Reducing the carbon footprint of electricity production is an imperative for the future use of coal as a primary power generation fuel in Europe and the world. Carbon capture systems development has matured to the point of near-commercial scale demonstrations and focuses on scale- up. The impact of increased renewables use and nuclear power expansion will create the need for additional degrees of freedom in carbon capture systems for flexibility of operation. A leading technology for new build coal-fired power is oxy-coal combustion for carbon capture and near-zero emissions. Utilizing current ultra-supercritical boilers and advanced oxygen production, this design already incorporates the scale-up required for any power station. Steam generator technology has demonstrated its flexibility and cycling capabilities, and recent demonstrations have proven oxy-combustion operations. Current ultra-supercritical power plant startups and oxy-coal demonstration data will be reviewed and outline a path of further development. A leading technology for retrofit coal-fired power is post-combustion capture like B&W PGG's RSAT carbon dioxide (CO2) scrubbing system. The scale-up required follows a corollary to flue gas desulphurization relative to size of columns (towers) and process equipment. The degree of flexibility can be addressed by multiple trains, varying number of absorbers to regenerators, and hold-up systems. An additional benefit is the use of auxiliary steam from sources other than the main steam turbine. Current demonstration plant results and future developments will be discussed. The commercial development of carbon capture systems must now take on the added requirements of flexibility to meet changing power demand profiles and generation technologies in the growing market. With the issue of scale-up, oxy-coal and RSAT CO2 scrubbing are ready to meet these challenges and solutions will be illustrated, combined with ultra-supercritical power plants.
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