Next Generation Pressurized Oxy-Coal Combustion: High Efficiency and No Flue Gas Recirculation

Abstract

The Gas Technology Institute (GTI) has developed a pressurized oxy-coal fired molten bed boiler (MBB) concept, in which coal and oxygen are fired directly into a bed of molten coal slag through burners located on the bottom of the boiler and fired upward. Circulation of heat by the molten slag eliminates the need for a flue gas recirculation loop and provides excellent heat transfer to steam tubes in the boiler walls. Advantages of the MBB technology over other boilers include higher efficiency (from eliminating flue gas recirculation), a smaller and less expensive boiler, modular design leading to direct scalability, decreased fines carryover and handling costs, smaller exhaust duct size, and smaller emissions control equipment sizes. The objective of this project was to conduct techno-economic analyses and an engineering design of the MBB project and to support this work with thermodynamic analyses and oxy-coal burner testing. Techno-economic analyses of GTI’s pressurized oxy-coal fired MBB technology found that the overall plant with compressed CO2 has an efficiency of 31.6%. This is a significant increase over calculated 29.2% efficiency of first generation oxy-coal plants. Cost of electricity (COE) for the pressurized MBB supercritical steam power plant with CO2 capture and compression was calculatedmore » to be 134% of the COE for an air-coal supercritical steam power plant with no CO2 capture. This compares positively with a calculated COE for first generation oxy-coal supercritical steam power plants with CO2 capture and compression of 164%. The COE for the MBB power plant is found to meet the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) target of 135%, before any plant optimization. The MBB power plant was also determined to be simpler than other oxy-coal power plants with a 17% lower capital cost. No other known combustion technology can produce higher efficiencies or lower COE when CO2 capture and compression are included. A thermodynamic enthalpy and exergy analysis found a number of modifications and adjustments that could provide higher efficiency and better use of available work. Conclusions from this analysis will help guide the analyses and CFD modeling in future process development. The MBB technology has the potential to be a disruptive technology that will enable coal combustion power plants to be built and operated in a cost effective way, cleanly with no carbon dioxide emissions. A large amount of work is needed to quantify and confirm the great promise of the MBB technology. A Phase 2 proposal was submitted to DOE and other sponsors to address the most critical MBB process technical gaps. The Phase 2 proposal was not accepted for current DOE support.« less