Coal Gasification

Barry Burr

November 7, 2006

One area where ProMax is getting a lot of attention is in Coal Gasification or IGCC processes. Since IGCC involves partial oxidation rather than complete oxidation, the organically-bound sulfur is mainly converted to H2S rather than SO2. The former is best removed from the crude Syngas exiting the gasifier by amine or physical solvent treating, which are well-modeled in ProMax. Additionally, IGCC usually involves recovery of elemental sulfur (SRU) in a conventional Claus Plant followed by SCOT or SUPERCLAUS® style processes where BR&E is also highly regarded. The crude Syngas processing also involves air separation, sour water stripping, brazed aluminum or compact heat exchanger rating, compressor curve input, water-gas shift reaction, and bulk CO2 removal in the sequestration case.

In ProMax, the purification and separation operations can be run in a single, integrated simulation. Separate flowsheets can be built within the simulation to make it easier to view and to provide boundaries where thermodynamic property packages can be easily switched. Results from a gasifier model can be easily imported into a crude Syngas processing model via Excel or VB. ProMax also has rigorous sizing and/or rating tools for most of the equipment required downstream of the gasifier such as heat exchangers, compressors, pumps, separators, distillation column internals, and pipe/valve sections.

Authored by Barry Burr, PhD. - BR&E Sales Department