Technoeconomic Analysis of a Fixed Bed System for Single/Two–Stage Chemical Looping Combustion

Chemical looping combustion (CLC) is a promising carbon capture technology allowing integration with high-efficiency Brayton cycles for energy production and yielding a concentrated CO₂ stream without requiring air separation units. Recently, dynamically operated fixed bed reactors have been proposed and investigated for CLC. This study deals with the technoeconomic assessment of a CLC process performed in packed beds. Following a previously published work on the topic, two different configurations are considered: one relying on a single oxygen carrier (Cu/CuO based) and the other on two in–series oxygen carriers (Cu/CuO based first, Ni/NiO based later). For both configurations, relevant process schemes are devised to obtain continuous power generation. Despite slightly larger capital costs, two-stage CLC performs better in terms of efficiency, levelized cost of electricity, and avoided CO₂ costs. Fuel price and high–temperature valves costs are identified as the main variables influencing the economic performance. The use of two in–parallel packed bed reactors (2.0 m length, 0.7 m internal diameter) enables a power output of 386 kW_e, a net electric efficiency of 37.2%, a levelized cost of electricity of 91 € MWh_e⁻¹, and avoided CO₂ costs of 55 € ton_CO2⁻¹ with respect to a reference pulverized coal power plant.