Economic evaluation of flexible IGCC plants with integrated membrane reactor modules

Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle with embedded membrane reactor modules (IGCC-MR) represents a new technology option for the co-production of electricity and pure hydrogen endowed with enhanced environmental performance capacity. It is an alternative to conventional coaland gas-fired power generation technologies. As a new technology, the IGCC-MR power plant needs to be evaluated in the presence of irreducible regulatory and fuel market uncertainties for the potential deployment of an initial fleet of demonstration plants at the commercial scale. This paper presents the development of a systematic and comprehensive three-step methodological framework to assess the economic value of flexible alternatives in the design and operations of an IGCC-MR plant under the aforementioned sources of uncertainty. The main objective is to demonstrate the potential value enhancements stemming to the long-term economic performance of flexible IGCC-MR project investments, by managing the uncertainty associated with future environmental regulations and fuel costs. The paper provides an overview of promising design flexibility concepts for IGCC-MR power plants and focuses on operational and constructional flexibility. The operational flexibility is realized through the option of a temporary shutdown of the plant with considerations of regulatory and market uncertainties. This option reduces the probability of loss and the downside risk compared to the base case. The constructional flexibility considers installation of a Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) unit in the plant under three different alternatives: 1) installing CCS in the initial construction phase, 2) retrofitting CCS at a later stage and 3) retrofitting CCS with pre-investment at a later stage. Monte Carlo simulations and financial analysis are used to demonstrate that the most economically advantageous flexibility option is to install CCS in the initial IGCC-MR construction phase

Integrated Energy Systems for the 21st Century: Coal Gasification for Co-producing Hydrogen, Electricity and Liquid Fuels

this report illustrates the role that integrated energy systems, also known as "energyplexes", could play in supplying energy demands in the long-term. These systems could enable a flexible multi-fuel, multi-product strategy with both economic and environmental benefits. Their potential is highlighted here using the case of the coal-fired, synthesis-gas-based gasification systems that allow co-producing hydrogen, electricity and liquid fuels and could be a key building block in a clean-coal technology strategy. Energyplexes could increase the adaptability and robustness of energy-services companies in the marketplace. On the one hand, they could provide them with flexibility in meeting demands in different market segments while achieving lower production costs. On the other hand, they could increase their robustness by reducing the risks of relying on a single feedstock. In addition, with the possibility of achieving high conversion efficiencies and low polluting emissions and facilitating carbon capture, they could deliver high-quality energy services in a cost-effective way while meeting stringent environment requirements, in particular those that might arise in a world with constraints on greenhouse gases. Co-production, also known as poly-generation, strategies may contribute to improve the economics of the system and exploit potential synergies between the constituent processes

Technical analysis of CO2 capture pathways and technologies

The reduction of CO2 emissions to minimize the impact of the climate change has become a global priority. The continuous implementation of renewable energy sources increases energy efficiency, while the reduction of CO2 emissions opens new options for carbon capture technologies to reduce greenhouse gases emissions. The combination of carbon capture with renewable energy balancing production offers excellent potential for fuels and chemical products and can play an essential role in the future energy system. This paper includes a critical review of the state of the art of different CO2 capture engineering pathways and technologies including a techno-economics analysis and focusing on comparing these technologies depending on the final CO2 application. The current cost for CO2 capture is in the range of 60–110 USD/t, likely to halve by 2030. This review offers technical information to select the most appropriate technology to be used in specific processes and for the different carbon capture pathways, i.e., Pre-combustion, Post-Combustion and Direct Air Capture. This comparison includes the CO2 capture approach for biomethane production by biogas upgrading to substitute fossil natural gas and other alternatives fuels production routes which will be introduces in future works performed by this review authors.Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBUA

Current status of carbon capture, utilization, and storage technologies in the global economy: A survey of technical assessment

The latest tremendously rapid expansion of the energy and industrial sector has led to a sharp increase in stationary sources of CO2. Consequently, a lot of concerns have been raised about the prevention of global warming and the achievement of climate mitigation strategies by 2050 with a low-carbon and sustainable future. In view of this, the current state of various aspects of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technologies in general technical assessment were concisely reviewed and discussed. We concentrated on precisely identifying the technology readiness level (TRL), which is beneficial to specifically defining the maturity for each key element of the CCUS system with a commercialization direction paths. In addition, we especially presented and emphasized the importance of CO2\ua0capture types from flue gases and CO2\ua0separation methods. Then, we determined valuable data from the largest R&D projects at various scales. This paper provides a critical review of the literature related to challenges of the CCUS system that must be overcome to raise many low TRL technologies and facilitate their implementation on a commercial scale. Finally, our work aims to guide the further scaling up and establishment of worldwide CO2\ua0emission reduction projects