Technological Developments in IGCC for Carbon Capture

Legislation will soon require significant carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) capabilities. The purpose of this paper is to show how advances in technology can further improve the high efficiencies of Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plants and to determine whether the efficiency penalty for pre‐combustion removal of CO2 can be minimized. An in‐house study was carried out and the methodology is explained. Technological developments are explained for IGCC in general, e.g., improved gas turbines, and for IGCC with CCS, e.g., in the field of more efficient water gas shift and CO2 removal processes. The results show that the 48 % coal‐to‐power efficiency can be surpassed and the efficiency penalty for CCS minimized to 7 %. This is possible using near‐commercial technologies.