An integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) is a technology using a high pressure gasifier to turn coal and other carbon based fuels into pressurized synthesis gas. This enables removal of impurities from the fuel prior to generating electricity, reducing emissions of sulfur dioxide, particulates, mercury, and in some cases carbon dioxide. Some of these impurities, such as sulfur, can be turned into re-usable byproducts through the Claus process. With additional process equipment, carbon monoxide can be converted to carbon dioxide via water-gas shift reaction, enabling it to be sequestered and increasing gasification efficiency. Excess heat from the primary combustion and syngas fired generation is then passed to a steam cycle, producing additional electricity. This process results in improved thermodynamic efficiency, compared to conventional pulverized coal combustion.
Significance Coal can be found in abundance in the USA and many other countries and its price has remained relatively constant in recent years. Of the traditional hydrocarbon fuels - oil, coal, and natural gas - coal is used as a feedstock for 40% of global electricity generation. Fossil fuel consumption and its contribution to large-scale emissions is becoming a pressing issue because of the adverse effects of climate change. In particular, coal contains more CO2 per BTU than oil or natural gas and is responsible for 43% of CO2 emissions from fuel combustion. Thus, the lower emissions that IGCC technology allows through gasification and pre-combustion carbon capture is discussed as a way to addressing aforementioned concerns.
Operations Below is a schematic flow diagram of an IGCC plant:
The gasification process can produce syngas from a wide variety of carbon-containing feedstocks, such as high-sulfur coal, heavy petroleum residues, and biomass.
The plant is called integrated because (1) the syngas produced in the gasification section is used as fuel for the gas turbine in the combined cycle and (2) the steam produced by the syngas coolers in the gasification section is used by the steam turbine in the combined cycle. In this example the syngas produced is used as fuel in a gas turbine which produces electrical power. In a normal combined cycle, so-called "waste heat" from the gas turbine exhaust is used in a Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG) to make steam for the steam turbine cycle. An IGCC plant improves the overall process efficiency by adding the higher-temperature steam produced by the gasification process to the steam turbine cycle. This steam is then used in steam turbines to produce additional electrical power.
IGCC plants are advantageous in comparison to conventional coal power plants due to their high thermal efficiency, low non-carbon greenhouse gas emissions, and capability to process low grade coal. The disadvantages include higher capital and maintenance costs, and the amount of released without pre-combustion capture.
Process overview
The solid coal is gasified to produce syngas, or synthetic gas. Syngas is synthesized by gasifying coal in a closed pressurized reactor with a shortage of oxygen. The shortage of oxygen ensures that coal is broken down by the heat and pressure as opposed to burning completely. The chemical reaction between coal and oxygen produces a product that is a mixture of carbon and hydrogen, or syngas. CxHy + (x/2)O2 → (x)CO + (y/2)H2 The heat from the production of syngas is used to produce steam from cooling water which is then used for steam turbine electricity production. The syngas must go through a pre-combustion separation process to remove CO2 and other impurities to produce a more purified fuel. Three steps are necessary for the separation of impurities: Water-gas-shift reaction. The reaction that occurs in a water-gas-shift reactor is CO + H2O CO2 + H2. This produces a syngas with a higher composition of hydrogen fuel which is more efficient for burning later in combustion. Physical separation process. This can be done through various mechanisms such as absorption, adsorption or membrane separation. Drying, compression and storage/shipping. The resulting syngas fuels a combustion turbine that produces electricity. At this stage the syngas is fairly pure H2.
Benefits and drawbacks A major drawback of using coal as a fuel source is the emission of carbon dioxide and pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury, and particulates. Almost all coal-fired power plants use pulverized coal combustion, which grinds the coal to increase the surface area, burns it to make steam, and runs the steam through a turbine to generate electricity. Pulverized coal plants can only capture carbon dioxide after combustion when it is diluted and harder to separate. In comparison, gasification in IGCC allows for separation and capture of the concentrated and pressurized carbon dioxide before combustion. Syngas cleanup includes filters to remove bulk particulates, scrubbing to remove fine particulates, and solid adsorbents for mercury removal. Additionally, hydrogen gas is used as fuel, which produces no pollutants under combustion.
IGCC also consumes less water than traditional pulverized coal plants. In a pulverized coal plant, coal is burned to produce steam, which is then used to create electricity using a steam turbine. Then steam exhaust must then be condensed with cooling water, and water is lost by evaporation. In IGCC, water consumption is reduced by combustion in a gas turbine, which uses the generated heat to expand air and drive the turbine. Steam is only used to capture the heat from the combustion turbine exhaust for use in a secondary steam turbine. Currently, the major drawback is the high capital cost compared to other forms of power production.
Installations The DOE Clean Coal Demonstration Project helped construct 3 IGCC plants: Edwarsport Power Station in Edwardsport, Indiana, Polk Power Station in Tampa, Florida (online 1996), and Pinon Pine in Reno, Nevada. In the Reno demonstration project, researchers found that then-current IGCC technology would not work more than 300 feet (100m) above sea level.Source: Joe Lucas, Executive Director of Americans for Balanced Energy Choices, as interviewed on NPR's Science Friday, Friday May 12, 2006 The DOE report in reference 3 however makes no mention of any altitude effect, and most of the problems were associated with the solid waste extraction system. The Polk Power station is currently operating, following resolution of demonstration start-up problems, but the Piñon Pine project encountered significant problems and was abandoned.
The US DOE's Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI Phase 2) selected the Kemper Project as one of two projects to demonstrate the feasibility of low emission coal-fired power plants. Mississippi Power began construction on the Kemper Project in Kemper County, Mississippi, in 2010 and is poised to begin operation in 2016, though there have been many delays. In March, the projected date was further pushed back from early 2016 to August 31, 2016, adding $110 million to the total and putting the project 3 years behind schedule. The electrical plant is a flagship Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project that burns lignite coal and utilizes pre-combustion IGCC technology with a projected 65% emission capture rate.
The first generation of IGCC plants polluted less than contemporary coal-based technology, but also polluted water; for example, the Wabash Gasification Facility, located in Vigo County, Indiana, was out of compliance with its water permit during 1998–2001 because it emitted arsenic, selenium and cyanide. Wabash operated commercially until 2016, and was being converted to a low carbon hydrogen and ammonia facility as of 2025.
IGCC is now touted as capture ready and could potentially be used to capture and store carbon dioxide. (See FutureGen) Poland's Kędzierzyn will soon host a Zero-Emission Power & Chemical Plant that combines coal gasification technology with Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS). This installation had been planned, but there has been no information about it since 2009. Other operating IGCC plants in existence around the world are the Alexander (formerly Buggenum) in the Netherlands, Puertollano in Spain, and JGC in Japan. A 575 MW plant, using refinery-residues from Saras S.p.A., is active since 1999 in Sarroch (Sardinia, Italy).
The Texas Clean Energy project planned to build a 400 MW IGCC facility that would incorporate carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology. The project would have been the first coal power plant in the United States to combine IGCC and 90% carbon capture and storage. The sponsor Summit Power filed for bankruptcy in 2017.
There are several advantages and disadvantages when compared to conventional post combustion carbon capture and various variations
Cost and reliability A key issue in implementing IGCC is its high capital cost, which prevents it from competing with other power plant technologies. Currently, ordinary pulverized coal plants are the lowest cost power plant option. The advantage of IGCC comes from the ease of retrofitting existing power plants that could offset the high capital cost. In a 2007 model, IGCC with CCS is the lowest-cost system in all cases. This model compared estimations of levelized cost of electricity, showing IGCC with CCS to cost 71.9 $US2005/MWh, pulverized coal with CCS to cost 88 $US2005/MWh, and natural gas combined cycle with CCS to cost 80.6 $US2005/MWh. The levelized cost of electricity was noticeably sensitive to the price of natural gas and the inclusion of carbon storage and transport costs.
The potential benefit of retrofitting has so far, not offset the cost of IGCC with carbon capture technology. A 2013 report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration demonstrates that the overnight cost of IGCC with CCS has increased 19% since 2010. Amongst the three power plant types, pulverized coal with CCS has an overnight capital cost of $5,227 (2012 dollars)/kW, IGCC with CCS has an overnight capital cost of $6,599 (2012 dollars)/kW, and natural gas combined cycle with CCS has an overnight capital cost of $2,095 (2012 dollars)/kW. Pulverized coal and NGCC costs did not change significantly since 2010. The report further relates that the 19% increase in IGCC cost is due to recent information from IGCC projects that have gone over budget and cost more than expected.
Recent testimony in regulatory proceedings show the cost of IGCC to be twice that predicted by Goddell, from $96 to 104/MWh.Testimony of Dr. Elion Amit, Minnesota Dept. of Commerce. That's before addition of carbon capture and sequestration (sequestration has been a mature technology at both Weyburn in Canada (for enhanced oil recovery) and Sleipner in the North Sea at a commercial scale for the past ten years)—capture at a 90% rate is expected to have a $30/MWh additional cost.
Wabash was down repeatedly for long stretches due to gasifier problems. Subsequent projects, such as Excelsior's Mesaba Project, have a third gasifier and train built in.