Performance and economic analysis of gas turbine power plants fueled with a coal-water mixture

Thermal performance calculations and economic scoping studies have been made for gas turbine power generation systems which are fueled by coal-water mixtures. The feasibility of using coal-water mixtures for the direct firing of open cycle gas turbines is being evaluated by the Department of Energy as part of the coal-fueled gas turbine program. This program addresses the perceived need for low cost, short lead time power generating systems which are capable of burning coal in an environmentally acceptable manner. The fuel used for this study was a slurry of water and highly cleaned, extremely fine coal particles. It was assumed that this prepared liquid fuel, an ultraclean coal water mixture (UCCWM), would be delivered to a gas turbine facility thereby eliminating the need for on-site coal cleaning and grinding equipment. The evaluation also assumed that high combustion efficiencies could be achieved in an UCCWM-fired gas turbine and that erosion, corrosion, or deposition would neither cause significant reduction in turbine performance nor markedly reduce turbine operating life. Under these assumptions, performance calculations showed that gas turbines fueled with UCCWM have similar thermal efficiencies to those fueled by distillate oil. The economic incentives for UCCWM gas turbine combined-cycle plants were derived bymore » calculating the maximum allowable UCCWM fuel price which would give the same cost of electricity as that of conventional fossil fueled power plant alternatives. The largest economic incentive was found in a scenario requiring base load generating capacity in a relatively short 4-year lead time. This scenario showed that a 500-MW UCCWM power plant would be competitive with a 500-MW oil-fired plant as long as the cost of the delivered UCCWM was less than $6.83/10/sup 6/ Btu. 10 references, 5 figures, 7 tables.« less