Session: 03-02 LCA

Paper Number: 129405

129405 - Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Waste Coal and Biomass/Torrefied Biomass Co-Fired Power Plant With Carbon Capture and Storage Technologies 

Climate change is one of the global challenges that has garnered a lot of attention lately. The US has taken important steps by setting up time-bound goals to combat the effects of climate change, including net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and carbon-free electricity by 2035. Utility-scale electricity generation plants in the United States generated approximately 4.24 trillion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy in 2022. About 60% of the fuel utilized to produce this electricity is made up of coal, natural gas, and petroleum fuels which are responsible for global warming. Co-firing is the process of burning biomass, such as wood chips or agricultural waste, along with residual coal in power plants to produce energy. Since biomass has a smaller carbon footprint than other energy sources and can assist in achieving zero carbon emissions, its usage in the production of heat and electricity is expanding rapidly. The integration of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in power plants with the co-firing of waste coal and biomass presents incredible potential for the net removal of CO₂ from the environment. The process of assessing a system's or product's environmental effect throughout the course of its whole life cycle, from raw material extraction to end-of-life disposal, is known as life cycle assessment, or LCA. LCA can perhaps assist in evaluating the system's overall environmental performance when it comes to the co-firing of waste coal and biomass in power plants. By using life cycle assessment (LCA), the environmental effects of a system may be measured and contrasted with those of alternative energy sources or technologies, which can assist in identifying areas for improvement aimed at lowering the system's environmental footprint. In order to reduce the environmental effect and maximize the sustainability of waste coal and biomass/torrefied biomass co-fired power plants, life cycle assessment (LCA) can aid in the design, operation, and management of these facilities.

The life cycle assessment (LCA) of waste coal and biomass/torrefied biomass co-fired power plants have been assessed in this study with an emphasis on power generation, raw material extraction, and transportation. For the analysis, 100 MW subcritical pulverized coal (PC) configured power plant has been taken into consideration. Using the OpenLCA application tool, life cycle assessment (LCA) studies have been conducted for 1 (one) megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity produced by the co-fired power plants. The studies have been conducted in accordance with the cradle-to-gate system boundary, translating the input and output inventory data into environmental impacts. In order to show the advantages of integrating carbon capture and storage (CCS) from an environmental standpoint, the LCA studies have been conducted with and without the integration of CCS technologies in the power plants.

Presenting Author: Prakash Bhoi Georgia Southern University

Presenting Author Biography: Dr. Prakash Bhoi is serving as an Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering Department at Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA, USA. Dr. Bhoi received his PhD degree in Biosystems Engineering at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA. He has more than 15 years of experience in thermochemical conversion of biomass, waste plastics and MSW for producing carbon-neutral hydrogen, syngas, biofuel, biopower and value-added bio-products. His specific areas of research are focused on gasification, catalytic fast pyrolysis, carbon-neutral power and hydrogen production, syngas-fired internal combustion (IC) engines, burners and combustion chambers, wet scrubbing of tars and modeling of thermochemical conversion technologies. He has published more than 25 peer reviewed journal papers and presented over 35 oral/poster presentations at international conferences. He is currently serving as a Guest Editor to lead a special issue for Sustainability journal (IF: 3.251) of MDPI publisher.

Authors:

Surja Sarkar Georgia Southern University
Prakash Bhoi Georgia Southern University