Economics of the Texaco gasification process for fuel-gas production. Final report

This study consists of an economic evaluation of oxygen-blown, Texaco-based gasification of 11,000 tons/day of Illinois No. 6 coal for the production of clean, intermediate-Btu fuel gas. As the high temperature gas coolers required in this type of plant represent the highest risk developmental equipment components, two base-case gas cooling configurations were investigated. Results of the evaluation indicated no economic incentives to develop superheating capability in the Texaco high temperature gas coolers. The plant design employing only saturated high-pressure steam generating capability in the hot gas coolers produced 6664 x 10/sup 6/ Btu/h of clean fuel gas (94.6% sulfur removal) and 142.4 MW of export power. Assuming mature technology, a plant startup date of 1990, a 10% annual inflation, a minimum after-tax return on equity of 20 percent/year for nonregulated company ownership, and a 1980 dollar by-product power credit of 50 mills/kWh, the estimated first year fuel gas costs would be in constant 1980 dollars for an Investor Owned Utility $4.27/10/sup 6/ Btu, and for a Nonregulated Company $5.32/10/sup 6/ Btu. These results indicate that clean fuel gas produced from coal in mature Texaco gasification plants has the potential to be competitive with petroleum-derived fuels. Included in the evaluation weremore » substudies which assessed the impacts of the use of a gas recycle, a change in the extent of sulfur removal, certain economies of scale, and changes in steam cycle conditions. The impacts of these changes on the estimated costs of fuel gas were minor.« less