Partial O2-fired coal power plant with post-combustion CO2 capture: A retrofitting option for CO2 capture ready plants

In the work presented in this paper, an alternative process concept that can be applied as retrofitting option in coal-fired power plants for CO2 capture is examined. The proposed concept is based on the combination of two fundamental CO2 capture technologies, the partial oxyfuel mode in the furnace and the post-combustion solvent scrubbing. A 330 MWel Greek lignite-fired power plant and a typical 600 MWel hard coal plant have been examined for the process simulations. In a retrofit application of the ECO-Scrub technology, the existing power plant modifications are dominated by techno-economic restrictions regarding the boiler and the steam turbine islands. Heat integration from processes (air separation, CO2 compression and purification and the flue gas treatment) can result in reduced energy and efficiency penalties. In the context of this work, heat integration options are illustrated and main results from thermodynamic simulations dealing with the most important features of the power plant with CO2 capture are presented for both reference and retrofit case, providing a comparative view on the power plant net efficiency and energy consumptions for CO2 capture. The operational characteristics as well as the main figures and diagrams of the plant’s heat balances are included.