Fluidized Bed Technologies for

High Ash Indian Coals

A Techno-Economic Evaluation

Dr. D.N. Reddy, Director

Dr. V.K. Sethi, Research Adviser
Centre for Energy Technology,
University College of Engineering (Autonomous)
Osmania University, Hyderabad 500 007,
India.

INDIAN POWER SECTOR - TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE

POWER DEVELOPMENT

Total Installed Capacity 103,000 MW

Thermal Generation
over 70 %
Although no GHG reduction targets for India but it has taken
steps through adoption of Combined cycles, Co-generation,
Coal beneficiation,Plant Performance optimization
Long term measures like adoption of Clean coal technologies;
IGCC, FBC, Supercritical technologies
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) conceived to reduce
cost of GHG mitigation, while promoting sustainable
development as per Framework Convention on Climate change
(FCCC) is being implemented

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PRESENT STUDY...

Environmentally benign Clean Coal Technology of advanced

Fluidized Bed Combustion is an ideal technology for high ash
coals
Statutory use of washed coal for TPS >1000 km from the pit
head calls for setting up of washeries > 85 Million tons / annum.
Use of Washery rejects & Middling for Power generation calls
for adoption of CFBC technology
The present paper deals with the techno-economic and transfer
of technology aspects of Clean coal technology in general and
CFBC in particular for inferior coals & in refurbishment of old
polluting plants

Energy Efficient Technologies

Technologies on Anvil for Power
generation using high ash Indian
coals:
Supercritical

(SCR) & Ultra

supercritical (USC)
Integrated Gasification Combined
Cycle (IGCC)
Fluidized Bed Combustion

VISION 2020
PROGRAM
In-combustion Clean-up
Fluidized bed
combustion (CFBC,
PFBC, AFBC)

Gasification using +
fluidized bed, moving bed
or Entrant bed Gasifiers

Post combustion Clean-upDesulfurization

(FGC systems) Supercritical

Pre combustion Cleanup beneficiation/washing

CLEAN COAL
TECHNOLOGIES
Technologies for utilization of Coal for Power Generation with minimal
pollutants discharged to the atmosphere (Reduced CO2, Sox, Nox,
SPM) at high conversion efficiency.W.C.I.

Super Critical PC Power Plant (15 oC Amb.)

Net Thermal Efficiency (%)

60

Super Critical PC Power Plant (Indian Condition)

IGCC (15 oC Amb)

55

IGCC (Indian Condition)

50
45

566 oC

Sub Critical PC Power Plant (Indian Condition)

1500 oC
1300o C
623 oC
600o C

40
1184o C

650o C

35

Ceramic gas
turbine

540oC

30
1990

1995

2000

2005

2010

Year of commercial use

Fig.5 EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENT FORECAST

CONVENTIONAL Vs IGCC(Courtesy BHEL)

The Principal advantages of

supercritical steam cycles are :Reduced

fuel costs due to improved thermal efficiency

CO2 emissions reduced by about 15%, per unit of
electricity generated, when compared with typical existing
sub-critical plant
Well proven technology with excellent availability,
comparable with that of existing sub-critical plant
Very good part-load efficiencies, typically half the drop in
efficiency experienced by sub-critical plant
Plant costs comparable with sub-critical technology and
less than other clean coal technologies.
Very low emissions of nitorgen oxides (Nox) sulfur oxide
(Sox) and particulate achievable using modern flue gas
clean-up equipment etc.

Front line issues are to be

reolved
Development

of high
temperature creep resistant alloy
steels
Turbine material development

Super Critical TechnologyIndian Perspective

Mega

power policy of setting up of coal fired

supercritical/Ultra Supercritical units at pit-head
Cost of generation is least for pithead washed coalfired unit amongst all other supercritical units.
The optimum parameter for Indian conditions is
suggested as 246 kg/cm2 & 538/566C.
Based on transfer of technology model as per logic
diagram (shown next) the velocity of transfer of
technology for supercritical units is 2 from the
year 2000.

 IGCC

TECHNOLOGY ...

Gasification of coal is the cleanest way of utilization of

coal, while combined cycle power generation gives the
highest efficiency.

Integration of these two technologies in IGCC power

generation offers the benefits of very low emissions and
efficiencies of the order of 44-48%.

The comparative indices show that in case of IGCC,

emission of particulate, NOx and SOx are:

7.1%, 20% and 16%, respectively, of the

corresponding emissions from PC plant.

Environmental performance of IGCC thus far exceeds

that of conventional and even supercritical plants.

Three major areas of technology that will contribute to

improvements in IGCC are :
hot gas de-sulfurisation
hot gas particulate removal
advanced turbine systems

Commercialization
of
IGCC
needs
technology
demonstration at an intermediate scale of about 100 MW
to address the issues such as:
hot gas clean ups and system optimization and to
establish reliability and performance.

This would also enable to design an optimum module for

air blown gasification, which in multiples would constitute
a commercial size plant in the range of 300-600 MW.

Technology transfer related issues and techno-economic

analysis vis--vis CFBC are covered in the paper

Identified R&D Areas in IGCC are:

Process optimization of selected gasification process
Improvement of design and reliability of plant components &
Resource Optimization
Optimization of overall plant heat integration and layout
Hot gas cleanup

COAL GASIFICATION SELECTION OF

GASIFICATION PROCESS
The fluidised bed process has many technical and
environmental advantages over the moving bed process,
such as,

The fluidised bed can use any amount of fines whereas

in the moving bed only 10% of fines can be used.

In the fluidized bed process, hydrocarbon, liquid byproducts such as tar, oil and gas-liquor are not produced
and, hence, the pollution is reduced.

High ash coals can also be successfully gasified in the

fluidised bed.

Experience on the fluidized bed process is,

very limited in the country.

Internationally, the experience gained so far is

only for low ash coals.

Thus there is a need for taking up extensive

R&D on IGCC Pilot Plant using high ash (4050% Ash) Indian Coal

Technology-related issues in IGCC

Design of Advanced gasifiers (optimum gas

composition, optimum scale-up etc.)

Hot gas cleaning (de-sulphurisation and particulate

removal)

Advanced gas turbines (blade design to sustain ash

laden gas)

CO2 emission abatement in IGCC Power Plants

Operating conditions of IGCC plants in transient stage

Configuration of an optimized system for IGCC

Fuel related issues

In a Raw Pet-Coke and refinery residue based IGCC
Plant

System optimization, particularly the balance of plant

Optimized Heat balance diagrams
Scaling up of gasifiers to optimum size

In a Coal/Lignite based IGCC Plant

Process & Plant conceptual design

De-sulfurization of syngas of high sulfur coal and lignite
Optimized Heat balance diagrams
Super critical Vs IGCC in Indian context
Application of ASME PTC-47 code for IGCC for high ash coals
and lignite

SOME IMPORTANT FINDINGS ON

TECHNOLOGY ASPECTS OF IGCC...

Reactive solid sorbent de-sulfurization combined with

hot gas cleaning through ash and sorbent particle
removal provides for higher energy efficiency to the
extend of 4-7%.

The current Capital cost of building an IGCC power plant is

of the order of Rupees 6 Crore/ MW.

Improvements in hot gas cleaning coupled with Cycle

optimization shall bring down the cost drastically to a
level of $ 1000/kW or about Rupees 4.5 crore/MW

The efficiency of refinery bottom based IGCC unit will be

about 2% higher than that of coal based IGCC unit.

Refinery based IGCC plants - Advantages

Co-generation of steam
Co-production of hydrogen gas & recovery of sulfur
element
No use of limestone, as required for CFBC technology
No requirement of extra land for disposal of solid waste

In the long run the refinery based IGCC technology is

equally attractive to coal based IGCC from economic and
environmental considerations.

A GENERALIZED SCHEME FOR

TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY

The first step in the scheme is to disintegrate the

Power plant concept into components, sub systems,
production chain, production technologies
Next step is the Value addition to each element of
the production chain
Assessment of necessity of Import and Calculation
of indigenous production share
Calculation of Velocity of the Transfer of Technology
both at normal pace as well as accelerated pace

Typical results of the velocity of TOT are : (With year 2000 as base)

IGCC (oxygen blown) - Pet coke

Normal pace
---Accelerated
----

5 years
2 years

IGCC (Air Blown)

Normal pace
Accelerated

Coal
7 years
5 years

----------

SOME FINDINGS RELATED TO TRANSFER OF

TECHNOLGOY (TOT)

At present it may be prudent to implement the project

in phased manner to absorb the risk of gasifier in the
total project wrap-up guarantees

A Technology Transfer model for determination of

velocity of Transfer of Technology (TOT) is an useful
tool for TOT of a frontier technology from a developed
economy to a developing economy

PHASED CONSTRUCTION

16

Circulating fluidized Bed Combustion

Circulating

Fluidized Bed Combustion (CFBC)

technology has selectively been applied in India for
firing high sulphur refinery residues, lignite, etc.
In the overall terms the CFBC is superior to PC as
follows:
- Lower NOx formation and the ability to capture SO2
with limestone injection the furnace.
- Good combustion efficiencies comparable to PC
-The heat transfer coefficient of the CFB furnace is
nearly double that of PC which makes the furnace
compact.
- Fuel Flexibility: The CFB can handle a wide range
of fuels such as inferior coal, washery rejects, lignite,
anthracite, petroleum coke and agricultural waste

CFBC Vs Other Clean Coal Technologies

ITEM

CFBC

Cycle Eff. %

PF+FGD/SCR

IGCC

34.8

36.7

41-42

Relative
Cost/kW

Capital

1.0

1.03-1.19

1.15-1.42

Relative
Cost/kW

O&M

1.0

1.49

0.8-0.98

At present pulverized fuel firing with FGD are less costly than
prevailing IGCC technology. However, firing in CFB Boiler is still
more economical when using high sulfur lignite and low-grade
coals and rejects.

Revamping of Old Polluting PC Boilers by

CFBC Boilers
Renovation & Modernization (R&M) and Life Extension (LE) of old power plants is a
cost-effective option as compared to adding up green field plant capacities.

Growing environmental regulations would force many utilities within the country to go
for revamping of these polluting old power plants using environmentally benign
technology.

mere refurbishment by the same type of new boiler would not provide the right
solution today. There is desperate need to revamp aging power boilers in India with
environmentally friendly technology, which will improve the thermal as well as
environmental performance.
CFBC offers a promising technology on this front. This calls for boiler sizing within the
constraints of an old polluting plant

Some

representative results follow ...