scholarly journals Current status of national integrated gasification fuel cell projects in China

Author(s):  
Suping Peng

AbstractCoal has been the main energy source in China for a long period. Therefore, the energy industry must improve coal power generation efficiency and achieve near-zero CO2 emissions. Integrated gasification fuel cell (IGFC) systems that combine coal gasification and high-temperature fuel cells, such as solid oxide fuel cells or molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs), are proving to be promising for efficient and clean power generation, compared with traditional coal-fired power plants. In 2017, with the support of National Key R&D Program of China, a consortium led by the China Energy Group and including 12 institutions was formed to develop the advanced IGFC technology with near-zero CO2 emissions. The objectives of this project include understanding the performance of an IGFC power generation system under different operating conditions, designing master system principles for engineering optimization, developing key technologies and intellectual property portfolios, setting up supply chains for key materials and equipment, and operating the first megawatt IGFC demonstration system with near-zero CO2 emission, in early 2022. In this paper, the main developments and projections pertaining to the IGFC project are highlighted.

Author(s):  
Maurizio Spinelli ◽  
Stefano Campanari ◽  
Stefano Consonni ◽  
Matteo C. Romano ◽  
Thomas Kreutz ◽  
...  

The state-of-the-art conventional technology for postcombustion capture of CO2 from fossil-fueled power plants is based on chemical solvents, which requires substantial energy consumption for regeneration. A promising alternative, available in the near future, is the application of molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFC) for CO2 separation from postcombustion flue gases. Previous studies related to this technology showed both high efficiency and high carbon capture rates, especially when the fuel cell is thermally integrated in the flue gas path of a natural gas-fired combined cycle or an integrated gasification combined cycle plant. This work compares the application of MCFC-based CO2 separation process to pulverized coal fired steam cycles (PCC) and natural gas combined cycles (NGCC) as a “retrofit” to the original power plant. Mass and energy balances are calculated through detailed models for both power plants, with fuel cell behavior simulated using a 0D model calibrated against manufacturers' specifications and based on experimental measurements, specifically carried out to support this study. The resulting analysis includes a comparison of the energy efficiency and CO2 separation efficiency as well as an economic comparison of the cost of CO2 avoided (CCA) under several economic scenarios. The proposed configurations reveal promising performance, exhibiting very competitive efficiency and economic metrics in comparison with conventional CO2 capture technologies. Application as a MCFC retrofit yields a very limited (<3%) decrease in efficiency for both power plants (PCC and NGCC), a strong reduction (>80%) in CO2 emission and a competitive cost for CO2 avoided (25–40 €/ton).


Author(s):  
Maurizio Spinelli ◽  
Stefano Campanari ◽  
Matteo C. Romano ◽  
Stefano Consonni ◽  
Thomas G. Kreutz ◽  
...  

The state-of-the-art conventional technology for post combustion capture of CO2 from fossil-fuelled power plants is based on chemical solvents, which requires substantial energy consumption for regeneration. Apromising alternative, available in the near future, is the application of Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells (MCFC) for CO2 separation from post-combustion flue gases. Previous studies related to this technology showed both high efficiency and high carbon capture rates, especially when the fuel cell is thermally integrated in the flue gas path of a natural gas-fired combined cycle or an integrated gasification combined cycle plant. This work compares the application of MCFC based CO2 separation process to pulverized coal fired steam cycles (PCC) and natural gas combined cycles (NGCC) as a ‘retrofit’ to the original power plant. Mass and energy balances are calculated through detailed models for both power plants, with fuel cell behaviour simulated using a 0D model calibrated against manufacturers’ specifications and based on experimental measurements, specifically carried out to support this study. The resulting analysis includes a comparison of the energy efficiency and CO2 separation efficiency as well as an economic comparison of the cost of CO2 avoided under several economic scenarios. The proposed configurations reveal promising performance, exhibiting very competitive efficiency and economic metrics in comparison with conventional CO2 capture technologies. Application as a MCFC retrofit yields a very limited (<3%) decrease in efficiency for both power plants (PCC and NGCC), a strong reduction (>80%) in CO2 emission and a competitive cost for CO2 avoided (25–40 €/ton).


2003 ◽  
Vol 125 (12) ◽  
pp. 42-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Winters

This article focuses on coal mining that is incredibly disruptive, and coal is heavy and bulky, involving rumbling freight trains to transport it. The idea that fuel cells are every bit as clean as coal is dirty is just as widespread. Fuel cells, after all, take hydrogen and oxygen, and combine those elements to make electricity and water. The program, called the Clean Coal Technology Program, was, in part, an effort to promote commercial-scale integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) coal power plants in the United States. Molten carbonate fuel cell stacks routinely weigh in at 250 kW. For the Wabash River demonstration, eight stacks will be combined for 2 MW. It will be the largest carbonate fuel cell power plant operating on coal in the world. FuelCell Energy has been planning for this sort of project for more than 20 years.


Author(s):  
Umberto Desideri

This paper presents the state of the art and the perspectives of the use of molten carbonate fuel cells with renewable energy sources. The molten carbonate fuel cell is the only technology that can use fuels containing carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in the anode gas. It has been even shown in experimental tests in single cells that carbon monoxide can be considered as a fuel in this type of fuel cell. The fuels that can be used in MCFC are landfill gas, biogas from anaerobic digestion processes and syngas from gasification of biomass and waste. The commercial size of MCFC stacks (125 to 250 kW) is the right size for use with such fuels which are generally not available for power plants with output larger than some MW. All the above fuels are characterized by the presence of contaminants that need be removed before their use in the fuel cell. Among the contaminants hydrogen sulfide and chlorine compounds seem to cause the worst damage. To be used with such fuels, MCFC still need to be deeply investigated and duration tests are needed to determine the highest tolerable concentrations in the anode gases.


Author(s):  
Zhibin Yang ◽  
Ze Lei ◽  
Ben Ge ◽  
Xingyu Xiong ◽  
Yiqian Jin ◽  
...  

AbstractChanges are needed to improve the efficiency and lower the CO2 emissions of traditional coal-fired power generation, which is the main source of global CO2 emissions. The integrated gasification fuel cell (IGFC) process, which combines coal gasification and high-temperature fuel cells, was proposed in 2017 to improve the efficiency of coal-based power generation and reduce CO2 emissions. Supported by the National Key R&D Program of China, the IGFC for near-zero CO2 emissions program was enacted with the goal of achieving near-zero CO2 emissions based on (1) catalytic combustion of the flue gas from solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stacks and (2) CO2 conversion using solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs). In this work, we investigated a kW-level catalytic combustion burner and SOEC stack, evaluated the electrochemical performance of the SOEC stack in H2O electrolysis and H2O/CO2 co-electrolysis, and established a multi-scale and multi-physical coupling simulation model of SOFCs and SOECs. The process developed in this work paves the way for the demonstration and deployment of IGFC technology in the future.


2014 ◽  
Vol 63 ◽  
pp. 6517-6526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurizio Spinelli ◽  
Matteo C. Romano ◽  
Stefano Consonni ◽  
Stefano Campanari ◽  
Maurizio Marchi ◽  
...  

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jae-Hyeong Yu ◽  
Chang-Whan Lee

Molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs) are high-operating-temperature fuel cells with high efficiency and fuel diversity. Electrochemical reactions in MCFCs are exothermic. As the size of the fuel cells increases, the amount of the heat from the fuel cells and the temperature of the fuel cells increase. In this work, we investigated the relationship between the fuel cell stack size and performance by applying computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Three flow types, namely co-flow, cross-flow, and counter-flow, were studied. We found that when the size of the fuel cells increased beyond a certain value, the size of the fuel cell no longer affected the cell performance. The maximum fuel cell temperature converged as the size of the fuel cell increased. The temperature and current density distribution with respect to the size showed a very similar distribution. The converged maximum temperature of the fuel cells depended on the gas flow condition. The maximum temperature of the fuel cell decreased as the amount of gas in the cathode size increased.


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