Alstom oxyfuel CFB boilers: A promising option for CO2 capture

Abstract Fossil fuels will likely remain a major energy source for the foreseeable future, leading to the need for power plants including cost-effective CO 2 mitigation systems. Oxygen fired CFB boiler technology is an advanced and competitive route to offer in a relative short term commercial units addressing the CO 2 capture need. CFB boilers in operation have shown the ability of this technology to fire a wide range of low-cost fuels. A CO 2 capture solution based on CFB technology would, hence, provide the plant with the option to utilize these lower cost fuels and as such is a promising option. Additionally the route of plant efficiency improvement is of great interest because it leads to CO 2 mitigation together with energy sources savings and thus to operational cost reduction. Alstom has a long experience of large supercritical PC boilers and has developed a design of large supercritical CFB boilers. Oxygen firing can be easily applicable to CFB boilers. The oxygen-fired CFB concept has already been validated in Alstom’s bench- and pilot-scale test facilities. Next step will involve a demonstration of such technology at a medium scale from 100 MWe.