Oxy-combustion of coal, lignite and biomass: A techno-economic analysis for a large scale Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project in Romania

Power generation sector is facing important challenges to develop energy efficient solutions at the same time with reducing the greenhouse gas emissions (mainly CO2). Oxy-fuel combustion is a promising power generation technology for reducing both energy and cost penalties for CO2 capture. This paper presents a detailed techno-economic analysis for oxy-combustion power plant to generate about 350 MW net power with a carbon capture rate higher than 90%. Both fossil fuels (coal and lignite) and renewable energy sources (sawdust) were used to fuel a super-critical power plant (live steam parameters: 582 degrees C/29 MPa). The assessment is based on numerical analysis, the models of various power plant sub-systems being built in ChemCAD and Thermflow software. As benchmark option used to quantify the CO2 capture energy and cost penalties, the same super-critical power plant without CCS was considered. The investigated coal, lignite and sawdust oxy-combustion cases show an energy penalty of 9-12 net efficiency percentage points, 37-50% increase of total capital investment, the O&M costs are increasing with 7-15% and the electricity cost with 54-95% (all compared to coal-fuelled non-CCS case). Sensitivity studies were also performed to evaluate the influence of various economic parameters on electricity and CO2 avoidance costs. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.