The Impact of Gas Turbine Advancements on Coal IGCC

摘要

Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle(IGCC) has benefited from advancements ineach of the four major subsystems that comprisean IGCC plant: gasification, air separation,syngas cleanup and gas turbine combinedcycle. Today's challenge—to meet marketrequirements of cost, reliability, fuel flexibility,efficiency and environmental performance—isbeing met by process design optimization thatcapitalizes on the full benefits of these advancements.This paper focuses on the improvementsin gas turbine technology that have contributedto the commercialization and leadership ofIGCC for clean conversion of coal to power.Environmental performance is a key benchmarkfor IGCC, whose high marks in environmentalperformance derive from both the fundamentalcharacteristics of the process andadvances in gas turbine technology. The originalbreed of commercial coal power IGCC projectsat Wabash, Indiana, and Polk County,Florida, are still achieving performance in criteriapollutants better than that of recently permitteddirect combustion plants. This paperprovides comparative data for IGCC as comparedto direct coal combustion and highlightsthe improvements that have provided furtherenhancements to the environmental performanceof IGCC. The future viability of coaldepends on the ability and flexibility to meetdeveloping standards in mercury as being consideredfor 3P legislation.Fuel flexibility has recently emerged as animportant metric for choice of power technology.Fuel flexibility provides an effective physicalhedge against variations in fuel cost and fuelavailability. The robustness of gasification todeal with a wide range of solid and liquid fuelshas been demonstrated in IGCC’s wide applicationto coal power, refinery and steel mills. Todate, GE gas turbines have accumulated morethan 382,000 fired hours on synthesis fuel gas,of which 212,000 hours were fired on syngasderived from coal feedstock. This broad experience,which has been enabled in large part bydevelopment in gas turbine technology, servesas a superb entitlement for environmentallysuperior generation from poor-quality solidfuels.Improvements in gas turbine performance onlow heating value syngas have improved the economicsof IGCC to where it is a viable commercialcontender for new power plants. GE currentlyhas ten IGCC projects in operation, withsix more plants either beginning or plannedfor operation within the next two years. GE continuesits investment in the development of gasturbines for coal IGCC.