Preliminary study of an IGCC powerplant with integrated CO2 removal

The manuscript is aimed to the preliminary performance evaluation of an IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) configuration with upstream CO2 removal, fed with coal, by the means of ASPEN PLUS calculation code. The proposed power cycle inquires about the possibility and energy requirements of CO2 chemical absorption by solutions of ethanolammine once the rough syngas has been chemically shifted with steam into a CO2 – H2 mix. The possibility of integrated ethanolammine H2S – CO2 removal has been analysed and discussed; then, a comparison with a standard IGCC without CO2 removal section has been carried out, showing an efficiency reduction of about 7%, mainly due to the shift and CO2 removal, with an emission of about 200 kgCO2/MWh. The plant equipped with DeCO2 section showed a reduction of 75% atmospheric carbon dioxide emission with respect to the standard one, for the analysed 700 kJ/kg specific power unit.