Technical and Economical Assessment of the Indirectly Heated Carbonate Looping Process

Carbonate looping promises low energy penalties for postcombustion CO2-capture and is particularly suited for retrofitting existing power plants. To further improve the process, a new concept with an indirectly heated calciner using heat pipes was developed, offering even higher plant efficiencies and lower CO2 avoidance costs than the oxy-fired standard carbonate looping process. The concept of the indirectly heated carbonate looping (IHCL) process was tested at sufficient scale in a 300 kWth pilot plant at Technische Universität Darmstadt. The paper presents a technical overview of the process and shows first test results of the pilot plant. Furthermore, the concept is economically evaluated and compared to other carbon capture processes.