Integrated gasification combined cycle and carbon capture: A risky option to mitigate CO₂ emissions of coal-fired power plants
2011
Hoffmann, Bettina Susanne | Szklo, Alexandre
The power sectors of many big economies still rely on coal-fired plants and emit huge amounts of carbon dioxide. Emerging countries like Brazil, China and South Africa plan to expand the use of coal-fired thermal plants in the next decade. Integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) is an innovative technology that facilitates the implementation of carbon capture (CC). The present work analyzes the maturity and costs of the IGCC technology, with and without CC, and assesses the effect of the technology risk on its economic viability. Findings show that the inclusion of the risk in the economic analysis of IGCC plants raises the cost of CO₂ avoided from 36US$/tCO₂ to 106US$/tCO₂ in the case of Shell Gasifiers and from 39US$/tCO₂ to 112US$/tCO₂ in the case of GE Gasifiers. Thus, the introduction of IGCC with CC on a wider scale faces huge uncertainties. The feasibility of these plants will rely heavily on the overcoming of the technology risk. Besides, its implementation in the short run will depend on government incentives to bear with the additional cost incurred in the first-generation plants.
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