Techno-economic Comparison Of Combined Cycle Power Plants With Pre-combustion CO2 Capture Via Two Different Reforming Methods: Chemical Looping Reforming And Gas Switching Reforming

Abstract

This paper focuses on the techno-economic comparison of gas-fired combined cycle power plants with CO2 capture and two reforming methods, chemical looping reforming (CLR) and gas-switching reforming (GSR). The overall processes are denoted as CLR-CC and GSR-CC respectively. The net electrical efficiency of the CLR-CC and GSR-CC is 42.1% and 46.2% respectively. Anyhow, with improvements in the gas turbine configuration, the net electrical efficiency improves by 2.5%. GSR-CC has a higher CO2 avoidance (>95%). The levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) for CLR-CC is lower than that of GSR-CC for based load operation of the power plant. Anyhow, GSR-CC provides flexibility in terms of output, electricity or pure H2. The capital requirement in the GSR-CC is higher due to the requirement of multiple standalone reactors to maintain a steady flow of the syngas produced from the GSR. The LCOE of both the processes is sensitive to the fuel cost. Further improvements in the GSRCC process can make the process competitive to post-combustion capture.