Gasification Systems Combined with Combustion

For large-scale biomass conversion 400-1000 MW, ) the biomass Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (BIGCC) is a well-known concept [4], Coii ared with combustion the system has some clear advantages ... 

A similar opportunity exists for the public utility industry in the potential of LBG and MBG. The reduced environmental impact of a coal gasification plant which produces a perfectly clean fuel equivalent to natural gas, compared to direct combustion of coal may allow increased use of coal in areas where increased pollutant emission is barred. As these PSD areas increase in number, the advantages of coal gasification become more apparent. The potential of more efficient combined cycle generation systems which can be used with coal-derived gases is an added factor for implementing coal gasification. 

Fuel quality represents the most critical limitation on the use of combined cycles. Because the gas turbine is an internal combustion cycle (i.e., the working fluid flowing through the expander is a stream of combustion products), low-quality fuels such as coal or heavy oils cannot be used in such a system because their combustion yields ash, soot, and heavy metals (e.g., vanadium) that would rapidly corrode and foul the mrbine blades. Gasification followed by extensive syngas cleaning represents the only viable technique to enable feeding combined cycles with low-quality primary fuels. 

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