Thermodynamic integration in combined fuel and power plants producing low carbon hydrogen and power with CCUS

Demand for low-carbon sources of hydrogen and power is expected to rise dramatically in the coming years. Individually, steam methane reformers (SMRs) and combined cycle gas power plants (CCGTs), when combined with carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS), can produce large quantities of on-dem...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Daniel Mullen, Mathieu Lucquiaud
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2024-12-01
Series:Frontiers in Energy Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2024.1511996/full
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850063184947314688
author Daniel Mullen
Daniel Mullen
Mathieu Lucquiaud
author_facet Daniel Mullen
Daniel Mullen
Mathieu Lucquiaud
author_sort Daniel Mullen
collection DOAJ
description Demand for low-carbon sources of hydrogen and power is expected to rise dramatically in the coming years. Individually, steam methane reformers (SMRs) and combined cycle gas power plants (CCGTs), when combined with carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS), can produce large quantities of on-demand decarbonised hydrogen and power respectively. The ongoing trend towards the development of CCUS clusters means that both processes may operate in close proximity, taking advantage of a common infrastructure for natural gas supply, electricity grid connection and the CO2 transport and storage network. This work improves on a previously described novel integration process, which utilizes flue gas sequential combustion to incorporate the SMR process into the CCGT cycle in a single “combined fuel and power” (CFP) plant, by increasing the level of thermodynamic integration through the merger of the steam cycles and a redesign of the heat recovery system. This increases the 2nd law thermal efficiency by 2.6% points over un-integrated processes and 1.9% points the previous integration design. Using a conventional 35% wt. monoethanolamine (MEA) CO2 capture process designed to achieve two distinct and previously unexplored CO2 capture fractions; 95% gross and, 100% fossil (CO2 generated is equal to the quantity of CO2 captured). The CFP configuration reduces the overall quantity of flue gas to be processed by 36%–37% and increases the average CO2 concentration of the flue gas to be treated from 9.9% to 14.4% (wet). This decreases the absorber packing volume requirements by 41%–56% and decreases the specific reboiler duty by 5.5% from 3.46–3.67 GJ/tCO2 to 3.27–3.46 GJ/tCO2, further increasing the 2nd law thermal efficiency gains to 3.8%–4.4% points over the un-integrated case. A first of a kind techno economic analysis concludes that the improvements present in a CO2 abated CFP plant results in a 15.1%–17.3% and 7.6%–8.0% decrease in capital and operational expenditure respectively for the CO2 capture cases. This translates to an increase in the internal rate of return over the base hurdle rate of 7.5%–7.8%, highlighting the potential for substantial cost reductions presented by the CFP configuration.
format Article
id doaj-art-824b95daee104a2d8e772f4a84349279
institution DOAJ
issn 2296-598X
language English
publishDate 2024-12-01
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format Article
series Frontiers in Energy Research
spelling doaj-art-824b95daee104a2d8e772f4a843492792025-08-20T02:49:43ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Energy Research2296-598X2024-12-011210.3389/fenrg.2024.15119961511996Thermodynamic integration in combined fuel and power plants producing low carbon hydrogen and power with CCUSDaniel Mullen0Daniel Mullen1Mathieu Lucquiaud2School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United KingdomSSE Thermal, Reading, United KingdomDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United KingdomDemand for low-carbon sources of hydrogen and power is expected to rise dramatically in the coming years. Individually, steam methane reformers (SMRs) and combined cycle gas power plants (CCGTs), when combined with carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS), can produce large quantities of on-demand decarbonised hydrogen and power respectively. The ongoing trend towards the development of CCUS clusters means that both processes may operate in close proximity, taking advantage of a common infrastructure for natural gas supply, electricity grid connection and the CO2 transport and storage network. This work improves on a previously described novel integration process, which utilizes flue gas sequential combustion to incorporate the SMR process into the CCGT cycle in a single “combined fuel and power” (CFP) plant, by increasing the level of thermodynamic integration through the merger of the steam cycles and a redesign of the heat recovery system. This increases the 2nd law thermal efficiency by 2.6% points over un-integrated processes and 1.9% points the previous integration design. Using a conventional 35% wt. monoethanolamine (MEA) CO2 capture process designed to achieve two distinct and previously unexplored CO2 capture fractions; 95% gross and, 100% fossil (CO2 generated is equal to the quantity of CO2 captured). The CFP configuration reduces the overall quantity of flue gas to be processed by 36%–37% and increases the average CO2 concentration of the flue gas to be treated from 9.9% to 14.4% (wet). This decreases the absorber packing volume requirements by 41%–56% and decreases the specific reboiler duty by 5.5% from 3.46–3.67 GJ/tCO2 to 3.27–3.46 GJ/tCO2, further increasing the 2nd law thermal efficiency gains to 3.8%–4.4% points over the un-integrated case. A first of a kind techno economic analysis concludes that the improvements present in a CO2 abated CFP plant results in a 15.1%–17.3% and 7.6%–8.0% decrease in capital and operational expenditure respectively for the CO2 capture cases. This translates to an increase in the internal rate of return over the base hurdle rate of 7.5%–7.8%, highlighting the potential for substantial cost reductions presented by the CFP configuration.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2024.1511996/fullCarbon capture and storageblue hydrogennet zeroCCGT power plantpost combustion capturedecarbonisation
spellingShingle Daniel Mullen
Daniel Mullen
Mathieu Lucquiaud
Thermodynamic integration in combined fuel and power plants producing low carbon hydrogen and power with CCUS
Frontiers in Energy Research
Carbon capture and storage
blue hydrogen
net zero
CCGT power plant
post combustion capture
decarbonisation
title Thermodynamic integration in combined fuel and power plants producing low carbon hydrogen and power with CCUS
title_full Thermodynamic integration in combined fuel and power plants producing low carbon hydrogen and power with CCUS
title_fullStr Thermodynamic integration in combined fuel and power plants producing low carbon hydrogen and power with CCUS
title_full_unstemmed Thermodynamic integration in combined fuel and power plants producing low carbon hydrogen and power with CCUS
title_short Thermodynamic integration in combined fuel and power plants producing low carbon hydrogen and power with CCUS
title_sort thermodynamic integration in combined fuel and power plants producing low carbon hydrogen and power with ccus
topic Carbon capture and storage
blue hydrogen
net zero
CCGT power plant
post combustion capture
decarbonisation
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2024.1511996/full
work_keys_str_mv AT danielmullen thermodynamicintegrationincombinedfuelandpowerplantsproducinglowcarbonhydrogenandpowerwithccus
AT danielmullen thermodynamicintegrationincombinedfuelandpowerplantsproducinglowcarbonhydrogenandpowerwithccus
AT mathieulucquiaud thermodynamicintegrationincombinedfuelandpowerplantsproducinglowcarbonhydrogenandpowerwithccus