Study on a new IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) system with CO2 capture by integrating MCFC (Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell).

In this paper, a new Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) system with less CO 2 emission by integrating a Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC) to capture CO 2 has been proposed. The performance of the new system is compared with other three systems: a conventional IGCC system without CO 2 capture, an IGCC system with pre-combustion capture and an IGCC system with oxy-fuel combustion capture. In addition, the effects of the key parameters of MCFC such as CO 2 utilization factor, fuel utilization factor and the operating temperature of MCFC on the new system performance have been analyzed and compared. The results show that when the CO 2 capture rate is 88%, the efficiency of the new system is about 47.31%, 2.97% higher than that of the IGCC without CO 2 capture, 10.45% higher than the IGCC system with pre-combustion CO 2 capture, and 12.55% higher than the IGCC system with oxy-fuel combustion CO 2 capture. Though the new system has an obvious superiority of thermal performance, its technical economic performance needs be improved with the technical development of MCFC. The research achievements will provide a new way for further study on CO 2 capture from IGCC system with lower energy penalty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]