CO2 capture modelling for pulverised coal-fired power plants: A case study of an existing 1 GW ultra-supercritical power plant in Shandong, China

China is building more than 1 GW of advanced coal-fired power plants every week. This interdisciplinary study investigates the technical and economic performance of retrofitting a 1000 MW ultra supercritical pulverised coal-fired (USCPC) power plant locating at Shandong province in China. An ASPEN simulation model is designed to estimate the energy output penalty at different levels of capture. The retrofitted system consists of the conventional power generation unit, the additional post-combustion unit and other associated extra equipments. The ASPEN simulation results show that the efficiency penalty is approximately 8.6% for a 90% capture rate and 6% for a 50% capture rate in this retrofitting study. In addition, the simulation result of the process model is applied to analyse the value of retrofitting flexibility and the economic-viable chance of retrofitting the underlying project through a real option analysis model. The economic model reveals that the value of retrofitting option in the 1 GW USCPC power plant reaches US$76 million and that a 40% economic viable possibility of retrofitting to capture CO2 in its remaining 26 years lifetime under the hypothetical baseline scenario. The significant economic benefits of retrofitting an existing USCPC plant to CO2 capture implies the urgency to conduct a detail survey on the retrofitting prospect of Chinese coal-fired power plants and develop a guideline to maintain their retrofitting options open.

► The engineering and economic performance of CO2 capture retrofit in a 1000 MW coal-fired power plant in China is assessed.
► An ASPEN simulation model is designed to estimate the energy output penalty at different levels of capture.
► An real simulation model is applied to estimate economic value and probability of retrofit.
► The result shows that the efficiency penalty is 8.6% for a 90% capture and 6% for a 50% capture.
► The option value of retrofit is US$76 million and the economic viable possibility of retrofit is 40%.