Reduction of emission gas concentration from coal based thermal power plant using full combustion and partial oxidation system

• Published in: Maǧallaẗ al-abḥath al-handasiyyaẗ Vol. 11; no. 1 B; pp. 197 - 211
• Main Authors: Shankar, R., Pandey, A. K., Sharma, Kamal, Agarwal, Priyank, Kothari, Richa, Shahabuddin, Syed, Kalidasan, B., Deepika, K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kuwait Kuwait University, Academic Publication Council 01-03-2023
• ISSN: 2307-1877; 2307-1885
• DOI: 10.36909/jer.11927

Rapid growth in industrialization has led to high dependency on reliable electric power source for its operation. On the contrary, thermal power plants expel pollutants consisting of hazardous gases that result in degradation of environment and ecosystem. Thus, utmost importance is to generate clean and efficient energy from power plant. This current article resolves the problem of sustainable power production using coal-based thermal power plants, by integrating gasification technologies to the system. The performance of thermal power plant in terms of emission is numerically analysed with varying gasifier pressure, air-fuel ratio, steam-fuel ratio, and flue gas-fuel ratio. Numerical simulation of the gasification cycle with varying parameters is carried out using MATLAB. Optimum performance at a gasifier pressure of 2 bar and a steam-fuel ratio of 0.25 was observed with relative air-fuel of 0.075. With increasing flue gas-fuel ratio from 0.25 to 1.00, although the mole fractions of components of syngas do not differ much, the heating value and cold-gas efficiency of syngas produced decrease for each fuel. Considering the emissions, simulated results present co-gasification as a better option over conventional systems. A reduction of two-thirds in kg of CO2 released per kg of fuel was observed with almost three-fourth decrement in kg of CO2 per kWh of power produced. Also, zero SOx and NOx emissions were observed compared to coal based thermal power plants. An optimum performance of gasification system at gasifier pressure of 2 bar, air-fuel ratio of 0.1, steam-fuel ratio of 0.25, and flue gas-fuel ratio of 1.00 is noticed. The proposed cycle is proven to be suitable for further research and its application to coal based thermal power plants, providing potential towards supplementary power generation and cleaner exhaust. This research would also significantly contribute to achieving sustainable development goals.