Abstract
Calcium looping combustion (CaLC) is a new class of lowCO2emission technologies for thermochemical conversion of carbonaceous fuels that can help achieve the emissions reduction targets set out in the Paris Agreement. Compared to mature CO2 capture technologies, which cause net efficiency penalties higher than 7% points, CaLC results in a net efficiency penalty of 2.9% points. However, a thorough economic assessment of CaLC needs to be undertaken to evaluate its economic viability. The levelised cost of electricity is commonly used to assess the economic performance of clean energy systems. However, this method does not account for commercially important parameters, such as tax, interest, and depreciation charges. This study aimed to improve the reliability and accuracy of economic assessments of clean energy systems by implementing the net present value (NPV) approach. This approach was applied to assess the economic performance of two concepts of the CaLC-based power plant with either the conventional steam cycle (SC) or the supercritical CO2 cycle (s-CO2) for heat utilisation along with the bottom-up approach to total capital cost estimation. A parametric study for both concepts was also conducted to assess the impact of the key thermodynamic parameters on the economic performance. Although the s-CO2 case with revised assumptions was shown to result in a 1%-point lower net efficiency compared to the SC case, its break-even cost of electricity was lower by 0.81 €/MWh. Further improvements of the techno-economic performance can be sought by optimisation of the s-CO2 cycle structure.
Highlights
To reduce the risks and impacts of climate change, which is one of the most important challenges globally, the temperature increase needs to be kept well below 2 C (2DS) compared to preindustrial levels (Tollefson, 2015)
The supercritical CO2 cycle (s-CO2) cycle model was developed by Hanak and Manovic (2016) and validated with the results presented by Le Moullec (2013) and experimental data provided by Park et al (2018)
The reference power plant was characterised with a net power output of 508.3 MW, net efficiency of 35% and specific CO2 emission of 101.9 kg/MWh
Summary
To reduce the risks and impacts of climate change, which is one of the most important challenges globally, the temperature increase needs to be kept well below 2 C (2DS) compared to preindustrial levels (Tollefson, 2015). The key limitation of this technology is associated with degradation of the sorbent performance with a number of calcination and carbonation cycles. This is primarily due to sintering, attrition and sulphation of the sorbent that impose the requirement for sorbent make-up to maintain desired average sorbent conversion in the carbonator (Dean et al, 2011). Further reduction of the net efficiency penalty (to 2.9% points) can be achieved by development of standalone calcium looping combustion (CaLC) technology based on indirect heat transfer from the air-fired combustor to the calciner (Hanak and Manovic, 2017a)
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