Operational results of oxyfuel power plant - Callide oxyfuel project

Abstract

Coal is one of the important resources of electricity generation to maintain a stable supply of power. Although, it is the main contributor to the rise of energy-related CO2 emission. According to "World Energy Outlook 2014", though electricity demand has increased in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Non-OECD member countries, coal use will decrease toward 2040 in OECD. However, coal use in Non-OECD will increase up to about three times in 2040 as compared with 1990(International Energy Agency (IEA), 2014). This is why, we need to reduce CO2 emission from coal fired power plants in order to halt global warming. As a method of reducing CO2 emission, we have carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technologies. Oxyfuel combustion is one of the CCS technologies and IHI has developed it since 1989. Then, Callide Oxyfuel Project commenced to demonstrate oxyfuel power plant in March, 2012. During the demonstrated operation for approximately three years, many tests were conducted and many data were collected. As a result, we confirmed the difference between airfiring and oxyfiring such as operational flexibility, plant efficiency and combustion characteristics. In this paper, the operational results of 30MWe oxyfuel power plant in the Project are presented.