GASIFICATION OF COAL AND PETCOKE FOR LOW-COST CARBON CAPTURE

Abstract:

Gasification has been proven to be a viable technology for CO2 capture and reducing SOx, NOx, particulate matter, and mercury emissions from coal and petcoke-fired power plants, synthetic fuels production, and chemical facilities. Gasification plants have been capturing carbon dioxide for several decades in chemical plants in China and the United States. The captured CO2 can be subsequently be used for enhanced oil recovery, or sequestered in deep saline aquifers.

The Dakota Gasification Company has been selling CO2 from its substitute natural gas production plant for injection into EnCana Corporation’s oilfields in Saskatchewan, Canada for enhanced oil recovery since October, 2000. More than 20 coal-fed gasification plants producing chemicals such as methanol and ammonia have been constructed in China in 2006 and 2007.

Several Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle Power Plant projects with coal and/or petcoke feed are in the design stage in both the United States and Europe. A world-scale petcoke-fired IGCC facility is in the development stage in India. These IGCC plants can be considered carbon-capture ready. CO2 capture and sequestration can be achieved with IGCC at a much lower cost of electricity than any other coal-fired power generation technology.

The keys to capturing carbon from a gasification facility are the shift reactors and the acid gas removal unit. There are various CO2-shift strategies and acid gas removal technology options that will be discussed in the presentation.