Carbon Capture Technology

Executive Summary This report examines three different methods of carbon dioxide (CO 2) capture for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) systems for coal fired power plants. The purpose of this report is to compare the three distinct technologies for overall feasibility of large scale implementation on standard coal power plants. Many political and economic reasons have forced industries, including the electric power sector, to move towards adopting greener technologies as CO 2 has been recognized as a green house gas (GHG), and therefore potentially environmentally harmful. Coal power plants with CCS lower CO 2 emissions up to 90%, but their adoption relies on being able to maintain efficiency and low costs for power plant owners. The three carbon capture (CC) technologies examined in a case study of 7 different potential CC systems were:-Absorption-Gasification-Oxy-coal combustion CO 2 absorption by the standard solvent MEA was found to be very energy consumptive, therefore leading to the highest Cost of Electricity (COE) and Mitigation Cost (MC) for any of the 7 cases. Newer technologies such as Integrated Gasification and Combined Cycle (IGCC) and Oxy-coal combustion power plants offer higher efficiencies and therefore better potential as CC sources. Oxy-coal combustion has yet to be scaled up from pilot plant prototypes, but improvements to its design through more efficient Air Separator Unit (ASU) development are possible. An IGCC power plant with 80% CO 2 capture performed best due to its relatively low Energy Penalty (EP), COE, and MC. However, research should be continued for both gasification and oxy-coal combustion to determine which design is ultimately more feasible for large scale implementation.