Evaluation of cooling requirements of post-combustion

CO2 capture applied to coal-fired power plantsPatrick Brandl1,2, Salman Masoudi Soltani2, Paul S. Fennell2, Niall Mac Dowell1,3*

1Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 1NA, UK 2Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, SW7 2AZ, UK

3Centre for Process Systems Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, SW7 2AZ, UK

*E-mail address: niall@imperial.ac.uk *Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 9298

References[1] Department of Energy and Climate Change, Energy Trends: June 2016: URN 16D/79B.[2] M. E. Boot-Handford et al., Carbon capture and storage update, Energy Environ. Sci.7 (1) (2014) 130-189.[3] International Energy Agency. World Energy Outlook, 2012.

AcknowledgementsThe authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the EPSRC under grants EP/M001369/1(MESMERISE-CCS), EP/M015351/1 (ONF) and EP/N024567/1 (CCSInSupply). Additional support from the UKCCS Research Centre under EPSRC grant number EP/K000446/1 is also gratefully acknowledged.

Carbon Capture in the UK: Factsheet

The UK has been

committed to reduce the CO2

emissions by 80% from 1990 levels by 2050.

Electricity generation from fossil fuels is one

of the biggest single emission sources of CO2

(25% of total) [1].

Capturing CO2

from the power plants’ flue gas

emitted otherwise into the

atmosphere can significantly reduce CO2

emissions.

In conjunction with other

technologies, CCS leads to a

minimised overall costs of electricity supply in the long

run [2].

Water-Energy Nexus

Water usage at fossil fuel

power stations is

considerably high [3].

An additional CCS plant could result in a significant increase in

the associated cooling requirements leading to an surge in

the localised water usage.

Objectives

Evaluating the cooling demand

of an amine-based post-

combustion CO2

capture process integrated with

a coal-fired power plant.

Presenting a breakdown of the required cooling

duty by taking into account the plant’s

capacity, steam cycle and operating conditions and

classifying the potential of cascading cooling

water .

A Coal-fired Power Plant Model with Post-Combustion CO2 Capture

Effect of steam cycle (SC) on cooling water flow rate for a coal-fired power plant (a) without CCS, (b) with CCS and (c) with CCS plus an integrated cooling cascade

Relative share of various cooling duties

ConclusionsThe results are in contrast to previous suggestions that the

addition of CCS would double the water footprint.

The temperature at which cooling is required varies appreciably

throughout the integrated capture process plant.

The increase in cooling duty (MW) does not necessarily lead to an increase in

cooling water usage (kgH2O/MW).

Integration of a cooling water cascade can result in a reduction in the cooling water requirements of a decarbonised

power plant.