Advanced petroleum coke oxy‐combustion power generation with carbon capture and sequestration: Part II—Environmental assessment and cost of CO2 avoided

Abstract The life‐cycle environmental impact assessment and cost of the CO 2 avoided (CCA) of a petroleum coke oxy‐combustion electric power generation technology operated with and without carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) are discussed. In an extension of our work on the design and economics presented in Part I, the environmental assessment was carried out for three candidate petroleum coke oxy‐combustion designs: petcoke oxy‐combustion operated without carbon capture and sequestration (CCS); petcoke oxy‐combustion operated with CCS; and petcoke oxy‐combustion with CO 2 purification by distillation and CCS. The environmental life‐cycle assessment of the designs was computed using both TRACI 2.1 midpoint and ReCiPe 2016 midpoint and endpoint methods. Using a levelized cost of electricity, the CCA was also employed as a performance metric for each of the designs. The results showed a life‐cycle GWP of 1089 kgCO 2 eq/MWh, 17.32 kgCO 2 eq/MWh, and 75.65 kgCO 2 eq/MWh for the petcoke oxy‐combustion design operated without CCS, petcoke oxy‐combustion design operated with CCS, and petcoke oxy‐combustion with CO 2 purification by distillation and CCS, respectively. It was also found that acidification potential and particulate matter emissions were higher for the petcoke oxy‐combustion design operated without CCS due to the venting of SO 2 to the atmosphere. With a levelized cost of electricity between $90.94/MWh and $102.8/MWh, the CCA of the CCS‐enabled designs were between $10.43/tCO 2 eq and $24.35/tCO 2 eq, which is competitive with most other carbon capture options for large‐scale fossil‐based power plants. When the cost parameters were varied at the worst‐case scenario, the highest CCA observed was $115.9/tCO 2 eq.