Assessment of chemical looping-based conceptual designs for high efficient hydrogen and power co-generation applied to gasification processes

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies are expected to play a significant role in the coming decades for curbing the greenhouse gas emissions and to ensure a sustainable development of power generation and other energy-intensive industrial sectors. Chemical looping systems are very promising options for intrinsically capture CO2 with lower cost and energy penalties. Gasification offers significant advantages compared with other technologies in term of lower energy and cost penalties for carbon capture, utilization of wide range of fuels, poly-generation capability, plant flexibility, lower environmental impact, etc. The aim of this paper was to propose and evaluate conceptual designs of large scale coal gasification plants with pre- and post-combustion capture based on various chemical looping options. Hydrogen and power co-generation was evaluated as potential way to increase energy efficiency of such plants. The plant concepts generated around 420-600 MW net electricity with at least 90% carbon capture rate. For co-generation scenario, a flexible hydrogen output was evaluated in the range of 0-200 MWth (LHV). The results showed net electrical efficiency ranging from 35 to 41%, most of the cases having an almost total carbon capture rate (>99%). Hydrogen co-production show as promising way for efficiency increase. (C) 2013 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.