A techno-economic and environmental analysis for carbon capture and storage in Italian power plants

Coal and natural gas are the most used fuels for the production of electricity; unfortunately, their use pollutes the atmosphere and directly affects the global warming. In this context, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies are acknowledged as promising solution in tackling the global warming. To evaluate the convenience of such a solution, the scientific community agree on the need to study both the economic advantages of carbon capture as well as its environmental impact. With reference to the estimation of the cost of CCS in power plants, the most frequently applied method is the so-called plant-level approach. This method compares the costs of electricity for a power plant with and without carbon capture. The environmental impact of CCS, instead, is determined through the calculation of the tons of CO2 avoided. In accordance with this methodological outline, this paper applies the plant-level approach to study the techno-economic and environmental convenience of installing a CCS system within a CCGT (Combined Cycle Gas Turbine) power plant in Italy, for which operating scenarios are presented and discussed. © 2018 AMSE Press. All rights reserved.