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CEIC-03-02

"A Technical and Economic Assessment of Selexol-based CO₂ Capture Technology for IGCC Power Plants"

Chao Chen

Abstract:
Increasing CO₂ emissions and concerns about potential climate change are arousing great interest in the technical and economic feasibility of capturing CO₂ from large energy system, such as coal-based power plants. Performance and cost models of a Selexol-based CO₂ absorption system for capturing CO₂ from an advanced power system (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle, IGCC) have been developed and integrated with an existing IGCC modeling framework without CO₂ capture. The integrated model has been applied to study the feasibility, cost and uncertainties of carbon capture and sequestration at both greenfield and repowered IGCC plants. The analysis shows that based on commercially available technology, the cost of CO₂ avoided for an IGCC power plant is half that for a conventional combustion plant with a chemical absorption process. For IGCC systems, the uncertainty associated with CO₂ transport and storage has the largest impact on the cost of CO₂ avoided. Under suitable conditions, IGCC repowering was shown to be an attractive option for reducing CO₂ emissions from existing coal-fired plants. Compared to building greenfield IGCC plants, IGCC repowering also provides an option for introducing new power generation technology with lower risk to utilities.

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