Thermo-economic evaluation of 300 MW class integrated gasification combined cycle with ash free coal (AFC) process

•We developed the simulation model of 300 MW IGCC power plant with ash free coal process under ASPEN Plus.•Economic analysis on individual case was performed using the TRR method.•Various comparison results related to changing the key economic parameters were analyzed.

Among the IGCC power plant shut-down causes, fly ash and slag handling part of gasification process account for most of them. Therefore, thermo-economic modeling of 300 MW class IGCC power plant with AFC process to reduce shut-down caused by the gasification process was conducted using the ASPEN Plus®. The system efficiency of the AFC feed IGCC power plant without CO2 capture improved by 3.6% compared to the RC feed IGCC power plant without CO2 capture. On the other hand, the net efficiency of the AFC feed IGCC power plant with CO2 capture was enhanced by 2.5%. The levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) was estimated using the total revenue requirement (TRR) method and the LCOE for AFC feed IGCC power plant without CO2 capture was $ 0.08/kWh, which was less than $ 0.091/kWh for the RC feed IGCC power plant. The LCOE reduction caused by the lowered carrying charge, O&M cost and fuel cost was explained by the improved system efficiency via gross power increase of the AFC process. Finally, the sensitivity analysis was comprehensively made for LCOE of individual IGCC power plant with variation of the economic key parameters of capacity factor, coal price and its escalation rate, variation of equipment cost and CO2 price.