System efficiency improvement of IGCC with syngas clean-up

The integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) is considered a potentially important development in advanced coal-based power plants. In this system, gasification processes provide an opportunity to control and reduce pollutant emissions. Indeed, the clean utilization of flue gas is a key design requirement for new power plants. This study aimed to improve the performance of moving granular bed filters for gas clean-up in the IGCC. Such filter systems pass dry fly ash through a column containing a filter medium such as sand in order to collect micrometer-scale particulate matter. The experimental device tested has several unique design features. The device can be operated with a cold input gas and incorporates a regeneration process for the filter media and a cross-wise flow to simulate filter operation in an industrial coal boiler environment. A series of experiments was performed at room temperature to demonstrate the collection efficiency of this device under several sets of operating conditions. The main focus of the current study was the development of a dust particulate removal technology that could be applied in the IGCC.