Coal remains as one of the main assets for energy production in the world, despite of the increasing use of other fuels, like natural gas. However, current environmental restrictions (more limiting as years go by) force coal technology to be cleaner, more efficient, and to boost availability. IGCC (Integrated Gasification in Combined Cycle) is the technology that best matches these demands. IGCC shows remarkable advantages from conventional coal-fired power plants, specially regarding to environmental benefits (lower CO_2, particulates and acid gases emissions, lower water consumption and generation of marketable solid wastes), but also regarding to global efficiency enhancement, feedstock flexibility (broad coal quality range, refineries residues, biomass, wastes) and the operation in co-production mode, where there is a product diversification towards the hydrogen economy. On the contrary, the historical burdens of such plants, like the great investment cost or the long construction and commissioning periods, still need to be solved despite a progressive improvement during last years.
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