TECHNO-ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT STUDIES OF FOSSIL FUEL AND FUEL WOOD POWER GENERATION TECHNOLOGY

摘要

The main aim of the study is to show the effect of incorporating technologies for reducing CO_2 emissions on the technical, environmental and economic performance of a large number of conventional and advanced power generation systems using a variety of fossil fuel feedstocks. A comparison is then made with power generation systems based on sustainably-grown wood biomass fuel, which is seen as being neutral with respect to CO_2 emissions. The results of this study show that the reduction of gaseous CO_2 emissions from fossil fuel fired power stations, either by the use of MEA scrubbing or by using O_2 firing with flue gas recycle, reduces the efficiency by 8-12 percentage points and carries a cost penalty of between ￡20 and ￡30/tonne of CO_2 recovered. To offset this cost the break-even selling price of electricity produced from natural gas would rise by 30% and from coal by approximately 50%. If a carbon tax is to be effective in promoting "clean" technologies then this data give an indication of the level at which it should be levied, the implications for electricity prices and the change in relative competitiveness of the fuel feedstocks. Gasification is considered to be a promising route for producing electricity from biomass, although straight combustion is the most economic. At the moment wood based systems are not competitive with fossil fuel generating plants due to the small scale of operation. However, the levying of a carbon tax, at a level which would encourage the introduction of CO_2 recovery technologies to conventional fossil fuel plants, would make biomass economically viable and provide an incentive for its development.