Evaluation of chemical looping systems as carbon capture option to be applied to gasification processes

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions generated from energy sector in the following years is a compulsory step to the transition to low carbon resource efficient economy. Among various methods to reduce CO₂ emissions, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies have a special importance. A promising carbon capture method to be applied in energy conversion processes for reducing the energy penalty associated with carbon capture is based on chemical looping systems. This paper investigates CO₂ capture based on chemical looping systems suitable to be applied in an IGCC plant for energy vectors poly-generation with emphasis on hydrogen and power co-generation case. The coal-based IGCC cases produce about 400-600 MW net electricity and a flexible hydrogen output from zero up to 150 MW hydrogen (based on hydrogen lower heating value) with almost total carbon capture rate of the used fossil fuel. A particular accent is put in the paper on the assessment of process integration issues of gasifier island and syngas conditioning line with the chemical looping unit, mathematical modeling and simulation of whole plant, thermal and power integration of chemical looping unit in the whole IGCC plant (using pinch analysis) and discussing quality specifications for captured CO₂ stream considering storage in geological formations or using for EOR.