ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Integrated gasification combined cycle

Okay kiddo, let me explain the integrated gasification combined cycle to you in a way that's super easy to understand.

You know how we use electricity to power our homes and gadgets, right? We need to generate that electricity somehow, usually by burning fossil fuels like coal or natural gas. But burning these fuels also produces a lot of pollution, which is not good for the environment.

That's where integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) comes in! IGCC is a fancy way of generating electricity that's much cleaner and more efficient than burning fossil fuels.

Here's how it works. First, we take a solid fuel like coal and grind it into tiny pieces. Then we mix those pieces with hot steam in a special machine called a gasifier. The heat from the steam causes the coal to break down into gas (like the gas in your kitchen stove), leaving behind a solid waste material called slag.

Next, we use a special process to clean the gas, removing impurities like sulfur and other pollutants. Then we burn the cleaned gas in a special kind of engine called a gas turbine to generate electricity.

But we're not done yet! The heat from the gas turbine is then used to create steam, which turns another kind of engine called a steam turbine to generate even more electricity.

And that's how the integrated gasification combined cycle works! By using this process, we can generate electricity much more efficiently and with much less pollution than burning fossil fuels. Pretty cool, huh?