Electrify Europe 2018

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Revisiting IGCC Technology (Room Lehar 4)

Considerable IGCC research has been funded by several governments and large companies in the past two decades; however, deployment of the technology has not materialized despite large coal resources in many countries around the world. This is evident by the construction of only eleven coal based IGCC power plants since 1994. Environmental concerns surrounding coal based generation, high initial costs and low reliability of many of the existing assets have worked against investment and development of new plants. Mitsubishi Hitachi Power System has continued the design and development of IGCC in a progressive and conservative way that has resulted in reliable operation of the 250 MW Nakoso Air-blown demonstration plant. This facility was converted into a commercial plant called Joban Nakoso # 10 power plant upon completion of exhaustive validation and thorough testing. Additionally, the construction of a 166MW Oxygen-blown plant was completed in March, 2017 and started demonstration operation immediately after. Based on the above mentioned successful projects, MHPS has started the construction of two 540 MW Air-blown IGCC projects in Japan. These projects leverage Nakoso’s experience; incorporating high efficiency 50Hz class gas turbines for 48% net plant efficiency. This technology enables the new plants to operate with several advantages compared to Ultra-Super-Critical applications, including capability to burn a diverse range of coals, lower ash volumes and generation of residue that can be used in civil construction projects, etc. The use of Air-blown gasification enables highly reliability operation by eliminating the requirements of gasifier internal refractory insulation allowing elimination of the requirement for a spare gasifier. This paper will explain MHPS IGCC Technology including the automated philosophy to be applied in addition to describing the status of construction of both plants that are scheduled to start commercial operation in 2020 and 2021.