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.