hot (~150C) and fairly soft. Therefore, they must be cooled
and dried before they are ready for use. This is usually achieved by blowing air through the pellets as they
sit in a metal bin. The final moisture con- tent of the pellets should be no higher than 8 percent.
Packaging
Pellets are typically sold in 18-kilogram bags, which can be easily filled using an overhead hopper
and conveyor belt arrangement. The bags should be clearly labeled with the type of pellet, their grade
(i.e., premium or standard), and their heat content.

2 Incineration method of bio mass conversion

3 Thermo chemical method of bio mass conversion

A wide range of technologies exists to convert the energy stored in biomass to more useful forms of
energy. These technologies can be classified according to the principal energy carrier produced in the
conversion process. Carriers are in the form of heat, gas, liquid and/or solid products, depending on the
extent to which oxygen is admitted to the conversion process (usually as air). The major methods of
thermal conversion are combustion in excess air, gasification in reduced air, and pyrolysis in the absence
of air.

Combustion
Conventional combustion technologies raise steam through the combustion of biomass. This steam
may then be expanded through a conventional turbo-alternator to produce electricity. A number of
combustion technology variants have been developed. Underfeed stokers are suitable for small scale
boilers up to 6 MWth. Grate type boilers are widely deployed. They have relatively low investment costs,
low operating costs and good operation at partial loads. However, they can have higher NOx emissions and
decreased efficiencies due to the requirement of excess air, and they have lower efficiencies.
Fluidized bed combustors (FBC), which use a bed of hot inert material such as sand, are a more
recent development. Bubbling FBCs are generally used at 10-30 MWth capacity, while Circulating FBCs are
more applicable at larger scales. Advantages of FBCs are that they can tolerate a wider range of poor
quality fuel, while emitting lower NOx levels.

Co-Firing
Co-firing or co-combustion of biomass wastes with coal and other fossil fuels can provide a shortterm, low-risk, low-cost option for producing renewable energy while simultaneously reducing the use of
fossil fuels. Co-firing involves utilizing existing power generating plants that are fired with fossil fuel
(generally coal), and displacing a small proportion of the fossil fuel with renewable biomass fuels. Co-firing
has the major advantage of avoiding the construction of new, dedicated, waste-to-energy power plant. Cofiring may be implemented using different types and percentages of wastes in a range of combustion and
gasification technologies. Most forms of biomass wastes are suitable for co-firing. These include dedicated
municipal solid wastes, wood waste and agricultural residues such as straw and husk.

Gasification
Gasification of biomass takes place in a restricted supply of oxygen and occurs through initial
devolatilization of the biomass, combustion of the volatile material and char, and further reduction to
produce a fuel gas rich in carbon monoxide and hydrogen. This combustible gas has a lower calorific value
than natural gas but can still be used as fuel for boilers, for engines, and potentially for combustion

turbines after cleaning the gas stream of tars and particulates. If gasifiers are air blown, atmospheric
nitrogen dilutes the fuel gas to a level of 10-14 percent that of the calorific value of natural gas. Oxygen
and steam blown gasifiers produce a gas with a somewhat higher calorific value. Pressurized gasifiers are
under development to reduce the physical size of major equipment items.
A variety of gasification reactors have been developed over several decades. These include the
smaller scale fixed bed updraft, downdraft and cross flow gasifiers, as well as fluidized bed gasifiers for
larger applications. At the small scale, downdraft gasifiers are noted for their relatively low tar production,
but are not suitable for fuels with low ash melting point (such as straw). They also require fuel moisture
levels to be controlled within narrow levels.

Pyrolysis
Pyrolysis is the term given to the thermal degradation of wood in the absence of oxygen. It enables
biomass to be converted to a combination of solid char, gas and a liquid bio-oil. Pyrolysis technologies are
generally categorized as fast or slow according to the time taken for processing the feed into pyrolysis
products. These products are generated in roughly equal proportions with slow pyrolysis. Using fast
pyrolysis, bio-oil yield can be as high as 80 percent of the product on a dry fuel basis. Bio-oil can act as a
liquid fuel or as a feedstock for chemical production. A range of bio-oil production processes are under
development, including fluid bed reactors, ablative pyrolysis, entrained flow reactors, rotating cone
reactors, and vacuum pyrolysis.

4 Biochemical method of Biomass Conversion

Biochemical conversion of biomass involves use of bacteria, microorganisms and enzymes to

breakdown biomass into gaseous or liquid fuels, such as biogas or bioethanol. The most popular
biochemical technologies are anaerobic digestion (or biomethanation) and fermentation. Anaerobic
digestion is a series of chemical reactions during which organic material is decomposed through the
metabolic pathways of naturally occurring microorganisms in an oxygen depleted environment. Biomass
wastes can also yield liquid fuels, such as cellulosic ethanol, which can be used to replace petroleum-based
fuels.
a) Ethanol fermentation (Biofuel Production)
A variety of fuels can be produced from waste resources including liquid fuels, such as ethanol,
methanol, biodiesel, Fischer-Tropsch diesel, and gaseous fuels, such as hydrogen and methane. The
resource base for biofuel production is composed of a wide variety of forestry and agricultural resources,
industrial processing residues, and municipal solid and urban wood residues. Globally, biofuels are most
commonly used to power vehicles, heat homes, and for cooking.
The largest potential feedstock for ethanol is lignocellulosic biomass wastes, which includes
materials such as agricultural residues (corn stover, crop straws and bagasse), herbaceous crops (alfalfa,
switchgrass), short rotation woody crops, forestry residues, waste paper and other wastes (municipal and
industrial). Bioethanol production from these feedstocks could be an attractive alternative for disposal of
these residues. Importantly, lignocellulosic feedstocks do not interfere with food security.

Ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass is produced mainly via biochemical routes. The three major
steps involved are pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, and fermentation. Biomass is pretreated to improve
the accessibility of enzymes. After pretreatment, biomass undergoes enzymatic hydrolysis for conversion
of polysaccharides into monomer sugars, such as glucose and xylose. Subsequently, sugars are fermented
to ethanol by the use of different microorganisms.
b) Anaerobic fermentation (Anaerobic Digestion)
Anaerobic digestion is the natural biological process which stabilizes organic waste in the absence
of air and transforms it into biofertilizer and biogas. Anaerobic digestion is a reliable technology for the
treatment of wet, organic waste. Organic waste from various sources is biochemically degraded in highly
controlled, oxygen-free conditions circumstances resulting in the production of biogas which can be used
to produce both electricity and heat. Almost any organic material can be processed with anaerobic
digestion. This includes biodegradable waste materials such as municipal solid waste, animal manure,
poultry litter, food wastes, sewage and industrial wastes.
An anaerobic digestion plant produces two outputs, biogas and digestate, both can be further
processed or utilized to produce secondary outputs. Biogas can be used for producing electricity and heat,
as a natural gas substitute and also a transportation fuel. A combined heat and power plant system (CHP)
not only generates power but also produces heat for in-house requirements to maintain desired
temperature level in the digester during cold season. In Sweden, the compressed biogas is used as a
transportation fuel for cars and buses. Biogas can also be upgraded and used in gas supply networks.

Working of Anaerobic Digestion Process

Digestate can be further processed to produce liquor and a fibrous material. The fiber, which can be
processed into compost, is a bulky material with low levels of nutrients and can be used as a soil
conditioner or a low level fertilizer. A high proportion of the nutrients remain in the liquor, which can be
used as a liquid fertilizer.