Life cycle water use of coal- and natural-gas-fired power plants with and without carbon capture and storage

This study conducts a hybrid life cycle analysis to estimate and characterize the water use of coal- and natural-gas-fired power plants with and without carbon capture and storage (CCS), including quantification of variability and uncertainty in the life cycle water use. The addition of CCS would remarkably increase the plant and life cycle water use, depending on the CO2 capture level. The life cycle water use also varies with fuel type and cooling technology. Among multiple supply stages for electricity generation, the power plant operation dominates the life cycle water use for both types of power plants. The probabilistic simulation results show that the plant operation is the stage contributing the most to the uncertainty of life cycle water use for a pulverized coal-fired power plant, whereas the hydraulic fracturing is the dominant stage of uncertainty for a shale-gas-fired combined cycle power plant.