Integrating LCA and LCC Study of FGD System at a Thermal Power Plant in China

This paper presents the integrating Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) study of the Flue Gas Desulphurization (FGD) system in Fengcheng thermal power plant in China. The FGD systems have been installed in a power generation plant to reduce the large amount of SO2 emission. Studies to appraise FGD system in power plant have mainly focused on economic analysis. This paper gives a way of combing LCA and LCC analysis, which can be used to evaluate ecological and economic benefits both before and after the installation of the FGD system. The focus of this study is to consider not only the LCA outcome but also the LCC factors. LCA provides a broad view by generating a model which links the industry to be assessed through all its material and energy resource flows to other environmentally significant processes in the wider industrial network. The Life Cycle Costing was used to provide a comparison between alternative before and after installation of the FGD system. LCC, as a powerful analytical tool, examines the total cost, in net present value terms, of a FGD system over its entire service lifetime. Comparative models of the power plant, before and after the installation of the FGD system, are evaluated using the LCA model. The results indicate that the installation of the FGD system can reduce the acidification problem associated with combustible fossil fuel plants by approximately 97%. The LCC estimation shows the major costs of the FGD system: capital investment, operating and maintenance, and miscellaneous costs. The modeling and model analysis of LCA and LCC for FGD system provide the foundation for assessing the selection of desulphurization technology for large thermal power plant in China; it is also helpful to optimize construction, operation and maintenance of FGD installation.