Performance analysis for post-combustion CO₂ capture in coal-fired power plants by integration with solar energy

This study conducts the performance analysis for post-combustion CO₂ capture in a 300 MW_e coal-fired power plant by integration with solar energy. Compared to the conventional system integration by steam bleed, the electric efficiency of solar energy reaches 18.92% and the net electric efficiency penalty is reduced from 16.81% to 6.93%. For the economic performance, the integration of solar energy brings additional fixed capital investment (FCI) of 140.95 M$ and the cost of electricity by solar energy (COE_solar) reaches 164.23 $/MWh. Besides, in spite of an increased investment of the whole integrated system, the saved power output by solar energy enables a reduction of cost of electricity (COE) and cost of CO₂ avoided (COA) by 14.89 $/MWh and 22.83 $/t CO₂. Finally, by absorption heat pump (AHP) and absorption heat exchanger (AHE), the low temperature heat in the CO₂ capture process is fully recovered to increase the steam turbine electric output from 303.03 MW_e to 310.47 MW_e and the heat supply from 436.86 MW_th to 709.54 MW_th, which realize the heat integration among the steam cycle, the CO₂ capture process and the solar energy system.