Analysis of power generation processes using petcoke
Date
2009-05-15
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Abstract
Petroleum coke or petcoke, a refinery byproduct, has generally been considered as an
unusable byproduct because of its high sulfur content. However energy industries now
view petcoke as a potential feedstock for power generation because it has higher carbon
content than other hydrocarbons like coal, biomass and sewage residue. This gives
petcoke a great edge over other feedstocks to generate power. Models for the two most
common processes for power generation, namely combustion and gasification, were
developed using Aspen Plus steady state chemical process simulator. Overall plant
layouts for both processes were developed by calculating the heat and mass balance of
the unit operations. After conducting wide sensitivity analysis, results indicate that one
ton of petcoke feedstock can generate up to 4 MW of net available power. Both
processes have rates of return greater than 30%, although gasification offers a slightly
more attractive opportunity than combustion.
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Keywords
Petcoke, Combustion, Gasification