Integrated gasification gas combined cycle plant with membrane reactors: Technological and economical analysis

In the present work, the capture and storage of carbon dioxide from the fossil fuel power plant have been considered. The main objective was to analyze the thermodynamic performances and the technological aspects of two integrated gasification gas combined cycle plants (IGCC), as well as to give a forecast of the investment costs for the plants and the resulting energy consumptions. The first plant considered is an IGCC* plant (integrated gasification gas combined cycle plant with traditional shift reactors) characterized by the traditional water gas shift reactors and a CO2 physical adsorption system followed by the power section. The second one is an IGCCM plant (integrated gasification gas combined cycle plant with membrane reactor) where the coal thermal input is the same as the first one, but the traditional shift reactors and the physical adsorption unit are replaced by catalytic palladium membrane reactors (CMR). In the present work, a mono-dimensional computational model of the membrane reactor was proposed to simulate and evaluate the capability of the IGCCM plant to capture carbon dioxide. The energetic performances, efficiency and net power of the IGCC* and IGCCM plants were, thus, compared, assuming as standard a traditional IGCC plant without carbon dioxide capture. The economical aspects of the three plants were compared through an economical analysis. Since the IGCC* and IGCCM plants have additional costs related to the capture and disposal of the carbon dioxide, a Carbon Tax (adopted in some countries like Sweden) proportional to the number of kilograms of carbon dioxide released in the environment was assumed. According to the economical analysis, the IGCCM plant proved to be more convenient than the IGCC* one.