Pre-combustion CO2 capture from natural gas power plants, with ATR and MDEA processes

Among the various configurations of fossil fuel power plants with carbon capture, this paper focuses on pre-combustion techniques applied to natural gas combined cycles. With more detail, the plant configuration here addressed includes: (i) the steam reforming of natural gas, based on an air-blown autothermal process, following a recuperative pre-reforming treatment, (ii) the water gas shift producing CO2 and H2, (iii) the separation of CO2 by means of a mixed physical–chemical absorption system using a MDEA solution, and (iv) a hydrogen fuelled combined cycle.Similar configurations have been studied quite extensively, being among the most attractive for full-scale realizations in a near-mid term future. This paper proposes a detailed thermodynamic study and optimization of the plant configuration, bringing to a reliable performance estimation based on today's best available technology as far as the various plant sections are concerned (gas and steam turbine, natural gas reforming process, CO2 separation). The predicted LHV efficiency for the base configuration is about 50%. Being this value at the top of the range quoted in the open literature studies (35–50%), the paper includes a quite extensive sensitivity analysis, showing that more conservative assumptions may bring to significantly poorer performance, especially considering the pretty large number of operating parameters involved in the process.