Coal-fired Power generation systems for the future

Hitachi, Ltd. has conducted R&D on the coal-based high-efficiency technologiesfor the IGCC(Integrated coal Gasification Combined Cycle), IGFC (Integrated coal Gasification Fuel Cell) combined cycle, PFBC (Pressurized Fluidized Bed Combustion), MCFC (Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell) and the USC (ultra-supercritical) steam condition. Hitachi is designing the pilot plant for the EAGLE project of the Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. (EPDC), which aims at establishing a coal gas production technology acceptable for fuel cells. Hitachi is also constructing a 250-MWe PFBC plant in Osaki for The Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc. A 1000-kWM CFC pilot plant is currently being developed, for operation in 1999. The MCFC will be available as a large capacity power generation system in the near future. The maximum steam temperature for the USC plants was around 600°C, using ferritic steel. However, 12Cr steel enables an increase in the steam temperature to 630-650°C.