Exergy Analysis of Gas Switching Chemical Looping IGCC Plants

Carlos Arnaiz del Pozo, Ángel Jiménez Álvaro, Jan Hendrik Cloete, Schalk Cloete and Shahriar Amini
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Carlos Arnaiz del Pozo: Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Calle Ramiro de Maeztu 7, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Ángel Jiménez Álvaro: Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Calle Ramiro de Maeztu 7, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Jan Hendrik Cloete: SINTEF Industry, Richard Birkelands vei 2B, 7034 Trondheim, Norway
Schalk Cloete: SINTEF Industry, Richard Birkelands vei 2B, 7034 Trondheim, Norway
Shahriar Amini: SINTEF Industry, Richard Birkelands vei 2B, 7034 Trondheim, Norway

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-25

Abstract: Integrated gasification combined cycles (IGCC) are promising power production systems from solid fuels due to their high efficiency and good environmental performance. Chemical looping combustion (CLC) is an effective route to reduce the energy penalty associated with CO 2 capture. This concept comprises a metal oxygen carrier circulated between a reduction reactor, where syngas is combusted, and an oxidation reactor, where O 2 is withdrawn from an air stream. Parallel to CLC, oxygen carriers that are capable of releasing free O 2 in the reduction reactor, i.e., chemical looping oxygen production (CLOP), have been developed. This offers interesting integration opportunities in IGCC plants, replacing energy demanding air separation units (ASU) with CLOP. Gas switching (GS) reactor cluster technology consists of a set of reactors operating in reduction and oxidation stages alternatively, providing an averaged constant flow rate to the gas turbine and a CO 2 stream readily available for purification and compression, and avoiding the transport of solids across reactors, which facilitates the scale up of this technology at pressurized conditions. In this work, exergy analyses of a gas switching combustion (GSC) IGCC plant and a GSOP–GSC IGCC plant are performed and consistently benchmarked against an unabated IGCC and a precombustion CO 2 capture IGCC plant. Through the exergy analysis methodology, an accurate assessment of the irreversible loss distribution in the different power plant sections from a second-law perspective is provided, and new improvement pathways to utilize the exergy contained in the GSC reduction gases outlet are identified.

Keywords: gas switching combustion; gas switching oxygen production; exergy; IGCC; CO 2 capture; efficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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