Abstract

This study proposes and evaluates an integrated coal-based hydrogen–electricity cogeneration concept that combines oxygen transport membrane (OTM) technology, coal partial gasification (CPG), and pressurized oxy-fuel combustion (POFC) with inherent CO2 capture. Six system configurations, comprising a no-capture baseline, a conventional cryogenic air separation route, and four OTM-based variants differing in membrane operating mode (4-end vs. 3-end) and feed air heating strategy, are systematically compared through Aspen Plus process simulation coupled with a 4E (energy, exergy, environmental, and economic) assessment. The two leading CCS configurations, namely, Case 1 (CASU benchmark) and Case 2 (heat-integrated 4-end OTM configuration), show comparable thermodynamic performance, with overall efficiencies of approximately 50.9% and exergy efficiencies of approximately 48.6%. Their small efficiency difference falls within the propagated auxiliary load uncertainty, indicating that they should be regarded as thermodynamically comparable rather than strictly ranked by first-law efficiency. In the techno-economic assessment, Case 2 delivers the lowest credit-based levelized hydrogen cost among the CCS routes, while both allocation-based and credit-based costs are reported in the main text for comparison. Sensitivity analysis confirms that the comparative ranking is robust to single-parameter and combined adverse market perturbations, while the absolute economic viability remains contingent on hydrogen price, CO2 credit availability, and membrane-related assumptions.

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