Flexible operation of supercritical coal-fired power plant integrated with solvent-based CO2 capture through collaborative predictive control

Abstract

This paper presents a controller design study for the supercritical coal fired power plant (CFPP) integrated with solvent-based post-combustion CO 2 capture (PCC) system. The focus of the study is on the steam drawn-off from turbine to the re-boiler, which is the key interaction between the CFPP and PCC plants. The simulation study of a 660 MW supercritical CFPP-PCC unit model has shown that the impact of re-boiler steam change on the power generation of CFPP is more than 100 times faster than that on the PCC operation. Considering this finding, a collaborative predictive control strategy is proposed for the CFPP-PCC system where the re-boiler steam flowrate is manipulated for the CFPP load ramping and then gradually set to the required value for CO 2 capture. The PCC is thereby exploited as an energy storage device, which can quickly store/release extra energy for the CFPP in addition to the primary function of carbon emission reduction. The simulation results show that the proposed collaborative predictive controller can effectively improve the load ramping performance of CFPP without much performance degradation on the PCC operation. • Collaborative predictive control strategy for the integrated CFPP-PCC system. • PCC exploited as auxiliary measure for power adjustment in addition to CO 2 capture. • Impact of re-boiler steam change on CFPP is 100 times faster than that on the PCC. • Dynamic control operating simulation of the supercritical CFPP-PCC process. • Performance of different CFPP-PCC control schemes is assessed.