Derivation of correlations to evaluate the impact of retrofitted post-combustion CO2 capture processes on steam power plant performance

When integrating a post-combustion CO2 capture process and CO2 compression into a steam power plant, the three interface quantities heat, electricity and cooling duty must be satisfied by the power plant, leading to a loss in net efficiency. The heat duty shows to be the largest contributor to the overall net efficiency penalty of the power plant. Additional energy penalty results from the cooling and electric power duty of the capture and compression units.In this work, the dependency of the energy penalty on the quantity and quality of the heat duty is analyzed and quantified for a state-of-the-art hard coal fired power plant. Furthermore, the energy penalty attributed to the additional cooling and power duty is quantified. As a result correlations are provided which enable to predict the impact of the heat, cooling and electricity duty of post-combustion CO2 capture processes on the net output of a steam power plant in a holistic approach.

► Retrofit integration of PCC has been analyzed for coal-fired steam power plant.
► Correlations are provided to predict the impact of PCC on net output of overall process.
► Correlations account for all relevant interface quantities.