New Congressional legislation may soon require coal-fired power generators to pay for their CO2 emissions and capture a minimum level of their CO2 output. Aminebased CO2 capture systems offer plants the most technically proven and commercially feasible option for CO2 capture at this time. However, these systems require a large amount of heat and power to operate. As a result, amine-based CO2 capture systems significantly reduce the net power of any units in which they are installed.;The Energy Research Center has compiled a list of heat rate improvements that plant operators may implement before installing a CO2 capture system. The goal of these improvements is to upgrade the performance of existing units and partially offset the negative effects of adding a CO2 capture system. Analyses were performed in Aspen Plus to determine the effectiveness of these heat rate improvements in preserving the net power and net unit heat rate (NUHR) of four different power generator units. For the units firing high-moisture sub-bituminous coal, the heat rate improvements reduced NUHR by an average of 13.69% across a CO 2 capture level range of 50% to 90%. For the units firing bituminous coal across the same CO2 capture range, the heat rate improvements reduced NUHR by an average of 12.30%. Regardless of the units' coal or steam turbine cycle type, the heat rate improvements preserved 9.7% to 11.0% of each unit's net power across the same CO2 capture range. In general, the heat rate improvements were found to be most effective in improving the performance of units firing high-moisture sub-bituminous. The effect of the CO2 capture system on these units and the reasons for the improvements' greater effectiveness in them are described in this thesis.
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