Simulation and Economic Evaluation of Coal Gasification with SETS Reforming Process for Power Production

• Main Author: Hoffman, Zachary
• Other Authors: Benjamin McCoy
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: LSU 2005
• Subjects: Chemical Engineering
• Online Access: http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-03282005-165158/

Increasing natural gas prices have raised interest in alternate energy resources. Popular belief in the connection between carbon dioxide emissions and global warming has motivated the search for a technique to isolate carbon dioxide from combustion stack gases. Coal gasification with SETS reforming has been proposed as a solution to both of these issues in that it provides an alternate energy source and 100% carbon dioxide sequestration. The purpose of this research is to simulate this process using AspenPlus to perform the rigorous material and energy balances. The results of this simulation are used to carry out a complete economic evaluation of the process and estimate the overall cost of energy production (in 2003 dollars). Certain design parameters are modified from literature values. The simulations and economic evaluations are repeated for each case to study its effect on energy production cost. The final results of this study are compared with the current cost of electricity and the costs of other energy production methods.