Development of highest-efficiency next-gen thermal power plants (oxygen-blown IGFC)

Electric Power Development Co.,Ltd.

Development of highly efficient oxygen-blown IGCC IGFC

Reduction of CO2 emissions using oxygen-blown IGCC IGFC, with CCUS

Osaki-CoolGen Project

Outline

The use of renewable energy has been expanding globally, but it is impossible to satisfy all power needs with renewable energy and nuclear power. To meet the future coal needs in Japan and abroad, we believe that decarbonization in coal use is critical.

The integrated coal gasification fuel cell combined cycle (IGFC) is expected to achieve a higher power generation efficiency by adding a fuel cell to an integrated coal gasification combined cycle (IGCC) system that generates power by combining two turbines: a gas turbine that burns gasified coal and a steam turbine driven by the steam generated from the exhaust gas of the gas turbine.

Through the Osaki CoolGen Project, a demonstration project of an oxygen-blown IGCC and IGFC, we aim to establish the world’s first and ultimate high efficiency IGFC technologies for coal-fired power plants.

Description

We carried out the EAGLE (Coal Energy Application for Gas, Liquid & Electricity) Project at our Wakamatsu Research Institute since FY2002 as a joint research project with the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), a national research and development agency. The objective of this project was to establish technologies for realizing an oxygen-blown IGCC system.

Employing insights and results gained from the EAGLE Project, we are now pursuing the Osaki CoolGen Project with the Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc. using the financial aid from NEDO. The first phase of this project, a demonstration test of an oxygen-blown IGCC system (166 MW capacity, with a coal consumption volume of 1,180 tonne per day), was completed in February 2019. In the second phase, started in December 2019, we are running a demonstration test of an IGCC system with a CO2 capture capability (oxygen-blown IGCC demonstration facility plus a CO2 capture unit). In the third phase, started in March 2019, we initiated a demonstration project of an IGFC system with a CO2 capture capability.

The IGFC is expected to achieve a higher power generation efficiency (gross thermal efficiency of 72%, LHV basis) by adding a fuel cell to an integrated coal gasification combined cycle (IGCC) system that generates power by combining two turbines: a gas turbine that burns gasified coal and a steam turbine driven by the exhaust gas from the gas turbine.

As the world’s first effort to demonstrate an IGFC system, this project aims to confirm the applicability of coal gasified gas to a fuel cell by adding a fuel cell to the oxygen-blown IGCC demonstration facility with a CO2 capture capability built in the first two phases, and conduct a demonstration test to realize the most appropriate IGFC system with a CO2 capture capability.