Understanding Coal Power Plant Cycle

Understanding coal-fired power plant
cycles
Colin Henderson
CCC/91
October 2004
Copyright © IEA Clean Coal Centre
ISBN 92-9029-406-X
Abstract
This report provides a guide to the principles of combustion-based steam cycle plants and combined (gas and steam) cycle plants
fuelled by coal. The main types of power generation cycle are introduced, followed by background on the thermodynamics of
heat engines and gas and steam cycles. The chapter on steam plant contains sections on PCC boilers, main features of turbines
and the cycles themselves. The descriptions cover the influence of appropriate pressures and temperatures, designs of feed
heating trains, use of reheat, export of heat, subcritical and supercritical cycles and other aspects, such as materials developments.
The chapter on combined cycles concentrates on the two main types (pressurised fluidised bed combustion and integrated
gasification combined cycles), describing configurations and steam cycles for these technologies. There are discussions of design
aspects and of the influence of parameters including technology type, carbon utilisation, gasification efficiency, gas turbine and
gas clean-up. Materials issues for combined cycle plants are discussed. Future power cycles based on coal will probably involve
new configurations to accommodate carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage. Examples are given to illustrate how these will
impact on the energy flows.
Acronyms and abbreviations
A-PFBC Advanced pressurised fluidised bed combustion (Japan)
BFP boiler feed pump
BGL British Gas/Lurgi (gasifier)
CFBC circulating fluidised bed combustion
CHP combined heat and power
CO2 carbon dioxide
COS carbonyl sulphide
DTI Department of Trade and Industry (UK)
EAGLE Coal Energy Application for Gas, Liquid and Electricity (Japan)
EU European Union
FGD flue gas desulphurisation
GE General Electric Company (USA)
HCl hydrogen chloride
H2S hydrogen sulphide
HHV higher heating value
HP high pressure
IEA International Energy Agency
IGCC integrated gasification combined cycle
IGFC integrated gasification fuel cell
IP intermediate pressure
ITM ion transport membrane
kJ kilojoule
kPa kilopascal
kW kilowatt
LHV lower heating value
MCFC molten carbonate fuel cell
MCR maximum continuous rating
MDEA methyldiethanolamine
MEA monoethanolamine
MHI Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
MPa megapascal
MWe megawatt electrical
NETL National Energy Technology Laboratory (US DOE)
NOx oxides of nitrogen
O2 oxygen
PC pulverised coal
PCC pulverised coal combustion
PFBC pressurised fluidised bed combustion
p-v pressure-volume (diagram)
SCR selective catalytic reduction
SO2 sulphur dioxide
SOFC solid oxide fuel cell
US DOE US Department of Energy
2 IEA CLEAN COAL CENTRE

Contents
Acronyms and abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2 Types of power generation cycles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3 Thermodynamics of cycles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4 Steam cycle plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

4.1 PCC boilers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.2 Steam turbines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.2.1 General arrangement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.2.2 Sources of losses in steam turbines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.2.3 Steam admission and control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.2.4 Sliding pressure units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.3 Steam cycles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.3.1 Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.3.2 Feedwater heating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.3.3 Influencing parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4.3.4 Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
5 Combined cycle plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

5.1 Overall cycle configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
5.2 Steam cycles for coal-fired combined cycle systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
5.3 Design aspects and influence of parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
5.3.1 PFBC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
5.3.2 IGCC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
5.4 Materials in combined cycle plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
6 Future plant designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

6.1 Oxygen production technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
6.2 CO2 capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
6.2.1 PCC-based systems with CO2 capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
6.2.2 IGCC systems with CO2 capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
6.3 Integrated gasification fuel cell cycles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
7 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
8 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Understanding coal-fired power plant cycles 3

1 Introduction
Coal-fired power generation plants are most commonly based
on pulverised coal combustion (PCC) systems, in which heat
from combustion of the coal is used to raise high pressure
superheated steam that drives a steam turbine generator.
Steam turbine plants have been in use for over a hundred
years, and have reached supercritical conditions with
percentage efficiencies in the upper 40s, LHV (lower heating
value) basis, at favourable locations. Coal-fired power plants
can also be based on combined gas and steam cycles, which
use gas turbines as well as steam turbines. This report
provides an introduction to the principles of both types of
plant.
The decision on whether to go for combined cycle or on what

type of combined cycle to opt for is connected with issues
such as the attitude to risk of the utility, the environmental
requirements imposed by the regulating authority, the type of
duty cycle envisaged, and various other possibilities. Such
choices depend on the owner’s priorities, such as maximising
full load efficiency or ensuring operational flexibility,
minimising capital or running costs, and so on. For example,
it is unlikely that a new plant based on entrained gasification
in an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) will
have been selected if the electricity demand cannot be relied
upon to provide base loading for most of the time (because of
the probably higher investment cost and lower degree of
flexibility than for combustion-based simple cycles), or if a
highly refractory high ash coal is the design fuel; a
combustion-based combined cycle will suit a lower quality
fuel or smaller plant, and so on.
The report deals with the heat utilisation aspects of power

plants, rather than fuel handling or combustion/gasification
reactions. It includes background on the thermodynamics of
heat engines to support the discussion on cycles. Materials
issues are included in the considerations as they have an
important bearing on the performance that is now and will in
future be attainable.
Future power cycles based on coal will probably involve new

configurations to accommodate carbon dioxide (CO2) capture
for storage. Whatever the means to be adopted, they will all
involve changes to the energy flows within the plants to some
degree. Integration aspects will be important. Such cycles are
also introduced in this report.
The report is organised as follows. In Chapter 2, cycles based

on steam turbines, gas turbines and combined cycles are
introduced. Chapter 3 outlines the thermodynamics of heat
engines and steam cycles. Chapter 4 considers steam plant
cycle designs. Chapter 5 looks at combined cycle plants. The
principal parameters determining performance are described
in both of these chapters. Chapter 6 discusses future
developments in power cycles, particularly incorporating CO2
capture and storage. Main conclusions are in Chapter 7.

2 Types of power generation cycles
Figure 1 shows the basic principle of combustion-based flue gas to gas
power generation using a steam turbine. Combustion of the cleaning as required
fuel generates heat that is used to convert water pumped to steam
steam
high pressure into high pressure superheated steam, which is fuel turbine
then used to drive a turbine. The turbine drives a generator. boiler generator
Steam emerging from the final stages of the steam turbine is air
recondensed to water which is then pumped back to the
boiler. In the steam turbine itself, the steam is expanded and
its pressure reduced through a sequence of stages of nozzles water cooling
pump condenser water
(fixed blades) and their associated rotors (moving blades)
while its energy is converted into rotational energy of the
rotor shaft. The steam leaving the high pressure turbine at Figure 1 Principle of combustion-based power
intermediate pressure is usually reheated before further generation using a steam turbine
expansion, to raise efficiency.
fuel
Other systems that make up a PCC plant are integrated within
the thermodynamic cycle, for example, the air heater that
recycles low grade heat to the boiler. Flue gas reheat after
flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) systems can take heat from
the thermodynamic cycle if they use steam heating, as
commonly applied in the USA, although newer FGD have combustor
feed/effluent gas/gas heat exchangers that avoid losses from air
this source. Where a significant accessible market exists, heat compressor turbine stack
may be exported from the plant in addition to electricity, generator
increasing the overall thermal efficiency while reducing the
electrical efficiency. For example, district heating schemes
can be supplied with heat from the cooler parts of the Figure 2 Principle of gas turbine system
water/steam cycle.
ratio raises efficiency up to a maximum, before it falls off as
Combustion (gas) turbines (Figure 2) convert heat into shaft the compressor power requirement rises faster than the power
power by using air as the working fluid rather than steam. developed by the turbine. The optimum point lies at higher
The air is first compressed, usually in a multi-stage axial pressures as the turbine inlet temperature is increased. As
compressor, to around 1.5 MPa (higher pressures up to most gas turbines exit to atmosphere, ambient conditions
3 MPa are used in aero-engines and their land-based generally affect output. The lower the turbine outlet pressure,
derivatives). The air is then heated by combustion of a fuel in the greater the delivered motive power obtained by expansion
it, and the added energy is exploited by expansion of the hot of the gases.
product gases in the turbine section. As in a steam turbine,
the fluid is expanded and its pressure reduced as it passes Exhaust gases leaving gas turbines are typically at a
through a sequence of stages of stators and rotors while its temperature of 550–600ºC, sometimes higher, and this is
energy is converted into rotational energy. The turbine sufficiently high for the production in a waste heat boiler of
directly drives the compressor, and the balance of motive high pressure superheated steam for expansion through a
power drives the generator. Gas turbines are most easily steam turbine to form a combined cycle (see Figure 3).
designed for fuelling on natural gas and distillate oils, but Combined cycles enable more energy to be obtained, because
coal-derived gas can be used, as discussed later. they allow a higher upper temperature in the heat engine
cycle (gas turbine inlet temperature), while keeping the same
Key properties of a gas turbine are the inlet air flow rate, the lower temperature of final heat rejection (wet steam outlet
turbine inlet temperature and the pressure ratio (the from the final low pressure steam turbine stage). Reheat is
compressor delivery pressure divided by the turbine outlet not always used in the steam cycles of combined cycles,
pressure). The air flow rate sets the output, while the other depending on cost-effectiveness.
two parameters determine the efficiency. As gas turbine
technology has evolved, entry temperatures have been The use of coal as a fuel for plants employing gas turbines
increased, raising efficiency. The most advanced gas turbines necessitates measures to limit the amount of entrained
used in power generation have turbine inlet temperatures particulates and liquid droplets (slag) passing through the
approaching 1400ºC. For example, the firing temperature of turbine to avoid damage and so achieve practical systems.
GE’s Frame 9FB machine is over 1370ºC (Modern Power Two principal approaches have been adopted. The first uses
Systems, 2002). This has been achieved through the use of pressurised fluidised bed combustion (PFBC) in a bubbling
improved alloys and blade cooling systems using air channels bed at around 1.0–1.5 MPa and 850ºC, followed by
aspirating through holes in the blades. Increasing the pressure particulates removal using cyclones (or sometimes a ceramic

Types of power generation cycles
steam
turbine
generator
condenser
cooling water
steam
fuel boiler
feed
pump
waste heat
boiler stack
combustor
air
compressor turbine
generator
Figure 3 Principle of a combined gas and steam cycle
steam
steam turbine
generator
coal pressurised
combustor
condenser
water
cooling water
boiler
feed
gas clean-up pump
economiser
stack
air
compressor gas turbine

generator
Figure 4 PFBC principle
filtration system), before expansion of the cleaned pressurised configurations to suit different gasifier types. Figure 5 shows
hot flue gas through the turbine expander (see Figure 4). The the principle of these integrated gasification combined cycle
pressurised air feed to the combustor is driven by the (IGCC) systems. Water flows are not shown, to simplify. The
expander, so the system resembles a normal gas turbine, but majority of types of gasifier that have been used for IGCC
with the combustor located remote from the rest of the are of an oxygen-blown entrained design, either using a
turbine. The combustion temperature is limited to around liquid coal slurry feed or a fine dry coal feed. However, other
850ºC to avoid sintering of the coal ash in the fluidised bed, gasifier types can be used. IGCC oxygen supply
which can lead to defluidisation. arrangements range from complete integration, in which all
of the air for the air separation plant is provided by the gas
The other approach is first to convert the feed coal into a fuel turbine compressor, to zero integration in which the air
gas, using a pressurised gasification system, then to clean the separation plant has its own air supply compressors. The
gas before firing it in a more conventional gas turbine optimum choice depends on flexibility required and the type
combustor (though designed to accommodate a medium of gas turbine to be used.
calorific value gas rather than natural gas). This permits
higher turbine inlet temperatures to be achieved than in Neither PFBC nor IGCC is yet widely established but IGCC
PFBC and also allows much greater variation in cycle in particular is promising for the future, with its low

Types of power generation cycles
steam steam
steam
turbine
generator
coal raw
gas
gasifier gas cleaning
steam
oxygen clean gas
oxygen plant
air
waste heat
boiler stack
combustor
air
compressor gas turbine

generator
Figure 5 Principle of integrated gasification combined cycle power generation
emissions, high potential efficiency and scope for adaptation Gas turbine cycles do not have to be heated by burning fuel
to near-zero emissions and co-production of hydrogen within the working fluid. External (indirect) heating can in
(Henderson, 2003a,b). There are various sources of heat from principle be used, thus enabling fuels such as coal to be used
the gas cycle in IGCC cycles apart from that in the turbine without gas clean-up but, because high temperatures are
exhaust gases, and these heat flows have to be integrated to needed for useful efficiencies from gas turbines, special
the maximum extent with the steam cycle for satisfactory materials are required and such air heater systems are still
practical systems. Some heat or steam consumption may be developmental.
internal to the plant, for example steam may need to be sent
to a coal gasifier.

3 Thermodynamics of cycles
This chapter introduces some information on the The proportion of the heat supplied that is converted into
thermodynamics of heat engines and steam cycles to facilitate mechanical work is referred to as the efficiency of the cycle.
reading in context the information in later chapters. It is For the ideal engine, the efficiency is related to the initial and
necessarily kept brief. final temperatures of the system as follows:
A heat engine is a device for extracting useful work from h = (T1-T2)/T1 (1)
heat by utilising the expansion of a gas. The Second Law
tells us that it is not possible to convert all of the heat energy where h is the efficiency and T1 and T2 are the upper and
supplied to an engine into work, but that some energy will lower (initial and final) temperatures between which the
inevitably be unused and rejected at a lower temperature. We engine operates, expressed in degrees Kelvin. Because
cannot simply take out all the energy fed in as heat in the thermal energy exists in the form of molecular translational,
form of the equivalent amount of work. However, the First rotational and vibrational motions, and such motions cease at
Law of Thermodynamics also holds – energy must be 0 K (–273.15ºC), the only circumstance in which no heat
conserved: the total heat energy input equals the total energy would be rejected would be for an impossible engine that
obtained from the engine as work done plus rejected heat at a would operate with its temperature of heat rejection at 0 K,
lower temperature. when the above equation would give an efficiency of
conversion to mechanical work of 1, or 100%.
The operation of an ideal engine between temperatures T1
and T2 is represented by the Carnot cycle (Figure 6). This The lowest temperature in the steam turbine cycle depends on
shows, in the form of a pressure-volume (p-v) diagram, a the temperature of the coolant water that cools the steam and
cyclical sequence of reversible processes performed on a gas, condensate leaving the low pressure outlet of the turbine
involving isothermal (constant temperature) expansion system. Sites with access to cold sea water can reach lower
(A➝B) at temperature T1, adiabatic (without heat addition or bottom end temperatures in the cycle and so higher
extraction) expansion (B➝C), isothermal compression efficiencies. There is more scope to increase the upper
(C➝D) at temperature T2, and adiabatic compression operating temperatures of steam turbines (subject to materials
(D➝A). The engine is drawing heat from the heat source at availability), as has occurred over the past 100 years or so for
T1, performing work by expansion, then returning a smaller this reason. For an upper temperature of 600ºC (typical of a
quantity of heat to a sink at T2. A reversible process is a state-of-the-art supercritical turbine) and lower temperature
process that occurs at equilibrium throughout: it is of 20ºC (typical for sea water cooling at a North European
unattainable in practice, but may be approximated where coastal location), the theoretical maximum efficiency given
changes occur slowly. Irreversibility will result in lost by equation (1) is 66%.
opportunities for producing work. An example is friction.
Inefficiencies emerge ultimately as heat flows from the In practice steam cycle efficiencies are lower. For example, a
system over and above that of the ideal engine. The work calculation based on the gross efficiency of the Boxberg
done by the ideal engine around the Carnot cycle is the sum lignite-fired plant in Germany, given as 48.65% by Smith
of all the p-v work and so is given by the area enclosed by (2001), indicates a steam cycle efficiency of around 52–53%,
the p-v diagram. assuming a boiler efficiency of 92%, LHV basis. Welford and
others (2002) have calculated a gross efficiency of 48.5% and
p net plant efficiency of 45.1%, LHV basis, for a notional
30 MPa/600ºC/620ºC plant at a UK inland location, implying
a similar steam turbine cycle efficiency. Materials
development programmes are in progress to allow higher
temperature and pressure conditions. These and cycle design
A advances could ultimately realise steam cycle efficiencies of
around 60% (estimated from an overall efficiency of 52%,
B LHV implying a gross efficiency of 56%, LHV basis).
T1
An important property, entropy (S), can be defined by the
equation:
D
DS = dQrev/T (2)
C
T2
Here, dQrev represents the heat absorbed during a reversible
change at temperature T (Kelvin). The entropy change, DS,
V effectively measures the energy dispersion in a system as a
function of temperature. An increase in entropy represents
Figure 6 p-V diagram of Carnot cycle heat energy that is unavailable for doing work. Operation of
an ideal engine around a complete cycle will therefore occur

Thermodynamics of cycles
1 2
2 turbine
3
4
V
boiler
3
T
condenser 2
1 1
pump
4
4 3
S
Figure 7 Simple Rankine cycle with p-V and T-S diagrams (adapted from Goodall, 1981)
with no overall change in entropy and any work the internal energy in the context of heat engines. The
accompanying such a process will be accompanied by an enthalpy of a fluid can be seen from the above to be the total
equivalent decrease in enthalpy. Entropy can be expressed per of the energy arising from its pressure and volume and from
unit mass as specific entropy. Temperature-entropy (T-S) its temperature (internal energy). For both the p-v and T-S
diagrams can be plotted for heat engine cycles and are diagrams the work done by the engine is given by the areas
particularly useful in consideration of steam cycles. enclosed. In practice, irreversibilities and application of
features such as steam reheat alter the shape of the diagrams
Steam turbine cycles involve changes of state and the somewhat.
Rankine cycle was proposed independently by Rankine and
Clausius to accommodate this. In these systems, all of the It is convenient in consideration of heat engines to look at
compression is performed on the working fluid while it is changes in properties such as enthalpy, entropy and internal
liquid, so less work is required for that stage than in the energy, since, although they are state functions (that is,
Carnot cycle. Figure 7 shows a basic Rankine cycle in changes depend only on initial and final states, regardless of
outline, together with its p-v and T-S diagrams. the pathway between them), their absolute values cannot be
known. If heat is absorbed at constant volume, the increase in
The heat from the boiler increases the enthalpy (known energy is the change in internal energy. If volume changes
sometimes as heat content) of the water as its state, during the absorption of heat, so that work is done, the heat
temperature, volume and pressure change. Enthalpy (h) is absorbed is the change in enthalpy. Here, for the Rankine
defined as: cycle, enthalpy is the appropriate measure of the heat
absorbed since it applies to energy absorbed that changes the
h = u+pv (3) internal energy and the product pv. Tabulated specific
enthalpies (that is, per unit mass of water/steam), for
where u is the internal energy, p is the pressure, and v is the instance, are referenced to a standard condition, for example
volume of a system. The internal energy of a system includes they may be defined as zero at 0ºC and 100 kPa in a gaseous
the sum of potential and kinetic energy as well as that from or vapour phase.
energy transferred as heat, which is associated with the
motional energies of the constituent molecules. The latter can Referencing to the specific enthalpies around the major
for practical purposes be thought of as accounting for all of process areas of the cycle (Figure 7):

Qb = m(h2-h1) (4) important aspects are considered (in, for example in another
area, questioning whether it is appropriate to use the high
where Qb is the heat absorbed from the boiler (kJ), m is the temperature heat from a flame purely for heating water at low
mass flow of water/steam (kg/s), and h1 and h2 are the pressure to less than 100ºC for space heating systems). A loss
specific enthalpies of the steam or water entering and exiting of exergy represents the destruction of work potential (De
the boiler, respectively (kJ/kg). and others, 2003). In practice, some form of trade-off will be
necessary in deciding details of design to achieve optimum
The increased enthalpy of the steam is exploited in the generation cost at some sacrifice of efficiency.
turbine, which if ideal will convert all of the enthalpy drop
across it into work. Referring to Figure 7: Increases in main steam pressure lead to an increase in
evaporation temperature and reduced heat of vaporisation,
Wt = m(h2-h3) (5) enabling greater temperature differences across the cycle to
be achieved, and may make more room for an additional
where the work done by the ideal turbine is Wt (kW). In reheat stage. All these factors favour higher efficiency cycles.
practical turbines, the work actually done by the turbine, Other important factors in practice include increasing boiler
Wact, is reduced by irreversibilities, and these are reflected in feedwater temperatures (this effectively raises the upper
the isentropic efficiency of the turbine, hs (ideal processes temperature of the thermodynamic cycle) and choice of
have no change in entropy associated with them), which may turbine pressure stages.
be of the order of 80–95%.
The pressure-volume diagram for a gas turbine cycle, known
Wact = m(h2-h3)hs (6) as the Brayton cycle, is shown in Figure 8. The curve 1–2
represents the reversible adiabatic compression in the
Although saturated steam can be used, and expansion of wet compressor, 2–3 is the line of heating at constant pressure,
steam occurs in the low pressure stages of power plant and 3–4 represents reversible expansion in the turbine. The
turbines, raising the enthalpy of the main steam through line 4–1 represents the process of heat rejection by the
superheating is needed to achieve sufficiently high exhaust gases. The work used by the compressor is
efficiencies and to ensure that the dryness fraction does not represented by the area a21b and the work performed by the
fall below about 90%, to minimise water droplet-induced turbine by a34b. The area of the diagram 1234 is the net
erosion in the low pressure cylinders. The higher energy work output (in practice, irreversibilities alter the shape of the
content in superheated steam also enables the specific steam diagram slightly).
consumption to be reduced. Further improvements in steam
consumption, efficiency and steam dryness are also achieved The efficiency of a gas turbine is typically around 30%
by employing reheat of the intermediate pressure steam because of the high exhaust gas temperature but the latter is
exiting the high pressure turbine (usually to a temperature turned to advantage in associating the gas turbine with a
comparable with that of the superheated steam) before steam turbine to form a combined cycle. This uses the high
expanding it through the remaining turbine stages. Reheat temperature gas turbine exhaust heat as the source of energy
raises the average upper temperature of the thermodynamic for a Rankine cycle. State-of-the-art natural gas fired
cycle. combined cycles have thermal efficiencies typically of 58%,
LHV basis. Coal-fired combined cycles were described in
The equations are used to calculate the required distribution Chapter 2 and are looked at in more detail in Chapter 5.
of flows within the steam cycle once the temperature and
pressure conditions (and hence specific enthalpy) at each There are ways to avoid the inherent energy rejection from
point have been set.
p
Turbine cycles are often characterised by their heat rate,
which is a measure of the heat supplied compared with the
gross electrical output in kWe from the turbine. It therefore
2 3
embraces generator losses also. Commonly used units for a
heat rate are kJ/kWh:
Heat rate (kJ/kWh) = 3600Qb/We (7)
The heat available to the steam cycle in a power station will

be available over different temperature ranges. Practical
systems make optimum use of the different grades of heat in
order to realise maximise efficiency. Viewing the design of
energy utilisation and transformation systems from the point b
1 4
of view of ensuring that higher grades of heat are utilised
only when all reasonable use of lower grade sources has been
made has led to the concept of exergy, or available energy. V
Exergetic analysis is now a firmly established sphere of
applied thermodynamics, of value in ensuring that these Figure 8 p-V diagram for Brayton cycle

the Second Law. These utilise other systems for converting

the chemical energy in the fuel into work. An example is the
fuel cell, which uses electrochemical processes to convert the
fuel’s chemical energy into electricity. However, adequate
fuel utilisation has to be achieved through recycling the fuel
gas to the fuel cells and/or combustion of the off-gas. In large
scale power generation applications from syngas, fuel cells
will have to be integrated with heat engine cycles for
achieving highest electrical efficiencies because of the high
thermal energy content of the exit gases. The use of fuel cells
is discussed in Chapter 6. It is also possible to convert heat
directly to electricity using the thermoelectric effect but
technologies for this are currently applied only to very
specialised, small-scale applications such as for space probes.

4 Steam cycle plants
The vast majority of combustion-based single cycle steam turbine is normally reheated to main steam temperature then
plants fuelled by coal utilise pulverised coal combustion returned to the intermediate pressure turbine.
(PCC). In a PCC power station unit, heat from combustion of
coal is used to raise high pressure superheated steam which is Figure 9 shows in simplified diagrammatic form a drum-type
used to drive a turbine to generate power. This chapter is subcritical boiler. The economiser forming the last stage of
mainly concerned with the steam turbine cycle but an initial the boiler’s convective section takes the incoming feedwater’s
section discusses the steam generator (boiler). Firing systems temperature to about 60ºC below evaporation temperature for
are not discussed. sending on to a steam drum/evaporator recirculation loop.
The economiser takes the flue gases down to around 350ºC.
Lower temperature heat down to about 100–150ºC is
4.1 PCC boilers recovered by transferring the heat to the incoming
combustion air using an air heater. Evaporation takes place
A drum-type subcritical PCC boiler takes the pressurised using mainly radiant heat, which is transferred to water
preheated boiler feedwater from around 250–260ºC to carrying tubes forming the wall of the furnace zone of the
evaporation point then superheats it to 540ºC or above for boiler. The ensuing water/steam mixture passes to a large
sending to the HP turbine. A supercritical boiler heats the steam drum, which allows the steam to separate, and the
pressurised preheated (260–300ºC) water beyond the critical water returns to the evaporator. Either forced or natural
point (22.1 MPa, 374ºC), above which water and steam are circulation is used to send the water round the loop. Steam
indistinguishable, to superheat temperatures. As it is heated, leaving the drum is then sent to the primary superheater.
the water, already at supercritical pressure, changes smoothly
into vapour, when the critical temperature is passed, without In both subcritical and supercritical boilers, superheat and
a liquid/vapour boundary becoming discernible. In practice, reheat heat transfer surfaces are mounted above the furnace
turbulence (pseudo-boiling) can be observed through its and in the convection section of the boiler. Superheaters and
effect on heat transfer rates. Beyond the critical temperature, reheaters are generally of pendant and/or horizontal type,
vapour and liquid are not distinguishable and two phases do each with at least two stages (to simplify, only two for
not exist. In both supercritical and subcritical boilers, superheat and one for reheat are shown on Figure 9). To
intermediate pressure steam returning from the high pressure control steam temperatures, facilities are usually provided for
to primary superheater
reheated steam to IP turbine steam from HP turbine

steam drum
superheated
from steam to turbine
economiser
secondary reheater
superheater
primary superheater
from steam drum
to steam drum
economiser
boiler feedwater
evaporator
(water walls) heated
combustion air
air heater
boiler exit gases

to gas cleaning
combustion air
Figure 9 Drum-type boiler (diagrammatic)

Steam cycle plants
reheated steam to IP turbine steam from HP turbine
superheated
steam to turbine
secondary reheater primary

superheater superheater
to furnace tubing
economiser
boiler feedwater
furnace
(water walls) heated
combustion air
air heater
boiler exit gases to gas cleaning
from economiser combustion air
Figure 10 Once-through supercritical boiler (diagrammatic)
attemperation of superheated and reheated steam by injection 2001). During normal operation, the separators (not included
of boiler feedwater sprays between the stages of heating in the figure for clarity) are unnecessary and are bypassed.
(attemperation features are not shown on the simplified
figure). Attemperation water may be taken at final feedwater Once-through boilers require a different tube arrangement
temperature and pressure or from the main feed pump outlet from drum boilers within the furnace area. In the absence of
for superheat steam attemperation or from a tapping within recirculation there is inevitably a lower liquid mass flow rate
the main feed pump for reheat steam attemperation. However, within the furnace wall tubes, so spiral wound furnace tube
since there is a significant impact on cycle efficiency, use of designs in the zone near to the pulverised coal (PC) burners
these, especially the latter, is minimised so alternative have commonly been adopted to give a longer path and
methods to control steam temperature, involving adjusting higher water mass flow in the tubes for greater cooling, to
heat transfer rates, by tilting burners downwards, use of flue prevent tube damage arising from overheating
gas recirculation or even adjustment of excess air levels may (see Figure 11). As an alternative, internally rifled tube
be provided. Once-through boilers sometimes omit the designs are available, offering improved heat transfer and
facility for attemperation, using instead close matching of lower wall temperatures at much lower mass flows through
firing rate to feedwater flow for steam temperature control. induced swirl (Figure 12). This allows vertical tubing to be
used throughout the furnace, giving greater operating
The familiar two pass design may be substituted by a tower flexibility (Scheffknecht and others, 2003). Overall, the
type that can offer some advantages, including less potential pressure drop is reduced, as less pipe length is needed, so
for tube bend erosion and allowing the boiler to be more pumping power is lower than for spiral wound designs (Luby
completely drainable (Stultz and Kitto, 1992). The and Susta, 2002).
economiser may be mounted either above the superheater and
reheater sections or above the air heater (Scheffknecht and As supercritical cycles have evolved, improved steels have
others, 2003). been developed to cater for those parts of the boiler that are
under particular stress. The use of alloys for the critical
The configuration of a typical once-through supercritical pressure part components such as waterwalls, final superheat
boiler is shown in Figure 10 in simplified form. Supercritical and reheat sections, and main steam headers and piping has
boilers have smaller economisers than equivalent subcritical been summarised by Scheffknecht and others (2003). The
boilers as the bleed steam feedwater heating system delivers extension to future, more severe conditions is discussed in
the water at a higher temperature. Once-through boilers do Section 4.3.4 of this report.
not have a steam drum apart from small water/steam
separators for use during start-up (Lorey, 2003; Siemens, Other types of coal-fired boilers that are used for steam
turbine generation units are based on atmospheric fluidised

Steam cycle plants
bed combustion, of which the most widely deployed are of

the circulating type (CFBC). The application of the heat from
such systems is very similar to that for PCC (if required,
descriptions of CFBC technology can be found in other
recent publications by the IEA Clean Coal Centre by Rousaki
and Couch (2000) and Henderson (2003a)).
The next section looks at steam turbines and the steam cycles
in which they are used, reviews the influence of parameters
on performance and looks at the use of new materials for
future improvements.
4.2 Steam turbines
4.2.1 General arrangement

In a modern large steam turbine, superheated steam at a high
temperature and high pressure is expanded while its energy is
converted into mechanical work. A turbine (Figure 13)
contains a sequence of stages of nozzles (stators, or fixed
blades) and their associated rotors (moving blades). Steam is
admitted via a stop valve, which can trip to shut off the steam
flow in emergency situations, then flows through control
valves that allow the correct flow rate for the power output
required. Pressure variation as an alternative means of setting
output is also increasingly used.
In impulse turbines, energy transfer comes from the action of

the steam hitting the blades. As the steam passes through
each stage of nozzles, its velocity increases, its pressure
drops, and the emerging high velocity stream transfers its
kinetic energy to the rotor, while the steam loses velocity.
The next nozzle stage then further drops the steam pressure,
raising the velocity for its associated rotor. Thus, the whole
of the pressure drop and attendant velocity increase are
Figure 11 Spiral winding in once-through boiler arranged to take place within the stationary nozzles. In the
furnace area (Stultz and Kitto, 1992) other main type of turbine (reaction), the pressure drop takes
place over the rotor blades themselves. The rotor blades are
shaped to be wider apart at the inlet side than at the outlet so
that transfer of energy to the rotor comes from the recoil as
the steam escapes. Conventionally, turbines have been largely
impulse or about 50/50% impulse/reaction in design, but
some modern turbines are designed with the reaction of each
stage individually set.
At the scale of power station turbines, it is not practical or

economic to design a single casing for taking the steam down
from main stop valve pressure to condenser pressure, as such
large degrees of volume increase and pressure drop are
involved, so separate turbines are mounted on the same axle,
tandem compounded into one machine. The high pressure
(HP) turbine exhausts at about 25% of the pressure at its
inlet, and this steam, net of that extracted for feedwater
heating, enters, usually after reheat, the intermediate pressure
(IP) turbine, normally a double flow design, which drops the
pressure to around 0.5–1 MPa, before sending it to the low
pressure (LP) turbines that exhaust at sub-atmospheric
pressure to maximise expansion and work done. On large
Figure 12 Internally rifled tube for furnace area of machines, two or three double-ended LP cylinders are needed
supercritical boiler (Siemens, 2001) to accommodate the exhaust volume flow rate. Extraction

Steam cycle plants
pressure drops
boiler pressure
B N B
pressure
N B N B N B N
exhaust pressure
N = nozzle
B = blade
casing
exhaust pressure
steam inlet
rotor
Figure 13 Steam turbine (Goodall, 1981)
points are located in the cylinders (casings) of the IP and 4.2.2 Sources of losses in steam
LP turbines for obtaining steam at various pressures for
feedwater heating and other possible uses, for example turbines
export as steam or to provide heat for export after heat
exchange, for example for a district heating scheme. Where Sources of losses in turbines include aerodynamic losses,
a significant medium or low pressure export steam leakage of steam and leaving loss. Computer aided design
requirement exists, back-pressure turbines may be selected. and three-dimensional packages for the optimisation of blade
These exhaust at the required pressure for the export steam aerodynamic designs for maximising stage efficiencies have
and condensing stages are not used. Such systems are not enabled turbine efficiencies to be improved considerably over
normally encountered in utility scale power stations. the last 10 years through new three-dimensional blade
designs. A recent development, the so-called 3DV system
The wet steam emerging from the LP cylinders is developed by Siemens (3D blading with variable stage
completely condensed in the condensers mounted reaction) offers freedom in design philosophy and so greater
underneath the turbines. The condensers are kept at a efficiency, avoiding the need for the same degree of reaction
pressure of typically 0.003–0.005 MPa, depending on the to be applied to all stages (Luby and Susta, 2002; World
temperature of the available cooling water. This in turn Coal, 2004).
depends on the cooling system adopted and local
conditions. Sea water cooling gives the lowest temperatures Leakage losses occur when steam bypasses a stage by
in temperate coastal sites, while inland sites often use leaking past the tips of stationary and moving blades.
cooling tower systems with natural draught cooling of Designs to minimise this depend on where most of the
recirculating water (with make-up to compensate for pressure drop occurs, and so on the degree of reaction. With
evaporation and blowdown). Forced draught heat impulse blades, most of the potential loss area is around the
exchangers may be used where smaller, lower structures are nozzle blades, where most effort is concentrated in sealing,
required. In the condenser, the cooling water is pumped but some sealing at the tip of the moving blades is usually
through tubes over which the steam passes. Minimising the also applied. With 50% reaction blades, more elaborate
leakage of air into the condenser is important for sealing systems need to be applied to the rotor blades. Water
maintaining adequate vacuum. Deterioration in vacuum droplets also cause a drop in efficiency in wet stages from a
reduces turbine output and efficiency and air in-leakage can braking effect on the rotor by impingement with the (faster
increase the oxygen concentration in the condensate, moving) blades. Another source of losses is associated with
leading to corrosion of feedwater heaters, boiler and the kinetic energy of the steam leaving the final LP stage.
turbine. It is also necessary maintain the temperature rise This ‘leaving loss’ is minimised by maximising the last stage
across a condenser within rated values to keep to the exit area, but a trade-off between size and cost exists. It is
required vacuum at the turbine exit. Increases of 2% in heat generally more economic to increase the LP turbine annulus
rate due to poor heat transfer from fouling are not area by maximising the last stage blade length rather than to
uncommon (Putman and Walker, 2000). multiply the number of cylinders (Luby, 2003). Although it

Steam cycle plants
may not be considered a loss as such, steam is also needed to 100

seal the glands at the end of turbine shafts and so the
enthalpy in this does not provide motive power.
Steam flow, % maximum flow

80
Other important aspects associated with losses are the
minimising of blade erosion from impingement of water
60
droplets, by hardening of the leading edge of the blades of
wet stages, and understanding and eliminating blade
vibration. In supercritical units, at the high temperatures 40
encountered, solid particle erosion of the first and second
high pressure and intermediate pressure stages can lead to
efficiency loss. This has required the development of suitably 20
robust control stage nozzles (Logan and Nah, 2002).
0
Larger turbines tend to exhibit higher efficiencies than
0 20 40 60 80 100
smaller ones. This is not only due to it being generally more
Load, % MCR
cost effective to use more sophisticated features, but also
because the rotor shaft cross sectional area relative to that of Figure 14 Typical Willans line for a condensing
the steam flow path becomes smaller. As a consequence, the turbine (Quayle, 1984)
power-to-weight ratio of larger turbines is greater and
frictional and leakage losses are relatively smaller. 10500
4.2.3 Steam admission and control 10000

Heat rate, kJ/kWh
Steam enters the HP turbine typically through four nozzle 9500

chests, each of which is controlled by its own steam valve.
Where steam flow is used to set output at part load, there are
three potential means of control to set the flow rate to adjust 9000
the power output as required. These are throttle, nozzle and throttle governed
nozzle governed
bypass governing. In throttle governed systems, all of the
8500
valves are operated in parallel. As the load is reduced, the
turbine itself remains fairly constant in efficiency but there is valve point
a loss due to throttling by the valves. A graph of load versus 8000
steam flow (the so-called Willans line, see Figure 14) is 100 200 300 400 500
linear above an initial steam flow needed to overcome losses, Turbine generator output, MW
friction and back-pressure (Quayle, 1984). The plot of overall
turbine heat rate shows a curve (the upper line in Figure 15). Figure 15 Variation of heat rate with load for a
500 MWe turbine (Quayle, 1984)
Nozzle control governing involves changing the number of
steam introduction nozzles that are open as the load changes. performance. In this case, boilers are generally once-through
Only two are used up to a certain load. When these are fully supercritical designs, as more rapid output changes can
open, a third nozzle is used to supply the additional flow as thereby be achieved because of their lower thermal inertia. At
demand for output rises. Finally, the fourth nozzle is opened the reduced pressure used for part load operation, when the
at loads above that obtaining when the first three are fully system is operating subcritically, evaporation occurs within a
open. There is therefore less throttling loss at reduced outputs region of tubing that shifts with changes in load while the
and turbine heat rate is better. The Willans line is not quite enthalpy increases in the boiler associated with preheating,
straight and a graph of heat rate versus output is as shown by evaporation and superheating change with pressure. Once
the lower line on Figure 15. through boilers can increase output by 5% per minute,
compared with 3% per minute for drum boilers (Luby, 2003).
In the less commonly encountered bypass governing, the Such flexible systems reduce the drop in efficiency at
extra steam flow above a certain output is taken from before reduced load, as better control of turbine temperatures and
the HP turbine and introduced further along the turbine train. wetness is possible than when turbine governor valves are
throttled. In addition, boiler feed pump power consumption is
A method of regulating output that is gaining in popularity is reduced and there are lower stresses on components such as
sliding pressure operation. This is discussed below. valves. In practice, a certain degree of throttling is usually
also used to maintain some reserve steam to give the
capability for meeting sudden increases in power demand.
4.2.4 Sliding pressure units Sliding pressure has been used for over ten years in units in
Denmark (Kjær, 1990) and is the recommended method for
Boiler-turbine units are increasingly being designed for new supercritical units (Fernando and others, 2000). Sliding
sliding pressure operation to achieve better cycling pressure once-through boilers are provided with small steam

Steam cycle plants
drums for water/steam separation at the (subcritical) minimising the plant investment cost and achieving high
conditions of reduced load. Small separator vessels and a reliability with low routine maintenance requirements.
recirculating pump are in any case normally provided for Account has to be taken of factors such as ambient conditions
start-up (Siemens, 2001). and available cooling system options. The influences of some
of the more important parameters on steam cycle
performance are discussed in Section 4.3.3.
4.3 Steam cycles
4.3.2 Feedwater heating
4.3.1 Principles
Increasing the boiler feedwater inlet temperature raises cycle
Figure 16 (Welford and others, 2002), which is a design for a efficiency. A typical final feedwater temperature for a
supercritical cycle with state-of-the-art 30 MPa/600ºC/620ºC subcritical plant with 18 MPa main steam pressure would be
steam conditions, demonstrates the principles of the modern 260ºC. Supercritical plants can have final feedwater
reheat steam cycles used in power generation. Water from the temperatures of up to 300ºC, for example at
condenser is pumped through feedwater heating stages then Nordjyllandsværket Unit 3 it is 298ºC (Jensen, 2000).
fed to the boiler for conversion into high pressure Feedwater heating is achieved by use of steam extracted from
superheated or supercritical steam. This is fed to the steam the turbine at appropriate points to feed indirect heat
turbine, expanded to around 0.003–0.005 MPa and the exchangers. A deaerator to keep the oxygen content of the
emerging steam condensed in the condenser, completing the boiler feedwater low to avoid corrosion also heats the water by
circuit. Steam is taken off for feedwater heating, and high direct contact. The supercritical steam cycle design in Figure
pressure water (around 2–5% of main flow) may be diverted 16 uses four surface type (indirect) low pressure heaters, three
for attemperation of the superheated and reheated steam. surface type high pressure heaters and a deaerator (Welford
Steam from reheater or or superheater headers is commonly and others, 2002). Subcritical cycles will have fewer feedwater
used for sootblowing to clear the boiler surfaces of deposits heaters. Pumping is effected in two stages: a low pressure
but air or water can also be used. extraction pump pumps the condensate at around 0.5–1 MPa
from the condenser through the LP heaters and deaerator, then
Most of the heat available to the steam cycle in a PCC power the main boiler feed pump raises the pressure to boiler pressure
station is at a high temperature, and there is no difficulty in and sends the feedwater through the HP feedwater heaters to
raising high pressure steam and heating it to superheat and the input of the boiler economiser. A third pump is sometimes
reheat temperatures (typically 540–600ºC). Heat at lower used after the deaerator to raise the water pressure to an
temperatures is taken out via the economiser, which brings intermediate level for passage through the first two high
the boiler feedwater to the required temperature for pressure feedwater heaters, with the main feed pump
introduction to the steam drum, and via the air heater, which pressurising the water in advance of the last high pressure
recycles heat to the boiler via the incoming combustion air, heater. Thus, only one of these heaters then needs to be
bringing the boiler flue gas temperature down sufficiently to designed to withstand the highest pressures.
achieve satisfactory boiler efficiency (90–94%, LHV basis).
A broad order-of-magnitude split of heat duties within a Reliability and cost can be issues with feedwater heaters and
single reheat subcritical PCC power plant unit would be the balance of advantages and disadvantages normally lies
around 8% in the economiser, 35–45% evaporator, 30–40% with keeping to no more than eight heaters plus the deaerator
in the superheater elements and 15% in the reheater elements. for large steam turbine units. Depending on the pressures
Such a division of heats is less meaningful for a supercritical used in the cycle, the final high pressure feedwater heater
boiler as evaporation is not a distinct process: there is no step may take for heating duty steam extracted from or after the
increase in heat absorption as latent heat of vaporisation. high pressure turbine. The heaters are cascaded such that the
However, the economiser will tend to be designed to take less hotter drains are added to the steam side of the next heater.
heat and the reheater will be responsible for broadly the same Depending on the adopted design conditions, uncondensed
proportion of the total heat duty as in subcritical systems. steam may sometimes be taken from one or two of the
Steam raising at a single pressure is always adequate for the highest pressure surface type heaters to feed other HP
main steam cycle of conventional PCC units. Combined heaters, thereby reducing the number of HP turbine steam
cycles based on gasification, discussed in Chapter 5, can extraction points required. For feedwater heaters, there is a
employ steam generation at two or three pressures to need to achieve minimum terminal temperature differences
accommodate sources of lower grade heat optimally. (pinches) with adequate heat transfer rates to minimise the
size and cost of the heaters. Feedwater outlet temperatures
All large PCC turbine generating cycles employ reheat to are usually close to the bleed steam saturation temperature,
make maximum use of the scope for expansion of the steam especially for HP heaters. In some designs, to achieve a high
to raise output and efficiency, while keeping the steam’s final feedwater temperature, the feedwater in the last HP
degree of wetness below damaging levels. In a supercritical heater may be heated to above the bleed steam saturation
plant, the water becomes a supercritical fluid beyond the temperature, but such heaters are more expensive. An
critical temperature, but the inlet feedwater and main steam alternative is to use higher pressure bleed steam. Drains from
conditions still determine the total heat duty of the boiler, as the condensed steam may typically be designed to be around
in subcritical systems. The task of the cycle designer is to 5ºC warmer than the inlet feedwater’s temperature.
make optimum use of the heats to maximise efficiency while

Steam cycle plants
main flow bleed flow
economiser lower furnace wall upper furnace walls

(spiral) and arch/screen
steam
primary S/H cage roof, side and furnace roof

(horizontal) rear walls
separator
1st stage S/H spray
platen S/H primary R/H
2nd stage S/H spray R/H spray from BFP
final S/H final R/H
recirculating pump
separator
recirculating
water
HP turbine IP turbine
LP turbine
cylinders
dearator/FW
tank
condenser
BFP condensate
feedwater extraction pump
HP feedheating train (3 heaters) tapping for R/H spray LP feedheating train (4 heaters)
Figure 16 Supercritical cycle showing feedwater heating arrangements (Welford and others, 2002)

Steam cycle plants
Feedwater heating effectively reduces the heat addition to

the water in the boiler, raising the efficiency, but reduces the
4.3.3 Influencing parameters
power output per kg of main steam production, so
increasing the specific steam consumption. Monitoring and This section looks at the influences of some of the more
keeping to design conditions at inlets and outlets of the important parameters on steam cycle performance. Station
heaters and to feedwater inlet and outlet conditions across thermal efficiency directly affects fuel costs and has a major
the deaerator is important for maintaining highest influence on emissions. It is therefore probably the most
efficiency. important design target after capital cost and always forms
part of the guaranteed performance specification for a new
Surface type feedwater heaters are usually of shell and tube unit. Unit efficiency is determined by factors that can be
construction. Designs in which the feedwater tubes are grouped into those appertaining to the efficiency of the heat
welded to tubular inlet and outlet feedwater headers inside engine cycle, those related to the extent of boiler heat
the steam shell offer advantages over those employing flat recovery for that cycle, and other factors such as auxiliary
tubesheets that have to be much thicker for strength. These power consumption and transformer losses. Auxiliary power
include reduced thermal stress-induced failures from load consumption can actually have a bearing on the
cycling, reduced maintenance requirements and better thermodynamic cycle design, although indirectly (thus, the
reliability. The carbon steel tubes used in header heaters do main boiler feedwater pump may be driven by a steam
have to be very carefully welded because of their complex turbine or use an electric drive). The text below focuses
shape (Armor and others, 2003). mostly on the effects of heat engine cycle parameters.
Combined heat and power production Main steam conditions

Where heat or steam is exported from the plant in addition Chapter 3 showed that the upper (main) steam turbine
to electricity, significant changes occur in the feedwater temperature is among the most significant determining
heating system flows. In district heating systems taking hot factors for steam cycle efficiency, and therefore among the
water, part of the bleed steam goes to the district heating first parameters to be decided upon in designing a
scheme heaters, with the condensate from these re-entering boiler/turbine generating unit. Figure 18 shows steam cycle
the low pressure feedwater stream at different points along heat rate improvements as main steam pressure and main
the LP feedwater heating train according to their steam and reheat steam temperatures are increased from
temperature. The principle is illustrated in Figure 17. subcritical to supercritical conditions (Logan and Nah, 2002).
The adjacent curves show the influences of individual
If steam is exported, there may be no return of condensate, changes in the main steam and reheat steam temperatures.
depending on whether the steam is intended for process use These data are for single reheat cycles. It can be seen that the
or for supplying heat exchangers. Boiler feedwater effect of changing reheat temperature is virtually linear, at
consumption is then increased. Depending on the required 0.03% heat rate improvement per degree Celsius, and the
steam pressure, significant steam export may be best effect is perhaps not surprisingly almost independent of main
achieved in back-pressure turbine systems, which exhaust steam pressure. The gain from increasing the main steam
above ambient pressures. temperature decreases at higher temperatures.
bleed steam from LP turbine steam from LP turbine outlet
feedwater to feedwater
LP heater 3 LP heater 2 LP heater 1
deaerator cooling water
condenser
condensate condensate condensate
hot water to DHS heat exchangers DHS cold return (50°C)

DHS (100°C)
part of bleed steam from LP turbine
Figure 17 Integration of hot water production for district heating scheme into LP feedwater heating train

Steam cycle plants
9 steam conditions and overall efficiencies of some recent PCC

units (Bugge and others, 2003; Kjær, 2003; Luby and Susta,
8 2002). There are some discrepancies between some of the
single reheat data from the different sources, and ranges are given where
7 the differences are quite large.
593/621°C
Heat rate improvement, %
6 593/593°C
Increases in main steam pressure lead to an increase in
565/593°C
5 evaporation temperature and reduced heat of vaporisation.
565/565°C This leads to better utilisation of the high temperature heat
4 538/565°C and a consequent increase in cycle efficiency. Figure 18
(Logan and Nah, 2002) shows that the gain in efficiency is
3 538/538°C independent of the adopted temperatures but is less at higher
pressures.
2
1
Achieving a satisfactorily low exhaust wetness will in
practice limit the upper pressure, although higher main steam
0 pressures can allow scope for two stages of reheat to get
15 20 25 30 35 around this while maximising the advantage of low
Rated main steam pressure, MPa temperature cooling water availability, as at Skærbækværket
(figures on curve are main and reheat steam temperatures °C) and Nordjyllandsværket in Denmark (Luby and Susta, 2002).
The additional stage of reheat has been quantified as
Figure 18 Heat rate improvement of single reheat contributing a two percentage point efficiency improvement
steam turbine with main steam pressure (Scheffknecht and others, 2003) but there is an associated
(Logan and Nah, 2002) capital cost penalty. Double reheat reduces the specific steam
consumption by around 15% (Kjær, 1993).
1.5
6 drum The effect of cold reheat pressure on turbine cycle heat rate is
boiler shown in Figure 20 (Welford and others, 2002).
Increase of net efficiency, %
5 0.9
0.6 Cooling water

4
Design cooling water temperature has a strong effect, as it
3.2
determines the vacuum achievable at the turbine outlet and so
3
strongly affects the degree of expansion and final volumetric
2 flow of the steam. For example, a halving of turbine exhaust
pressure approximately doubles the volumetric flow.
1 Changing the design condenser pressure from 0.005 MPa to
0.003 MPa increases the efficiency of a PCC power plant by
16.7 MPa 25.0 MPa 25.0 MPa 25.0 MPa 25.0 MPa
around 1 percentage point. For an approach temperature in
538/538°C 538/538°C 540/560°C 566/566°C 580/600°C the condenser of 12ºC, a change in condenser pressure from
0.005 MPa to 0.003 MPa corresponds to a change in cooling
Figure 19 Effect of steam conditions on plant water inlet temperature from 21ºC to 12ºC. Since location is
efficiency (Siemens, 2004) the prime determinant of achievable condenser conditions, a
trade-off may exist between marginal costs of coal
The difference in net plant efficiency between a 25 MPa transportation versus marginal fuel costs in determining
Benson (once-through) boiler based system and a drum boiler where to site a plant. Because the size of the last LP stage is
at 16.7 MPa, both using 538ºC main and reheat steam strongly affected by exhaust pressure, choice of cooling water
temperature, is shown as over three percentage points in design temperature can have major implications for the cost
Figure 19 (Siemens, 2004). Since increasing the pressure also of the LP turbine, so a trade-off exists also between capital
increases the power requirement of the main boiler feed cost and achievable efficiency.
pump, the gain is remarkable. The effects of main and reheat
steam temperatures at fixed pressure are also shown on the A reduction in cooling water temperature from 20ºC to 15ºC
figure up to 580ºC/600ºC. at an existing plant (the Maasvlakte 540 MWe coal-fired
plant in the Netherlands) reduced heat rate by almost 1%
There is an accompanying gain in that higher temperatures (Kromhaut and others, 2001). Between 15ºC and 10ºC, it
allow higher pressure ratios before the degree of wetness at decreased by 0.5%. The capability of existing plants to take
the turbine outlet becomes too high (>10%). There are advantage of reduced cooling water temperatures may of
practical limits to achievable temperatures, with long-term course be limited by the volumetric flow rate capability of
creep-resistance under the stresses of normal operation and the installed LP turbine.
resistance to thermal strain during start-up and shut-down
being the important determinants. Ferritic/martensitic alloys In a given plant, cooling water flow rate will also influence
in state-of-the-art boiler and turbine components currently efficiency by reducing the cooling effect in the condenser, so
allow temperatures of 600ºC to be used. Table 1 shows the reducing condenser vacuum and power output. However, this

Steam cycle plants
Table 1 Recently commissioned supercritical PCC plants (Bugge and others, 2003; Kjær, 2003; Luby and
Susta, 2002)
Unit and country Year Output, Main steam Main steam Reheat Net
MWe pressure, temperature, temperature, efficiency, %
MPa °C °C LHV basis
Rostock, Germany 1994 500 26.2 545 562 43
Hemweg 8, Netherlands 1994 630 26.0 540 568 42.6
Kraftwerk Schkopau, Germany (lignite) 1996 900 26.0 545 560 40
Schwarze-Pumpe, Germany (lignite) 1997 1600 26.8 547 565 41
Matsuura, Japan 1997 1000 25.5 598 596
Haramachi 2, Japan 1998 1000 25.9 604 602
Nanaoota 2, Japan 1994-98 500–700 25.5 566–597 595
Misumi 1, Japan 1998-2001 600–1000 25.9 604 602
Nordjylland 3, Denmark 1998 385 29.0 582 582/582 47
Lippendorf, Germany (lignite) 1999 934 26.7 554 583 42.3
Boxberg, Germany (lignite) 2000 915 26.7 555 578 41.7–42.7
Tsuruga 2, Japan 2000 700 25.5 597 595
Tachibanawan 2, Japan 2001 1050 26.4 605 613 (49 gross)
Niederaussem, Germany (lignite) 2002 965 28.5 580 600 45.2
Isogo, Japan 2002 600–1000 24.5–28.0 605 613

Ranges are given where significant discrepancies exist in data from the different sources. More minor differences are ignored and only one value
given.
0.45
0.4
Turbine cycle heat rate percentage change (relative)
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
-0.05
4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5 8.0 8.5
Cold reheat pressure, MPa
Figure 20 Variation of turbine heat rate with cold reheat pressure (Welford and others, 2002)
may be compensated to an extent by the reduced pumping thermodynamic modelling showed that there was a different
power so that an optimum cooling water flow rate may in optimum flow rate depending on the temperature of the
practice exist. At the Maasvlakte plant in the Netherlands, cooling water (which varies at the plant’s location from 1ºC

Steam cycle plants
to 20ºC). At 4ºC, the optimum flow rate was 12.2 m/s, while condenser loss and others
at 20ºC it was 18.8 m/s. Results from the modelling were
confirmed by actual plant data (Kromhaut and others, 2001).
Final feedwater temperature and feedwater

heating circuit
Increasing boiler feedwater temperature effectively increases
steam turbine
the upper temperature of the thermodynamic cycle, raising 48%
fuel (coal)
the efficiency. Welford and others (2002) cite 0.15 percentage
boiler
90%
points efficiency rise for the whole unit through an increase 100%
of 20ºC in final feedwater temperature. Feedwater heating 40%
power for
42% transmission
was discussed in detail in Section 4.3.2.
10%
Other steam cycle influences
The flow of steam lost to sootblowing needs to be minimised
2%
both to keep tube erosion under control and to reduce
generation and efficiency loss from taking the steam out of
the steam turbine pathway. The steam used (up to 0.5% of exhaust heat gas house load
main steam flow) is normally from intermediate superheater
or reheater headers but it is taken only intermittently. Boiler Figure 21 Energy flow diagram for a PCC plant
blowdown on drum boilers to control water quality will also (Tsuji, 2004)
result in some loss of heat from the cycle. Once-through
boiler systems do not have an inventory of recirculating higher or lower heating value) is not stated in the source, but
water, so blowdown is not possible, and a condensate the diagram illustrates well the pattern of heat flows. Around
polishing system of high reliability is essential. This does half of the input energy is discharged at the condenser.
however reduce energy losses, total make-up water
requirements and waste water quantities (Luby, 2003). Flexibility
In many OECD countries, where utilities have been
Boiler heat recovery deregulated, flexibility to generate efficiently during periods
The heat for the steam cycle has to be extracted from the of rapid load change has become more frequently specified,
chemical energy in the coal first. Large state-of-the-art PCC even for large units. An example of large, flexible PCC units
boilers have percentage efficiencies in the low-mid 90s, is at Schwarze Pumpe in Germany, where two 800 MWe
depending on the air heater exit temperature on the flue gas supercritical lignite fired PCC units have been designed to
side. For example, the design boiler efficiency at operate at sliding pressure to down to 40% output, with high
Niederaussem – K is 94.4% (Luby and Susta, 2002) on an rates of change, and short hot start-up times. Achieving
LHV basis of heat input. There is not usually any need to dynamic control covers the whole plant, including firing and
debate how far to go in heat recovery as it is almost always emissions control as well as the steam cycle. A 6% load
cost effective to maximise it. Combustion efficiency may be change per minute is achievable at Schwarze Pumpe with
typically 99.5% on design fuel so losses from this quarter are only minor effects on the main steam and hot reheat steam
small. The remaining lost energy is in the form of heat, partly temperatures without turbine throttling and without using the
through radiation and air leakage across the air heater, but storage capacity of the boiler. Very rapid ramping (for
mainly as sensible and latent heat in the flue gases. It is example, by 50 MWe in seconds) requires use of a degree of
comparatively easy to achieve efficiencies over 90% using steam reserve and temporary changes in feedwater heating
rotary air heaters with flue gas temperatures at their exit of (temporarily diverting steam away from feedwater heating so
about 100–120ºC. A reduction in air heater exit temperature that more passes through later turbine stages will have a very
by 20ºC increases thermal efficiency by around 0.5 short term negative effect on efficiency, but this matters less
percentage points but with most coals, to avoid acid dew than meeting demand over these transient periods). If the feed
point corrosion, the gases cannot be allowed to cool below pump turbine trips, a back-up auxiliary feed pump is started
120ºC before desulphurisation. After flue gas and firing capacity is rapidly reduced to prevent the furnace
desulphurisation (FGD), stack gases at temperatures of about tubing temperature from rising excessively (Kirmse and
80ºC are normal, and the latter is around the minimum others, 2000).
required for plume buoyancy to ensure dispersal (most
efficiently achieved using FGD inlet/outlet gases heat Other influences
exchange). It appears unlikely that further large gains in the Auxiliary power demand is an important determinant of
efficiency of heat recovery from state-of-the-art PCC boilers station overall efficiency though mainly not through
can occur, although throughputs are so large that on-going thermodynamic effects. Most equipment areas on a PCC
small improvements will continue to give worthwhile fuel plant consume some power. They include the boiler feed
cost savings. pump (when electrically driven), condensate and other
feedwater pumps, fans, cooling water pumps, flue gas
An energy flow (Sankey) diagram for a PCC plant with an cleaning systems, coal grinding, coal reception and crushing,
efficiency of 40% is shown in Figure 21. The basis of the ash handling and limestone and gypsum handling systems. A
efficiency (whether the fuel input energy is expressed as modern unit with an electrically driven feed pump has a total

Steam cycle plants
auxiliary power demand of around 6% of gross generation,

excluding the power consumption of an FGD plant. The 60
line of super alloys
58
power demand of draught plant and pulverisers can be as
56
Plant thermal efficiency, % LHV

much as 2% of gross generation (Juniper and Pohl, 1996), the 54
boiler feed pump consumes around 15 MWe on a 600 MWe 52 line of steel
plant, or around 2.5% of gross power (Goodall, 1981), while 50
balance of auxiliaries account for the remainder. An FGD 48
Esbjerg 3 Nordjyllandsværket
46
plant uses around 1.5% of gross power. 44
42 Fynsværket 7
Ensted 3
Where applicable, variable speed drives, preferably based on 40 Studstrup 3/4
variable speed electric motors, are used to reduce losses and 38
250 MW
minimise power consumption, for example on feed pump 36
34
drives that otherwise can take excessive power if throttled at 32
part load. Alternatively, the main boiler feed pump may be 30
provided with a turbine for its motive power, as at the 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
Schwarze Pumpe plant in Germany (Luby and Susta, 2002). Year of commissioning
The pump can therefore be operated at variable speed using
this system also, giving an alternative way to achieve Figure 22 PCC plant thermal efficiency
economy. With feed pump turbines, the auxiliary power developments in Denmark (Bugge and
demand is in any case considerably reduced, but gross others, 2003)
generation is lower since steam is taken off from the main
turbine to drive the boiler feed pump turbine. realised with single reheat and cooling tower cooling (3.5 kPa
condenser pressure) and 54–55% with double reheat and sea
water cooling in northern Europe incorporating reheat at
4.3.4 Materials 7.5 MPa and 720ºC (Bugge and others, 2003; Kjær, 2003).
Figure 22 shows how the use of superalloys is expected to
Because the steam turbine efficiency is strongly influenced move plant thermal efficiencies forward up to 2020 in
by temperature and pressure, the drive to achieve higher Denmark. The superalloys for long-term operation at
efficiencies is closely connected to the development of 700–720ºC will be developed for use in thin-walled
improved materials to withstand ever more difficult superheater and reheater tubes, thick-walled outlet headers
conditions, particularly materials for PCC boiler components and steam piping. New austenitic materials will also be
such as main steam headers and main steam and reheat steam developed for boiler tubes operating in the 600–700ºC
pipework. The upper temperature limit for ferritic and temperature range. The first commercial plants using the
martensitic steels can be stretched to above 600ºC – the technology are expected during the second decade of this
COST 522 programme in the EU is looking to the century. Longer term targets are for net efficiencies above
development of martensitic steels for steam temperatures 55% after 2020, using upper steam temperatures of 800ºC
above 620ºC and Japanese researchers envisage temperatures (Bugge and others, 2003). A design for a horizontal
up to 650ºC using ferritic steels (DTI, 2002b) – but, to supercritical boiler of reduced height has also been produced
progress much further, nickel based superalloys will be to enable the quantity of expensive high temperature
needed. These are already used in the manufacture of gas pipework to be reduced (Smith, 2000; Scott, 2001; Welford
turbines, but, as the environment in which the materials will and others, 2002).
need to operate differs from that of current commercial
applications, R&D is in progress to achieve alloys that are In the USA, materials technologies for ultrasupercritical
sufficiently resistant to gas-side high temperature corrosion conditions of 760ºC at 37.9 MPa are being developed and
and steam-side oxidation and capable of fabrication in the materials for steam temperatures up to 870ºC are even being
large component sizes required for ultrasupercritical PCC considered. Nickel alloys will be considered also for
units. One of the barriers limiting the application of new superheater and reheater tubing. Efficiencies of 46% and 48%
materials for water-walls and thick-walled components such (presumed HHV basis) have been cited for cycles based on
as high pressure headers and main steam piping is their single reheat and double reheat for upper temperatures of
fabrication (Chen and Scheffknecht, 2003). 760ºC (Schimmoller, 2003). Further information on
developments in materials for ultrasupercritical boilers are in
Programmes are in progress in Europe and the USA to a recent report by the Clean Coal Centre (Moreea-Taha,
achieve these aims (Henderson, 2003a,b). Superalloys are 2002) and the materials have also been reviewed by
much more expensive than the current state-of-the-art Viswanathan and others (2002). There are also descriptions
materials, but only parts of the plant need to accommodate of the materials envisaged for the various boiler components
the most extreme temperatures and pressures. The EU is and pipework by Bugge and others (2003) and Chen and
supporting a major THERMIE project under the Fourth and Scheffknecht (2003).
Fifth Framework RTD Programmes aimed at reaching live
steam parameters of 700ºC and 37.5 MPa (DTI, 2002a). Advanced materials are also being developed for turbines. In
Important within this AD700 project is the materials fact, it is arguable that available turbines rather than boiler
development programme, including components fabrication. materials are limiting conditions (Welford and others, 2002).
It is expected that net thermal efficiencies of 50–52% will be The design of high temperature turbines is strongly

Steam cycle plants
Table 2 Materials used by MHI for state-of-the-art-supercritical steam turbines and 538°C subcritical
turbines (Luby and Susta, 2002)
Component 600°C 538°C
Rotor New 12 Cr forging Cr-Mo-V forging
Nozzle chamber 12 Cr cast steel 2¼ Cr – 1 Mo cast steel
Inner casing 12 Cr cast steel 1¼ Cr – ½ Mo cast steel
No. 1 blade ring 12 Cr cast steel 1¼ Cr – ½ Mo cast steel
No. 2 blade ring 2¼ Cr – Mo cast steel ½ Cr – ½ Mo cast steel
Outer casing 2¼ Cr – Mo cast steel 1¼ Cr – ½ Mo cast steel
Rotating blade Refractory alloy (R-26) 12 Cr forging
Main steam stop valve 9 Cr forging 2¼ Cr – 1 Mo forging
Main steam governing valve 9 Cr forging 2¼ Cr – 1 Mo forging
Table 3 Materials for 700°C steam turbines (Bauer and others, 2003)
Composition, % Application Status
Ni Cr Co Mo Other
Castings Prototype forgings and valve chest manufactured;

617 52 22 12 9.5 Al, Fe
forgings welding tests in progress; creep tests 15000 h
completed; planned oxidation tests expected to show
excellent performance
Castings Prototype forging manufactured and valve chest
625 63.5 21.5 – 9 Al, Ti, Cb, Fe
forgings fabrication planned; welding tests in progress; creep
tests 15000 h completed; planned oxidation tests
expected to show excellent performance
Waspalloy 56 19.5 13.5 4.2 Ti, Fe, Al, Si, Blades Fabricability tests completed; weldability tests
Mn, C, Zr, B unnecessary; creep tests planned; planned oxidation
tests expected to show excellent performance
influenced by the developments of improved materials and by and status of these materials (Bauer and others, 2003).
the use of more effective cooling steam arrangements for Although related materials are in use in advanced gas
critical components. Table 2 shows materials used by MHI turbines already, large prototype steam turbine components
for high pressure parts in steam turbines for state-of-the-art made from the alloys require further testing and
supercritical compared with 538ºC subcritical turbines (Luby demonstration, particularly to establish improved creep
and Susta, 2002). High strength martensitic stainless steel strength; steam oxidation could also develop as an issue
casting alloys for valve bodies and nozzle boxes for 593ºC (DTI, 2002b).
turbines are used by GE. Supercritical plants generally have
high crossover temperatures and so the low pressure turbines The cost of the nickel alloys needed for the turbines and
have had to be forged from alloys with better fracture boilers handling 700ºC steam is said to have decreased to
toughness and tensile ductility properties. This provides around ten times that of the cost of the steels used for headers
additional freedom to optimise cycle parameters while in current state-of-the-art supercritical plants. Means of
dispensing with steam cooling, to achieve higher efficiency keeping the cost under control include use of a horizontal
levels (Logan and Nah, 2002). Armor and others (2003) have furnace design plus raising of the turbine hall floor and new
outlined the technology and materials advances made in turbine designs in which the high pressure turbine is split into
supercritical turbines and the requirements for the future. two turbines, only the first of which, containing nickel alloy
Flexibility and robustness to rapid ramping were highlighted components, would take the 700ºC. The use of a single
as areas to address closely. intermediate pressure turbine taking reheat steam, and so
containing nickel alloy materials, could also serve to reduce
700ºC technology for turbines will also be based on nickel the cost (Smith, 2000). Advanced materials of lower density
alloys for the hotter parts and new designs are to be produced based on titanium for last stage turbine blades have been
under the European AD700 project to minimise the developed to allow longer blade lengths and so increase the
proportion of these materials that is needed (Bugge and exhaust area.
others, 2003). Table 3 shows information on the composition

5 Combined cycle plants
The heat available to the steam cycle in a coal-fired
combined cycle power station is available at various Table 4 Principal sources of heat for an IGCC
temperatures and proper use must be made of these different system with a syngas cooler
grades of heat for maximising thermal efficiency. In Plant area
gasification-based cycles, there may be some steam
requirements to be satisfied also. Gasifier cooling HP or MP steam
Syngas cooler (waste heat boiler) HP steam
5.1 Overall cycle configurations Gas turbine waste heat boiler HP, MP and LP steam
Various process areas
In combined cycle systems, the heat from the gas cycle is (eg sulphur/sulphuric acid LP or MP steam
taken from more than one source. A heat source common to recovery plant)
all is the waste heat boiler (heat recovery steam generator)
that is used to extract useful energy from the gas turbine
exhaust gases, but also important are heats released from, for technology to design the configuration around. The different
example, combustion in a PFBC system and gasification and types of gasifier and their suitabilities for different coals are
gas cooling in an IGCC system. reviewed in a recent IEA Clean Coal Centre report (Collot,
2002). The proportion of gross power produced by the gas
Combined cycles are initially designed around the gas cycle. turbine in an IGCC system, at about 60%, is higher than for
The choice of whether to use PFBC or IGCC is the first PFBC. This is because most of the chemical energy in the
decision to be made. Coal characteristics will play an coal is removed from the gasifier as chemical energy in the
important role. Another is scale. PFBC is actually well-suited product gas for combustion in the gas turbine combustor.
to low-grade (low calorific value, high ash, high sulphur) This cold gas efficiency may be typically 75–85%, but varies
coals and coal/waste fuels because of its combustion regime. with gasifier technology and fuel properties, as illustrated in
It is also compact compared with PCC and simpler than Table 5. Slurry-feed gasifiers have lower cold gas efficiencies
IGCC. It is therefore suited for use in urban areas where than dry feed systems as part of the heat generated in the
space is at a premium and a limited capacity is required, gasifier by partial combustion of the coal is absorbed as
while IGCC can offer very low sulphur dioxide (SO2) latent heat in evaporation of the slurry water. Gravitating bed
emissions but usually with less flexibility on fuel type. Eight gasifiers such as the BGL gasifier have high cold gas
PFBC plants have been built, mostly using ABB (now efficiencies because they are counterflow and have long
ALSTOM Power) technology (Rousaki and Couch, 2000). reaction zone residence times. Consequently they generate
Most are still operating. The PFBC at Karita, Japan, uses a little steam and are broadly neutral in steam
supercritical steam cycle. To date, IGCC plants using coal as production/demand. The raw gas temperature and
fuel have been built in no greater number than PFBCs, composition following quench with aqueous liquor ahead of
although there are several technology types and suppliers and the product gas cooler is shown in Table 6 (Sander and
interest is growing. others, 2003). It contains methane and so has a higher
calorific value than the gas from entrained systems as
Figure 4 in Chapter 2 showed the configuration of PFBC. methane is produced as the feed coal is pyrolysed as it
The proportion of gross power produced by expansion of the descends towards the hottest zone of the gasifier. The steam
flue gas in the gas turbine is about 20% because much of the that is produced by the process is only at low and medium
coal input energy is extracted as heat in the pressurised pressure (former in the gas cooler, latter in the gasifier
combustor for steam raising and also because the entry jacket). The two-stage slurry feed entrained E-Gas system as
temperature to the expander is low compared with internally used at the Wabash River repowering project has a higher
fired gas turbines. The fluidised bed has to operate below cold gas efficiency than the single stage slurry feed entrained
about 900ºC to prevent agglomeration, sintering and ChevronTexaco process (now owned by GE Energy) because
defluidisation. Heat obtained from cooling the turbine the second stage of fuel injection captures more of the energy
exhaust gas is used within the steam cycle. The effect of by devolatilising and pyrolysing some of the second stage
using the gas turbine is to increase the thermal efficiency of feed while taking heat out of the syngas produced in the first
the plant by around three percentage points compared with a stage (US DOE, 2000, 2002b).
PCC plant using the same steam conditions.
An example gas composition for the Shell coal gasification
The three main sources of heat for an IGCC system are in process is included in Table 6. Figure 23 shows the process.
Table 4. However, there is considerable scope for variations After a gas quench to take the temperature down from around
in availability and treatment of medium and low-grade heats the 1600ºC that it reaches within the gasifier itself (Hooper,
in gasification-based cycles because there are many 2003) the gas is at 900ºC, or ~350ºC hotter than that
alternative gasifier types and possible gas cleaning systems emerging from BGL gasification,. The syngas cooler
and environmental control systems. The type of coal to be therefore raises high pressure steam. Either type of
used is an important factor in determining which gasification gasification system can be used as the basis of an IGCC, but

Combined cycle plants
Table 5 Indicative cold gas efficiencies of some gasification processes
Dry feed entrained (Shell, Slurry feed entrained Two-stage slurry feed Moving bed
Buggenum) (Hannemann and ChevronTexaco (Polk Power) entrained E-Gas (Wabash
others, 2002) (US DOE, 2002c) River) (US DOE, 2000, 2002b)
~80%, LHV basis ~70%, LHV basis ~80%, HHV basis ~90%, LHV basis
70-75%, HHV basis
Table 6 Example crude gas temperature and volume composition, BGL and Shell gasification systems
(Sander and others, 2003; Hooper, 2003; Jones, 2002)
Temperature, °C H2, % CO, % CH4, % CO2, N2, H2O, balance, %
BGL 550 28 56 7 4, 3, dry, 2
25.6 52.9 2.3, 6.9, 11.5, 0.8

Shell 900 0
(29) (60) (2.6, 7.8, 0, 0.9)
values in brackets are the data immediately above converted to a nominal dry basis
coal/petcoke
fly ash/recirc
quench gas
milling/drying gasifier 900°C

HP steam
1600°C
MP steam
coal feeding
wet gas
DSR scrubbing treating clean gas
fly ash water

slag system treatment
fly ash to salts sulphur

milling and drying
Figure 23 Shell coal gasification process (Hooper, 2003)
the gas turbine/steam turbine power balances are different 45%, LHV basis (Scheibner and Wolters, 2002; Hannemann
(see Table 7). The BGL based system requires all of the HP and others, 2003). The Kentucky Pioneer Power Project,
superheated steam to be produced in the gas turbine’s waste based on four BGL moving bed slagging gasifiers, and
heat boiler, whereas only part of this duty needs to be commencing construction in 2004 has a predicted efficiency
performed by the waste heat boiler in the Shell cycle. of 40% (HHV basis) (US DOE, 2002a). Because a
4–7 MPa MP steam is produced from the water tubes combustion turbine contributes much of the power, IGCC
surrounding the Shell gasifier and HP steam is produced by cycles discharge more of the coal input energy at the stack,
the convective cooler (Hooper, 2003). so sensitivity to stack temperature is high compare with PCC.
After allowing for the fact that higher stack temperatures tend
The Shell coal gasification process-based Buggenum plant to apply under US conditions, with net efficiency
with a Siemens V94.2 gas turbine of 1120ºC inlet implications of perhaps 1–2 percentage points, the combined
temperature and the somewhat similar PRENFLO Puertollano cycle efficiencies are surprisingly similar for all three, while
plant with a V94.3 turbine have net efficiencies of 43% and the balances of energy flows within the cycles differ. The

Table 7 Division between gas turbine power and steam turbine power for some existing IGCCs and
predicted data, % gross power
Tampa Electric Wabash River Buggenum Puertollano BGL ChevronTexaco ChevronTexaco
Polk - E-Gas - Shell - PRENFLO (NETL, 2000) radiant cooler quench
- Chevron (USDOE, 2000) entrained entrained (NETL, 2000) (NETL, 2000)
Texaco radiant (Hannemann (Méndez-Vigo,
(USDOE, 2002c) and others, 2004)
2002)
GT 61 67 55 57 67 59 64
ST 39 33 (repowering) 45 43 33 41 36
BGL system, although producing virtually no net steam, has high degree of system integration. An efficiency of 51.5%
a high cold gas efficiency to compensate. Gasification cycles (net, LHV basis) has been predicted for a cycle using a
incorporating single stage slurry feed entrained gasifiers with Siemens V94.3A gas turbine (Pruschek and others, 1999;
a water quench do not under the same conditions achieve Haupt and others, 2003). It should however be noted that
cycle thermal efficiencies as high as those from radiant cooler high degrees of integration do limit flexibility and start-up
designs because high pressure steam cannot be produced in time, and a lower maximum continuous rating (MCR)
the gasification/gas clean-up process area and cold gas efficiency cycle of less capital cost may be preferred as a
efficiency is penalised by the evaporation of the slurry water. lower risk investment in many circumstances.
However, the cost of the gasification/gas clean-up process
area is lower.
5.2 Steam cycles for coal-fired
Table 7, showing the division between gas turbine power and
steam turbine power for some existing IGCCs, is a reflection
combined cycle systems
of the relative balances of fuel gas energy and HP steam In combined cycles the steam cycle configuration follows
production. The table also contains some predicted data taken from the selection of major systems in the gas cycle,
from a study using the ASPEN process simulation system although flexibility does exist in steam cycle design. For
(NETL, 2000). example, combined heat and power (co-generation) plants
have been constructed based on PFBC. Energy outflows from
The IGCC cycles above use conventional gas scrubbing for the steam cycle impact on electric power generation from the
ammonia and sulphur gases removal from the fuel gas as this steam turbine but the comparatively small proportion
is based on commercially proven technologies (such as use of produced by the gas turbine is unaffected.
amines or methanol to remove hydrogen sulphide (H2S) from
the gas). Pre-conversion of COS (carbonyl sulphide) to H2S Figure 24 shows the power cycle for the 360 MWe Karita
is also needed so that it can be removed. The sulphur is supercritical 24.2 MPa/566ºC/593ºC PFBC plant (Veenhuizen
recovered as elemental sulphur, which has a by-product and Anderson, 2000). It resembles the cycle of a
value. The gaseous contaminants are scrubbed out after final once-through PCC unit and includes a steam separator for
particulates removal, which usually is accomplished by low load operation and start-up, as in other once-through
cyclones and/or filters operating at around 300ºC. Gas systems. However, the placement of the main heat extraction
scrubbing has to be done after heat recovery from the surfaces is different. All the main tube banks including the
de-dusted or de-tarred gas, which then has to be reheated superheater and reheater are located in the fluidised bed,
again before combustion. There is an inevitable energy while the economiser takes its heat from the turbine exhaust.
penalty from the use of these features in IGCC cycles and The similarity of heat availability to PCC allows reheat to be
higher temperature de-dusting and gaseous contaminants used, although economics restrict this to larger scale units
removal would allow more efficient cycle configurations. Key only as here at Karita. The economiser not only heats the
requirements of such cycles are reliable technologies for high pressure feedwater to main boiler inlet temperature, it
particulates and sulphur gases removal at around 500–600ºC. also performs some of the low pressure and high pressure
The former are not reliably proven even on combustor feedwater heating in parallel with bleed steam heaters. The
off-gases, while hot desulphurisation systems are at the pilot air heater is omitted, as the economiser thereby cools the gas
stage. New sorbents are emerging (Slimane and Williams, turbine exit gases from around 375ºC to stack temperature
2002; Slimane and others, 2002). The recent impetus to (~150ºC). Combustion air from the gas turbine compressors
mercury emissions reduction in some countries will need to passes through an annular tube surrounding the cleaned
be accommodated within both cold and hot gas clean-up combustion gases to recover heat. Even for subcritical cycles,
concepts, as a significant proportion of the mercury from the a single pressure of evaporation is invariably used as this is
coal tends to emerge in the stack gases of current designs of sufficient to exploit the high proportion of high grade (high
IGCC. temperature) heat.
Higher efficiency IGCC cycles will be achievable even The choice of configuration of an IGCC steam cycle will
without hot gas clean-up, using improved gas turbines and a depend on the gasification/gas clean-up combination, but the

pressurised fluidised bed boiler
gas turbine pressure vessel

steam turbine
annular tube conveying HP air
fluidised main steam
bed boiler
reheated
HP air HP gas turbine air steam
compressor LP IP turbine
LP gas turbine compressor HP turbine LP turbine
generator generator
75 MW intercooler 290 MW
sea
P water
cooling
denitrification ash ash water
equipment pump
condensate
economiser P pump
feedwater deaerator
feedwater
P pump
feedwater
heater
ESP
stack
ash
coal limestone
unloading hopper coal storage

yard
coal
coal receiving
carrier hopper
crusher
limestone
silo
mixer
water
fuel slurry tank
fuel slurry pump P
Figure 24 Flow diagram for Karita PFBC plant (Veenhuizen and Anderson, 2000)
whole integrated system can offer many choices that have the steam turbine. All the MP and HP steam turbine cycle
implications for the steam cycle (for example, the extent of gas feedwater heating arrangements are effected using the waste
cooling for steam generation relative to that used in exchange heat boiler. LP steam is extracted from the steam turbine for
with other gas streams). Figure 25 shows the reheat steam process use. Recirculating systems with steam drums are
cycle for the 250 MWe Polk IGCC plant in the USA owned by normally used in IGCC steam systems as there are many steam
Tampa Electric that uses GE’s ChevronTexaco slurry feed and heat demands and sources to be accommodated and means
gasification technology with a radiant gas cooler for raising of storing steam are valuable for flexibility. However, once-
high pressure steam (US DOE, 2002c). The gas emerging from through supercritical technology may eventually be adopted for
the radiant cooler is also cooled in two parallel fire tube boilers the gas turbine heat recovery steam generators on future IGCC
(syngas coolers). The reheat steam cycle utilises three plants (Davison and others, 2003).
pressures of steam (HP at 9.86 MPa, IP at 2.65 MPa and LP at
0.45 MPa). HP and MP steam from the process areas are A cycle for a gasifier fitted with a gas quench and a
generated at pressures of 11.48 MPa and 3.00 MPa and let subsequent sour shift reaction stage is shown in Figure 26
down to the pressures shown above, which are in the steam (O’Keefe and others, 2001). The arrangement is predicted to
drums of the gas turbine heat recovery steam generator (waste give plant efficiencies of over 40%, LHV basis.
heat boiler). All main steam superheating and reheating is
effected in the waste heat boiler. Net MP and HP flows are into Means of limiting thermal NOx production in the gas turbine

stack gas
166°C
HRSG
stack
ECON 1
bypass
LP
deaerator
drum
LP EVAP
LP
to gasification
LP steam
and ASU
BFW pump
ECON 1
HP
SGCs and SAP
economised
MP BFW to
ECON
ST condensate
IP
heater
ECON 2
HP
gasification plant
SGCs and SAP
MP steam from
drum
IP EVAP
IP
o’head condenser
vacuum flash
economised HP
ECON 3
BFW to SGCs
HP
IP SHT
generator
125 MW
turbine
from SGCs
steam
HP steam
drum
HP EVAP
HP
condenser
LP turbine
SHT 1
RHT 1
LP extraction steam to
gasification and ASU
SHT 2
turbine
IP
RHT 2
turbine
SHT 3
HP
exhaust
574°C
CT
Figure 25 Tampa Electric Polk IGCC steam cycle (US DOE, 2002c)
in IGCC systems employ control of the flame temperature saturation with water is used, heat is extracted from the steam
using water saturation or nitrogen addition to the fuel gas. If cycle to heat the fuel gas. Water is more effective for NOx
nitrogen is used, this is available from the air separation unit reduction than nitrogen. The energy for heating the fuel gas is
supplying oxygen to the gasification process area. If not all lost as it is exploited within the combined cycle. At

CO2
coal gasification sulphur
O2 shift reactor BFW LP steam
AGR
ASU SRU
TGTU
HP steam
combined
cycle
unit
expander
saturator
Figure 26 Flow diagram for quench IGCC with shift and CO2 capture (O'Keefe and others, 2001)
the Buggenum, Puertollano and, more recently, the Tampa inlet temperature gas turbines. Many configurations are
Electric Polk plant, both nitrogen and water saturation are possible, including feeding PFBC off-gas to a fluidised bed
used together (McDaniel and Hornick, 2003; Hannemann and gasifier or burning syngas in PFBC off-gases (deeply cleaned
others, 2003). to avoid turbine blade damage by hot contaminants) before
expansion through the turbine. Activities are under way in
Heat recovery boilers on gas turbines are sometimes fitted Japan, Europe, and the USA. The A-PFBC process in Japan
with facilities (duct burners) for direct firing with is an example (Saito and Harada, 2003; CCUJ, 2002). Such
supplementary fuel to reduce heat transfer surface area hybrid processes are still developmental (Henderson, 2003a).
requirements or to allow higher steam cycle upper
temperatures at reduced gas turbine load. Such a system is Steam cycle
unlikely to be worthwhile on IGCC systems because of the The potential gain from higher steam conditions and other
additional complication. However, it is common to use steam cycle improvements in PFBC is similar to that
natural gas or distillate fuel as a back-up fuel for the gas discussed for PCC plants in Section 4.3.3, as 80% of the
turbine to maintain availability during gasification or syngas gross power developed is from the steam turbine, with most
clean-up system outages. of the heat for that coming from the coal PFBC combustor.
The use of higher steam conditions in the steam cycle of a
combined cycle plant has been applied to the Karita 360
5.3 Design aspects and influence MWe PFBC in Japan, which uses a 24.1 MPa/566ºC/566ºC
supercritical cycle to achieve a gross efficiency of 42%, HHV
of parameters basis (estimated to be equivalent to around 44%, LHV basis).
5.3.1 PFBC Hot gas filtration

PFBC cycles should gain higher efficiencies from the use of
Carbon utilisation filtration systems rather than cyclones alone because the
Carbon utilisation is generally very high in PFBCs, with their pressure drop with such systems is less than given by
efficient contacting of coal and air – for example, 99.5% was cyclones. They would also give improved reliability of the
obtained at the Tidd PFBC demonstration in the USA gas turbine, lower running costs and better environmental
(US DOE, 2002a). performance. However, reliable, fail-safe filtration is essential
to realise these benefits. Tests have been carried out on the
Gas turbine Escatron plant in Europe, the Wakamatsu PFBC in Japan and
In conventional PFBC, there is limited scope for increasing at Tidd in the USA (Henderson, 2003a). The reliability of
the efficiency through gas turbine developments since the filtration for PFBC systems is not universally accepted as
turbine inlet temperature is set by the fluidised bed demonstrated.
combustion temperature, which is limited to below ~900ºC to
avoid fluidisation problems. One way around this is to use Auxiliary power demand
hybrid cycles containing both coal gasification and Minimising auxiliary power demand is as important in
combustion systems. These aim at realising complementary combined cycles as in PCC systems. As an FGD plant is not
advantages of each type of system, including exploiting high required for SO2 removal (the latter is accomplished by

condenser loss and others
35%
steam turbine
42% power for transmission
43%
PFBC boiler
44%
fuel (coal)
100%
8%
gas turbine
1%
13%
16%
house load
exhaust heat recovery
exhaust gas loss and others
Figure 27 Energy flow diagram for the Karita PFBC (Tsuji, 2004)
limestone addition to the combustor), auxiliary power

Table 8 General suitability of gasifier
consumption is lower than for PCC. An energy flow diagram
characteristics to different coals
for the Karita PFBC is shown in Figure 27 (Tsuji, 2004).
Auxiliary power demand (house load), at only 2.3% of gross Coal property Gasifier types generally best
power, is no more than half of that for PCC. NOx emissions suited
are inherently lower than for PCC, so an SCR (selective Large size Gravitating bed, fluidised bed
catalytic reduction) unit is also not required for most
High fines content Entrained
locations, saving a small amount of further power.
Caking Entrained
High moisture Dry feed entrained but drying
5.3.2 IGCC required before grinding
High ash fusion
Gasification technology temperatures
Non-slagging
The selection of technology depends strongly on the
characteristics of the coal for which the system is to be High ash content Non-slagging
designed. Gasifiers available for IGCC fall into three general
types: efficiency penalty and at worst not produce a freely flowing
● entrained bed (such as ChevronTexaco slurry feed, now slag film on the gasifier wall and cause blockages at the slag
owned by GE; Shell dry feed); outlet. Coals with large quantities of fines or with strongly
● fixed (moving) bed (such as Lurgi and BGL; former caking properties are less suited to gravitating bed systems as
British Gas interests in the latter are now owned by these cannot be fed easily. Coals with very high moisture
Advantica); contents, can also be difficult to slurry for feeding to slurry
● fluidised bed (such as KRW, IGT, HTW and transport fed gasifiers. The suitability of the various types of gasifier
gasifiers). for different coals have been reviewed in detail in a separate
IEA Clean Coal Centre report (Collot, 2002). The effect on
Gasifiers may be designed for ash slagging or they may be the thermodynamic cycles are the concern here, but the
non-slagging. Table 8 shows the general suitability of the information in Sections 5.1 and 5.2 indicates that the net
gasifier types for different coals. Coals with very high silica overall effect on thermal efficiency need not be overriding.
contents in their mineral matter or with very high ash
contents are probably not well suited to use in slagging Carbon utilisation and cold gas efficiency
gasification systems as they are likely to at least suffer an Conversion is also usually about 98% or higher in slagging

gasifiers. As an example, the 150 tpd entrained gasifier in the upper temperature of the heat engine cycle. Figure 28 shows an
EAGLE pilot plant in Japan has a carbon utilisation of 99% indicative Sankey diagram for IGCC. Gas turbines for syngas
(Suzuki, 2003). Fluidised bed gasifiers usually exhibit carbon firing are currently offered up to the F-class, with turbine inlet
conversion levels no higher than 95% and so they would be temperatures of 1350–1400ºC. Currently, the most efficient
used within hybrid gasification/combustion cycles. The IGCC systems have an efficiency of around 45%, LHV basis.
residual carbon in the ash taken from the gasifier would be The anticipated future upward trend in efficiencies of IGCC
utilised in a combustor. Such cycles have not yet been built cycles is largely based on expected advances in gas turbines, as
(Henderson, 2003a). Table 9 shows. This table also shows estimated further
incremental enhancements to the future IGCC efficiency of
The cold gas efficiency of a gasification process is the 51.5% predicted by European workers in the field that was
proportion of the input coal energy that emerges as chemical referred to in Section 5.1 and that will also involve continuing
energy of the fuel gas stream. For a given carbon utilisation, improvements in a number of other areas (Pruschek and others,
a lower cold gas efficiency implies that more of the coal’s 1999; Pruschek, 2000; Haupt and others, 2003).
chemical energy is retained as heat, which must be captured
efficiently and used within the steam cycle. The net effect The gas turbine advances will further exploit the use of
was illustrated in the examples in Section 5.1, which showed compressor intercooling, the use of reheat, new materials and
that good design practice results in similar overall IGCC cooling systems to permit still higher entry temperatures,
performance between dry feed technologies of different cold initially on natural gas-fired versions but flowing through
gas efficiencies. When slurry feeding is used for the gasifier, later to syngas firing technology. ALSTOM Power’s GT26B
some of this heat is lost because it is trapped as latent heat as machine, as installed for example at the Enfield natural gas
the slurry water evaporates. It is then difficult to realise a fired combined cycle plant in the UK, already employs reheat
power generation efficiency that is as high as for dry feeding, (Modern Power Systems, 2000). In general, it will be most
although the net effect need not be large. Slurry feed gasifiers efficient and economic to choose the most advanced turbine
are also offered with a water quench for the raw gas in place that can be supplied with full commercial guarantees based
of use of a radiant gas cooler and, although this will further on the expected syngas quality. The first H-class gas turbine
penalise ‘straight’ IGCC efficiency, it could reduce the with a higher firing temperature than the current F-turbines
efficiency penalty in CO2 capture configurations. and employing steam cooled blades is currently being tested
on natural gas. H-class turbines could increase IGCC
Gas turbine efficiency by between 1.3 and 1.4 percentage points. Together
In an IGCC plant, the gas turbine type is a major determining with the other gas turbine improvements, they may give
factor on overall efficiency because it contributes about 60% of ultimate IGCC efficiency improvements of 3–6 percentage
the gross power produced by the plant and determines the points (Davison and others, 2003; Pruschek, 2000).
net power
44%
plant power consumption 6%
steam turbine
power
20%
30%
gas turbine
gas turbine
syngas cleaning
gasification and
power
75% clean
fuel syngas gas turbine
100% 45% steam
(coal) exhaust turbine 30% condenser and other losses
cycle
20% net steam and heat to ST cycle
5% 15%
losses
(radiation, slag, carbon losses, CW) HRSG stack losses
Figure 28 Indicative energy flow diagram for IGCC

Table 9 Estimated further incremental improvements to IGCC efficiencies (Pruschek, 2000)
Option Key parameters Efficiency increase,

% points
Staged gasification
Combustion+reduction zone (fuel staging)

Reduced raw gas temperature Raw gas temperature 1100°C
+0.2
Higher cold gas efficiency Cold gas efficiency 90.1% LHV
Chemical raw gas quench

Alternative medium injected into raw gas to Best quench medium CH4
reduce temperature and increase LHV by Temperature after quench 1113°C
chemical reaction Raw gas LHV 13.1 MJ/kg +0.2
Considered media: H2O, CO2, CH4, C2H6 and Quench gas LHV 14.1 MJ/kg
clean syngas
Dry high temperature syngas cleaning
Dry adsorption processes for contaminants

Adsorption temperature 500–650°C
No gas cooling so no H2O condensation +0.7 / +1.2
Fuel gas temperature 375°C / 500°C
No process steam, lower pressure drop
Gas turbines with enhanced TIT

Higher specific power output TIT (ISO) 1400°C
Adapted compressor pressure ratio Pressure ratio 30 MPa
Higher exhaust temperature enables GT exhaust gas temperature 633°C +2.3
improved steam cycle Live steam temperature 600°C
Higher NOx and cooling flow
Reheat gas turbine
2nd combustion chamber
Further increased pressure ratio TIT (ISO) 1200°C / 1400°C
Higher exhaust gas temperature Pressure ratio 41 / 53 MPa +1.4 / +3.6
Higher specific power output GT exhaust gas temperature 604°C / 641°C
Reheat pressure adapted Live steam temperature 584°C / 600°C
Supercritical bottoming steam cycle
Non-reheat GT:
HRSG with once-through boiler for supercritical Live steam pressure 25 MPa +0.4
steam and forced circulation for IP and LP Live steam temperature 570°C
steam Reheat GT:
Syngas cooler for reheating IP steam GT exhaust gas temperature 641°C
Steam turbine efficiency drops with live steam Live steam pressure 30 MPa +0.8
pressure Live steam temperature 620°C
Syngas adapted gas turbine

Compressor mass
flow:
Non-intrgrated ASU concept N2 from ASU admixed -4.7% Small increase
Reduced compressor size N2 from ASU not admixed -15% (compared Advantages
with V94.3A) concerning operability
Syngas temperature at gas turbine combustor in natural gas combined cycle plants, as turbine exhaust
inlet temperatures of gas turbines rise with new designs (Franke and
Pruschek and others (1999) have calculated the effect of this others, 2000). GE have introduced steam turbines for their
parameter on thermal efficiency. Figure 29 shows their 1370ºC firing temperature F-class gas turbine combined cycles
results. The efficiency is increased as the syngas temperature with main steam conditions of 16.5 MPa/565ºC (Modern
is raised because of the direct utilisation of the sensible heat Power Systems, 2002). This pressure is higher than that of the
of the gas within the combined cycle. HP steam from gasifiers (around 11 MPa), presenting
something of an integration challenge.
Steam cycle
As in PCC plants, there is a drive to increase steam conditions Supercritical steam cycles could in principle be used in IGCC

NOX emission to 36 ppm at 15% O2

52.0
H2O fraction for limitation of

18%
51.8 16%
IGCC plant efficiency, % LHV
14%
51.6
12%
250 350 450
Temperature of fuel gas, °C H2O fraction for 36 ppm NOX at 15% O2 (see inset figure)
51.4
51.2
H2O fraction = const (15.3% H2O)
51.0
250 300 350 400 450 500
Fuel gas temperature at combustion chamber inlet, °C
Figure 29 Effect of fuel gas temperature on IGCC plant efficiency (Pruschek and others, 1999)
cycles with future gas turbines with their higher exhaust and/or slurrying, pressurising systems, feed pumps, fans,
temperatures. For example, Alstom’s existing GT26B gas cooling water pumps, syngas cleaning systems, by-product
turbine exhausts at 640ºC (Modern Power Systems, 2000). plants and slag handling.
Re-balancing of the use of the available heat sources from the
gasifier/gas clean-up system would also have to be carefully Other aspects
judged to avoid negating any gains from the use of higher Gasification pressure is an important parameter. Increasing it
steam pressures. increases the heat recovery by the syngas stream and reduces
equipment size. However, more energy is needed for
Hot gas cleaning pressurising the feed coal and oxygen, and this has to be
The application of hot gas cleaning to IGCC was discussed in recovered using a fuel gas expander ahead of combustion in
Section 5.1. the gas turbine. The 3–4 MPa pressure of dry feed entrained
gasifiers appears to lie near the optimum for IGCC efficiency
Auxiliary power demand for such systems (Davison and others, 2003). Higher
Auxiliary power consumption varies greatly between pressures are used in slurry feed gasifiers as pressurising of
different IGCC installations, partly because of the degree of the feed is simpler to achieve.
oxygen plant integration employed. The cryogenic air
separation unit can take over 50% of the power demand. Ramping rates of IGCC plants are less than for PCC (or
Total in-plant consumption is typically 10–12% of gross PFBC), especially for highly integrated designs. This is
power, for example at the IGCCs with integrated oxygen because the various process areas must be kept in balance as
plant air supply at Buggenum and Puertollano (de Winter, load changes. The highly integrated 250 MWe Nuon IGCC at
1992; Méndez-Vigo, 2004). IGCCs with non-integrated Buggenum has achieved a maximum ramping rate of
oxygen plant tend to have the have higher power 3.5 MWe per minute (Wolters, 2003). As has been discussed
requirements, for example the Tampa Electric Polk plant uses earlier, much greater ramping rates (of the order of 6% per
over 20% of gross power (US DOE, 2002c), although another minute) are readily achievable on once-through PCC units.
non-integrated configuration has been predicted to have an
in-plant power demand equal to only 12.4% of gross power
(O’Keefe and others, 2001). The adoption of ion transport 5.4 Materials in combined cycle
membrane technology (described in Chapter 6) would reduce
the power consumption of the oxygen plant by more than a
plants
third and raise IGCC efficiencies by around one percentage The reliability and availability of gasification combined
point while reducing specific capital cost (Armstrong and cycle plants are currently limited by materials
others, 2003). Other oxygen stream consuming cycles, such considerations. A spare gasifier is currently necessary to
as oxy-coal combustion (also described in Chapter 6), would achieve availabilities of 90% (Holt and others, 2003).
also benefit. Deterioration of refractory linings frequently occurs after
initial slag penetration, but methods of preventing this using
Other equipment areas or systems of significant power phosphate-modified materials are being developed (Dogan
demand include coal reception and crushing, coal grinding and others, 2002).

Another difficulty is that shell-boiler type gas coolers used to

cool the raw product gas prior to cleaning can be subject to
erosion from ash or char particles as well as damage from
deposition leading to excessive temperatures and tube failure.
Acid-induced corrosion can arise under the deposits during
down time. High temperature corrosion is also an issue, with
acidic species such as H2S and HCl (hydrogen chloride)
present and improved corrosion resistant materials are needed
(DTI, 2002b).
Much of the expected future progression in the efficiency of

IGCC cycles will come from the use of new advanced gas
turbines and this was discussed in Section 5.3 and included in
Table 9. Developments on these will include the use of new
materials and single crystal blading (Jannson, 2003).
PFBC systems on the whole involve less aggressive

environments than IGCC. For example, reducing conditions
are not encountered so corrosion presents problems that are
little different from those in conventional PCC boiler
systems. Although the gas turbine operates at a relatively low
temperature, it does have to be ruggedised to cope with the
increased loading of solid particulates that it encounters
compared with turbines burning natural gas or distillates.
This would give rise to fouling, erosion and corrosion which
have been solved by the turbine suppliers (ALSTOM Power)
by using lower gas velocities and coated blades with
specially optimised profiles. The development of hot gas
filtration media and systems, to reduce the solids loading on
the turbine and increase efficiency, has been partially
successful. Mechanical failure can occur after ash bridging or
thermal shock and chemical attack (Anthony, 2003). At the
Wakamatsu plant in Japan, ceramic tube filters, on which
filtration occurs on the inner, as opposed to the outer,
surfaces of the candles were regarded as a success (Sasatsu
and others, 2002). Elsewhere, porous metal filters are being
developed as an alternative to ceramics. Anderson and others
(2002a) are examining enhancement of the aluminium
content of commercial superalloys.
PFBC steam cycles have reached supercritical conditions

with the plant at Karita and further advance is in principle
possible as materials developed for ultrasupercritical PCC
cycles become available, with PFBC using more conservative
conditions at first. However, the lack of direct support from
ALSTOM, the original developers of the technology, is a
severe constraint on further development and deployment.

6 Future plant designs
Coal-fired power plants provide over a third of world A suggested method of integration includes combustion of
electricity and so will be needed for some decades to ensure some of the fuel gas in the air stream feeding the ITM
that power supplies remain secure. Future power cycles based oxygen production modules (see Figure 30). The heat in the
on coal will probably involve new configurations to spent air stream is utilised by using it as the combustion air
accommodate carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and its of the gas turbine. The oxygen stream is cooled for heat
permanent storage. In their simplest forms, these may consist recovery to the steam cycle (Armstrong and others, 2003).
of flue gas scrubbing systems added after the flue gas Stein and others have evaluated a similar cycle and also one
desulphurisation (FGD) plant on PCC units, but a range of involving indirect heating of the air using gas turbine exhaust
future possibilities exists, some of which even include new gases heated in a duct burner with supplementary fuel (clean
types of turbine to be developed (Henderson, 2003a). syngas). The overall IGCC efficiency improvement was
Whatever the means to be adopted, they will all involve predicted to be around 1 percentage point for the former
changes to the energy flows within the plants to some degree. system but a drop in efficiency occurred for the latter as the
Integration aspects will be important. steam cycle efficiency was impaired (Stein and others, 2002).
ITM oxygen plant would also benefit the thermal efficiency

6.1 Oxygen production technology of a form of PCC with CO2 capture that would employ firing
of the coal in oxygen/recycled flue gas mixtures. This is
One of the challenges for IGCC and IGCC systems discussed in Section 6.2.1.
employing CO2 capture is to reduce the energy requirement
for oxygen production. Both the power consumption and cost
of conventional cryogenic oxygen plants currently penalise 6.2 CO2 capture
IGCC economics. Ceramic ion transport membranes (ITM)
that selectively transport oxygen ions at high temperatures The future challenge of incorporating CO2 capture systems
(~600–1000ºC) are the basis of a technology for air into coal-fired plant designs brings with it the need to
separation that could avoid these disadvantages (Stein and re-evaluate the treatment of energy flows within the cycles.
others, 2002; Prasad and others, 2001), but it will be There are many types of plant design that have been
important to achieve integration of the new pattern of heat proposed for achieving CO2 capture from both
flows that this will introduce: incorporation of the ceramic combustion-centred and gasification-centred plants. Some
membrane system will involve thermal integration with other examples are given below and the approaches that may be
hot streams within the plant. ITM systems are expected to be adopted for heat integration are described. In addition, there
available for IGCC plants within 5–10 years. is a considerable electrical energy penalty in the need for
steam
oxygen air
HRSG
electric power
oxygen blower
fuel
heat exchange ‘air’
oxygen
ion transport membrane
Figure 30 Ion transport membrane oxygen plant integration with combined cycle (Armstrong and others, 2003)

Future plant designs
compression and liquefaction of the separated CO2. Thus lower than a standard PCC plant, including energy for
in-plant power consumption will be higher than for liquefaction and compression of the CO2 for sequestration.
non-capture plant. However, improved absorbents and better thermal integration
of cycles will be capable of reducing the regeneration energy
penalty. For example, a sterically hindered amine (KS-1) in
6.2.1 PCC-based systems with CO2 commercial use for urea manufacture produced by Kansai
Electric Power and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd requires
capture as 0.3 MPa steam 3.2 MJ/kg CO2 (Mimura and others, 2001),
These systems can be crudely grouped into two categories. and it has been reported that new solvents under development
The first involves using gas separation systems to remove for based on amino acid salt solutions should require only
storage the CO2 from the flue gas stream of a relatively 2.3 MJ/kg CO2 (Feron, 2004). The power generation
conventional PCC plant. The second, more radical, method efficiency penalty using KS-2 in an optimised cycle is
would use a partially recycled flue gas/oxygen mixture for reported at around 22.5% (Gibbins and Crane, 2004).
combustion of the coal, with off-take of CO2 for storage after
condensate removal (‘oxy-fuel’ or ‘oxy-coal’ combustion). Low pressure steam is needed for heating the regenerator,
which operates at about 125ºC. For a pinch temperature in
CO2 separation from flue gas the heat exchanger of 10ºC, saturated steam at 0.31 MPa is
One of the most commercially established methods for CO2 appropriate. Rather than take this directly from the LP
capture from gases at low pressure is scrubbing using turbine (see, for example Mimura and others, 1998), Croiset
chemically active agents that are regenerated by heating to and co-workers (Alie, 2003) assumed a let-down turbine fed
release the CO2 as a concentrated scheme. Aqueous solutions by 1.18 MPa, 187ºC cross-over steam. Other studies have
of amines such as MEA (monoethanolamine) or MDEA also shown a thermodynamic advantage in using cross-over
(methyldiethanolamine) have been proven for use under steam, cooled by heat exchange with high pressure feedwater,
reducing conditions and are gradually being demonstrated for rather than using low pressure steam from the LP turbine
use for CO2 capture from flue gas. (Gibbins and Crane, 2003, 2004). Figure 31 shows the
suggested configuration. Lower grade heat flows from the
The main issue with chemical absorption solvents of CO2 compressor coolers and the reflux condensers would be
particular relevance here is the large energy requirement for utilised in heat exchangers placed in parallel with the normal
regeneration. The raw energy requirement for regeneration of LP bleed steam heaters. Such systems are potentially suitable
MEA is around 4 MJ/kg CO2 captured for flue gases with for existing plants but, to be economic, these would need also
CO2 concentrations representative of that from PCC (Croiset, to be upgraded with new boiler, steam turbine and steam
2004). Based on this energy requirement, a PCC plant fitted systems to reach state-of-the-art supercritical steam
with a CO2 chemical scrubber using such a solvent would conditions. An interesting approach that has been suggested
have a thermal efficiency around 10–12 percentage points for reducing the cost involves storing the spent solvent to
heat input from boiler
VHP HP IP LP G
heat to
condenser
cooling water
FWH8 FWH7 FWH6 deaerator FWH5 FWH4 FWH3 FWH2 FWH1
HPFWH additions
heat for CO2 release reboiler LPFWH additions
heat from heat from liquid
compressor CO2 reflux
intercoolers condensers vapour
Figure 31 Use of cross-over steam for heat for CO2 scrubber regenerator (Gibbins and Crane, 2004)

allow additional generation at peak periods with solvent compression and liquefaction would still consume
regeneration carried out at low electricity demand (and price) considerable quantities of power. For a cryogenic air
periods (Gibbins and Crane, 2003). Dry CO2 absorption separation unit, power consumption for the delivery of 95%
systems based on CO2 absorption by lithium silicate (to form O2 at low pressures is around 200–240 kWh/Mt of O2.
lithium carbonate) at ~600ºC and its reverse reaction above Laboratory and pilot scale tests of the system for PCC have
700ºC to release the CO2 are being developed in Japan been carried out (Tan and others, 2002). Use of oxygen
(see, for example, Shimomura, 2003; Kato and Moniwa, production using ion transport membranes, described in
2004). Section 6.1, would allow a power and cost saving.
Most of the processes based on physical processes (solvents,

adsorbents and membranes) appear less well suited 6.2.2 IGCC systems with CO2 capture
energetically to treating boiler flue gas, where the pressure
and CO2 partial pressure are low, than to treating higher IGCC with pre-combustion capture of CO2 is regarded by
pressure, more concentrated streams, such as are encountered many as the coal-fired power generation technology likely to
in gasification cycles embodying CO2 capture be most applied within about two decades because it could
(see Section 6.2.2). A promising exception may be electrical give a process that is of higher electrical efficiency than PCC
swing adsorption (ESA), which uses an electric current with CO2 capture that would also be readily configurable for
passage through the adsorbent for regeneration (Judkins and an important range of additional products (hydrogen, liquid
Burchell (2002). This technique, currently at the laboratory fuels and chemicals). Cleaned gasifier product gas would be
scale, could be potentially suitable for separation of CO2 converted to hydrogen plus CO2 by addition of steam then
from mixtures containing almost any concentration of the use of a shift reaction. The CO2 would be separated for
gas, and would have a low energy requirement for storage, then the hydrogen burnt in the gas turbine with
regeneration. nitrogen as a diluent. The additional products would be
obtained by taking off some of the hydrogen and/or syngas
In addition to the effect of taking steam from the power cycle for chemical processing. Among the hurdles needing to be
for absorbent regeneration, there is also an energy penalty overcome are perceived higher cost and complexity and
from the additional power for the CO2 removal systems, disappointing reliability and availability even of ‘straight’
notably the exhaust gas fan used to overcome the exhaust gas IGCC relative to PCC, plus the fact that large gas turbines
pressure drop in the absorber column – there could be scope have not been demonstrated on hydrogen (Henderson,
for some improvement of efficiency by use of new absorber 2003a,b).
column packing materials – and compression of the captured
CO2 stream for transport and storage. An electrical The advantage of CO2 removal before it reaches the gas
requirement of 69 kWh of electricity per tonne of CO2 turbine is that the shifted fuel gas is at elevated pressure and
removed, for 90% removal from the flue gas of a PCC plant the CO2 in higher concentration than it would be in the flue
using MEA, has been given by Feron (2004). gas from the turbine (or a PCC plant). Consequently, it
should be removable at lower cost and efficiency penalties by
Oxy-coal combustion using physical methods, such as physical scrubbing, pressure
Oxy-coal combustion involves combustion of the coal in an swing adsorption or membranes, although chemical
oxygen/recycled flue gas mixture containing ~35% oxygen scrubbing could also be used.
(Croiset and Thambimuthu, 2000) instead of air. The
CO2-rich gases from the boiler would be cooled, condensate Simulations of IGCC cycles with CO2 capture generally show
removed, the recycle stream returned, and the balance of CO2 an efficiency penalty, relative to straight IGCC, of around
taken off for storage. Heat transfer within the boiler would be 6–8 percentage points, including the energy required to
significantly better than for a conventional PCC system compress and liquefy the CO2 ready for storage. As an
(McDonald and Palkes, 1999) and it is therefore possible that example, Haupt and others (2003) have calculated a
a capital cost saving could be made for a new installation, 6 percentage points reduction in efficiency for a cycle
although the cost of the air separation system would add to capturing 90% of the CO2 by physical scrubbing of shifted
this. Boiler efficiency may also be improved, but it is not gas using Rectisol. This was for the separated CO2 stream
certain what the overall cycle net thermal efficiency would be leaving at just above atmospheric pressure. Compression and
compared with scrubbing systems and otherwise similar liquefaction would increase the efficiency penalty. Fiaschi
conditions. The system could be applied to existing PCC and Lombardi (2001) actually modelled an IGCC cycle with
boilers as a retrofit. Use of an air heater is not necessary in 85 % CO2 removal by chemical (amine) scrubbing of the
flue gas recycle systems and changes to heat recovery shifted gas. The efficiency was calculated at 38.80%,
balances within the boiler and economiser would need to be compared with 46.44% for an equivalent conventional IGCC.
calculated and flows adjusted accordingly to maintain boiler
efficiency. The application of oxy-fuel technology to the There are prospects of reducing the energy penalty of CO2
retrofit of a power plant and a refinery system showed that an removal from IGCC systems to perhaps 4 percentage points
increase in boiler thermal efficiency occurred from the by use of newer techniques. For example, the use of a
recycle of hot flue gas (Wilkinson and others, 2003). membrane reactor could reduce the energy penalty for
capturing CO2. In this, shift-reaction and CO2 capture would
Efficiency would be lower than for conventional processes be carried out in a single reactor equipped with a dense metal
without CO2 recovery, as oxygen production and CO2 membrane permeable to hydrogen.

The use of a water quench gasifier would save the additional Carbon monoxide would not present a difficulty as it serves
energy losses from raising the steam that needs to be added as a fuel in molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs) and solid
before the shift reactor. Fuel gas shift for hydrogen separation oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). The MCFC would require CO2 to
or CO2 capture (or both) requires addition of an excess of be fed to the cathode as it is one of the reactants for this type
steam over that stoichiometrically required. Thus, the of fuel cell.
efficiency penalty of incorporating CO2 capture systems is
markedly reduced compared with the radiant cooler cycles. The MCFC operates at about 600–700ºC, while the SOFC
The exothermic shift reaction would allow HP steam to be operates at about 900–1000ºC. Large power generation
produced in either case. There are different views on the applications would utilise pressurised cells but the cleaned
relative final efficiencies of the CO2-capture cycles. fuel gas would probably still need to be reduced from gasifier
pressure by expansion through an expander (with power
A longer term possibility for gasification cycles with CO2 recovery) before being fed to the cell stack. The exit gases
capture, briefly reviewed by Henderson (2003a), is the require extensive heat recovery and exploitation to obtain an
application of oxygen combustion of syngas, with expansion efficient power cycle, and integration with a gas turbine or
of CO2 or steam/CO2 mixtures through specially designed expander would be needed. The fuel cell would effectively
turbines (Mathieu and Demaret, 2001; Anderson and others, replace the combustor in a gas turbine combined cycle by
2002b, 2003). electrochemically oxidising the fuel, with the simultaneous
generation of electricity. An example of an IGCC-fuel cell
concept is the Japanese EAGLE project (CCUJ, 2002).
6.3 Integrated gasification fuel cell Figure 32 shows the planned conceptual flowsheet for a
commercial scale plant based on the technology. A recent
cycles Clean Coal Centre report describes this and a number of
Use of high temperature fuel cells together with coal other IGFC cycles (Benson, 2001).
gasification in integrated gasification fuel cell (IGFC) cycles,
incorporating also gas and steam turbines, will permit higher Integrated gasification fuel cell cycles with
thermal efficiencies than IGCC. High temperature fuel cell CO2 capture
stacks are currently only at the scale of a few MWe, even on IGFC configurations are possible that maintain high
natural gas or reformed natural gas-derived feeds (Entchev efficiency while capturing CO2 because the fuel and air
and Douglas, 2002), so their incorporation within streams to the fuel cell are not mixed but supplied to opposite
commercial-scale IGFC lies some way off. Fuel cells require electrodes so the CO2 stream is not diluted with nitrogen.
very deep cleaning of the fuel gas to remove particulates and Thus, post fuel cell capture may be used, or pre-fuel cell
contaminants such as hydrogen chloride and hydrogen capture after shift of the syngas is an alternative, akin to an
sulphide, and currently this could only be achieved using cold IGCC cycle with CO2 capture. External utilisation of the
gas scrubbing systems. However, high temperature syngas issuing 15–20% or so of unconverted fuel gas is also needed,
cleaning will clearly favour higher cycle thermal efficiencies. and means for CO2 capture during this, based on membrane
gasifier syngas cooler

cold gas cleanup
filter
coal
nitrogen
air ASU
oxygen
expansion turbine
anode
HRSG
MCFC
cathode
G
steam turbine
gas turbine
heat recovery boiler G
air
catalytic burner
Figure 32 Process concept for commercial scale EAGLE IGFC (Benson, 2001)

reactors, can be used for highest CO2 abatement (Haines,

1999; Dijkstra and Jansen, 2002). A variant has been
simulated by Kuchonthara and others (2001), in which
shifted syngas is using a membrane separator to give
hydrogen, which is then fed to an SOFC, with excess
hydrogen fired in the gas turbine combustor. For cycles based
on MCFCs, the supply of CO2 to the cathode may be
accomplished using a combustor. In order to exploit the
thermodynamic advantages of all of these cycles, deep
cleaning of the syngas will have to be achieved.

7 Conclusions
Coal-fired power generation plants are most commonly based current state-of-the-art materials. However, costs are
on pulverised coal combustion (PCC) and a water-steam decreasing and only parts of the plant will need to
thermodynamic cycle. Heat from combustion is used to raise accommodate the most extreme conditions. For turbines,
high pressure superheated steam which is used to drive a advanced materials and more effective cooling steam
turbine to generate power. Coal-fired power plants can also arrangements are being developed. This technology will also
be based on combined gas and steam cycles, which use gas be based on nickel alloys and new designs are to be produced
turbines as well as steam turbines. This report has provided to minimise the proportion of these materials that is needed.
an introduction to the principles of both types of plant, with Related materials are in use in advanced gas turbines already,
examples and background on the thermodynamics of heat but prototype steam turbine components made from the
engines. alloys require further testing and demonstration.
Heat engines work by exploiting the work done in a cycle of Combined cycles use the high inlet temperature of gas
expansions and compressions of a fluid as heat is added and turbines as the upper temperature in a more complex
lower temperature heat is rejected. The efficiency is related to arrangement. The efficiency of a gas turbine on its own is
the initial and final temperatures of the system, and is typically only around 30% because of the high exhaust gas
favoured by maximising the temperature range over which temperature, but the latter is turned to advantage in using it as
the engine operates. a major source of energy for the steam cycle. The use of coal
as a fuel for a gas turbine necessitates measures to limit the
A subcritical PCC boiler takes the pressurised preheated amount of entrained particulates and liquid droplets reaching
boiler feedwater to evaporation point then superheats it to the turbine to avoid damage. Two principal approaches are
540ºC or above for sending to the HP turbine. A supercritical used. The first, pressurised fluidised bed combustion (PFBC),
boiler heats the feedwater beyond the critical point to employs pressurised combustion of the coal then particulates
superheat temperatures. In the steam turbine, the steam is removal before expansion of the hot flue gas through the
expanded while its energy is converted into mechanical work turbine expander. The pressurised air feed to the combustor is
as it passes over static and moving blades within high driven by the expander, so the system resembles a normal gas
pressure (HP), intermediate pressure (IP) and low pressure turbine, but with the combustor located remote from the rest
(LP) turbines, that are usually compounded onto one shaft of the turbine. The other approach, known as integrated
that drives the generator. Steam emerging from the LP gasification combined cycle (IGCC), is to convert the feed
turbines is recondensed then pumped back to the boiler after coal into a fuel gas then to clean the gas before firing it in a
pre-heating. Sources of losses in turbines include gas turbine designed to accommodate the medium calorific
aerodynamic losses, leakage of steam and leaving loss as value gas. IGCC permits higher turbine inlet temperatures to
kinetic energy in the stream issuing from the last LP turbine be achieved. Various configurations are possible and
stage. examples have been given in this report. PFBC and IGCC
plants exist at a number of locations. IGCC systems could
The thermal efficiency of state of-the-art PCC plants is incorporate fuel cells also, for higher efficiency, when these
45–47%, LHV basis, at cold sea water cooling locations. are sufficiently developed in scale.
Such plants use main steam conditions well into the
supercritical range with pressures approaching 30 MPa and In PFBC, the effect of using the gas turbine is to increase the
temperatures around 600ºC. All large steam turbine cycles thermal efficiency of the plant by around 3 percentage points
use reheat of intermediate pressure steam from the high compared with a PCC plant using the same steam conditions.
pressure turbine exit and multiple stages of feedwater The similarity of heat availability to PCC allows reheat to be
pre-heating using steam extracted from the turbine to used, although economics restrict this to larger scale units. In
maximise efficiency. IGCC systems, there are many alternative gasifier types and
configurations. The type of coal to be used is an important
The influence on performance of various factors and factor in determining which gasification technology to use.
parameters in PCC systems, including main steam The associated water-steam cycle design depends on the
temperature and pressure, cooling water temperature, gasification and gas clean-up technologies used.
feedwater heating and auxiliary systems, has been described
in the main body of the report. Because of the degree of Factors and parameters determining performance of PFBC
scope for further efficiency improvement through moving to systems include carbon utilisation, gas turbine characteristics,
even higher steam conditions, materials development main steam temperature and pressure, cooling water
programmes are in progress in different parts of the world to temperature, gas filtration and auxiliary power consumption.
reach them. These and cycle design advances are expected to PFBC steam cycles have reached supercritical conditions and
realise power plant efficiencies well beyond 50%, LHV basis. efficiencies of 44%, LHV basis, and further advance is in
For boilers, alloys are needed with resistance to gas-side high principle possible if materials developed for ultrasupercritical
temperature corrosion and steam-side oxidation and capable PCC cycles are eventually applied.
of fabrication in large component sizes. Superalloys based on
nickel are promising, but are much more expensive than For IGCC, the factors considered include gasification

Conclusions
technology, carbon utilisation and cold gas efficiency, gas

turbine design, use of hot gas cleaning and auxiliary power
consumption. The reliability and availability of gasification
combined cycle plants are currently limited by materials
considerations, including lifetime of refractory linings and
corrosion in syngas coolers. Much of the expected future
progression in the efficiency of IGCC cycles beyond their
current 45%, LHV basis, will come from the use of new
advanced gas turbines, which will also require the use of new
materials, as well as technologies such as single crystal
blading, compressor intercooling and reheat.
Future power cycles based on coal will include new

configurations to accommodate carbon dioxide (CO2) capture
for storage. Whatever the means to be adopted, they will all
involve changes to the energy flows within plant designs.
PCC-based systems with CO2 capture can be grouped into
two categories. The first involves using gas separation
systems to remove for storage the CO2 from the flue gas
stream of a relatively conventional plant. One of the most
commercially established methods for CO2 capture from
gases at low pressure is scrubbing using chemically active
agents but an issue is the large energy requirement. There is
scope for reducing it using improved reagents and more
optimised cycles. The second method would use a partially
recycled flue gas/oxygen mixture for combustion of the coal,
with off-take of CO2 for storage after condensate removal
(‘oxy- coal’ combustion). Boiler efficiency may be improved,
but it is not certain how the overall cycle net efficiency or
cost would compare with those of scrubbing systems.
IGCC with pre-combustion capture of CO2 could give a

process that is of higher electrical efficiency than PCC with
CO2 capture. Cleaned gasifier product gas would be
converted to hydrogen plus CO2 using a shift reaction, the
CO2 separated, then the hydrogen burnt in the gas turbine.
The advantage of CO2 removal before it reaches the gas
turbine is that the shifted fuel gas is at elevated pressure and
the CO2 in higher concentration than it would be in the flue
gas from the turbine (or a PCC plant). Consequently, it
should be removable at lower cost and efficiency penalties.
There are alternatives to heat engines for converting the

chemical energy in the fuel into work. This can avoid the
inherent limitations on efficiency that heat engines have. An
example is the fuel cell, which uses electrochemical
processes to convert the fuel’s chemical energy into
electricity. Integrated gasification fuel cell (IGFC)
configurations are possible that maintain high efficiency
while capturing CO2.

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Understanding Coal Power Plant Cycle

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Understanding coal-fired power plant

Copyright © IEA Clean Coal Centre

2 IEA CLEAN COAL CENTRE

2 Types of power generation cycles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

4 Steam cycle plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

5 Combined cycle plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

6 Future plant designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Understanding coal-fired power plant cycles 3

The decision on whether to go for combined cycle or on what

The report deals with the heat utilisation aspects of power

Future power cycles based on coal will probably involve new

The report is organised as follows. In Chapter 2, cycles based

Understanding coal-fired power plant cycles 5

6 IEA CLEAN COAL CENTRE

Figure 3 Principle of a combined gas and steam cycle

compressor gas turbine

Figure 4 PFBC principle

Understanding coal-fired power plant cycles 7

compressor gas turbine

Figure 5 Principle of integrated gasification combined cycle power generation

8 IEA CLEAN COAL CENTRE

Understanding coal-fired power plant cycles 9

10 IEA CLEAN COAL CENTRE

Heat rate (kJ/kWh) = 3600Qb/We (7)

The heat available to the steam cycle in a power station will

Understanding coal-fired power plant cycles 11

the Second Law. These utilise other systems for converting

12 IEA CLEAN COAL CENTRE

reheated steam to IP turbine steam from HP turbine

boiler exit gases

Figure 9 Drum-type boiler (diagrammatic)

Understanding coal-fired power plant cycles 13

reheated steam to IP turbine steam from HP turbine

secondary reheater primary

boiler exit gases to gas cleaning

from economiser combustion air

Figure 10 Once-through supercritical boiler (diagrammatic)

14 IEA CLEAN COAL CENTRE

bed combustion, of which the most widely deployed are of

4.2 Steam turbines

4.2.1 General arrangement

In impulse turbines, energy transfer comes from the action of

At the scale of power station turbines, it is not practical or

Understanding coal-fired power plant cycles 15

Figure 13 Steam turbine (Goodall, 1981)

16 IEA CLEAN COAL CENTRE

may not be considered a loss as such, steam is also needed to 100

Steam flow, % maximum flow

4.2.3 Steam admission and control 10000

Steam enters the HP turbine typically through four nozzle 9500

Understanding coal-fired power plant cycles 17

18 IEA CLEAN COAL CENTRE

main flow bleed flow

economiser lower furnace wall upper furnace walls

primary S/H cage roof, side and furnace roof

1st stage S/H spray

platen S/H primary R/H

2nd stage S/H spray R/H spray from BFP

final S/H final R/H

Understanding coal-fired power plant cycles 19