Energy and environmental analyses: Indian coal and biomass based IGCC power plant integrated with microalgal CO2 capture

The increase in greenhouse gas emissions, mainly CO2 is one of the current concerns. Agri-municipal solid waste (MSW) based biomass is a promising eco-friendly alternative source of renewable energy to mitigate the twin problems of fossil fuel depletion and environmental degradation due to CO2 emissions. An integration of mixed fuel-based (coal+biomass) power generation with algal CO2 capture is expected to reduce the CO2 emission. In addition algal biomass, a rich resource of fuel and biochemicals, is produced. This article focuses on the analysis of energy and environmental performance of an integrated system of 30 TPD integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant, co-fired with Indian coal and Agri-MSW, and microalgal CO2 capture (70%) unit using three algal strains, namely, Chlorella Vulgaris, Nannochloropsis spp and Scenedesmus spp. The analyses have been performed considering the use of (a) in-house power and (b) grid power for the algal unit individually using Chlorella Vulgaris, Nannochloropsis spp and Scenedesmus using ASPEN Plus modelling. It is expected that the results of the analysis will be helpful in designing an integrated system of coal-biomass based IGCC power plants with algal CO2 capture units using different varieties of biomass and algal strains.