Influence of various carbon capture technologies on the performance of natural gas-fired combined cycle power plants

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology has been studied actively in recent years to address global warming. This paper aimed to make a consistent comparison of different capture technologies applied to the natural gas-fired combined cycle (NGCC). Multiple power plant systems based on a standard NGCC using three different carbon capture technologies (post-combustion, pre-combustion, and oxycombustion) were proposed, and their net performance was compared. The optimal pressure ratio of the oxy-combustion technology system was obtained. The variations in the net cycle performance of the three systems were compared using the specific CO₂ capture. The net power of the post-combustion capture scheme is lower than that of all other systems, but it has the highest efficiency. However, its biggest disadvantage is a much lower CO₂ capture rate than the oxy-combustion capture which exhibits nearly 100 % capture rate. The conclusion is that the oxy-combustion capture would provide both the highest net efficiency and power output if a high capture rate of over 92 % was required.