Integrating solar Organic Rankine Cycle into a coal-fired power plant with amine-based chemical absorption for CO2 capture

• The proposed system achieves the cascade utilization of solar energy.
• Performance was evaluated in terms of power generation and emission reduction.
• Economic evaluation was conducted in LCOE and COR.

A novel system integrating solar Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) into a power plant with amine-based chemical absorption for CO2 capture is proposed. The condensation heat of ORC provides the required heat for solvent regeneration, which avoids the energy penalty caused by the steam extraction traditionally. The cascade utilization of solar energy is realized through a combined supply of power generation and condensation heat.From the aspects of technology and economics, a performance analysis is presented to compare the proposed system and three other systems based on a 300 MWe power plant. The proposed system shows better performance than that of reference systems in the power generation and emission reductions. Economic evaluation was conducted in terms of levelized costs of electricity (LCOE) and cost of CO2 removed (COR). In order to achieve lower LCOE and COR compared to the power plant integrated with solar assisted post-combustion CO2 capture (PCC), the price of ORC has to be lower than 1284.46 USD/kW under the conditions that the price of the solar field is 120 USD/m2. It is believed that the proposed system has a satisfied potential to meet the thermal demand for the solvent regeneration in the power plant with PCC.