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5. Auxiliaries
5.1 Air separation unit
The air separation unit produces the oxygen required for the gasification process. It is only required for IGCC plants running on oxygen. Depending on technical and economic choices, oxygen purity of 85-95% is required. Higher purity is not useful for the gasification process and would have a prohibitive additional energy cost.
Of the various techniques available, cryogenic distillation is generally preferred because of its lower cost. It is based on the differences in boiling temperatures of the various constituents of air (mainly oxygen, argon and nitrogen). Argon/nitrogen separation is generally not carried out, as these two gases have the same inertial properties in combustion processes
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Auxiliaries
IGCC specifics
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Manufacturers (non-exhaustive list)
The construction of an IGCC plant generally involves three manufacturers, one for each of the main islands: gasifier, combined cycle and air separation unit. Tables 1 ,
Operators
Table 4 shows the main operators of industrial-scale IGCC power plants in operation or under construction worldwide. This list is likely to grow in the near future, as all utilities are likely to equip themselves with IGCC plants, since this is one of the clean coal technologies....
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