JP7552663B2 - Method for controlling resource recovery plant system - Google Patents

Description

This disclosure relates to a method for controlling a resource recovery plant system.

As an example of such a resource recovery plant system, a large-scale _CO2 reduction system is disclosed in Patent Document 1. In the large-scale _CO2 reduction system disclosed in Patent Document 1, an ocean plantation grows seaweed in the ocean. An offshore plantation vessel harvests the seaweed and partially burns it in a specified process to obtain a specified product while also recovering and liquefying _CO2 . Furthermore, multiple types of satellite systems and a ground centralized support system support the operation of the ocean plantation and the offshore plant vessel.

JP 2006-204264 A

The present inventors have discovered the following problems.
In such a resource recovery plant system, since the resource recovery plant is installed in the ocean, it is difficult to receive supplies of energy such as fuel and electricity, etc. Therefore, there is a risk that the resource recovery plant will run out of fuel and electricity.

This disclosure has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and provides a method for controlling a resource recovery plant system that can reduce fuel and power shortages in the resource recovery plant.

The method for controlling a plurality of resource recovery plants according to the present disclosure includes:
A method for controlling a resource recovery plant system installed at sea, comprising:
The resource recovery plant system includes a raw material supply mechanism, a fuel recovery plant, and a resource recovery plant that produces resources other than the fuel;
the raw material supply mechanism supplies raw materials to the fuel production plant and the resource production plant;
The fuel production plant produces fuel using the supplied raw material,
The resource recovery plant generates the resource using the supplied raw material and the produced fuel,
the fuel plant and the resource plant hold a first fuel and a second fuel, respectively;
the fuel plant and the resource plant store a first amount of electricity and a second amount of electricity, respectively;
If the first fuel or the second fuel is less than a first standard,
When the first amount of power or the second amount of power is less than a second reference value,
If the total amount of the first fuel and the second fuel is less than a third standard,
Or,
When the sum of the first amount of power and the second amount of power is less than a fourth criterion,
The raw material supply mechanism supplies the raw material to the fuel production plant so that the amount of the raw material supplied to the fuel production plant is greater than the amount of the raw material supplied to the resource production plant.

With this configuration, when the fuel or power supply of the resource recovery plant falls below the standard, a large amount of raw material can be supplied to the fuel recovery plant compared to the supply of raw material to the resource recovery plant. As a result, the fuel recovery plant produces a large amount of fuel, and the resource recovery plant can easily secure the fuel or power supply, respectively. In other words, fuel shortages and power shortages at the resource recovery plant can be suppressed.

This disclosure makes it possible to prevent fuel and power shortages at resource recovery plants.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a resource recovery plant system according to a first embodiment; 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a control method for the resource recovery plant system according to the first embodiment.

Specific embodiments to which the present invention is applied will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments. In addition, the following descriptions and drawings have been simplified as appropriate for clarity of explanation.

(Embodiment 1)
A first embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a resource recovery plant system according to the first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the resource recovery plant system 100 includes a fuel recovery plant 1, an edible recovery plant 2, a feed recovery plant 3, a fertilizer recovery plant 4, and a raw material supply mechanism 10. The resource recovery plant system 100 is located in the ocean.

The raw material supply mechanism 10 supplies raw materials to the fuel plant 1, the edible plant 2, the feed plant 3, and the fertilizer plant 4. Specifically, the raw material supply mechanism 10 appropriately supplies raw materials to the fuel plant 1 at a supply amount RM1, to the edible plant 2 at a supply amount RM2, to the feed plant 3 at a supply amount RM3, and to the fertilizer plant 4 at a supply amount RM4. The raw material supply mechanism 10 can appropriately change the supply amounts RM1 to RM4. The raw materials are plants that constitute a marine ecosystem that sequesters or stores blue carbon, such as seaweed. The seaweed is, for example, kelp or wakame seaweed.

The raw material supply mechanism 10 acquires information D1 to D4. The information D1 to D4 indicates the first to fourth fuels F1 to F4 held by the fuel plant 1, the edible plant 2, the feed plant 3, and the fertilizer plant 4, respectively, and the first to fourth amounts of electric power E1 to E4 accumulated therein. The raw material supply mechanism 10 periodically determines whether an energy shortage will occur in the resource recovery plant system 100 based on the first to fourth fuels F1 to F4 and the first to fourth amounts of electric power E1 to E4. In many cases, the supply amount RM1 is equal to or less than each of the supply amounts RM2 to RM4. When the raw material supply mechanism 10 determines that an energy shortage will occur in the resource recovery plant system 100, it increases the supply amount RM1 so that the supply amount RM1 is greater than the supply amounts RM2 to RM4. If the raw material supply mechanism 10 determines that no energy shortage will occur in the resource recovery plant system 100, it is preferable to maintain the supply amounts RM1 to RM4 without changing them.

The raw material supply mechanism 10 may be composed of, for example, a ship, a satellite system, and a raw material supply amount determination system. The ship harvests seaweed from marine plantations, etc., and supplies the harvested seaweed to the fuel plant 1, the edible plant 2, the feed plant 3, and the fertilizer plant 4. The ship, the raw material supply amount determination system, the fuel plant 1, the edible plant 2, the feed plant 3, and the fertilizer plant 4 can exchange various information with each other via the satellite system. The raw material supply amount determination system obtains information D1 to D4 and determines whether or not an energy shortage will occur in the resource recovery plant system 100. The raw material supply amount determination system determines the supply amounts RM1 to RM4.

The resource recovery plant system 100 may further include a pretreatment device. The pretreatment device performs the same treatment that is performed before performing multiple types of resource recovery, including fuel recovery. The same treatment is, for example, high-pressure steam heating treatment using an autoclave or cleaning. In one example of the flow of this high-pressure steam heating treatment, the material to be treated is first placed in a reaction vessel that contains, for example, a liquid phase consisting of water at 120°C to 240°C and a gas phase. The material to be treated is then supplied into the liquid phase and subjected to hydrothermal treatment. Furthermore, the reactant after the hydrothermal treatment of the material to be treated is discharged from the reaction vessel through a discharge path. An example of the reactant is solid fuel. The reactant may be appropriately supplied to the fuel recovery plant 1, the food recovery plant 2, the feed recovery plant 3, and the fertilizer recovery plant 4, and used as a raw material or fuel.

The fuel production plant 1 produces fuel using raw materials supplied from the raw material supply mechanism 10. The fuel is, for example, ethanol. Specifically, the fuel production plant 1 produces ethanol by saccharifying and fermenting seaweed. The fuel production plant 1 may be, for example, an offshore plant ship. The fuel production plant 1 uses a fuel tank to hold the first fuel F1. The first fuel F1 increases or decreases as it is used or accumulated. The first fuel F1 may be, for example, ethanol, gasoline, or solid fuel. The fuel production plant 1 may be equipped with an engine as a power source, and may drive the engine using ethanol. The fuel production plant 1 accumulates a first amount of power E1. The fuel production plant 1 may accumulate the first amount of power E1 by using natural energy. The natural energy is, for example, solar power, offshore wind power, waves, etc. The fuel production plant 1 may periodically transmit information D1 indicating the first fuel F1 and the first amount of power E1 to the raw material supply mechanism 10. In addition, the fuel production plant 1 may use or store the fuel produced by the fuel production plant 1 itself as the first fuel F1 as appropriate.

The edible plant 2, the feed plant 3, and the fertilizer plant 4 are all resource plants that produce resources excluding fuel. The edible plant 2, the feed plant 3, and the fertilizer plant 4 may be, for example, an offshore plant ship. The edible plant 2, the feed plant 3, and the fertilizer plant 4 each use a fuel tank to hold the second to fourth fuels F2 to F4. The second to fourth fuels F2 to F4 increase or decrease as they are used or stored. The second to fourth fuels F2 to F4 may be, for example, ethanol, gasoline, or solid fuel. The edible plant 2, the feed plant 3, and the fertilizer plant 4 may each have an engine as a power source, like the fuel plant 1, and may drive the engine using ethanol. The edible plant 2, the feed plant 3, and the fertilizer plant 4 each store the second to fourth amounts of electricity E2 to E4. The edible plant 2, the feed plant 3, and the fertilizer plant 4 may each use natural energy and accumulate the second to fourth amounts of electricity E2 to E4, similar to the fuel plant 1. The edible plant 2, the feed plant 3, and the fertilizer plant 4 may periodically transmit information D2 to D4 indicating the second to fourth fuels F2 to F4 and the second to fourth amounts of electricity E2 to E4 to the raw material supply mechanism 10.

The edible plant 2 produces food using the raw materials supplied from the raw material supply mechanism 10 and at least one of the second fuel F2 and the second amount of electricity E2. Specifically, the edible plant 2 produces edible seaweed by drying edible seaweed. Examples of edible seaweed include kelp and wakame seaweed. The edible plant 2 may also extract specific nutrients from the seaweed to produce supplements, etc. Examples of specific nutrients include calcium and magnesium.

The feed plant 3 produces feed using raw materials supplied from the raw material supply mechanism 10 and at least one of the third fuel F3 and the third amount of electricity E3. The feed plant 3 produces livestock and fish feed by drying seaweed or extracting specific nutrients from the seaweed. The specific nutrients are, for example, calcium, magnesium, etc.

The fertilizer plant 4 produces fertilizer using the raw materials supplied from the raw material supply mechanism 10 and at least one of the fourth fuel F4 and the fourth amount of electricity E4. The fertilizer plant 4 produces fertilizer for agricultural products by drying the seaweed or extracting specific nutrients from the seaweed. The specific nutrients are, for example, calcium, magnesium, etc.

The resource recovery plant system 100 may further include a fuel supply mechanism. The fuel supply mechanism supplies the fuel produced by the fuel recovery plant 1 to the food recovery plant 2, the feed recovery plant 3, and the fertilizer recovery plant 4. The fuel supply mechanism may be composed of, for example, a ship, a satellite system, and a combustion supply system.

<An example of a method for controlling a resource recovery plant system>
Next, an example of a control method for the resource recovery plant system according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a flow chart showing an example of a control method for the resource recovery plant system according to the first embodiment.

It is determined whether an energy shortage will occur in the resource recycling plant system 100 (step ST1). Specifically, if any one of the first to fourth fuels F1 to F4 is less than a first standard, if any one of the first to fourth electric energy amounts E1 to E4 is less than a second standard, if the total amount of the first to fourth fuels F1 to F4 is less than a third standard, or if the total amount of the first to fourth electric energy amounts E1 to E4 is less than a fourth standard, it is determined that an energy shortage will occur in the resource recycling plant system 100. The first to fourth standards may be determined as appropriate depending on the purpose of use of the resource recycling plant system 100, the usage environment, the specifications of each component, etc.

When it is determined that an energy shortage will occur (step ST1: YES), the raw material supply mechanism 10 increases the supply amount RM1 of raw material supplied to the fuel plant 1 (step ST2). Specifically, the raw material supply mechanism 10 sets the supply amount RM1 so that it is greater than each of the supply amounts RM2 to RM4. The raw material supply mechanism 10 supplies the raw material to the fuel plant 1 at this set supply amount RM1. For example, if the supply amounts RM1 to RM4 are all 25 kg before performing step ST2, the raw material supply mechanism 10 determines that the supply amount RM1 is 70 kg and the supply amounts RM2 to RM4 are 10 kg. The raw material supply mechanism 10 supplies 70 kg of raw material to the fuel plant 1 and supplies 10 kg of raw material to the food plant 2, the feed plant 3, and the fertilizer plant 4.

As a result, when it is determined that an energy shortage will occur, raw materials can be supplied to the fuel plant 1 so that the supply amount RM1 of raw materials supplied to the fuel plant 1 is greater than the supply amounts RM2 to RM4 of raw materials supplied to the edible plant 2, the feed plant 3, and the fertilizer plant 4. Therefore, the fuel produced by the fuel plant 1 can be increased and supplied to the edible plant 2, the feed plant 3, and the fertilizer plant 4. This makes it possible to prevent fuel shortages and power shortages in the edible plant 2, the feed plant 3, and the fertilizer plant 4.

Each component in the above-described embodiments may be configured with hardware or software, or both, and may be configured with one piece of hardware or software, or may be configured with multiple pieces of hardware or software. The functions (processing) of each device may be realized by a computer having a CPU (Central Processing Unit), memory, etc. For example, a program for performing a method in the embodiment (e.g., a control method) may be stored in a storage device, and each function may be realized by executing the program stored in the storage device with a CPU.

These programs can be stored and supplied to a computer using various types of non-transitory computer readable media. Non-transitory computer readable media include various types of tangible storage media. Examples of non-transitory computer readable media include magnetic recording media (e.g., flexible disks, magnetic tapes, hard disk drives), magneto-optical recording media (e.g., magneto-optical disks), CD-ROMs (Read Only Memory), CD-Rs, CD-R/Ws, and semiconductor memories (e.g., mask ROMs, PROMs (Programmable ROMs), EPROMs (Erasable PROMs), flash ROMs, and RAMs (random access memories)). The programs may also be supplied to a computer by various types of transitory computer readable media. Examples of transitory computer readable media include electrical signals, optical signals, and electromagnetic waves. The transitory computer readable media can supply the programs to a computer via wired communication paths such as electric wires and optical fibers, or wireless communication paths.

Note that the present disclosure is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and can be appropriately modified within the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, the present disclosure may be implemented by appropriately combining the above-mentioned embodiment and examples thereof. The resource recovery plant system 100 shown in FIG. 1 includes a fuel recovery plant 1, an edible recovery plant 2, a feed recovery plant 3, and a fertilizer recovery plant 4, but it is sufficient to include at least one of the resource recovery plants that produce resources other than fuel and the fuel recovery plant 1. For example, the resource recovery plant system 100 may include only the fuel recovery plant 1 and the edible recovery plant 2, only the fuel recovery plant 1 and the feed recovery plant 3, or only the fuel recovery plant 1 and the fertilizer recovery plant 4. In addition, the resource recovery plant system 100 may calculate the first to fourth amounts of power E1 to E4 at the current time and the amount of power generated by using natural energy after a predetermined time has passed based on the forecast of weather and wind direction. In addition, the resource recovery plant system 100 may determine whether or not an energy shortage will occur in the resource recovery plant system 100 based on the calculation result.

The present invention contributes to the cultivation and utilization of seaweed that absorbs _CO2 in the ocean, thereby contributing to a sustainable society, decarbonization, and carbon neutrality.

100 Resource recovery plant system 1 Fuel recovery plant 2 Food recovery plant 3 Feed recovery plant 4 Fertilizer recovery plant 10 Raw material supply mechanism D1 to D4 Information E1 to E4 First to fourth electric energy amounts F1 to F4 First to fourth fuels RM1 to RM4 Supply amounts ST1, ST2 Step

Claims (1)

A method for controlling a resource recovery plant system installed at sea, comprising:
The resource recovery plant system includes a raw material supply mechanism, a fuel recovery plant, and a resource recovery plant that produces resources other than the fuel;
the raw material supply mechanism supplies raw materials to the fuel production plant and the resource production plant;
The fuel production plant produces fuel using the supplied raw material,
The resource recovery plant generates the resource using the supplied raw material and the produced fuel,
the fuel plant and the resource plant hold a first fuel and a second fuel, respectively;
the fuel plant and the resource plant store a first amount of electricity and a second amount of electricity, respectively;
If the first fuel or the second fuel is less than a first standard,
When the first amount of power or the second amount of power is less than a second reference value,
If the total amount of the first fuel and the second fuel is less than a third standard,
Or,
When the sum of the first amount of power and the second amount of power is less than a fourth criterion,
the raw material supply mechanism supplies the raw material to the fuel production plant so that the amount of the raw material supplied to the fuel production plant is greater than the amount of the raw material supplied to the resource production plant.
A method for controlling a resource recovery plant system.

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