Techno-Economic Comparison of Desulfurization Method for Existing Coal-Fired Power Plants: An Indonesian Case Study

Coal-fired power plants (CFPPs) are recently one of the most significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions sources due to coal utilization. Extensive attention regarding environmental issues from GHG emissions has emerged, especially SO
2
effluents from CFPPs, which cause a severe impact on the surrounding environment. Indonesian Government has addressed this environmental issue by establishing a stringent new emission limit regulation to decrease SO
2
emission by 550 mg/Nm
³
for the existing CFPPs and 200 mg/Nm
³
for new CFPPs, from formerly only 750 mg/Nm
³
for both conditions. Several methods were proposed to reduce the SO
2
emission by installing a new Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD) or switching mechanisms using low-sulfur coal. The technical and economic impact of using these two methods were analyzed to choose the least levelized cost of energy (LCOE) increase for the three existing CFPPs in Indonesia. From the analysis, the coal switching option provides a lower rise in LCOE than the FGD installation. However, the impact of low-sulfur coal utilization on boiler performance and carbon capture utilization storage (CCUS) utilization can be further investigated to reach Indonesian Net Zero Emission (NZE) target in 2060.