Thermo-economic investigation: an insight tool to analyze NGCC with calcium-looping process and with chemical-looping combustion for CO₂capture

Abstract

Summary In this work, three kinds of natural gas‐based power generation processes for CO2 capture and storage, that is, natural gas‐combined cycle with pre‐combustion decarburization (NGCC‐PRE), NGCC‐PRE with calcium‐looping process, and NGCC‐PRE with chemical‐looping combustion (NGCC‐CLC), are analyzed by Aspen Plus. The effects of two decisive variables (i.e., steam‐to‐natural gas (S/NG) ratio and oxygen‐to‐natural gas (O/NG) ratio) on the thermodynamic performances of individual process, such as energy and exergy efficiencies, are investigated systematically. Based on simulation outcomes, all the three processes are favored by operating at S/NG = 2.0 and O/NG = 0.65. Furthermore, comparisons of individual system efficiencies and exergy destruction contributor are herein involved. The results show that the highest system efficiencies and lowest exergy destruction are achieved in the NGCC‐CLC process. In addition, capital investment, dynamic payback period, net present value, and internal rate of return are used for deciding the economic feasibility and surely are involved in this work for comparison purpose. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Performance and Cost Analysis of Natural Gas Combined Cycle Plants with Chemical Looping Combustion

“…The Gibbs reactor tries to find the reaction path to minimize Gibbs free energy, which corresponds to equilibrium conditions. As a matter of fact, a similar method using the Gibbs reactor was reported from other studies. , …”

“…As NG utilization is currently growing at a constant rate of 2.4% annually, the International Energy Agency has predicted that its share of the global energy mix will continue to increase . The Energy Information Administration predicts that NG consumption will increase from 26.9 quadrillion Btu to 30.5 quadrillion Btu over the next 30 years …”

“…A detailed simulation study of the CLC process was typically performed under three conditions: NGCC with precombustion decarburization (PRE), NGCC-PRE with calcium looping, and NGCC with CLC (NGCC-CLC) . The results showed that the highest system efficiencies and lowest exergy destruction are achieved in the NGCC-CLC.…”

Understanding the influence of the alkaline cation K + or Na + in the regeneration efficiency of a biogas upgrading unit

“…Even though promising results have been found by the employment of amines, nowadays there are some disadvantages discussed by the scientific community. Some examples are the toxicity produced by the amine degradation through the formation of nitrosamine as a potential carcinogenic compound and the high regeneration cost in the stripping step . Also, the use of caustic solvents requires an elevated energy consumption to regenerate the solvent via temperature increase .…”

“…Some examples are the toxicity produced by the amine degradation through the formation of nitrosamine as a potential carcinogenic compound and the high regeneration cost in the stripping step. 13,[16][17][18] Also, the use of caustic solvents requires an elevated energy consumption to regenerate the solvent via temperature increase. 13,18,19 However, NaOH and KOH present advantages of being cheaper, having a greater theoretical CO 2 capture capacity, and their availability in the industry market.…”