•Integration of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies into cement industry.•Reactive absorption and adsorption post-combustion CO2 capture methods.•Energy integration analysis for cement ...production with carbon capture and storage.•Techno-economic and environmental assessment methodology.•Calcium looping has reduced cement production cost as well as CO2 avoidance cost.
Reducing the carbon dioxide emissions from the energy-intensive industrial sectors is of great importance in the fight against climate change. The cement industry is responsible for about 5% of global CO2 emissions. In this article, two reactive absorption and adsorption post-combustion CO2 capture methods are assessed in conjunction with cement production. The gas–liquid absorption method uses alkanolamine (MDEA) as chemical solvent and the gas–solid adsorption method uses calcium looping (CaL) technology. The carbon capture rate is set to 90%. The analysis considers a conventional size of cement plant (1Mt/y) focusing on mass and energy integration aspects of the carbon capture unit as well as quantification of main techno-economic and environmental indicators of the cement plant with carbon capture. The evaluated designs were modelled and simulated, the mass and energy balances being used to assess the overall performances. For comparison reason, a cement plant without carbon capture was also considered to assess the energy and cost penalties for the carbon capture designs. The analysis shows that the CaL system has significant technical and economic advantages compared to the gas–liquid absorption case (e.g. higher energy efficiency, lower capital, operational and maintenance (O&M), cement production and CO2 avoidance costs).
Environmental and technical aspects of four supercritical (SC) pulverized-coal processes with post-combustion carbon capture and storage (CCS) are evaluated in the present work. The post-combustion ...CCS technologies (e.g. MDEA, aqueous ammonia and Calcium Looping (CaL) are compared to the benchmark case represented by the SC pulverized coal without CCS). Some important key performance indicators (e.g. net electrical power, energy conversion efficiency, carbon capture rate, specific CO2 emissions, SPECCA) are calculated based on process modeling and simulation data. The focus of the present work lies in the environmental evaluation, using the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) methodology, of the processes considered. The system boundaries include: i) power production from coal coupled to energy efficient CCS technologies based on post-combustion capture; ii) upstream processes such as extraction and processing of coal, limestone, solvents used post-combustion CCS, as well as power plant, coal mine, CO2 pipelines construction and commissioning and iii) downstream processes: CO2 compression, transport and storage (for the CCS case) as well as power plant, CCS units, coal mine and CO2 pipelines decommissioning. GaBi6 software was used to perform a “cradle-to-grave” LCA study, to calculate and compare different impact categories, according to CML 2001 impact assessment method. All results are reported to one MWh of net energy produced in the power plant. Discussions about the most significant environmental impact categories are reported leading to the conclusions that the introduction of the CCS technologies decreases the global warming potential (GWP) indicator, but all the other environmental categories increase with respect to the benchmark case. There is also a competition between the aqueous ammonia adsorption and CaL for some impact categories (other than GWP). The implementation of these new CCS technologies is more favorable than the traditional amine-based CO2 capture.
•Post-combustion CO2 capture using amine, aqueous ammonia and calcium looping of supercritical pulverized coal power plants.•Environmental evaluation of supercritical pulverized coal power plants with & without CCS using Life Cycle Analysis (LCA).•Technical evaluations of supercritical pulverized coal power plants with & without CCS.
•Techno-economic evaluations of gasification-based hydrogen & power co-generation.•Evaluations of various pre-combustion capture options suitable for gasification plants.•Evaluations of various gas ...turbine options suitable for gasification plants with CCS.•Flexible hydrogen & power co-generation based on gasification plants with CCS.•Assessment of key techno-economic and environmental performance indicators.
The gasification technology has multiple key advantages for future low carbon power generation scenario e.g. reduced energy and cost penalties for CO2 capture, multi-fuel multi-product operation capability, ability to process lower grade fuels, plant flexibility, etc. This paper is assessing the updated most important techno-economic aspects of IGCC power plant equipped with pre-combustion CO2 capture. Several key design options were assess in view of techno-economic indicators: selection of the gasification reactor, chemical vs. physical gas-liquid absorption used for CO2 capture, F and H-class gas turbines used for the combined cycle power block, flexible hydrogen and power co-generation, etc. Evaluated coal-based gasification concepts generate 400–600 MWe net power with a flexible hydrogen output from zero up to 300 MWth with 90% carbon capture rate. The similar design without carbon capture was also consider as a base case to quantify the technical and economical modifications induced by the CO2 capture step. As the techno-economical results show, the optimised IGCC plant (using dry fed entrained flow gasifier, H-class gas turbine, physical solvents, flexible hydrogen and power co-generation, etc.) provides improved results. In conclusion, the IGCC with pre-combustion capture is one promising technology for the future low-carbon economy.
The renewable energy is predicted to be further expanded to reduce the fossil energy and associated CO2 emissions with the aim of achieving climate neutrality. One of the main issues in large-scale ...deployment of wind and solar power applications is the time-variability of these renewable sources. To tackle this issue, the modern energy conversion systems must have an inherent time-flexibility. The chemical looping combustion (CLC) is an innovative energy-efficient system with inherent CO2 capture. This work evaluates a time-flexible natural gas-based CLC system for efficient power generation (250 MW net electricity production) and very high decarbonization rate (>99%). The iron-based CLC cycle is fitted with Oxygen Carrier (OC) storage facilities (for both oxidized and reduced stages) to enhance the thermo-chemical energy storage capability. Two illustrative process layouts were assessed: one conventional base-load system and one with energy storage capability for flexible time operation. Various relevant process engineering tools were employed: process modelling and simulation, validation, energy integration, techno-economic assessment. The integrated evaluation of main techno-economic indicators shows that the time-flexible design has improved performance indicators such as lower specific investment costs (down to about 3%), reduced operational and power generation costs (down to about 2%) as well as lower CO2 capture costs (down to 8%).
•Investigation of natural gas-based Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC) with CO2 capture.•Techno-economic and environmental assessment of decarbonized CLC power generation.•Thermo-chemical energy storage by reduced and oxidized oxygen carrier storage facilities.•Time-flexible operation of CLC-based power generation with energy storage capability.•Flexible CLC has reduced CAPEX (3%), power cost (2%) and CO2 capture cost (8%).
•Integration of membrane technology for decarbonization of gasification power plants.•Techno-economic and environmental assessment of decarbonized gasification plants.•Membrane-based CO2 capture ...system increases the overall plant energy efficiency.•Membrane reduces capital cost (9%), operational cost (10%) and electricity cost (7%).•Decarbonized gasification plants are economic viable for current 75 €/t carbon tax.
Membrane technology is one promising technology for CO2 capture from industrial gases. The application of membrane system in gasification-based power plants is particularly appealing considering the elevated pressure of syngas subject to decarbonization resulting in lower energy and economic penalties for CO2 capture. As key novelty element of this work, the membrane technology was evaluated in both alone and hybrid configuration with gas-liquid absorption in view of decarbonization of Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle power plants. Assessed decarbonized gasification-based power plant concepts produce about 450 MW net output with 90% CO2 capture rate. An integrated techno-economic and environmental evaluation methodology (based on modelling, simulation and process integration) was applied to quantify the most important plant performance indicators. For comparison, similar IGCC designs without decarbonization feature or with decarbonization by chemical and physical gas-liquid absorption were also analysed. The overall conclusion is that the membrane technology has important techno-economic benefits in comparison to chemical and physical absorption e.g. greater overall net energy efficiency (up to about one net percentage point), lower specific capital investment costs (down to 9%), lower operational & maintenance costs (down to 10%), lower electricity production costs (down to 7%), lower CO2 capture costs (down to 50%).
•Techno-economic and environmental assessment of decarbonized biogas reforming.•Iron & calcium looping were compared to chemical gas–liquid absorption (benchmark).•Chemical looping has higher CO2 ...capture rate and reduced decarbonization penalty.•Iron looping has better techno-economic performances than the calcium looping.•Flexible hydrogen and power production improves overall efficiency and economics.
Biogas got significant attention as a promising renewable energy source and an energy-efficient way of converting various biowastes into energy carriers. As relevant research contributions of present analysis, the detailed technical and economic assessment of decarbonized biogas catalytic reforming process for flexible hydrogen & power generation was assessed. The production capacity of evaluated concepts is 50,000 Nm3/h high-hydrogen (>99.95% vol.) and up to 40 MW net power output. Reactive gas–liquid (using one illustrative amine) and the gas–solid (iron & calcium looping) processes are used for pre-combustion CO2 capture. The overall process simulation results for investigated designs were exploited for the calculation of techno-economic key performance indexes. As results show, the iron/calcium looping systems are very promising in terms of increasing the overall efficiency (up to 2.5 net percentage points), the plant decarbonization rate (72–75 vs. 64%), reducing CO2 emissions (120–144 kg/MWh vs. 175 kg/MWh) and improving key economic parameters (e.g., lower hydrogen cost by at least 5%, CO2 capture cost by at least 25%) than the chemical scrubbing concept (benchmark). Furthermore, the overall hydrogen and power flexibility brings relevant advantages e.g., higher cumulative energy efficiency, improved cyclic operation etc.
•Higher efficiency of looping cycles than reforming cases (up to 11.7 net points).•Superior capture rate of looping cycles than chemical scrubbing (93–98 vs. 71%).•Direct looping shows lower capital ...costs than syngas-based looping (12–14%).•Flexible hydrogen and power co-generation has higher efficiency (3.4 net points).•10% capital cost increase is reported for a fully flexible co-production design.
Glycerol represents a valuable side product from biodiesel production. This work evaluates glycerol valorization in view of energy-efficient hydrogen & power generation using chemical and calcium looping thermo-chemical cycles. Two looping options were evaluated: glycerol steam reforming followed by a syngas-based looping cycle and direct glycerol conversion in a looping cycle. The evaluated H2 systems based on glycerol conversion via ilmenite and calcium looping cycles generate 100,000 Nm3/h high purity hydrogen coupled with a plant decarbonization rate up to 98%. Timely adjustable co-production of H2 and electricity was also evaluated as limited (0 to 200 MW hydrogen thermal output) and fully flexible designs. As benchmark cases, a glycerol reforming design without CO2 capture and one decarbonized design by with pre-combustion chemical absorption using MDEA were considered. As the techno-economic investigations reveal, the overall energy efficiencies of thermo-chemical looping designs are superior to decarbonized glycerol reforming concept based on gas-liquid absorption by 5.3 to 11.7 net points as well as the decarbonization rates 93–98% vs. 71%. Flexible co-production systems show improved performance: higher efficiency (3.4 net points), reduced investment cost (9%) and electricity cost (11%) per 100 MW thermal hydrogen output.
•Techno-economic assessments of sub- and super-critical CFBC power plants with CCS.•Post-combustion CO2 capture by gas-liquid absorption and gas-solid adsorption.•In-depth techno-economic assessment ...applied for CFBC power plants with CCS.•Calcium looping cycle delivers lower energy and cost penalties for carbon capture.
The heat and power generation sector is facing fundamental changes for transition to a low carbon scenario due to significant environmental constraints. This paper is evaluating from techno-economic point of view the integration of post-combustion CO2 capture technologies into coal-based CFBC power plants operated in sub- and super-critical steam conditions. Two post-combustion CO2 capture technologies were assessed: a chemical gas-liquid absorption using alkanolamines (Methyl-DiEthanol-Amine - MDEA) and a gas-solid adsorption using calcium-based sorbent (Calcium Looping - CaL). The analysis evaluates how chemical gas-liquid absorption/gas-solid adsorption influence the techno-economic performances of CFBC power plants. As benchmark cases used to quantify the energy and cost penalties for CO2 capture, the correspondent sub- and super-critical CFBC plants without CO2 capture were considered. As the results show, the CaL concepts exhibits better net electrical efficiency (35% vs. 32%), higher carbon capture rate (97% vs. 90%) and improved economic indicators (e.g. 1860vs. 2552€/kW net power as specific capital investment, 34vs. 41.6€/MWh as O&M costs, 66vs. 84€/MWh as cost of electricity) compared to the MDEA cases (all these values being reported for the super-critical CFBC designs).
Variable renewable energy (VRE) is expected to play a major role in the decarbonization of the electricity sector. However, decarbonization via VRE requires a fleet of flexible dispatchable plants ...with low CO2 emissions to supply clean power during times with limited wind and sunlight. These plants will need to operate at reduced capacity factors with frequent ramps in electricity output, posing techno-economic challenges. This study therefore presents an economic assessment of a new near-zero emission power plant designed for this purpose. The gas switching reforming combined cycle (GSR-CC) plant can produce electricity during times of low VRE output and hydrogen during times of high VRE output. This product flexibility allows the plant to operate continuously, even when high VRE output makes electricity production uneconomical. Although the CO2 avoidance cost of the GSR-CC plant (€61/ton) was similar to the benchmark post-combustion CO2 capture plant under baseload operation, GSR-CC clearly outperformed the benchmark in a more realistic scenario where continued VRE expansion forces power plants into mid-load operation (45% capacity factor). In this scenario, GSR-CC promises a 5 %-point higher annualized investment return than the post-combustion benchmark. GSR-CC therefore appears to be a promising concept for a future scenario with high VRE market share and CO2 prices, provided that a large market for clean hydrogen is established.
•The Gas Switching Reforming Combined Cycle (GSR-CC) plant is presented.•GSR-CC is designed for cost-effective balancing of variable renewable energy (VRE).•The plant produces power during low VRE output and hydrogen during high VRE output.•This ensures high utilization of CO2 capture, transport and storage infrastructure.•As a result, GSR-CC offers attractive economics as a mid-load plant to balance VRE.
This paper investigates multi-fuel multi-product operation of IGCC plants with carbon capture and storage (CCS). The investigated plant designs co-process coal with different sorts of biomass (e.g. ...sawdust) and solid wastes, through gasification, leading to different decarbonised energy vectors (power, hydrogen, heat, substitute natural gas etc.) simultaneous with carbon capture. Co-gasification of coal with different renewable energy sources coupled with carbon capture will pave the way towards zero emissions power plants. The energy conversions investigated in the paper were simulated using commercial process flow modelling package (ChemCAD) in order to produce mass and energy balances necessary for the proposed evaluation.
As illustrative cases, hydrogen and power co-generation and Fischer–Tropsch fuel synthesis (both with carbon capture), were presented. The case studies investigated in the paper produce a flexible ratio between power and hydrogen (in the range of 400–600 MW net electricity and 0–200 MWth hydrogen considering the lower heating value) with at least 90% carbon capture rate. Special emphasis were given to fuel selection criteria for optimisation of gasification performances (fuel blending), to the selection criteria for gasification reactor in a multi-fuel multi-product operation scenario, modelling and simulation of whole process, to thermal and power integration of processes, flexibility analysis of the energy conversion processes, in-depth techno-economic and environmental assessment etc.
•Assessment of IGCC-based energy vectors poly-generation systems with CCS.•Optimisation of gasification performances and CO2 emissions by fuel blending.•Multi-fuel multi-product operation of gasification plants.
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