Economic assessment of inherently safe membrane reactor technology options integrated into IGCC power plants

Pd/alloy-based (Pd/Cu, Pd/Au) membrane reactors embedded into Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plants (IGCC-MR) enable the storage and/or use of the energy value of H2 to produce electricity while the CO2 enriched retentate exit stream becomes particularly suitable for high pressure CO2 capture-sequestration. There is undoubtedly a lack of operating experience associated with IGCC-MR plants, and therefore, sound process intensification principles/practices should be followed not only to enhance process system performance but also to ensure process safety and economic feasibility of an IGCC-MR plant. Motivated by the above considerations, a comprehensive process economic assessment framework for an inherently safe membrane Pd/alloy-based reactor integrated into an IGCC plant is proposed. In particular, a detailed Net Present Value (NPV) model has been developed to evaluate the economic viability of an IGCC-MR plant where the membrane reactor module design conforms to basic inherent safety principles. Sources of irreducible uncertainty (market, regulatory and technological) are explicitly recognized such as the power plant capacity factor, Pd price, membrane life time and CO2-taxes due to future regulatory action/policies. The effect of the above uncertainty drivers on the project's/plant's value is studied through Monte Carlo methods resulting in detailed NPV-distribution and process economic outcome profiles. The simulation results derived suggest that in the presence of (operational, economic and regulatory) uncertainties, inherently safe membrane reactor technology options integrated into IGCC plants could become economically viable. In particular, comparatively more attractive NPV distribution profiles are obtained when concrete safety risk-reducing measures are taken into account through pre-investment in process safety (equipment).