THE TEXAS CRYOGENIC OXY-FUEL CYCLE (TCO): A NOVEL APPROACH TO POWER GENERATION WITH CO2 OPTIONS

A novel oxy-fuel based power cycle is presented that combines conventional oxy-fuel cycle technology with novel mixed gaseous compression and liquid pumping of CO2 to produce both useable power and provide transportable CO2 for transportation via pipeline for use in sequestration or enhanced oil recovery (EOR). CO2 emissions reduction is a central focus of climate change initiatives. Therefore, it is desired to have a power plant process cycle that reduces CO2 emissions associated with producing power Once captured CO2 must be transferred to a sequestration site for long term storage or utilized in EOR operations. Recent research has demonstrated that CO2 is most efficiently transported as a liquid at high pressures via pipelines. A Cryogenic Oxy-Fuel cycle will be presented that captures all CO2 produced during combustion and inherently converts that CO2 to a sequestration-ready state that can be immediately placed into transportation Pipelines and stored at the desired sequestration site. The proposed cycle deviates from conventional cycles in that during part of the process the CO2 is in cooled liquid form which allows; I) Decreased power demand to increase the CO2 pressure because pumping has lower power requirement than compression CO2) The take-off of the CO2 is optimized for pipeline transport and no further compression or expansion is required, and 3) A high overall thermodynamic cycle efficiency can be reached with relatively low firing temperatures in the oxy-burner (around 1000 F). This significantly simplifies the combustor and expander designs required for the process. Additional benefits of the cycle include predicted efficiencies near state of the art IGCC's, applicability to multiple fuel sources, and cost reduction associated with reduced component sizes utilized in the cycle. This presentation will focus on the overall operational and technological requirements of the novel cycle, a breakdown of the individual components utilized, and simulations demonstrating predicted performance. Technological challenges of implementing a working version of the cycle will be discussed and suggested development required for overcoming the challenges will be presented This paper will include recent research and development of an oxy-fuel combustor utilized in the cycle as well as implementation of compression and pumping apparatus of recent development.