4-E analysis of heavy oil-based IGCC

This article aims to evaluate different heavy oil derivatives as feedstock for integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) through energy, exergy, economic, and environmental analysis. For this purpose, the simulation of a 450 MW IGCC in Aspen Plus is performed, and optimum values of operational parameters are obtained to maximize electrical efficiency. A heavy fuel oil (Mazut), Vacuum residue (VR), and vacuum residue water slurry (VR+W) are considered as input feedstock. The thermodynamics results show that VR case with first and second law electrical efficiencies of 34.6 and 34.4% has the best electrical performance. However, by considering recoverable heat, the total efficiencies of VR+W is the maximum with 45.7 and 45.5% for energy and exergy, respectively. The economic analysis demonstrates that the total capital costs are in the same order, but because of differences in annual fuel cost for a payback period of 5 years, the electricity price should be 0.143, 0.127, and 0.125 ($/kWh) for Mazut, VR+W, and VR cases, respectively. Finally, concerning performance, economic, and environmental aspects, it seems the proposed IGCC plant with heavy oil feedstock has the ability to compete in the power generation market.