H84PGC-E1

The University of Nottingham

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

A LEVEL 4 MODULE, AUTUMN SEMESTER 2015-2016

POWER GENERATION AND CARBON CAPTURE

Time allowed TWO Hours

Candidates may complete the front cover of their answer book and sign their desk card but
must NOT write anything else until the start of the examination period is announced

Answer ALL questions in Section A and TWO questions in Section B

This examination represents 70% of the final module mark.

SECTION A (60 minutes, maximum 50 marks) See page 2

SECTION B (60 minutes, maximum 50 marks) See page 3

Only silent, self-contained calculators with a Single-Line Display or Dual-Line Display are
permitted in this examination.

Dictionaries are not allowed with one exception. Those whose first language is not English
may use a standard translation dictionary to translate between that language and English
provided that neither language is the subject of this examination. Subject specific translation
dictionaries are not permitted.

No electronic devices capable of storing and retrieving text, including electronic dictionaries,
may be used.

DO NOT turn examination paper over until instructed to do so

In this examination candidates are required to answer ALL questions in Section A

and 2 out of 3 questions in section B. If a candidate answers more than the
required number of questions in Section B, all questions will be marked and the
highest marks in this Section will be used in the final examination mark.

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL: Periodic Table and Formulae sheet

INFORMATION FOR INVIGILATORS:

Question papers should be collected in at the end of the exam – do not allow candidates to
take copies from the exam room.

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SECTION A

Answer ALL of the following questions

1. Solar insolation and the Earth’s atmospheric composition essentially determine the
planetary climate system. Demonstrate your knowledge of greenhouse gases and their
impact on the Earth’s climate by answering the following:

(a) The Earth’s actual surface temperature, which averages 288K, is significantly
higher than its blackbody or effective radiative temperature of 255K. Briefly
describe how you reconcile this. [4 marks]

(b) What are the key molecular properties of greenhouse gases and how do they
affect Earth’s atmospheric “window”? [4 marks]

(c) The table below provides the properties of five greenhouse gases. Explain what
you understand by the terms “Radiative Forcing Efficiency” and “Global Warming
Potential (GWP)” and discuss why GWP varies greatly for different gases over
different time horizons. [7 marks]

Radiative GWP
Lifetime
Gas Efficiency
(years) 20 years 100 years 500 years
(W m-2 ppb-1)
CO2 200 1.4x10-5 1 1 1
CH4 12 3.7x10-4 62 23 7
CF4 50000 0.08 3900 5700 8900
CFC-12 100 0.32 10200 10600 5200
CFC-115 1700 0.18 4900 7200 9900

2. A combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant can achieve an electrical efficiency of
55%, compared to the typical efficiency of 35% obtained from sub-critical coal-fired
steam power plants.

(a) Briefly explain why a CCGT power plant can achieve significantly higher electrical
efficiencies than conventional single cycle power plants e.g. coal-fired steam
power plants. [5 marks]

(b) For each MW of electricity generated, calculate the percentage reduction in CO2
emissions that can be achieved by fuel switching from coal to natural gas (taking
the gas to be pure methane, CH4), give your answer in percentage. The net
calorific value measured at 25 oC and atmospheric pressure is 30 MJ/kg for the
coal and 50 MJ/kg for the gas. The carbon content of the coal is 85% by mass,
and the atomic mass of carbon = 12 and hydrogen = 1. [10 marks]

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3. You are approached by one energy company to provide the information on NOx
formation and available emission control technologies for its coal and natural gas fired
power plants in operation:

(a) Explain briefly the mechanisms of NOx formation during combustion, including
how the relative significance of different NOx formation mechanisms varies for
coal and natural gas combustion. [4 marks]

(b) Discuss the efficiencies of different NOx control technologies and recommend the
current best available technology that can be installed to its coal power plant to
meet the stringent NOx emissions limit, also to include the chemistries involved.
[6 marks]

4. CO2 transportation represents an essential part of the whole carbon capture and
storage chain and presents many engineering challenges. The following table highlight
the proposed limits of gas impurities allowed for the pipeline transportation of CO2 from
pre-combustion capture plants:

Gas Allowable limit

CO2 >95.5 vol %
H2O 500 ppm
H2S 200 ppm
CO 2000 ppm
CH4 < 2 vol %
non-condensable gases (N2, H2) <4 vol %

(a) What is the most critical gas impurity in terms of its impact on the safe operation
of the pipeline infrastructure; and explain why in reality its allowable limit shown
in the table may need to be even lower? [4 marks]

(b) The allowable limit for non-condensable gases has been defined mainly on an
economic basis. Explain how the presence of the non-condensable gases can
affect the economic performance of a CO2 compression and transport system.
[4 marks]

(c) What are the major concerns for limiting the concentrations of H2S and CO?
[2 marks]

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SECTION B

Answer TWO of the following three questions

5. Answer all parts of this question

A combustion plant burns methane in air at 1 bar with 60% excess air. The fuel feed
rate is 10 kg/min. The fuel/air mixture enters the combustion chamber at 25 oC. The
flue gas stream leaves the furnace at 229 °C. The higher heating value of natural gas
is 55 MJ/kg. The heat losses from the furnace configuration are estimated at 2.5% of
the total energy input from the fuel.

Other data available:

Atomic mass: C=12; H=1;

Specific enthalpy of water at 25 oC: 104 KJ/kg
Specific enthalpy of water vapour at 229 oC: 2895 KJ/kg
At 127 oC (400K), the specific heat capacity of combustion products are as follows:
Cp, CO2 = 0.901 kJ/kg K; Cp, N2= 1.095 kJ/kg K; Cp, O2 = 0.978 kJ/kg K

(a) Assume the combustion is complete and that CO2, N2 and O2 can be treated as
ideal gases, calculate the following:

i) The heat loss in kJ/kg fuel due to the dry combustion products.
[10 marks]

ii) The heat loss in kJ/kg fuel due to water in the combustion products.
[5 marks]

iii) The thermal efficiency of the combustion plant.

[5 marks]

(b) Briefly describe how the boiler thermal efficiency can be improved, based on these
calculations above and your knowledge of combustion systems.
[5 marks]

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6. Answer all parts of this question

A biomass co-fired oxy-fuel power plant burns a dry 85% coal/15% biomass with a gas
mixture (oxidiser) containing 35% O2 and 65% CO2 by volume. The coal/biomass fuel
blend has the following composition by mass on a dry and ash free basis:

Carbon (C): 75.0 %; Hydrogen (H): 8.5 %; Sulphur (S): 0.5 %;

Oxygen (O): 14.5 %; Nitrogen (N): 1.5 %

Other data: Atomic mass C=12; H=1, S=32; N=14; O=16

(a) Calculate the following:

i) The oxidiser requirement for stoichiometric oxy-combustion of this solid fuel

coal, give your answer in kmol oxidiser per kg of fuel.
[5 marks]

ii) Obtain the complete (wet) flue gas composition on a volumetric basis, if
10% excess oxidiser is used to ensure complete combustion.
[10 marks]

(b) Briefly discuss the factors that may affect the raw CO2 purity in the product
stream, based on your results and understanding of oxy-fuel combustion.
[5 marks]

(c) Briefly discuss the major advantages and disadvantages of oxy-fuel combustion
over other carbon capture options.
[5 marks]

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7. Answer all parts of this question

An energy utility company plans to retrofit post-combustion carbon capture to two

500MWth power plants, one is coal-fired and another is combined cycle gas turbine
(CCGT) plant. You have been asked to select the best available capture technology and
provide information on whether the flue gas streams need to be treated to best suit the
requirement of the selected capture technology. The flue gas compositions of the two
power plants are provided below for your reference.

Gas A (coal fired) Gas B (CCGT)

Flue gas temperature (°C) 125 95
Total Pressure (bar) 1.1 1.1
CO2 (vol %) 13.5 3.7
N2 (vol %) 74 73
O2 (vol %) 3.5 11.3
H2O (vol %) 8 11
SO2 (ppmv) 1500 <5
NOx (ppmv) 650 30
Flue gas flow rate for a 500 MWth
1.8 x 106 4.5 x 106
plant, kg/hour

Demonstrating your knowledge of carbon capture, explain the following:

(a) With reasons, decide the most applicable solvent-based CO2 capture technology
for both flue gas streams.
[2 marks]

(b) Describe the key features of your selected gas separation technology, to include: the
major components of the capture plant, operating conditions, and the reaction
chemistry.
[12 marks]

(c) Describe the advantages and disadvantages of the selected capture technology
and discuss how they may vary for each of the two flue gas streams.
[5 marks]

(d) Decide with your reasons whether any of the two flue gas streams needs to be
pre-treated in order to improve the operational performance of the selected
capture technology. If there are any pretreatment requirements, advise and
briefly discuss the best available technologies for each or both of the flue gas
streams.
[6 marks]

End

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FORMULA SHEET for H84PGC – Power Generation & Carbon Capture.

Relations between mass fractions and mole fractions

MWmix = xi*MWi
MWmix = 1/(Yi /MWi )
Yi = xi*MWi / MWmix
xi = Yi*MWmix / MWi

Where MWi is the molecular weight of individual gas components, MWmix is the molecular weight of the gax mixture;
xi and yi is the mole and mass fraction of individual components, respectively.

About Air Composition

− By volume/moles: oxygen (O2): 21 %
nitrogen (N2): 79 %
molar mass of air: 28.84 g/mol (kg/kmol)
− By mass: Oxygen: 23.3 wt%
Nitrogen: 76.7 wt%

About combustion Stoichiometry

Fuel equivalence ratio:

Excess Air

Calorific value and heat of combustion

Relationship between HHV and LHV

where m = mass of water vapour produced from the combustion of unit mass (e.g. 1 kg) of fuel.
hv = the latent heat of water vaporisation (kJ/kg) = 2442 kJ/kg at 25 oC.

where nH2O(out and mH2O(out are the number of moles and mass of water produced in vapour phase in a
) )
combustion reaction, and nfuel, in and mfuel, in is the number of moles and mass of fuels combusted, respectively.

Calorific values or Heat of combustion:

where ni and Hi are the stoichiometric coefficients of individual

reactants/products and the enthalpy of their formation.
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Calorific values or heat of combustion at non-standard conditions

Where ∆h0: the specific enthalpy of combustion at standard conditions, kJ/kg fuel
mi: the masses of reactants and products per Kg of fuel, kg/kg fuel
ho and hi: the specific enthalpy of reactants and products at the standard and other temperatures,
respectively, kJ/kg fuel
For dry combustion products (which can be treated as ideal gases), solids and liquids, the enthalpy can be expressed
as:

Where Cpi is the specific heat capacity of reactants and combustion products

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Periodic Table

H84PGC