Gas turbine based high-efficiency ‘Vision 21’ natural gas and coal central plants

Under the sponsorship of the US Department of Energy/National Energy Technology Laboratory, a multidisciplinary team led by the Advanced Power and Energy Programme of the University of California at Irvine is defining the system engineering issues associated with the integration of key components and subsystems into power plant systems that meet performance and emission goals of the 'Vision 21' programme. Earlier tasks of the programme have narrowed down the myriad of fuel processing, power generation, and emission control technologies to selected scenarios that identify those combinations having the potential to achieve the Vision 21 programme goals of high efficiency and minimized environmental impact while using fossil fuels. These analyses have been extended to include coal-based 'zero-emission' power plants and H 2 coproduction facilities. The technology levels considered are based on projected technical and manufacturing advances being made in industry and on advances identified in current and future government-supported research. Included in these advanced systems are solid oxide fuel cells and advanced-cycle gas turbines. The results of this investigation will serve as a guide for the US Department of Energy in identifying the research areas and technologies that warrant further support.