Integration Options and Economic Analysis of an Integrated Chemical Looping Air Separation Process for Oxy-fuel Combustion

This paper is concerned about a detailed techno-economic assessment of a hypothetical 500 MWe coal-fired power plant in New South Wales, Australia, for oxy-fuel conversion using integrated chemical looping air separation (ICLAS) technology and cryogenic air separation unit (CASU). The key objectives of this study are to (i) investigate and compare the detailed integration options for oxy-fuel conversion using ICLAS and CASU and (ii) determine the technical merits of the above integration options and the conditions at which the technologies become economically feasible. The study produced scientific evidence that confirms the viability of the CLAS process from both technical and economic points of view under certain conditions. The detailed technical analysis revealed that ICLAS with natural gas integration is energy-efficient compared to CASU running on parasitic load. This is primarily due to the fact that ICLAS needs less auxiliary power compared to CASU. Despite the fact that ICLAS natural gas integration has resulted in higher efficiencies than CASU running on parasitic load, from a series of detailed economic analyses, it was observed that both ICLAS and CASU may not be viable under the present operating and economic conditions. Nevertheless, from sensitivity analysis, it was concluded that ICLAS can become feasible if economic conditions are improved, e.g., a low natural gas market price (<$3.5/GJ), a high electricity wholesale price (>$59/MWh), and/or a high carbon tax (>$33/tonne).