Coal Quality Effects on the Performance of an IGCC Power Plant with CO2 Capture in India

Ever increasing power demand coupled with CO 2 emission from coal-based power plants is a critical challenge for worldwide energy sector. This is even more critical for a country like India where a large coal reserve exists and about 60% of the total power produced is from coal. Meeting energy demand and simultaneously satisfying CO 2 emissions target, India has to develop power from coal using more advanced technology than existing subcritical pulverized coal fired one. IGCC with CO 2 capture emerges as a prospective option for using coal with reduced CO 2 emissions. In collaboration under Indo-Norwegian cooperation program, an assessment of expected performance of a possible IGCC configuration with typical Indian coals is explored. In this paper, results of preliminary investigation through simulation for a baseline configuration of IGCC with CO 2 capture are presented. A comparison between expected performances for three typical coals is reported to show the effect of coal quality on IGCC performance in an Indian context.