A Demonstration of Carbon Neutral Technologies in Osaki CoolGen Project
Hiroshima, 28 September 2023: Members of ACN Advisory Group, ERIA, and IEEJ conducted a site visit to Osaki Coolgen Corporation located in Osakikamijima, near Hiroshima city, Japan on 28 September 2023. The plant is founded by Chugoku Power Grid on 29 July 2009, which was initially named Osaki Power Plant, but changed later on since the facility’s line of business is focused more on achieving ‘innovative low carbon coal fired thermal power generation’. The plant demonstrates the combination of Integrated Coal Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC), Integrated Coal Gasification Fuel Cell Combined Cycle (IGFC), and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).
The Osaki Coolgen Project consists of 3 tiers: 1) First step: Oxygen-blown IGCC; 2) Second step: Oxygen-blown IGCC with CO2 capture; and 3) Third step: Oxygen-blown IGFC with CO2 capture. The first step is oxygen-blown IGCC with coal gasification, which consists of coal gasification unit, gas clean-up unit, and combined cycle unit. This IGCC system can reach power generation efficiency as high as 40%. The second step consists of CO2 capture with liquefaction process, which separates the CO2 produced from the gasification unit, using shift reactor and CO2 adsorber. The CO2 captured has 99% purity with a 90% recovery rate. Some of the CO2 captured is utilized for carbon recycling demonstrations and research center funded by NEDO, and some is liquefied for CO2 usage such as agriculture production. The third step is incorporating hydrogen into the IGFC system to further improve efficiency. The hydrogen gas is earned from the CO2 adsorber, which takes CO2 from the gasified gas and produces hydrogen-rich gas. The fuel cell unit has 1.2 MW capacity, aiming to improve net thermal efficiency (HHV) of approximately 47% while capturing 90% of CO2. The first step of the project is subsidized by METI from 2012, while the second and third step is subsidized by NEDO from 2016.
The site visit continues to the R&D and Demonstration Base for Carbon Recycling, which located just beside Osaki Coolgen plant. The facility is funded by NEDO which has the main goal to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere by reusing and recycling CO2 as a resource for materials, fuel, and other purposes. The center opened in September 2022, following Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) policy on “Roadmap for Carbon Recycling” formulated in June 2019 and “3C Initiatives for Carbon Recycling” presented in September 2019.
The facility has several demonstration research areas: 1) Development of efficient CO2-use for construction materials such as concrete, 2) Research of selective synthesis technology of chemical products which aims to develop catalysts and processes for efficient of paraxylene, PET raw materials, etc from CO2, and 3) Development of Gas-to-Lipids bioprocess. The facility also has an Algae Research Area which aims to increase CO2 utilization rate to produce Microalgae-derived Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). There is also a Basic Research Area which consists of 6 laboratories which is now being utilized by companies and universities conducting carbon recycling research.
During both site visits, AG members and ERIA raised lots of question to presenters of Osaki Coolgen and NEDO research center and they kindly and closely answered the questions.
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