IGCC MERITS

IGCC has various merits.
Of these we will discuss the 3 most important ones.

Reduction of CO2 Emissions

While regular coal-fired power generation uses only steam to generate power, IGCC also uses coal gas to generate power, thereby cutting coal consumption by about 15% for the same amount of power generated.
And this means the amount of COâ‚‚ emitted will also be reduced by about 15%.

Effective use of waste materials

Coal ash melts in the gasifier and is discharged as glassy slag, thereby reducing its volume by half.

Slag can be used effectively as a recycled material for various purposes,such as a material for roads or cement.

Use of various grades of coal

Coal with high ash fusion temperature is suitable for regular coal-fired power generation

Use of coal with high ash fusion temperature is suitable for preventing the adhesion of ash to the boiler wall.

Coal with low ash fusion temperature is suitable for IGCC

Use of coal with low ash fusion temperature is suitable since ash is drained from the gasifier as molten slag.

Diversification for energy security with the expansion of available coal class.

IGCC can make use of coal which has different quality from those used in regular coal-fired power generation. This leads to increase the kinds of coal used throughout the coal-fired power plants. As a result, we can use the limited resource of coal for a longer time in the future.