Techno-economic and environmental evaluations of large scale gasification-based CCS project in Romania

•Techno-economic evaluations of IGCC-based H2 and power co-generation with CCS.•Model development for capital costs, O&M costs, LCOE and cash flow estimations.•Techno-economic and environmental evaluations of key plant design characteristics.•Evaluations of carbon capture options suitable for gasification plants.

Gasification is a promising technology in terms of reducing carbon capture energy and cost penalties as well as for multi-fuel multi-product operation capability. The paper evaluates two carbon capture options in terms of main techno-economic indicators. The first option involves pre-combustion capture, the syngas being catalytically shifted to convert carbon species into CO2 and H2. Gas–liquid absorption is used for separate H2S and CO2 capture, then clean gas is used for power generation. The second capture option is based on post-combustion capture using chemical absorption. The most promising gasifiers were evaluated in a CCS design.Evaluated coal-based gasification concepts generate 300–500 MW net power with a flexible hydrogen output from zero up to 200 MW with carbon capture rate higher than 90%. The main techno-economic and environmental indicators of evaluated plant concepts with CCS were presented in detail in the context of development of a large scale CCS project in Romania. The evaluations of the IGCC designs with CCS were done in comparison with the conventional IGCC without CCS. The integrated assessments show that IGCC with pre-combustion capture is one promising technology for the future low-carbon economy.