UW’s Zhai Develops Upgrade to Fossil Fueled-Fire Power Plant Software Tool

Haibo Zhai, a University of Wyoming professor of civil and architectural engineering and construction management, is spearheading the continued development and use of a software tool for calculating the performance, emissions and cost of fossil fuel-fired power plants.

The Integrated Environmental Control Model (IECM) is a publicly available computer model for preliminary design and analysis of clean electricity generation technologies employing fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage. It is intended for use by engineers, researchers, technology developers and policy analysts to systematically analyze the cost and performance of fossil fuel power plants of various types and emission control designs. The IECM allows users to easily design the plant to be modeled, and to get results quickly for a variety of technology options.

"On Nov. 18, I will release a new version 12 of the IECM, a computer-based software tool for power plant modeling and techno-economic analysis," says Zhai, who also is the Roy and Caryl Cline Distinguished Chair in Engineering.

IECM version 12 includes several important enhancements, some adjustments and bug fixes, Zhai says. The upgrade includes a variety of biomass feedstocks as new fuel options and a brand-new life cycle greenhouse emissions module, which collectively allow users to evaluate the life-cycle impact and economics of biomass-coal co-firing power plants without and with carbon capture and storage.

"Co-firing biomass, in couple with carbon capture and storage at coal-fired power plants, can remove carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere by capturing and storing the CO₂ produced when biomass is converted into energy," Zhai explains.

This software tool has been applied to evaluate the technical and economic impacts of Wyoming's Reliable and Dispatchable Low-Carbon Energy Standards and to explore the potential for carbon capture and storage deployment in the state's electric power sector. The associated publication is available here.

"My team will soon add advanced carbon capture technology for up to 99 percent CO₂ removal at fossil fuel-fired power plants as a new option to the IECM and further expand the software tool with a new platform for hydrogen energy," Zhai says.

The IECM has been supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for several decades and has been adopted by users from more than 90 countries. The release of IECM version 12 was funded by the DOE's Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management via a research grant led solely by Zhai.

The software tool was originally developed at Carnegie Mellon University, where Zhai served as the IECM manager and a key developer for 10 years, and Edward Rubin, professor emeritus in the departments of Engineering and Public Policy as well as Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon, who was the founding director.

In 2022, the IECM was transferred to UW. Under Zhai's direction, this software tool has been employed by users from 40-plus countries since being housed at UW. Zhai is an adjunct professor in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon.

The IECM has been employed for a wide range of applications, including process design, technology evaluation, cost estimation, research and development management, risk analysis, policy analysis, strategic planning, marketing studies, teaching and education.

More information about the IECM is available on the software tool website at www.uwyo.edu/iecm/.