Paper Dimas Gilang
Paper Dimas Gilang
Paper Dimas Gilang
July 2007
Energy Center at
Discovery Park
Purdue University
Table of Contents
Page
List of Figures.............................................................................................................. 2
List of Tables ............................................................................................................... 3
Introduction................................................................................................................. 4
1 Generation of Electricity from Coal.................................................................... 5
1.1 Pulverized Coal................................................................................................. 5
1.2 Supercritical Pulverized Coal ........................................................................... 6
1.3 Circulating Fluidized Bed ................................................................................. 6
1.4 Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle.......................................................... 7
1.4.1 IGCC Experience ..................................................................................... 8
1.4.2 Retrofit of Existing Facilities to IGCC .................................................... 9
2 Estimated Costs and Efficiencies......................................................................... 10
2.1 Capital Costs ..................................................................................................... 10
2.2 Heat Rates ......................................................................................................... 11
3 Fuel Considerations .............................................................................................. 12
3.1 Pulverized Coal, SCPC, and CFB..................................................................... 12
3.2 IGCC ................................................................................................................. 13
4 CO2 Concentration and Capture ......................................................................... 15
4.1 Flue Gas Recycling ........................................................................................... 15
4.2 Chemical Solvents ............................................................................................ 15
4.3 Physical Solvents .............................................................................................. 17
References.................................................................................................................... 18
List of Acronyms ......................................................................................................... 19
1
List of Figures
Figure Page
2
List of Tables
Table Page
3
Introduction
This report examines a number of technologies that can be used to generate electricity
from coal in an environmentally sensitive manner. The outline of the report is:
While the State Utility Forecasting Group (SUFG) would like to thank the Indiana Utility
Regulatory Commission and the Center for Coal Technology Research for their support
on this report, the SUFG is solely responsible for its content.
4
1 Generation of Electricity from Coal
This section gives a general description of various technologies that may shape the future
of coal utilization. Although traditional pulverized coal plants are generally not
considered clean coal technologies, they are discussed in this section because of their
historical value and because they may be considered clean when combined with certain
advanced technologies. The coal technologies that will be discussed include supercritical
pulverized coal, circulating fluidized bed, and integrated gasification combined cycle.
Although the list is not exhaustive it represents a number of feasible options for future
coal utilization.
5
emissions, some PC plants have switched to low sulfur, low heating value coals from the
Powder River Basin, while others have added costly post-combustion technologies to
reduce emissions.
Post combustion gas clean-up in PC plants can require large capital investments.
Different equipment is needed to remove harmful pollutants before the gas is released
into the environment. Particulate matter must be removed by electrostatic precipitators
(ESPs) or bag filters, SO2 is controlled by the addition of a flue gas desulfurization
(FGD) unit or spray dry scrubber, and NOx emissions can be reduced through the use of
selective catalytic reduction (SCR). For older and smaller plants, low cost, low removal
efficiency options such as selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) and low NOx burners
are often used, since the relatively small amount of electrical energy produced by the
facility is not sufficient to justify a larger capital expense.
With potential carbon dioxide (CO2) legislation, many have speculated that the PC plants
will be uneconomic with the addition of CO2 capture equipment (such as amine
scrubbers). There are other technologies that may be added to PC plants that might make
them cost competitive for CO2 capture (e.g., flue gas recycling). The major problem with
CO2 capture in combustion PC plants is that at atmospheric pressure the CO2 is only
about 20-25 percent of the combustion products that would be required to be cleaned.
Since the CO2 concentration is low and the exhaust gas volume is large, it would be
costly to capture CO2.
Although pulverized coal plants have been around for some time, there have been
considerable recent advances in materials and technologies. Supercritical pulverized coal
(SCPC) plants are essentially the same as conventional pulverized coal plants, but they
can operate at much higher temperatures and pressures by using the advanced materials
and technologies. Operating at higher temperatures makes it possible to have higher
efficiencies. Since less coal is used to produce a given amount of electrical energy,
SCPC plants generally have lower emissions of most pollutants than PC units. The
diagram for a basic SCPC plant is the same as that of a subcritical pulverized coal plant
(Figure 1). Since the supercritical technology is essentially the same as for traditional
pulverized coal technologies, it faces many of the same issues associated with post-
combustion gas cleanup.
In a circulating fluidized bed (CFB), crushed coal and limestone or dolomite (for SO2
capture) are fed into a bed of ash and coal particles, then made highly mobile by a high
velocity stream of preheated air (see Figure 2). The air is fed into the combustor at two
levels to control combustion and minimize NOx formation. The combustion chamber is
lined with water to produce steam. Particles and combustion products travel up through
the combustor and on to a cyclone where the solids are separated from the gases and sent
6
back to the combustor for further oxidation. Hot gases are passed through heat
exchangers to produce more steam to drive a steam turbine.
CFB technology is generally used with low heat content coals. Since the thermodynamic
cycle is the same as for pulverized coal plants, efficiencies are in the same range as the
pulverized coal plants. As with the pulverized coal plants, this configuration may be
pressurized to increase efficiency, but the gains come at increased capital and operating
costs.
Integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) generation differs considerably from the
combustion technologies described previously. A block diagram of the system is shown
in Figure 3. In this type of configuration the carbon in the coal chemically reacts with
steam at high temperatures to produce a combustible gas, which is primarily a mixture of
hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO). Methane (CH4) may also be present.
The gas may be cleaned up pre-combustion and used in a gas turbine to drive a generator,
thereby producing electricity. The diagram in Figure 3 shows a fuel cell being used in
addition to the gas turbine, which is an uncommon but technically feasible design. The
post-combustion gases exiting the turbine are still at a high temperature and may be used
to produce steam, which in turn can be used to produce more electricity. The use of both
7
a combustion turbine and a steam turbine is referred to as a combined cycle process and
is more efficient than a simple steam cycle.
Gasification Island
Sulphur
Fossil Fuel Fuel Heat Gas
Gasification Fly Ash
Preparation Recovery Cleaning Mercury
Fuel
Cell
Gas
Air Turbine Air
Separation Air
Unit
N2, NOx, CO2, H2O
Air Water
Heat
Recovery Feed water
Steam Steam
Steam Generator
Net Electrical Power
The ability to clean gases pre-combustion is an important aspect of IGCC systems. This
allows for NOx and SO2 controls that are less expensive than post-combustion controls.
Also, since the CO2 is relatively concentrated in the exhaust stream, it is much simpler
and less costly to capture CO2.
The first IGCC power plant in the world was tested in Germany in the 1970s [5]. The first
IGCC power plant in the United States was in operation in Southern California in the
1980s [5]. Today, there are at least five IGCC plants in operation or development with
power as sole output or co-product in the United States [6, 7]. Of the five, the Wabash
River Repowering Project, located in western Indiana, is the first modern IGCC plant and
has been in commercial operation intermittently since 1995. As with many technological
innovations, there have been a number of start-up issues with IGCC. As the technology
has matured, many of these issues have been resolved.
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There are many IGCC power plants around the world, with more in the planning, pre-
development or construction stages. In addition, IGCC has been considered for co-
production of chemicals (e.g., ammonia based fertilizers), clean diesel fuels, and many
other products [6].
Opinions are mixed on the reliability and maturity level of IGCC technology. Some
think that IGCC power plant technology is relatively mature, while others consider it to
be unproven. While significant experience has been gained with the chemical processes
of gasification, system reliability is still relatively lower than conventional coal-based
power plants.
Older pulverized coal units are likely to face substantial repair costs due to the
accumulated wear on the existing equipment. Furthermore, replacement of existing
equipment may trigger the New Source Review requirements of the Federal Clean Air
Act Amendments of 1990, thereby requiring additional pollution control expenses. Also,
older units tend to be smaller, which makes the cost of pollution control devices higher
on a per unit output basis. In such cases, retrofit to IGCC may be economically feasible,
provided some of the common facilities (coal handling; electrical transformers and
transmission lines; and steam plant equipment) are in sufficiently good condition so as to
be usable. Additionally, there would have to be adequate physical space available to add
the additional equipment.
In the case of natural gas combined cycle units, it is not the age of the equipment that is
the issue in moving toward IGCC; rather it is the price of natural gas. The recent price of
natural gas has made it difficult for natural gas-fired generators to operate profitably,
even with the high efficiencies gained using combined cycle technology. If an existing
natural gas combined cycle facility has sufficient room on site to construct a gasifier and
if it has reasonable access to coal supplies, it may be economically attractive to retrofit to
IGCC.
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2 Estimated Costs and Efficiencies
This section provides an overview of the capital costs and heat rates1 of the various clean
coal technologies covered in this report. It should be noted that capital costs can be very
sensitive to specific location due to a number of factors, such as greenfield/brownfield
status, land values, availability of cooling water, and availability of electricity
transmission. Additionally, capital costs can vary considerably with time due to the
volatility of the costs of construction inputs, such as steel, concrete, and labor.
Table 1 shows a range of capital costs for PC, CFB, IGCC, and SCPC as taken from
recent reports by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) [8] and the
National Regulatory Research Institute (NRRI) [9]. The NETL numbers are based on
more recent information and are generally higher. NETL did not provide cost estimates
for CFB; one may safely assume that the upper range for CFB is higher than the NRRI
numbers shown. Recent increases in the price of steel and concrete, along with higher
engineering and labor costs, have caused costs estimates to rise considerably from these
levels. It is uncertain whether the cost increases will continue or if costs will level off or
even decrease in the future.
The cost estimates involve many factors and assumptions such as the cost of capital, tax
rate, depreciation scheme, and so forth. These varying assumptions can result in a
number of different estimates. In the past few years, material and construction costs have
increased dramatically, largely due to an increase in international demand and a shortage
of labor for plant construction. Figure 4 shows the cost escalation in the chemical
industry which relies on the same types of construction inputs [10]. As the figure shows,
estimated plant costs have increased significantly since 2003. Compared with earlier cost
estimates, the most recent estimates are about 50-100 percent higher than those prior to
2006.
1
Heat rate is a measure of the thermal efficiency of a generating unit. It is computed by dividing the total
Btu content of the fuel burned by the resulting net kilowatthour generation.
10
Figure 4. Cost Escalation Indices [10].
In general, IGCC and SCPC units are more efficient than PC and FBC; thus, they have
lower heat rates. A typical PC or FBC unit might have a heat rate in the 9,500 to 10,000
Btu/kWh range. For more recent technologies, heat rates of 8,700 Btu/kWh for both
IGCC and SCPC have been reported [11]. A heat rate of 7,369 Btu/kWh has been
reported for the more efficient ultra-supercritical pulverized coal technology2 [12].
Since all of the proposed carbon capture techniques use a substantial amount of energy
(see Section 4), they will significantly increase the heat rate for any unit which employs
them. Under such a carbon capture scenario, the IGCC technology would most likely
suffer the least amount of efficiency loss due to its relatively higher CO2 concentration.
2
Ultra-supercritical pulverized coal units are similar to SCPC units, except they operate at even higher
pressures and temperatures. Thus they are more efficient.
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3 Fuel Considerations
When considering which clean coal technology to use for any application, it is important
to take into account the characteristics of the coal that will be used in the technology.
The quality of fuel that is used will have a direct effect on the operating cost as well as
the capital cost. Moisture content, ash fusion temperature and content, sulfur content,
and heating value of the coal all have significant influences on plant design. This section
discusses some of the fuel considerations for different clean coal technologies.
The coal properties mentioned above all directly affect a boiler’s design. They affect
both the heat rate (and hence, the operating costs) of the plant and the size (and hence, the
capital costs) of the plant. For example, a low ash softening temperature requires a lower
exit gas temperature. This requires a larger heat transfer area in the boiler and increases
the size of the boiler [13]. Sub-bituminous coals and lignites generally have low
softening temperatures. Also, coals with high ash content will reduce boiler efficiency
because extra energy is expended in heating up the ash to the operating temperature of
the boiler, reducing the energy available to create steam.
Moisture content in the fuel also decreases the efficiency of the plant for the same reason
that ash does. It also affects the combustion reaction to some extent which may result in
an additional reduction in the efficiency of the boiler.
Sulfur content in a fuel has a significant impact on boiler design and operation. In a
combustion process the sulfur reacts with oxygen to form SO2 and sulfur trioxide (SO3).
If the downstream temperature of the gas is low enough, the SO3 forms a sulfuric acid
with detrimental effects on the plant equipment. Therefore, the sulfur in the coal affects
the minimum allowable gas exit temperature and directly affects the efficiency of the
plant since some of the heat energy must leave the plant with the flue gas instead of being
transferred to steam [13].
Coal rank or heating value is also critical in the operation of a power plant. For example,
in pulverized coal power plants that have switched to low sulfur Powder River Basin
coals in order to meet emissions regulations, the plants have been de-rated slightly due to
the use of a lower rank coal.
Combustion type coal plants are constrained in the type of fuel they may use. The design
parameters (boiler geometry, flue gas temperature, etc.) are usually optimized for a
particular type of coal or other type of fuel. Any change in the type of fuel used usually
results in a drop in operating efficiency and changes in emissions.
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3.2 IGCC
The design and operation of an IGCC system is also dependent on many of the fuel
properties mentioned previously but to a lesser extent. Fuel selection is governed by the
plant performance decreasing and capital cost increasing as fuel quality decreases (see
Figure 5). As in other coal technologies, ash content in an IGCC plant will reduce
efficiency because energy is expended to heat the ash up with no benefit in plant
production. However, IGCC technology is less concerned with the exit temperature of
the product gases from the perspective of the ash fusion temperature (gas exit
temperature is important in an IGCC plant for other reasons).
Figure 5. Effect of Coal Quality on Heat Rate and Capital Cost [13]
Sulfur content of a fuel in an IGCC plant is less critical because the gas clean-up process
produces either elemental sulfur or sulfuric acid. These products are removed from the
pre-combustion gases much more easily than the sulfur products from the post-
combustion process in boilers, so the capital cost of doing so is much less, and the sulfur
by-products of an IGCC plant may be sold to offset costs.
In general the IGCC plant is much less constrained on what type of fuels may be used in
the plant by the design of the plant. While it is still true that the operating characteristics
of the plant will change based on the fuel, the operating characteristics may actually
improve rather than worsen. Thus, IGCC technology is much more flexible in the type of
13
fuel that it may use. This has been demonstrated particularly in the Wabash IGCC plant
which switched from using bituminous coal to using petroleum coke with a slight
improvement in plant performance and much better operating costs. According to the
Wabash IGCC operating team, only a minor operating condition adjustment is needed for
switching from bituminous coal to petroleum coke.
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4 CO2 Concentration and Capture
CO2 can be concentrated and captured using different technologies that will have varying
effects on cost and unit efficiency. This section briefly describes some technologies that
might play a major role in future power plants. These are: flue gas recycling, chemical
solvents, and physical solvents.
Flue gas recycling (Figure 6) is a process in which the CO2 in the post-combustion
products is concentrated (possibly at high pressures) by recycling the flue gas back into
the oxygen stream from an air separation plant. Typical concentrations of CO2 in the
product stream are as high as 80-85 percent, which facilitates the capture of CO2 and
reduces the level of all emissions per unit of energy generated.
Figure 6. Basic Concept of Flue Gas Recycling in an Oxygen Combustion Plant [3]
Chemical solvents show promise for use in both PC and IGCC power plants. The
majority of chemical solvents are organic based [15]. Chemical solvents are broken
down into three categories: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Figure 7 shows a diagram
of a chemical based, or amine, process that captures CO2 from a PC plant with a natural
gas unit to compensate for lost power due to CO2 capture. The flue gas is routed through
an absorption column where the amine reacts with the CO2 thus absorbing it. The CO2
rich solvent is then taken to the regeneration column where the CO2 is given off and the
amine is reused in the absorption column. Table 2 shows a comparison of the oxygen
blown system with a chemical/based system in 2001 dollars.
15
Figure 7. Chemical Based CO2 Capture [15]
16
4.3 Physical Solvents
Unlike chemical solvents, physical solvents are capable of absorbing CO2 without
undergoing a chemical reaction. Physical solvents show great promise in capturing CO2
from IGCC, because they are ideally suited for high vapor pressure [16]. The basic types
of physical solvents are Rectisol, Selexol, Fluor, and NMP-Purisol. The unit creates
three separate flows; one of the treated syngas, one of CO2, and one of hydrogen sulfide
gas (H2S). In regards to IGCCs, the Selexol process is less expensive than Rectisol, but
is less efficient, while both technologies are more expensive and more efficient than
amine [17]. Table 3 shows a comparison of the Selexol and Rectisol processes. The
numbers are based on a chemical plant with a feed rate of 2,593 metric tons per day and
Chevron-Texaco Quench Gasifier.
Incremental Annual Utilities & Feed Costs Base 1,350 3,305 5,809
17
References
[1] Longwell, J. P., Rubin, E. S., and Wilson, J. (1995). “Coal: Energy for the
Future.” Prog. Energy Combust. Sci., 21, 269-360.
[2] Henderson, C. (2003). “Clean Coal Technologies.” CCC/74, IEA Clean Coal
Centre.
[3] Pearson, B. (2005). “Our Power is Innovation.” CETC: CANMET Energy
Technology Centre.
[4] Rousaki, K., and Couch, G. (2000). “Advanced clean coal technologies and low
value coals.” CCC/39, IEA Coal Research.
[5] IEA Coal Research, Coal gasification for IGCC power generation, March 1991.
[6] Z. Yu, A. Black, R. Rardin, “The Role of IGCC in the Global Energy Markets:
Part I, Technology Progress,” accepted for presentation (and publication in
Proceedings of) at the IEEE PES (Power Engineering Society) General Meeting
2005, San Francisco, USA, June 12 -16, 2005.
[7] Z. Yu, A. Black, R. Rardin, “The Role of IGCC in the Global Energy Markets:
Part II – Economics and Managing Risks Using Option Spreads,” same
conference.
[8] NETL, “Cost and Performance Baseline for Fossil Energy Plants,” April 10,
2007.
[9] National Regulatory Research Institute, “What Generation Mix Suits Your State?
Tools for Comparing Fourteen Technologies across Nine Criteria,” February 14,
2007.
[10] Chemical Engineering Magazine, Nov. 2006.
[11] W. Rosenberg, D. Alpern, M. Walker, “Deploy IGCC In This Decade with 3
Party Covenant Financing,” same conference as the above.
[12] R. Baumgartner, J. Kern, The 600 MW Advanced Ultra-Supercritical Reference
Power Plant Development Program for Northrhine Westphalia, Electric Power
Conference 2005, Session 6, Chicago.
[13] G. Booras, N. Holt, “Pulverized Coal and IGCC Plant Cost and Performance
Estimates,” Gasification Technology Conference 2004, Oct., Washington DC.
[14] Singh, Croiset, P.L. Douglas, M.A. Douglas, “Techno-economic study of CO2
capture from an existing coal-fired power plant: MEA scrubbing vs. O2/CO2
recycle combustion.” Available at: www.elsevier.com
[15] Gunter, Mitchell, Potter, Lakeman, Wong, “Planning Options and Concepts for
the Evolution of Carbon Capture and Transport Research in Canada.” Available
at:
http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/es/etb/cetc/combustion/co2network/pdfs/canicap_report_f
inal.pdf
[16] Mak, Heaven, Kubek, Sharp, Clark, “Synthesis Gas Purification in Gasification
to Ammonia/Urea Complex.” Available at:
http://www.gasification.org/Docs/2004_Papers/26KUBE_Paper.pdf
[17] Moock, Trapp, “Coal Gasification: What are you afraid of.” Presented at Power-
Gen International conference, Orlando, Florida, November 30-December 2, 2004
18
List of Acronyms
19