CO2-free coal-fired power generation by partial oxy-fuel and post-combustion CO2capture: Techno-economic analysis

Among the carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies suitable for power generation plants, partial oxy-combustion coupled with post combustion CO2capture is gaining interest, since such a hybrid configuration could allow to reduce the size and enhance the performance of post-combustion CO2capture by operating combustion with air enriched with oxygen and reducing the dilution of flue gas. Moreover, partial oxy-combustion is a potential candidate for the retrofit of existing steam plants because it could be based on an almost conventional boiler and requires a smaller CO2capture section. This work presents the results of a comparative techno-economic analysis of a 1000 MWthpartial oxy-combustion plant based on an ultra-supercritical pulverized coal combustion power plant integrated with a post-combustion CO2capture system and geological storage in saline aquifer. In particular, plant performance is assessed by using simulation models implemented through Aspen Plus 7.3 and Gate Cycle 5.40 commercial tools, whereas economic performance are evaluated on the basis of the expected annual cash flow. The analysis shows that, for new plants, this hybrid approach is not feasible from the economic point of view and full oxy-combustion potentially remains the most profitable technology even if, in the short-term period, the lack of commercial experience will continue to involve a high financial risk

A study of the water-energy nexus in power plants

Tesis por compendio de publicaciones[ES] La tesis se llevó a cabo a través de compendio de artículos científicos, de modo que se lleva a cabo un resumen de cada artículo, así como la información de cada uno. Artículo 1 Título: Optimal gas treatment and coal blending for reduced emissions in power plants: A case study in Northwest Spain. Autores: Lidia S Guerras y Mariano Martín. Revista: Energy DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2018.12.089 Resumen: En este trabajo se ha desarrollado un marco de toma de decisiones para el diseño de la sección de tratamiento de gases de combustión de una central eléctrica, que incluye operaciones de remoción de partículas, NOx y SO2. Se ha aplicado a una central térmica de carbón en España para seleccionar las tecnologías óptimas y su secuencia. Se han desarrollado modelos sustitutos para los tratamientos. El problema corresponde a una programación no lineal entera mixta que incluye la eliminación de NOx catalítica y no catalítica, lo que permite varias asignaciones para la tecnología catalítica, precipitación electrostática y eliminación de SO2 húmedo o seco. Se reformula como un problema no lineal para evaluar las oportunidades de bypass. La optimización sugiere el uso de precipitación electrostática, seguida de la eliminación catalítica de NOx y la eliminación de SO2 seco. A continuación, también se ha resuelto un problema de mezcla de carbón para dos funciones objetivo. Cuando solo se consideran los costos de tratamiento, se recomienda el uso de carbón importado, pero un aumento del 4% en su precio puede cambiar la decisión por el uso de carbón nacional. Si la energía del carbón se agrega a la función objetivo, el carbón de alquitrán crudo se incluye en la mezcla y el carbón importado se usa para mantener las emisiones dentro de los límites. La oxidación forzada de piedra caliza es la tecnología seleccionada. Artículo 2 Título: Optimal Flue Gas Treatment for Oxy-Combustion-Based Pulverized Coal Power Plants Autores: Lidia S Guerras y Mariano Martín. Revista: Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.9b04453 Resumen: La oxicombustión es reconocida como la tecnología más limpia que utiliza carbón como fuente de energía. La limpieza de los gases de combustión es esencial para un funcionamiento sostenible. En este trabajo se determina la selección óptima de las tecnologías de tratamiento de gases de combustión en centrales de oxicombustión. Se utiliza un procedimiento de dos etapas que combina heurística y programación matemática para evaluar las tecnologías involucradas, incluida la caldera, la desnitrificación, la precipitación electrostática, la eliminación de dióxido de azufre y la captura de carbono. Para el funcionamiento de la planta, se debe seleccionar la alimentación de carbón. Se resuelve un problema de mezcla extendido para evaluar el tipo de carbón que se comprará en función de su costo y composición. El procesamiento óptimo de los gases de combustión consiste en la precipitación electrostática, seguida de la eliminación de SO2 seco y la purificación de CO2 con zeolitas. No se requiere ningún método de desnitrificación específico debido a los bajos niveles de concentración de NOx generados en la oxicombustión. Esta hoja de flujo se utiliza para seleccionar uno entre una mezcla de tres tipos diferentes de carbón: alquitrán de hulla nacional, importado y crudo. Sin embargo, no se recomienda ninguna mezcla ya que se seleccionó alquitrán de hulla crudo. Aunque los costos de procesamiento son más altos, se ve compensado por el menor coste de la materia prima. Artículo 3 Título: On the water footprint in power production: Sustainable design of wet cooling towersAutores: Lidia S Guerras y Mariano Martín. Revista: Applied Energy DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.114620 Resumen: Las plantas de energía renovable deben instalarse donde esté disponible el recurso principal. El clima afecta el diseño y la huella hídrica de estas plantas. Se estudian dos tipos de ciclos de potencia, un ciclo Rankine regenerativo, representativo de biomasa y plantas termosolares, y el ciclo combinado, correspondiente a procesos basados en biogás o gasificación. Las instalaciones se modelan en detalle unidad por unidad para calcular el rendimiento del ciclo, el trabajo del condensador, el consumo de agua y la geometría de la torre de enfriamiento húmedo de tiro natural para su diseño sostenible. Las regiones cálidas, apropiadas para instalaciones solares, y las regiones húmedas requieren torres más grandes y caras. Las áreas con alta disponibilidad solar también muestran un mayor consumo de agua, lo que representa un intercambio para un futuro sistema de energía basado en energías renovables. Además, también se han desarrollado pautas de diseño y modelos sustitutos para estimar el consumo de agua, el tamaño de la torre de enfriamiento y su costo en función del clima. Los sustitutos son útiles para el análisis de la huella hídrica de un sistema de energía de base renovable que sustituye al de base fósil. Artículo 4 Título: Multilayer Approach for Product Portfolio Optimization: Waste to Added-Value Products Autores: Lidia S. Guerras, Debalina Sengupta, Mariano Martín, and Mahmoud M. El-Halwagi Revista: ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c01284 Resumen: Se ha desarrollado un procedimiento sistemático multicapa de varias etapas para la selección de la cartera de productos óptima a partir de biomasa residual como materia prima para sistemas que implican el nexo “wáter-energy-food”. Consiste en una metodología híbrida heurística, basada en métricas y optimización que evalúa el desempeño económico y ambiental de productos de valor agregado a partir de una materia prima en particular. La primera etapa preselecciona los productos prometedores. A continuación, se formula un problema de optimización de la superestructura para valorizar o transformar los residuos en el conjunto óptimo de productos. La metodología se ha aplicado dentro de la iniciativa “Waste to Power and Chemicals” para evaluar el mejor uso de los residuos de biomasa de la industria del aceite de oliva en alimentos, productos químicos y energía. La etapa heurística se basa en la revisión de la literatura para analizar los productos y técnicas factibles. A continuación, se han desarrollado y utilizado métricas simples para preseleccionar productos que son prometedores. Finalmente, se utiliza un enfoque de optimización de la superestructura para diseñar la instalación que procesa hojas, astillas de madera y aceitunas en productos finales. La mejor técnica para recuperar fenoles del “alperujo”, un residuo sólido húmedo/subproducto del proceso, consiste en el uso de membranas, mientras que la técnica de adsorción se utiliza para la recuperación de fenoles de hojas y ramas de olivo. La inversión necesaria para procesar los residuos asciende a 110,2 millones de euros por 100 kt/año para la instalación de producción de aceitunas, mientras que el beneficio depende del nivel de integración. Si la instalación está adscrita a la producción de aceite de oliva, el beneficio generado oscila entre los 14,5 MM €/año (cuando los residuos se compran a precios de 249 € por tonelada de alperujo y 6 € por tonelada de hojas y ramas de olivo) y 34,3 MM €/año cuando el material de desecho se obtiene de forma gratuita

Unraveling the fingerprints of NOx using stable isotopes: Implications for NOx source partitioning and oxidation chemistry

The nitrogen (N) and oxygen (O) stable isotope composition (δ15N & δ18O) of nitrogen oxides (NOx )may be a useful tool for constraining NOx emission sources as well as for understanding the atmospheric oxidation pathways responsible for its removal if various NOx sources and sink processes exhibit characteristic isotopic compositions (“fingerprints”). However, this requires (1) an accurate and complete inventory of δ15N(NOx) values from major emission sources, (2) an assessment of the kinetic and equilibrium isotope effects that can impact δ15N and δ18O values of NOx, (3) and test these assumptions by conducting accurate in situ δ15N and δ18O measurements of atmospheric NOx. To this end, I have characterized the δ15N(NOx) signatures from various fossil-fuel NOx sources, including buses, trucks, lawn equipment, natural gasfired boilers, and airplanes. These δ15N(NOx) source characterization studies along with prior studies indicate that soil emission (nitrification/denitrification), “thermal” NOx producedfromfossil-fuelcombustion, and“source” NOx producedfromcoal-fired power plants have relative distinctive values. In addition, both my experimental and theoretical investigations on the isotope effects associated with NOx oxidation indicate that isotopes effects via equilibrium isotope exchange and kinetic isotope effects occurring during NOx oxidation reactions may influence the δ15N and δ18O values of atmospheric nitrate. Using these calculated isotope effects, I developed a simple model for the production of atmospheric nitrate through its three major pathways thatinclude(1)NO2 +•OH→HNO3, (2)N2O5 +surface→2HNO3, and(3)NO3+ R→•R. This model indicated that these pathways result in distinctive δ18O-δ15N relationships that tend to match reported literature values. Finally, in order to evaluate the influences of NOx emission sources and isotope effects on the isotope composition of NO2, which serves as precursor molecule to atmospheric nitrate, ambient NO2 was collected and analyzed for 15N and 18O . These results suggest that δ18O of NO2 has a distinctive diurnal profile reflecting the photochemical cycling of NOx while δ15N of NO2 tends to track with NOx sources with small but significant isotope effects altering daytime δ15N(NO2) by approximately 2-4%. Overall, this research has refined the “fingerprints” of atmospheric NOx and will be useful for future studies aimed at understanding regional and spatial distributions in NOx emission budgets and tracing NOx oxidation chemistry

NOx emissions in China: Historical trends and future perspectives

Nitrogen oxides (NOx) are key pollutants for the improvement of ambient air quality. Within this study we estimated the historical NOx emissions in China for the period 1995-2010, and calculated future NOx emissions every five years until 2030 under six emission scenarios. Driven by the fast growth of energy consumption, we estimate the NOx emissions in China increased rapidly from 11.0 Mt in 1995 to 26.1 Mt in 2010. Power plants, industry and transportation were major sources of NOx emissions, accounting for 28.4%, 34.0%, and 25.4% of the total NOx emissions in 2010, respectively. Two energy scenarios, a business as usual scenario (BAU) and an alternative policy scenario (PC), were developed to project future energy consumption. In 2030, total energy consumption is projected to increase by 64% and 27% from 2010 level respectively. Three sets of end-of-pipe pollution control measures, including baseline, progressive, and stringent control case, were developed for each energy scenario, thereby constituting six emission scenarios. By 2030, the total NOx emissions are projected to increase (compared to 2010) by 36% in the baseline while policy cases result in reduction up to 61% in the most ambitious case with stringent control measures. More than a third of the reduction achieved by 2030 between least and most ambitious scenario comes from power sector, and more than half is distributed equally between industry and transportation sectors. Selective catalytic reduction dominates the NOx emission reductions in power plants, while life style changes, control measures for industrial boilers and cement production are major contributors to reductions in industry. Timely enforcement of legislation on heavy-duty vehicles would contribute significantly to NOx emission reductions. About 30% of the NOx emission reduction in 2020 and 40% of the NOx emission reduction in 2030 could be treated as the ancillary benefit of energy conservation. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to explore the impact of key factors on future emissions

Best Available Techniques (BAT) Reference Document for Large Combustion Plants. Industrial Emissions Directive 2010/75/EU (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control)

The BAT Reference Document (BREF) for Large Combustion Plants is part of a series of documents presenting the results of an exchange of information between the EU Member States, the industries concerned, non-governmental organisations promoting environmental protection, and the Commission, to draw up, review, and -where necessary- update BAT reference documents as required by Article 13(1) of Directive 2010/75/EU on Industrial Emissions. This document is published by the European Commission pursuant to Article 13(6) of the Directive. This BREF for Large Combustion Plants concerns the following activities specified in Annex I to Directive 2010/75/EU: - 1.1: Combustion of fuels in installations with a total rated thermal input of 50 MW or more, only when this activity takes place in combustion plants with a total rated thermal input of 50 MW or more. - 1.4: Gasification of coal or other fuels in installations with a total rated thermal input of 20 MW or more, only when this activity is directly associated to a combustion plant. - 5.2: Disposal or recovery of waste in waste co-incineration plants for non-hazardous waste with a capacity exceeding 3 tonnes per hour or for hazardous waste with a capacity exceeding 10 tonnes per day, only when this activity takes place in combustion plants covered under 1.1 above. In particular, this document covers upstream and downstream activities directly associated with the aforementioned activities including the emission prevention and control techniques applied. The fuels considered in this document are any solid, liquid and/or gaseous combustible material including: - solid fuels (e.g. coal, lignite, peat); - biomass (as defined in Article 3(31) of Directive 2010/75/EU); - liquid fuels (e.g. heavy fuel oil and gas oil); - gaseous fuels (e.g. natural gas, hydrogen-containing gas and syngas); - industry-specific fuels (e.g. by-products from the chemical and iron and steel industries); - waste except mixed municipal waste as defined in Article 3(39) and except other waste listed in Article 42(2)(a)(ii) and (iii) of Directive 2010/75/EU. Important issues for the implementation of Directive 2010/75/EU in the Large Combustion Plants sector are the emissions to air of nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, hydrogen chloride and fluoride, organic compounds, dust, and metals including mercury; emissions to water resulting especially from the use of wet abatement techniques for the removal of sulphur dioxide from the flue gases; resource efficiency and especially energy efficiency. This BREF contains 12 Chapters. Chapters 1 and 2 provide general information on the Large Combustion Plants industrial sector and on the industrial processes used within this sector. Chapter 3 provides data and general information concerning the environmental performance of installations within the sector in terms of water consumption, the generation of waste and general techniques used within this sector. It also describes in more detail the general techniques to prevent or, where this is not practicable, to reduce the environmental impact of installations in this sector that were considered in determining the BAT. Chapters 4 to 9 provide the following information given below on specific combustion processes (gasification, combustion of solid fuel, combustion of liquid fuel, combustion of gaseous fuel, multi-fuel combustion and waste co-incineration). Chapter 10 presents the BAT conclusions as defined in Article 3(12) of the Directive. Chapter 11 presents information on 'emerging techniques' as defined in Article 3(14) of the Directive. Concluding remarks and recommendations for future work are presented in Chapter 12.JRC.B.5-Circular Economy and Industrial Leadershi

Best Available Techniques (BAT) Reference Document:for:Iron and Steel Production:Industrial Emissions Directive 2010/75/EU:(Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control)

The BREF entitled ‘Iron and Steel Production’ forms part of a series presenting the results of an exchange of information between EU Member States, the industries concerned, non-governmental organisations promoting environmental protection and the Commission, to draw up, review, and where necessary, update BAT reference documents as required by Article 13(1) of the Directive. This document is published by the European Commission pursuant to Article 13(6) of the Directive. This BREF for the iron and steel production industry covers the following specified in Annex I to Directive 2010/75/EU, namely: • activity 1.3: coke production • activity 2.1: metal ore (including sulphide ore) roasting and sintering • activity 2.2: production of pig iron or steel (primary or secondary fusion) including continuous casting, with a capacity exceeding 2.5 tonnes per hour. The document also covers some activities that may be directly associated to these activities on the same site. Important issues for the implementation of Directive 2010/75/EU in the production of iron and steel are the reduction of emissions to air; efficient energy and raw material usage; minimisation, recovery and the recycling of process residues; as well as effective environmental and energy management systems. The BREF document contains 13 chapters. Chapter 1 provides general information on the iron and steel sector. Chapter 2 provides information and data on general industrial processes used within this sector. Chapters 3 to 8 provide information on particular iron and steel processes (sinter plants, pelletisation, coke ovens, blast furnaces, basic oxygen steelmaking and casting, electric arc steelmaking and casting). In Chapter 9 the BAT conclusions, as defined in Article 3(12) of the Directive, are presented for the sectors described in Chapters 2 to 8.JRC.J.5-Sustainable Production and Consumptio

Relationship between explore to the environmental toxicant methylmercury and the transcriptional repressor rest in vitro model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Since MeHg exposure hastens the onset of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-like phenotype in SOD1G93A mice activating glutamate receptors and determined neuronal cell death by increasing REST expression, we invesigated the possible role of MeHg to accelerate reduction in cell survival in NSC-34 motor neuron like cells transiently transfected whit G93A-SOD1 construct via REST up regulation. Furthermore, we studied the trascriptional activators Sp1, Sp3, CREB and JunD. Additionally, we identified the epigenetic mechanism by which MeHg regulated REST gene. Since REST overexpression in neurons determined cell death by activating necroptosis, we investigated the role of MeHg to activate necroptosis in NSC34 cells overexpressing G93A-SOD1 construc

Energy Efficiency Management: State of the Art and Improvement Potential Analysis with Regard to Cargo Transport by Air and Rail

This review article summarizes the state of the art in energy efficiency (EE) management in air and rail cargo transportation. After an introduction, explanations and definitions follow around the topic of energy efficiency. The political framework conditions of the European Union (EU) as well as the associated European Union Emissions Trading System are described. In particular, the drive technologies, CO2 emissions, and fuel-saving options are reviewed

Innovative Clean Coal Technology (ICCT). Demonstration of Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology for the control of nitrogen oxide (NO{sub x}) emissions from high-sulfur coal-fired boilers: Volume 3, Appendices O--T. Final report

Volume 3 contains the following appendices: Appendix O, Second Series-Manual APH Tests; Appendix P, Third Series-Manual APH Tests; Appendix Q, ABB Analysis of Air Preheaters-Final Report; Appendix R, ABB Corrosion Analysis Study; Appendix S, SRI Waste Stream Impacts Study; and Appendix T, Economic Evaluation