Near Zero Emissions Oxy-Combustion CO2 Purification Technology

Oxyfuel combustion CO2 capture technology presents an excellent opportunity for achieving near zero emissions from the coal-fired power plants. In the oxyfuel technology, the volume of flue gas is reduced by a factor of four to five (on a dry basis) due to elimination/reduction of nitrogen from combustion. This reduced volume of CO2-rich flue gas has to be compressed to 25 to 35 bar (a) for purification, thus further reducing the actual volume of flue gas by a factor of 25 to 35. If the equipment for removing trace impurities (SOx, NOx and Hg) is installed downstream of the flue gas compressor, the capital investment could be significantly reduced compared to that for the air-fired operation. Furthermore, by processing the entire volume of flue gas in the CO2 purification unit, it is possible to remove and concentrate the trace impurities in the solid and liquid waste streams and to produce a vent stream with near zero emissions and a high purity CO2 relatively free of trace impurities. Praxair is developing an oxy-combustion flue gas purification technology that will leverage these synergies. This technology will reduce emissions of CO2, SOx and Hg by > 99% and NOx emissions by > 95% compared to an air-fired pulverized coal power plant. The benefits of the technology include management of air ingress problems, capital and operating cost savings for SOx and NOx removal, reduction in CO2 capture cost and production of high purity CO2 stream for sequestration. These benefits will translate to lower cost of electricity for power plants with CO2 capture. This paper presents the experimental data for the SOx/NOx removal and high CO2 recovery processes and the results of the commercial viability assessment. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.