Progress and utilization of Nakoso 250 MW air-blown IGCC demonstration project

• Published in: Mechanical Engineering Journal 2014, Vol.1(5), pp.TEP0045-TEP0045
• Main Authors: NUNOKAWA, Makoto, ASANO, Tetsuji
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air-blown; Coal; Commercial operation; Demonstration project; Gasification; IGCC; Nakoso
• ISSN: 2187-9745; 2187-9745
• DOI: 10.1299/mej.2014tep0045

Integrated coal Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) is a highly effective power generation system that the gas turbine is operated with the gasified coal in the gasifier. Clean Coal Power R&D Co., Ltd. had been conducting various tests for commercialization with the Nakoso IGCC demonstration plant since September 2007. The plant consists of air-blown gasifier, wet gas clean-up system and 1,200°C class gas turbine to produce 250 MW-gross electricity. Reliability was confirmed by 2,238 h of continuous operation, 18,788 h of accumulated operation and the resulting net thermal efficiency was 42.9% (LHV basis). Various types of coal have been successfully tested, such as North American coal, Indonesian coal, Russian coal and Columbian coal in addition to Chinese plant-designed coal. Although the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami has caused severe damages to plant in March 2011, our IGCC swiftly restored its operation within 4.5 month and has been maintaining stable operation for demonstration project. The demonstration project was finished in March 2013 and the Nakoso IGCC plant is operated commercially by Joban Joint Power Co., Ltd. as high efficiency power generating station.