Evaluating the Impact of CO 2 Capture on the Operation of Combined Cycles with Different Configurations

Elena Savoldelli and Silvia Ravelli ()
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Elena Savoldelli: Department of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University of Bergamo, Viale Marconi 5, 24044 Dalmine, Italy
Silvia Ravelli: Department of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University of Bergamo, Viale Marconi 5, 24044 Dalmine, Italy

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 14, 1-22

Abstract: In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with power generation, the replacement of fossil fuels with renewables must be accompanied by the availability of dispatchable sources needed to balance electricity demand and production. Combined cycle (CC) power plants adopting post-combustion capture (PCC) can serve this purpose, ensuring near-zero CO 2 emissions at the stack, as well as high efficiency and load flexibility. In particular, the chemical absorption process is the most established approach for industrial-scale applications, although widespread implementation is lacking. In this study, different natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) configurations were modeled to estimate the burden of retrofitting the capture process to existing power plants on thermodynamic performance. Simulations under steady-state conditions covered the widest possible load range, depending on the gas turbine (GT) model. Attention was paid to the net power loss and net efficiency penalty attributable to PCC. The former can be mitigated by lowering the GT air–fuel ratio to increase the CO 2 concentration (X CO2 ) in the exhaust, thus decreasing the regeneration energy. The latter is reduced when the topping cycle is more efficient than the bottoming cycle for a given GT load. This is likely to be the case in the less-complex heat recovery units.

Keywords: combined cycle; off-design; part load; net efficiency; post-combustion CO 2 capture; chemical absorption; decarbonization (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: 2024
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