Integrated gasification carbon capture plant using molten carbonate fuel cell: An application to a cement industry

Abstract

This study presents a novel integrated gasification carbon capture plant (IGCCP) as a post-combustion capture for a cement plant with a capacity of 4200 t clinker per day. The IGCCP includes externally reforming molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFC) fueled with syngas generated from the gasification of plastic wastes and produces low-carbon electricity and a CO2 stream for sequestration. The new thermodynamic model of MCFC developed here assesses the impact of syngas composition and cell temperature on the performances of the IGCCP system. An increase in the equivalence ratio (ER) from 0.20 to 1.00 of the gasification process increases the Nernst voltage loss factor from 86 to 132 mV thereby lowering voltage efficiency, but decreases the fuel demand to the IGCCP from 3462 to 2579 GJ/h. The maximum net generation efficiency is estimated to be 31.1% at ER = 0.33. Raising the cell temperature from 600 °C to 700 °C results in a decrease in ohmic voltage loss thereby increasing both voltage and MCFC efficiencies. Since the power generation increases at a higher cell temperature, the net power generation efficiency also increases but the CO2 capture efficiency remains constant (∼93%). The estimated specific primary energy consumption for CO2 avoided and captured are in the range of (−4.5) – (20.9) GJ/tCO2 and (−5.3) – (6.6) GJ/tCO2, respectively. The IGCCP system fueled by plastic wastes could decarbonize the cement plant completely while producing low-carbon electricity with an emission intensity of 87 kgCO2/MWh.