Techno-economic evaluation of pressurized oxy-fuel combustion systems

Oxy-fuel combustion coal-fired power plants can achieve significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, but at the cost of lowering their efficiency. Research and development are conducted to reduce the efficiency penalty and to improve their reliability. High-pressure oxy-fuel combustion has been shown to improve the overall performance by recuperating more of the fuel enthalpy into the power cycle. In our previous papers, we demonstrated how pressurized oxy-fuel combustion indeed achieves higher net efficiency than that of conventional atmospheric oxy-fuel power cycles. The system utilizes a cryogenic air separation unit, a carbon dioxide purification/compression unit, and flue gas recirculation system, adding to its cost. In this study, we perform a techno-economic feasibility study of pressurized oxy-fuel combustion power systems. A number of reports and papers have been used to develop reliable models which can predict the costs of power plant components, its operation, and carbon dioxide capture specific systems, etc. We evaluate different metrics including capital investments, cost of electricity, and CO₂ avoidance costs. Based on our cost analysis, we show that the pressurized oxy-fuel power system is an effective solution in comparison to other carbon dioxide capture technologies. The higher heat recovery displaces some of the regeneration components of the feedwater system. Moreover, pressurized operating conditions lead to reduction in the size of several other critical components. Sensitivity analysis with respect to important parameters such as coal price and plant capacity is performed. The analysis suggests a guideline to operate pressurized oxy-fuel combustion power plants in a more cost-effective way.