Economic studies of coal gasification: combined cycle systems for electric power generation. Final report

This report presents the results of economic-screening studies for several current and advanced coal-gasification processes coupled with combined-cycle power generation. The objective was to identify whether significant economic and/or environmental incentives exist for using such systems compared to the current practice of direct coal firing and stack-gas cleanup. The processes studied included the Lurgi dry-ash gasifier, the British Gas Corporation Slagger, and three entrained-bed processes offered by Combustion Engineering, Foster Wheeler, and Texaco. All these processes were integrated with combined-cycle plants based on advanced gas turbine technology (2,400/sup 0/F Combustion Outlet) estimated by Westinghouse to be available in the 1981-1985 time period. The evaluations were based on complete ''grass-roots'' facilities sized to conform to present electric utility practice of building units of approximately 1,000-MW capacity. It is concluded that several of the processes considered are potentially attractive and are, or can be, available for commercialization during the next decade. In particular, the entrained-bed processes appear to offer substantial environmental as well as economic advantages owing to their simplicity and lack of by-products. It is felt that development emphasis should be placed on compression, power generation, and heat-transfer equipment, rather than on more gasification processes.