Coupling chemical looping combustion of solid fuels with advanced steam cycles for CO2 capture: A process modelling study

Chemical looping combustion is a cost-competitive solution for producing low carbon electricity. In this paper, we investigate by means of a process modelling study, the coupling of chemical looping combustion of solid fuels with advanced steam-based power cycles, viz. supercritical, ultra-supercritical and advanced ultra-supercritical Rankine cycles. The energy and exergy efficiencies of the various chemical looping combustion power plant configurations are compared against the reference plants without carbon capture. Our models incorporate practical considerations for reactor design. With an upper operating temperature limit of 950 degrees C, the maximum efficiencies achievable by integrated gasification combined cycle chemical looping combustion (IGCC-CLC) and in situ gasification chemical looping combustion power plants (iG-CLC) are 41.3% and 41.5%, respectively. Overall, iG-CLC emerges as the most efficient CLC configuration. Comparing to an integrated gasification combined cycle without carbon capture, the energy efficiency penalties for capturing CO2 from iG-CLC coupled with subcritical, supercritical, ultra-supercritical or advanced ultra-supercritical steam cycles are 5.1%, 5.0%, 5.2% or 13.0%, respectively. The biomass-fired chemical looping combustion power plants also show low energy efficiency penalties (<2.5%) compared to the reference biomass power plants without CO2 capture. Our modelling results suggest that chemical looping combustion will remain an attractive carbon capture technology for solid fuel power plants, in a future when supercritical steam turbines become the norm.

Automated summary

Chemical looping combustion is a cost-competitive solution for producing low carbon electricity. By conducting process modeling studies, this research investigated the coupling of chemical looping combustion with advanced steam-based power cycles, finding in situ gasification chemical looping combustion to have the highest efficiency. Energy efficiency penalties for capturing CO2 are relatively low compared to power plants without carbon capture.