Life cycle assessment (LCA) and exergetic life cycle assessment (ELCA) of a semi-closed gas turbine cycle with CO2 chemical absorption

An exergetic life cycle assessment (ELCA) and a classical environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) has been performed for a carbon dioxide low emission power cycle. The configuration of the power cycle is a semi-closed gas turbine combined cycle (SCGT/CC) which allows increasing of the CO2 concentration in the hue gases. The decreasing CO2 Plant (DeCO(2) Plant) achieves a CO2 reduction of 85% by means of chemical absorption with a blended solution of amines. The LCA is mainly focussed on CO2 production during the three phases of construction, operation and dismantling of the complete SCGT/CC + DeCO(2) plant. This is necessary to verify if the process is effective in terms of CO2 reduction. Besides the classic LCA, an ELCA was also performed, whose aim was to assess the cost of the life cycle of the plant in terms of exergy losses. The results are quite encouraging: the CO2 reduction is effective during the life time. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.