Article - IEAGHG

2nd Oxyfuel Combustion Conference
The current state of oxy-fuel technology: demonstrations and
technical barriers
Terry Wall1, Rohan Stanger1 & Stanley Santos2
1
Chemical Engineering, University of Newcastle, AUSTRALIA, 2308
2
IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme, UK
Keywords: oxy-fuel demonstration
1. Introduction
As one of the three major carbon capture technologies associated with carbon capture and storage (CCS), oxy-fuel
technology is currently undergoing rapid development with a number of international demonstration projects of
scale 10-30 MWe having commenced and units with a scale of 250-300 MWe emerging in the progression towards
commercialisation. Industrial scale testing of coal combustion and burners is also being conducted by technology
vendors.
The paper details the current international status of the technology; the contributions of current demonstrations; and
a roadmap for commercial deployment.
At its current state of maturity oxy-fuel technology may be considered semi-commercial, in that even if a unit was
economically viable and could be provided by a vendor, the generator and vendor would need to share the technical
risk. This is because guarantees could not at present be provided for operating characteristics associated with mature
technologies such as reliability, emissions, ramp rate and spray control. This is due to the maturity of the technology
associated with the capability of vendors and associated design and operational uncertainties, associated with a lack
of plant experience at scale.
The projected development of oxy-fuel technology for first-generation plant is provided, using an ASU for oxygen
supply, standard furnace designs with externally recirculated flue gas, and limited thermal integration of the ASU
and compression plant with the power plant. Potential features of second generation technology are listed. Listed
issues delaying deployment indicate that market, economic, legal and issues of public acceptance are more
significant than technical barriers.
The data in this abstract is current in December 2010 and will be updated for presentation at the Conference.
2
2. Oxy-fuel Demonstration
Oxy-fuel combustion is one of three promising technologies designed to support the geological sequestration of
CO2 from coal based power generation. However, as with other CCS technologies, oxy-fuel has yet to be
commercially deployed. A recent review by the Global CCS Institute [3] considers other CCS technologies, (ie.
Integrated Gasification and Combined Cycle, IGCC and Post-combustion capture, PCC) to be at a higher technical
readiness level than oxy-fuel and thus closer to commercial realisation. This naturally raises the level of risk
associated with a full scale commercial plant and makes techno-economic comparisons between the technologies
difficult to evaluate. In its benchmarking evaluation of CCS projects, the Global CCS Institute [3] found that of the
159 active or planned CCS projects, oxy-fuel projects numbered 14 (~10%). However, the development of oxy-fuel
technology is fast approaching the demonstration stage, with several large scale projects recently receiving financial
support from the European Union [4] and US Department of Energy [5]. This paper discusses the current state of
the art of oxy-fuel with regards to particular projects and how they address the barriers and uncertainty restricting
commercial deployment.
Recent Milestones & Targets
Over the last decade, oxy-fuel technology has been extensively reviewed as laboratory and pilot scale trials have
become larger and more refined [6-12]. Several recent milestones and expected targets for oxy-fuel technology
include:





2008 – Vattenfall’s Schwarze Pumpe Pilot plant, world’s first full chain oxy-fuel pilot
demonstration
2009 – TOTAL’s Lacq project, world’s first integrated and industrial natural gas fired oxy-fuel
plant+ world’s first pipeline injected oxy-fuel flue gas
2011 – Callide Oxy-fuel Project, world’s first full chain retrofit demonstration, being coal-fired
with electrical generation
2011 – Endesa/CIUDEN CFB, largest pilot oxy-CFB plant in the world
2014-2018 – Commercial demonstration scale oxy-fuel plants (Jäenschwalde, Compostilla,
FutureGen 2)
Figure 1 shows the historical progression of oxy-fuel projects, including the above expected targets and recently
announced demonstrations. The projects are differentiated as of pilot scale, industrial scale or demonstration scale,
with a further category of announced demonstration scale projects yet to receive sufficient funding to proceed.
The majority of projects are pulverised coal fired, which represents the most common form of power generation
process, and shows where the main thrust of research has been centred. However, a number of other projects such
ENEL (oxy high pressure), Lacq (natural gas), CIUDEN & Compostilla (CFB) show that oxy-fuel technology can
be considered in a range of applications. The most recent announced demonstration is the FutureGen 2 Meredosia
project [5]. The Meredosia plant is an oil fired process which will be re-powered as a coal fired utility, though
further information has yet to become available.
Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000
3
1000
Demonstration with CCS
Demonstration (yet to proceed)
Compostilla CFB 320
Jänschwalde 250
Industrial scale without CCS
FutureGen 2.0 200
Pilot scale
Project Viking (Oil) 150
100
Black Hills CFB 100
Youngdong 100
Holland CFB 78
MWe (or MWt/3)
Jamestown CFB 50
International Comb 11.7
Schwarze Pumpe 10
10
B&W 10
JSIM/NEDO(Oil)
4.0
ANL/EERC 1.0
Jupiter 6.7
Callide A 30
Pearl Plant 22
ENEL Oxy-high pressure 16
Oxy-coal UK 13.3
CIUDEN CFB 10
CIUDEN PC 6.7
Lacq (NG) 10
IFRF 1.0
ENEL 1.0
1
B&W/AL 0.4
PowerGen
0.3
IHI 0.5
ANL/BHP 0.2
IVD-Stuttgart
0.2
CANMET 0.1
0
1980
1990
2000
0.2
RWE-NPOWER
2010
2020
2030
Year
Figure 1. Historical development of oxy-fuel projects.
These projects and milestones indicate pathway for the development of the scale of technology. However, as the
scale of project increases, so to does the cost of project failure. The IEA first assessed these risks as part of their
Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP) for CCS technologies in 2008 in the form of technology blocks [13]. These blocks
represented the main areas of an oxy-fuel combustion plant and their demonstration was considered as validated,
partially validated or not validated. These technology blocks are indicated and numbered in Figure 2. In 2010, the
IEA used these technology blocks to outline the research and development needs for each of the CCS technologies
as applied to the supply of electricity, iron and cement [14]. The blocks were also loosely adopted by the Global
CCS Institute as part of the “Ideal Portfolio” of CCS projects [15] and have been discussed in a recent Oxy-fuel
Working Group Forum and Capacity Building Course [16].
3. Description of Oxy-fuel Technology and Component Technology Blocks
The concept of Oxy-fuel combustion is based around replacing the air fired environment (O2, N2) with a mixture of
pure O2 and recycled flue gas. The resulting flue gas consists predominately of CO2 and H2O, which can be
compressed for geosequestration. Figure 2 shows the main components of a pulverised coal oxy-fuel power plant.
Table 1 summarises these technology blocks and the types of areas they encompass.
4
4. Electrical Generation
5. Flue Gas Treatment & Cooling

3. Oxygen

O2
Supply
2. Fuel Supply

Coal
Handling

6. CO2 Compression & Inerts Removal


ESP


Sequestration Site
Transport
(pipeline, truck, etc)
CO2
compression
1. Oxy-fuel Combustion
Recycled Flue Gas
Deep Geological Storage
7. Transport & Storage
Figure 2. The technology blocks of a pulverised coal oxy-fuel power plant
Table 1. Oxyfuel technology issues
Oxy-fuel
Technology Blocks
Status
Topics included
1. Oxy-fuel
Combustion
D
-Flame management with recycle (PF)
-Air/Oxy mode switching
-Burner design + aerodynamics (PF )
-CFD modelling
-O2 mixing
-Bed control + recycle (CFB)
2. Fuel Supply
P
-On-line coal milling with recycle
-Lignite drying
-Fuel conveyance + mode switching
3. Oxygen Supply
P
-Optimised ASU for open market
-Non-conventional O2 supply
P
-Plant integration + optimisation
-Materials for USC with oxy-fuel
-Plant operation in open market
-Plant availability
-Heat transfer & radiation
P
-Impurity behaviour and control (NOx, SOx, Hg, H2O)
-Conventional - low NOx burner, SCR, FGD, ESP/FF
-Non-conventional – limestone injection, fly ash capture, NaOH scrubbing,
high pressure scrubbing
-FGC (direct or indirect)
-Activated carbon bed for Hg control
P
-Large scale flue gas compression
-CO2 auto-refrigeration
-Dehydration
-Inerts off gas re-processing (higher capture rate)
-Circuit optimisation (cost, energy, capture rate, product purity)
D
-Pipeline materials & infrastructure
-CO2 product purity
-Site characterisation & injection rates
-Regulations & long term liability
-Public acceptance
4. Electrical
Generation
5. Flue Gas
Treatment &
Cooling
6. CO2 Compression
& Inerts Removal
7. Transport &
Storage
D – demonstration scale, P – pilot scale

Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000
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