Coal-fired steam turbine power plant using oxygen-rich air as oxidizer

Abstract Mitigation of harmful and greenhouse gas emissions produced by the coal combustion in thermal power plant is a topic goal. Reduction of the nitrogen oxides, sulfur and ash emissions makes remarkable progress but the carbon dioxide emission still meets considerable difficulties mostly caused by the low greenhouse gas content in the flue gas. A prospective solution to this problem may be the fuel combustion in oxygen-enriched air, which increases the flue gas carbon dioxide content. In this technology, the carbon dioxide content in flue gas is higher and this results in its easier capture. This paper presents the thermodynamic analysis results of a steam turbine power production facility that burns coal in the air with high oxygen content. The computer simulation shows that the oxygen content increase from 21 to 95.6% increases the carbon dioxide content in flue gas by a factor of 3.3 and lowers the power consumption for carbon dioxide capture by 11%. On the other side, the power consumption for pure oxygen production reduces the facility’s net efficiency from 28.54 to 21.59%.