Techno-economic evaluation of chemical looping-based coal-fired power plant

A detailed techno-economic evaluation study was performed on the typical 2×300 MW subcritical power plants in China, as normal circulating fluidization bed (CFB) and chemical looping combustion (CLC)-based coal-fired options. The results show that the cost of electricity (COE) of CLC plant using natural iron ore as oxygen carriers is 19.69% higher than that of normal CFB power plant. The CO2 avoidance costs (CAC) and CO2 capture costs (CCC) are 72.15 and 69.78¥/t respectively. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis on key parameters such as coal type, coal price, CFB unit price and oxygen carrier type, etc. was conducted. The results showed that COE is most correlated with coal price because fuel costs contribute about 66% of COE of CLC plant. But the influence of different coal types on the economic parameters of the CLC technology is not obvious; The COE, CAC and CCC increase significantly if using Ni-, Cu-, and Fe- based oxygen carrier prepared by industrial granulation technology. The economic cost will decrease if increasing oxygen carrier lifetime and using the circulating flue gas as fluidizing gas. © 2014 Chin. Soc. for Elec. Eng.