Development of Oxy-Combustion for CO2 Control from Coal-Fired Boilers

For the past 15 years, Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) Power Generation Group and Air Liquide (AL), with the sponsorship of the Department of Energy (DOE), have been actively involved in the development of oxy-coal combustion technology for CO2 capture from power plants. Pilot-scale testing, and engineering and economic evaluations have shown that oxy-coal combustion is a technically feasible and economically viable commercial technology. For a broader application, effects of coal rank (bituminous, western sub-bituminous, and lignite) and boiler types (wall-fired and Cyclone) on the technology performance were also investigated through pilot-scale testing and engineering studies.

Oxy-coal combustion flame stability, boiler and convective pass heat transfer, boiler steam performance and NOx emission levels compared favorably to the air-firing results. B&W is currently engaged in the front end engineering and design (FEED) work on the second phase of the DOE-funded FutureGen 2.0 program for repowering a commercial-scale power plant in Illinois with oxy-coal combustion technology to provide greater that 90% CO2 capture. This presentation will describe the research performed to date, the needs for future R&D and scale-up of the technology to full-scale commercial operation.