Southern Research Institute (SRI) will explore the feasibility of retrofitting existing pulverized coal (PC) plants with oxy-combustion systems by developing, optimizing, and modeling combustion and carbon dioxide (CO₂) recycle.  Oxy-combustion, which involves replacing air with pure oxygen in a PC boiler, has the potential to provide a more economical means of CO₂ capture. 

The primary project goal is to thoroughly investigate, develop, optimize, and model oxy-combustion and CO₂ recycle to assess its feasibility for retrofit to existing PC-fired power plants.  SRI will conduct flue gas recycle and oxy-combustion experiments on various coals in its pilot-scale Combustion Research Facility (CRF) and adjust the existing CRF computational fluid dynamics model to incorporate flue gas recycle and oxygen-firing. 

	Schematic of the Southern Research/Southern Company Combustion Research Facility.