Conventional Fossil Fuel Power Plants Research Articles

Profitability of battery storage in hybrid hydropower–solar photovoltaic plants

Increased energy demand and rapid environmental changes triggered by global greenhouse gas emissions have forced numerous countries to consider renewable energy sources (RES) as possible alternatives to conventional fossil-fuel energy sources. Due to the inherent uncertainty, intermittency, and generally uncontrollable power generation by single-source renewable power plants, hybrid power plants (HPPs) incorporating several mutually complementary RES have lately gained much interest. Integrating battery storage systems with such HPPs has the potential to run them more similarly to conventional fossil-fueled power plants, providing controllable power generation, and reducing its variability. Given such a future scenario and the lack of existing detailed studies, this paper investigates the profitability potential for a viable business case for battery storage integration with utility-scale hybrid hydropower–solar photovoltaic (PV) plants. The study presented here is based on a hypothetical, two-reservoir cascaded hydropower plant in Sub-Saharan Africa. The role of the battery is assessed by considering the overall profitability of the HPP when participating in capacity markets, ancillary services, and energy arbitrage. The relationship between the value stacking of battery services and its impact on battery life has been critically examined. This study provides estimates on increased profitability, cost-optimal battery capacities, battery degradation estimates, and the HPP-battery interoperability aspects under various hydropower and electricity market operating scenarios. Batteries will likely increase cost-effectiveness by co-optimization with PV-system as well as power market contracts. In this case, adding a battery increased the profitability by about 2% when combining revenues from capacity markets and ancillary services.

Pumped Thermal Energy Storage Technology (PTES): Review

In recent years, there has been an increase in the use of renewable energy resources, which has led to the need for large-scale Energy Storage units in the electric grid. Currently, Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) and Pumped Hydro Storage (PHES) are the main commercially available large-scale energy storage technologies. However, these technologies are restricted geographically and can require fossil fuel streams to heat the air. Thus, there is a need to develop novel large-scale energy storage technologies that do not suffer from the abovementioned drawbacks. Among the in-development, large-scale Energy Storage Technologies, Pumped Thermal Electricity Storage (PTES), or Pumped Heat Energy Storage, stands out as the most promising due to its long cycle life, lack of geographical limitations, the absence of fossil fuel streams, and the possibility of integrating it with conventional fossil-fuel power plants. There have been a number of PTES systems proposed using different thermodynamic cycles, including the Brayton cycle, the Rankine cycle, and the transcritical Rankine cycle. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of PTES concepts, as well as the common thermodynamic cycles they implement, indicating their individual strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, the paper provides a comprehensive reference for planning and integrating various types of PTES into energy systems.

Exploring acceptance on benefit of solar farm implementation in Malaysia

Exploring acceptance on benefits of solar farm implementation in Malaysia. Implementation of solar farms to generate electricity is still low in Malaysia, where only 1%, or 227.5 MW of the total installed electrical capacity in Malaysia was produced from solar PV installations in 2016. Renewable energies, e.g. solar energy, have been adopted in many countries to generate electricity as a response to global environment issues. The aim of this study is to determine financial opportunities and benefits of solar farm implementation towards the society and the environment. Data were acquired through a literature review and questionnaire survey that was conducted among the respondents that are directly involved in the solar energy. Long-term financial savings constitute the most identified financial opportunities for the implementation of solar farms in generating clean electricity. Implementation of solar farms will encourage more businesses related to solar energy to be established in the country and will lead to new business opportunities. Solar farms are far better than conventional fossil fuel power plants in terms of the environmental effect and also reduce the health effects on the society during the electric generating process.

Wind Energy Contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals: Case Study on London Array

Clean and safe energy sources are essential for the long-term growth of society. Wind energy is rapidly expanding and contributes to many countries’ efforts to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. In terms of sustainable development goals (SDGs), renewable energy development promotes energy security while also facilitating community development and environmental conservation on a global scale. In this context, the current article aims to investigate wind energy’s role within the SDGs. Furthermore, the present study highlights the role of the London Array wind farm in achieving the SDGs. Indeed, deploying clean and economical energy sources in place of conventional fossil fuel power plants provides vital insights into environmental impacts. The London Array operation is saving approximately 1 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent. Furthermore, the London Array contributes to the achievement of multiple SDGs, including SDG 8: decent employment and economic growth; SDG 9: industry, innovation, and infrastructure; SDG 11: sustainable cities and communities; and SDG 15: life on land. To enhance the London Array’s contribution to the SDGs, a total of 77 indicators (key performance indicators) were proposed and compared to the current measurements that have been carried out. The results showed that the London Array used most of the suggested indicators without classifying them from the SDGs’ perspective. The proposed indicators will help cut operation costs, mitigate climate change and environmental damage, improve employee engagement and morale, reduce learning gaps, set goals and plans, and use resources efficiently.

Optimal operation and stochastic scheduling of renewable energy of a microgrid with optimal sizing of battery energy storage considering cost reduction

In order to alleviate worldwide worries about environmental issues, power system operators and planning entities are looking for new energy sources that will produce fewer emissions than conventional fossil-fuel power plants. When it comes to powering their systems, utilities are increasingly choosing renewable energy sources (RESs). Here, microgrids (MG) would furnish the ideal conditions for incorporating RESs. Thus, this study presents an seasonal optimization framework for the short-term operation of an MG, including energy storage and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, while thoroughly exploring the effects of varying climatic factors on the optimal scheduling of resources. The day-ahead MG scheduling is addressed in this model, taking into account the impact of varying irradiances across a year. The resulting single-objective optimization problem is then tackled with the help of the converged barnacles mating optimizer (CBMO), as a robust and effective optimization method. The simulation findings show that the total operating cost of the grid-integrated microgrid is alleviated when a PV model is used in a real-world setting to raise the accuracy of the energy management system. In case 1, the CBMO reduces the operating cost of the MG by 262.784 €ct/day, which is less than the results obtained by some other algorithms. Using the hybrid CBMO, the reported costs for Case 2 is 298.8513 €ct/day. The CBMO approach yielded the best results of 352.1964 €ct on a warm sunny day, 285.2851 €ct on a cold sunny day, 257.7912 €ct on a warm cloudy day, and 252.135 €ct on a cold cloudy day. After running the simulations, it has been found out that the suggested CBMO has the shortest mean simulation time by 114.217 s in Case 3, while other algorithms need longer simulation time such that the GA needs 120.364 s, the PSO needs 118.487 s, the DE needs 118.039 s and the ICA needs 116.287 s. Therefore, the CBMO takes significantly less time than other methods.

LCA of Mixed Generation Systems in Singapore: Implications for National Policy Making

The decarbonization of electrical power generation systems is one of Singapore’s national political agendas to reduce national greenhouse emissions. LCA is applied to assess the trade-offs of national implementation of electricity generation from conventional fossil-fuel power plants, compared to low-carbon alternatives. The first aim of LCA is to quantify the emission inventory of national electrical generation within the geographical boundary of Singapore, and next to generate the potential environmental impacts of Global Warming Potential, Acidification, and Eutrophication. Various scenarios are tested for a projected diversity of fuel resource mixes considered for years 2030 and 2040 and a hypothetical scenario where 100% renewable energy is employed and imported as the nation transitions towards a low-carbon energy future. Further discussions on the additional LCA model indicators should be included for the potential of low-carbon hydrogen application.

Wake Patterns Around Front Tyre And Wheel On Vehicle Dynamics Clarified By On-Board PIV Application

Temporal and spatial wake patterns and behaviors around rotating tires and wheels are some of the most critical flow phenomena on aerodynamic performance and vehicle dynamics. In particular, aerodynamic drag is one of the most important factors on greenhouse effect gas and fuel efficiencies, in these days remarkably focused on the shift from conventional fossil fuel power plants to electric ones to prevent the global warming. From the point of view of aerodynamics, OEMs' wind tunnel facilities with moving ground and high fidelity CFD tools are employed to optimize the exterior body shape and aerodynamic device in order to reduce the aerodynamic drag. Recently, high fidelity CFD tools which include tire rotations are easily employed by users, not only specialists, to analyze the flow around the vehicle and to optimize the exterior design at the development phase. However, more accurate and detailed understanding of complicated flow phenomena around vehicle during motion are required to predict these flow phenomena accurately by CFD tools at early development phase. Moreover, the more detailed experimental investigation is essential for the aerodynamicists, not only to develop the prediction tool but also to understand the flow phenomena around vehicle in its essence. Therefore, in this study, the on-board 2D-3C PIV measurement system in wind tunnel facility has been developed to investigate the wake patterns around rotating front tire and wheel. As result, the critical wake patterns have been clarified by POD analysis of the mentioned on-board 2D-3C PIV measurement data. These front wheelhouse wake patterns were classified in terms of the wake generation locations that produced the aerodynamic drag. These results indicate that there is the potential for an improvement in not only aerodynamic drag and but also vehicle dynamics by flow control to suppress the wake generations around front wheelhouse and the flow fluctuation around bodyside, moreover, this system can be applied to real world running condition in near future.

Multi-criteria decision making for different concentrated solar thermal power technologies

Solar thermal power technologies are promising renewable energy sources that could replace the conventional fossil fuel power plants. Parabolic trough collector (PTC), linear Fresnel reflector (LFR), solar power tower (SPT), and Solar power dish (SPD) are the commercial concentrated solar thermal power technologies. Technical, economical, and environmental aspects are varied from one technology to another. Deciding the best solar thermal power technology is quite important for the commercial applications. In order to decide the best technology, based on 22 criterions including the technical (9), economical (2), and environmental (11) aspects, different multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) models were applied. The main parameters of the MCDM model that determine the rating of alternatives include the choice of the method of normalization of the matrix of decisions, the choice of the method for evaluating the weights of the criteria and the choice of the method of aggregation of attributes when determining the indicator of the effectiveness of alternatives. Three different groups of MCDM methods are defined as a method for aggregating attributes in determining the performance indicator of alternatives: based on a weighted sum approach (WSM, WPM, WAPRAS), based on the concept of distance or distance from the desired object (TOPSIS, GRA, VIKOR), and based on the approach of aggregating local ratings based on setting the preference function (PROMETHEE-II). According to the results of all models, alternative A4 that represents the solar power dish technology is the best selection among the different solar technologies. A4 is winner (first rank I) for about 65% of considered cases followed by A3 that represents solar power tower technology. A3 is winner (first rank I) for about 35% of considered cases.

Design and analysis of new pitch angle controller for enhancing the performance of wind turbine coupled with PMSG

Renewable Energy Resources are playing a significant role in the power sector. Conventional fossil fuel power plants are harming the environment and so resource availability for fossil fuel-based power plants is rapidly decreasing. Renewable energy resources are solar, wind, tidal, and biomass. Among them, the electrical energy extraction rate from Wind Power Plant (WPP) has been increased due to the huge wind potential earth’s surface. However, WPP has complicated mechanical structure results which are installed away from the cities. Hence, an adequate monitoring technique is required to maximize the energy yield potential of wind power plants. Since the out power of WPP is strongly depends on the swept area of wind bladed,. Perhaps, wind direction continuously changes depending on the climate condition. Therefore, it is necessary to sense the wind direction according to the change in the position of wind blades. This research work proposes a pitch angle control technique for controlling the torque of wind turbines under low and high wind scenarios. It is a well-known fact that at low wind speeds revenue loss occurs and at high wind speeds damage of wind turbine and generator occurs. At first, pitch angle combined with two mass driver trains has been modelled. Subsequently, a wind turbine with PMSG is developed. The model has been validated by using MATLAB. The pitch angle control enhanced the energy yield potential of the wind power plant.

On the contribution of solar energy to sustainable developments goals: Case study on Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park

With the fast growth of the global economy, energy supply and demand have a strong impact on social, economic, and environmental aspects. As a consequence, this has pushed the decision-makers to formulate objectives, guiding economic policies toward sustainable goals. The process is known as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that have been proposed by the United Nations. This being said, the energy sector is a vital domain with a vast potential for improvments in terms of technologies and ligistalations. Solar energy is among the most efficient solutions proposed to reduce the economic and environmental footprints of energy. In this frame, the current paper aims to localize solar energy within SDGs and analyze the contribution of the solar energy towards the achievement of the SDGs. Moreover, the current work highlights the contributions of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (MBR) Solar Park in the United Arab Emirates to achieving the SDGs. Indeed, the MBR Solar Park concept offers valuable insights of environmental impacts by deploying clean and affordable energy sources in place of conventional fossil fuel power plants that are still heavily used in the region. The MBR Solar Park operation has already mitigated 6.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent and this number will likely rise when all phases are installed and operational. Moreover, it has been shown that MBR Solar Park achieve several SDGs such SDG 8: decent work and economic growth, SDG 9: industry, innovation and infrastructure, SDG 11: sustainable cities and communities, and SDG 15: life on land.

Power to gas: an option for 2060 high penetration rate of renewable energy scenario of China.

Replacing conventional fossil fuel power plants with large-scale renewable energy sources (RES) is a crucial aspect of the decarbonization of the power sector and represents a key part of the carbon-neutral strategy of China. The high penetration rate of renewable energy in the electricity system, however, implies the challenges of dealing with the intermittency and fluctuation of RES. Power to gas (P2G), which can convert surplus renewable power into a chemical form of energy (i.e., synthetic gas), can help handle this challenge and supply new energy carriers for various energy sectors. By modeling three potential 2060 energy mix scenarios in China, this paper aims to describe the possible contribution of the high penetration rate of renewable energy combined with P2G in the future sustainable energy system. Different schemes are listed and compared, and the results are used in a basic economic evaluation of the synthetic gas production cost for the P2G plants. Ideally, nearly 18 million tons of carbon dioxide would be recycled and transformed into methane (around 9.37 km3) annually in China. Considering a zero price for the excess renewable power and future costs of the components, the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of the final production of methane is estimated at 0.86 $/m3SNG.

Implementation of Distributed Autonomous Control Based Battery Energy Storage System for Frequency Regulation

It has been mandated that 5% of the generation capacity of conventional fossil fuel power plants shall be used exclusively for frequency regulation (FR) purposes in South Korea. However, the rotational speed of generators cannot be controlled quickly, and thus the variation in the power generation for FR takes some time. Even during this short period of time, frequency fluctuations may occur, and the frequency may be out of range of its reference value. In order to overcome the limitations of the existing FR method, 374 MW (103 MWh) battery energy storage systems (BESSs) for FR have been installed and are in operation at 13 sites in South Korea. When designing the capacity of BESS for FR, three key factors, i.e., the deployment time, duration of delivery, and end of delivery, are considered. When these times can be reduced, the required capacity for BESS installation can be decreased, achieving the same operational effects with minimal investment in the facilities. However, because a BESS for FR (FR BESS) needs to be installed under a large capacity, providing a single output, a centralized control method is employed. The centralized control method has the advantage of being able to view and check the entire system at once, although in the case of FR BESS, a novel system design that can optimize the above three factors through a faster and more accurate control is required. Therefore, this paper proposes the implementation of a distributed autonomous control-based BESS for frequency regulation. For the proposed FR BESS, the central control system is responsible for the determination of external factors, e.g., power generation/demand forecasting; and the system is designed such that the optimal control method of renewable energy sources and BESS according to real-time frequency variations during practical operation is determined and operated using a distributed autonomous control method. Furthermore, this study was verified through the simulation that the proposed distributed autonomous control method conducts FR faster than an FR BESS with conventional centralized control, leading to an increase in the FR success rate, and a decrease in the deployment time required (e.g., 200 ms).

Optimal liquified natural gas (LNG) cold energy utilization in an Allam cycle power plant with carbon capture and storage

Oxy-combustion power cycles are an alternative technology for electricity generation to facilitate carbon capture and storage (CCS). Among oxy-combustion power cycles, the Allam cycle is one of the most promising technologies for power generation in terms of both efficiency and economics. Besides, the Allam cycle can also achieve a near-zero emission target at a much lower cost compared to conventional fossil fuel power plants. On the other hand, the flue gas carbon capture process and the recycled flue gas compression process in the Allam cycle consume considerable work. If the compression work can be decreased, the energy efficiency of the system can be further improved, which can enhance the competitiveness over other power generation technologies. When the fuel of the power plant is Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) instead of conventional natural gas, the LNG cold energy can be utilized to reduce the compression work of the carbon capture process and recycled flue gas compression work in the Allam cycle. In this study, we investigated different ways to utilize the LNG cold energy for both a stand-alone power plant and a cogeneration system with power generation and LNG regasification. A superstructure incorporating many possible flowsheets is proposed in this study. A simulation-based optimization framework is adopted to optimize the superstructure. The results indicate that direct integration of LNG regasification and flue gas liquefaction performs well for the stand-alone power plant, while the organic Rankine cycle integration scheme is the best choice for the cogeneration system.

Renewable Energy for Rural Development in Bangladesh

Energy is the key component to the development of a society. The demand for energy is increasing day by day. Around 16 percent of the global population does not have access to electricity. Around 64.96 % of the population of Bangladesh lives in the rural area. This large portion often suffers from substandard quality of electricity. But electricity production by conventional fossil fuel power plant gives rise to greenhouse gas emission including carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide. These gases cause global warming and climate change. This has a detrimental effect on every living thing on the planet. Such consequences put Bangladesh in a perilous position, as most of the land is less than 10 m above the sea-level. As lands become more prone to be inundated, this poses a threat to our agriculture, health, sanitation and causes scarcity of clean water. Initiatives must be taken to popularize low carbon climate resilient energy sectors for sustainable development. A brief study of different forms of renewable energy sources is dealt in this paper. In this study, the present scenario and future prospects of renewable energy in Bangladesh has been presented.

Thermodynamic Optimization of a Waste Heat Power System under Economic Constraint

A novel thermo-economic performance indicator for a waste heat power system, namely, MPC, is proposed in this study, which denotes the maximum net power output with the constraint of EPC ≤ EPC0, where EPC is the electricity production cost of the system and EPC0 refers to the EPC of conventional fossil fuel power plants. The organic and steam Rankine cycle (ORC, SRC) systems driven by the flue gas are optimized to maximize the net power output with the constraint of EPC ≤ EPC0 by using the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II (NSGA-II). The optimization process entails the design of the heat exchangers, the instantaneous calculation of the turbine efficiency, and the system cost estimation based on the Aspen Process Economic Analyzer. Six organic fluids, n-butane, R245fa, n-pentane, cyclo-pentane, MM (Hexamethyldisiloxane), and toluene, are considered for the ORC system. Results indicate that the MPC of the ORC system using cyclo-pentane is 39.7% higher than that of the SRC system under the waste heat source from a cement plant with an initial temperature of 360 °C and mass flow rate of 42.15 kg/s. The precondition of the application of the waste heat power system is EPC ≤ EPC0, and the minimum heat source temperatures to satisfy this condition for ORC and SRC systems are obtained. Finally, the selection map of ORC versus SRC based on their thermo-economic performance in terms of the heat source conditions is provided.

Stochastic scheduling of a renewable-based microgrid in the presence of electric vehicles using modified harmony search algorithm with control policies

Modern power systems are seeking for alternative energy sources will less emission to conventional fossil-fuel power plant to mitigate the global concerns on environmental issues. On one hand, renewable energies have turned to the first choice of system operators. On the other hand, the system should provide the required infrastructure to appropriately accommodate such energy sources. In this respect, microgrids (MG) would provide the needed conditions for integrating renewable energy sources (RESs). Thus, the optimal energy management of such systems in the presence of highly uncertain renewable power generation is of great importance. Accordingly, this paper provides a stochastic programming framework for the optimal scheduling of an MG equipped with RESs and plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs). The power sources considered include a wind energy system in the form of wind turbine (WT), a solar photovoltaic (PV) system, a fuel cell (FC), a microturbine (MT), besides a battery storage system (BSS). The mentioned problem is formulated as a single-objective optimization problem aimed at minimizing the total operating cost over the scheduling period. The MG is considered in the grid-connected mode where it can transact power with the upstream system. The uncertainty of the problem is due to the intermittent power output of the wind energy system and the PV unit, as well as uncertain behavior of the EV owners in charging/discharging their vehicles. The proposed stochastic optimization problem is the solved using an effective and efficient optimization algorithm named “modified harmony search (MHS) algorithm”. Finally, the simulation results are discussed and the superior performance of the suggested algorithm is verified through making a comprehensive comparison with some well-known methods.

Exergy and Economic Evaluation of a Hybrid Power Plant Coupling Coal with Solar Energy

Hybrid power plants that couple conventional with renewable energy are promising alternatives to electricity generation with low greenhouse gas emissions. Such plants aim to improve the operational stability of renewable power plants, while at the same time reducing the fuel consumption of conventional fossil fuel power plants. Here, we propose and evaluate the thermodynamic and economic viability of a hybrid plant under different operating conditions, applying exergy and economic analyses. The hybrid plant combines a coal plant with a solar-tower field. The plant is also compared with a conventional coal-fired plant of similar capacity. The results show that the proposed hybrid plant can emit 4.6% less pollutants due to the addition of solar energy. Fuel consumption can also be decreased by the same amount. The exergy efficiency of the hybrid power plant is found to be 35.8%, 1.6 percentage points higher than the efficiency of the conventional coal plant, and the total capital investment needed to build and operate a plant is 8050.32 $/kW. This cost is higher than the necessary capital investment of 5979.69 $/kW to build and operate a coal-fired power plant, and it is mainly due to the higher purchased equipment cost. Finally, the levelized cost of electricity of the hybrid plant is found to be 0.19 $/kWh (using both solar and coal resources) and 0.12 $/kWh when the plant is fueled only with coal.

Coal power flexibility, energy efficiency and pollutant emissions implications in China: A plant-level analysis based on case units

Integration of intermittent renewable energy in the power systems requires balancing service of conventional fossil fuel power plants, which is mainly provided by coal power in China. However, flexible operation of coal power units will incur energy efficiency penalty, and output additional CO2 and pollutant emissions. In this paper, we use a high-resolution operation dataset collected from two typical coal power units to evaluate environmental impacts of flexible operation of coal power in China. To address this, we examine the generation mechanisms of CO2 and three atmospheric pollutants by coal power units, and then calculate the emissions. We also outline the potential of coal power units to perform flexible operation and discuss retrofit options for more efficient flexible operation. In addition, we use plant-level operation data from typical-sized coal power units to estimate emission levels during processes of start-up, deep cycling and regular operations. In the case 300 MW and 600 MW unit respectively, deep cycling operation would incur an increase of 17.5% and 11.3% in heat rate and CO2 emissions factor, 10.2% and 108.4% in NOx factor, and 41% in dust factor, compared with full load operation. The NOx emissions of a cold start-up in the case 300 MW and 600 MW unit are roughly the amount of 8 hours and 12.3 hours of regular full load operation, respectively. This paper has implication on employing flexible operation of coal power to integrate renewable energy in China’s coal-dominated power systems.

Exergoeconomic analysis and optimization of single and double flash cycles for Sabalan geothermal power plant

In this study single and double flash systems were designed to utilize the Sabalan geothermal fluid as a heat source. An Exergoeconomic model was applied on plant’ equipment in order to calculate the thermodynamic and economic performances of the cycles. Parametric analysis was done to examine the effect of important key parameters including flash pressures and steam quality at turbine outlet on plant performance. Optimization process for maximum net power output was carried out on the plant using direct searching method in EES (Engineering Equation Solver). This process aimed to find the optimum flashing pressures corresponding to the maximum potential power output as an objective function. Additionally, the major exergy destruction locations were shown graphically and side by side for both systems to observe the effect of secondary flash process on exergy destruction at each component. Afterward, an environmental study was done in order to calculate the amount of fossil fuel saving and pollutants emission reduction compared to conventional fossil fuel power plants. The result showed that in double flash energy and exergy efficiency were increased from 16.26% and 40.06% to 17.73% and 50.89%, respectively. Moreover, double flash resulted in higher net power output compared to that of single flash (28,838kW vs. 36,055kW) while both cycles were using the same geofluid. Optimization results revealed that thermodynamically optimum cycle could not result the best and lower energy production cost and vice versa. Therefore, the single flash generates electricity within lower price compared to double flash system. Moreover, double flash considerably reduces the required fossil fuel and various pollutants emission more than single flash if they were replaced by fossil fuel power plants with same amount of production.

Evaluation of MEA 5 M performance at different CO2 concentrations of flue gas tested at a CO2 capture lab-scale plant

Chemical absorption is the most effective and mature post-combustion alternative that might be applied for carbon capture in fossil-fuel power plants and other energy-intensive industries such as cement production, refineries and iron and steel manufacturing. In respect to the cement production, inherent CO2 emissions produced during the calcination of limestone contributes around 60% of the total CO2 emissions and they can be only reduced using CCS. A test campaign was carried out in a 0.48 kg CO2/h lab-scale CO2 capture plant using a synthetic flue gas derived from both a conventional fossil-fuel power plant (15%v/v CO2) and a cement plant (20%v/v). The use of a higher CO2 concentrated flue gas enhanced the CO2 absorption and hence the overall CO2 capture process. Higher CO2 concentrations also increased the solvent cyclic capacity which was displaced to higher values as CO2 concentration shifted from 15%v/v CO2 to 20%v/v CO2. A 29% reduction of the energy consumption per ton of CO2 was achieved in the stripper as flue gas shifted from 15%v/v CO2 to 20%v/v, showing post-combustion capture based on chemical absorption as a potential approach to mitigate CO2 emissions originating from cement production.