CO2 Capture in a pulverised coal-fired power plant

Abstract

An integrated process comprising ≃550 MWe (net power after CO2 capture and compression) pulverised coal-fired (PC-fired) supercritical power plant, an MEA-based post-combustion capture plant and a CO2 compression system has been modelled. The modelling was realised with Aspen Plus, V8.4, and extensive simulations of the integrated process using three different types of coal – Illinois No. 6 (bituminous coal), Montana Rosebud (sub-bituminous coal) and North Dakota (lignite coal), have been performed and the impacts of coal type on the overall performance of the integrated process have been quantified. The net plant efficiency, with CO2 capture only and with both CO2 capture and CO2 compression, is highest for Illinois No. 6 and least for North Dakota. For the state-of-the-art 30 wt% MEA solution, the optimum net plant efficiencies with only CO2 capture are 31.10, 30.60 and 30.30% for Illinois No. 6, Montana Rosebud and North Dakota, respectively, while the optimum net plant efficiencies with both CO2 capture and CO2 compression are 28.74, 28.12 and 27.74% for Illinois No. 6, Montana Rosebud and North Dakota, respectively.