(146e) Chemical Looping Gasification Process and Its Techno-Economic Performances Under a Carbon Constrained Scenario

Chemical looping gasification process can flexibly convert carbonaceous fuels such as coal and/or biomass into carbon free energy carriers such as hydrogen and/or electricity. A novel chemical looping gasification process, i.e. the Syngas Chemical Looping (SCL) process, has been successfully tested at 2.5 kW_th and 25 kW_th scales at the Ohio State University. A 250 kW_th scale pilot plant is being designed and constructed and will be tested at the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) in Wilsonville, Alabama in 2011. This paper evaluates the techno-economic performances of the SCL process as well as the conventional coal/biomass gasification process and the membrane enhanced coal/biomass gasification process. Aspen Plus® simulation is first performed to analyze the process efficiencies based on a common set of assumptions. This is followed by economic analysis using the cost analysis principles suggested by the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE). The results indicate that the novel SCL and membrane strategies have the potential to notably reduce the energy and cost penalties for CO₂ capture in carbonaceous fuel conversions. Further scale up demonstrations of the SCL process is, therefore, necessary to further validate the technical feasibility of this efficient and environmentally friendly energy conversion strategy.