Comparisons between oxy-fuel combustion and IGCC technologies in China coal- energy industry

Abstract

A comparison between oxy-fuel combustion plants and IGCC plants has been carried out. Oxy-fuel combustion performs better for the retrofit of exist pulverized coal plants after the evaluation of efficiency, retrofit cost and O&M cost. China is currently and will depending on coal for its energy for a long time. Plenty of PC plants are used in existing power plants due to its lower coal consumption. One way to reduce CO2 emission with CCS is to equip existing power plants with appliances for capturing CO2 without modifying substantially the material and the process of generation. This situation is totally different with United States and European countries. IGCC is a promising technology which has been developed for decades in those developed countries. However, in China, the technology is not as mature as developed countries. China needs to find a CO2 capture technology which is fixed for China’s situation. After the comparisons it is concluded that although IGCC with precombustion is a promising technology in European countries and United States, oxyfuel combustion is more suitable based on China’s situation