Abstract
As part of the Full Fuel Cycle Study sponsored by the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme, design and costing exercises have been carried out on three fossil fuelled power plant options. The options considered were:
1. A natural gas fired combined cycle gas turbine plant (NGCC) with chemical solvent scrubbing of the flue gas and gas field disposal of the CO2.
2. A coal fired Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) with shift reactor and physical solvent scrubbing of the fuel gas coupled to ocean disposal of the CO2.
3. A pulverised coal fired supercritical steam turbine plant with selective catalytic NOx reduction and flue gas desulphurisation with associated CO2 capture from the atmosphere by a managed forest.
Two aspects of the fuel cycles were considered; the power plant, defined as those activities which take place at the site, and the other supporting activities which take place elsewhere. The approach taken to the evaluation of the ''private costs'' of the Full Fuel Cycles was to carry out a conventional economic analysis of the power plant and then to make additions and alterations to accommodate the other supporting activities. The outputs of the study were:
1. Process definitions including overall schematics, descriptions, data sheets, and flow diagrams.
2. Mass and energy balances of the Full Fuel Cycles.
3. Capital and operating cost estimates.
4. Economic analyses of the Full Fuel Cycles resulting in private costs.
5. Emissions inventories of the Full Fuel Cycles.
6. Sensitivity studies examining the effects of different fuel sources, alternative CO2 disposal methods, fuel prices, and changes to DCF rate of return.
The technical and economic evaluation of each of the fuel cycles was carried out on a consistent design basis. This enabled the estimation of the external costs to be carried out on a consistent basis in the second part of this study.