Tutorial:

Fundamentals of Supercritical CO2

March 26, 2018

Jason C. Wilkes, Ph.D.

[email protected]

Southwest Research Institute

© Southwest Research Institute 2015

Abstract
The recent interest to use supercritical CO2 (sCO2) in power cycle applications
over the past decade has resulted in a large amount of literature that focuses on
specific areas related to sCO2 power cycles in great detail. Such focus areas are
demonstration test facilities, heat exchangers, turbomachinery, materials, and fluid
properties of CO2 and CO2 mixtures, to name a few. As work related to sCO2 power
cycles continues, more technical depth will be emphasized in each focus area,
whereas those unfamiliar with the topic are left to undertake the large task of
understanding fundamentals on their own.
The following content provides an introductory tutorial on sCO2 used in power
cycle applications, aimed at those who are unfamiliar or only somewhat familiar to the
topic. The tutorial includes a brief review of CO2 and its current industrial uses, a
primer on thermodynamic power cycles, an overview of supercritical CO2 power cycle
applications and machinery design considerations, and a summary of some of the
current research and future trends.
The views and opinions expressed in this document are those of the authors and
do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Southwest Research
Institute

2
This tutorial provides an introduction to sCO2 in
power cycle applications
7.37 MPa
CO2
Supercritical
region
Increasing
isobars

CO2 and supercritical CO2 (sCO2)

31 C
Pcrit = 7.37 MPa (1070 psi)
Tcrit = 31 C (88 F)
Two-phase
region

sCO2 loop hardware

[6-3]

[6-1] [6-2]
Geothermal
Concentrated
Fossil Fuel
Solar Power
Power cycle applications
[6-5]

[6-4]
Ship-board
Propulsion

Research and future trends

3
CO2 General Information
CO2 is a gas at atmospheric conditions with a
concentration of ≈ 400 ppm

Spring

Autumn

Image source [1-1]

6
There are both industrial and natural contributors
and consumers of CO2 in our atmosphere
CO2 in atmosphere
volcanic
activity non-energy respiration in
uses, oil+gas combustion decomposers
production respiration

photosynthesis

respiration
byproducts, etc.

Organic compounds in animals

Carbon in Carbon compounds

fossil fuels feeding in dead matter
fossilization (biomass)

Image source [1-3]

Carbon compounds in
geological formations
Organic compounds in plants

7
Fossil fuel combustion is the largest industrial
contributor to CO2 production

Source: “U.S. Climate Action Report 2014” 8

Transportation (petroleum) and electricity
generation (coal) majority contributors of CO2

Source: “U.S. Climate Action Report 2014” 9

CO2 has human exposure limits, but is classified
at “non-toxic”

~400

Notes:
[1] Reference safety standards: OSHA, ACGIH, NIOSH (USA)
[2] Reference study by Lambertsen (1971)

11
What is Supercritical CO2?
CO2 is supercritical if the pressure and
temperature are greater than the critical values
7.37 MPa (1,070 psi)

Supercritical
region

Gas
31°C
(88°F)

Liquid Two-phase
region

REFPROP (2007), EOS CO2: Span & Wagner (1996)

 Fluids operating near their critical point have
dramatic changes in enthalpy
CO2 Air GT TIT

Supercritical
region

∂h 
Cp = 
∂T p CO2 Air

REFPROP (2007)
CO2 density sharply decreases
near the critical point 80F 105F

Supercritical region

REFPROP (2007)
CO2 viscosity decreases
through the critical point

Water Supercritical region

Air

REFPROP (2007) 1 µPa-s = 10-6 kg/m/s

CO2 thermal conductivity is
enhanced near the critical region
1000

Water

305K
Thermal 307K
100
Conductivity
[mW/m/K] 309K
350K

Critical density
10
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Density [kg/m3]

REFPROP (2007)
CO2 thermal conductivity is
enhanced near the critical region
1000

Water

305K
Thermal 307K
100
Conductivity
[mW/m/K] 309K
350K

Critical density
10
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Density [kg/m3]

REFPROP (2007)
Power Cycle Basics
Power Cycle Basics Overview

Carnot – “the standard”

Brayton – gas cycle

Rankine – vapor cycle

Ideal vs. actual cycle

Cycle variations

49
Carnot Cycle 3

 Processes 1
(1-2) Isothermal heat addition
(2-3) Isentropic expansion Comp. Comp. Turb. Turb.

(3-4) Isothermal heat rejection Wcomp Wturb

(4-1) Isentropic compression
Qout 4 Qin 2
 Not practical to build
 Most efficient heat Wnet = Wturb - Wcomp

engine Qin
1 2

ηth,Carnot = 1 – TL/TH TH

Temperature
TL : Available heat sink? TL
4 3
Qout
TH : Available heat source? S1 = S4 S2 = S3
Materials? Entropy

50
 Qin Closed-loop
Brayton Cycle (Ideal)
2 3
HP-HE
 Processes
(1-2) Isentropic compression
(2-3) Const. pres. heat addition Comp. Turb.
(3-4) Isentropic expansion
Wnet
(4-1) Const. pres. heat reject.
1 4
 Open- or closed-loop LP-HE

ηth,Brayton = 1 – PR(1-k)/k
Qout

PR, k : ηth 3

Temperature, T
Tmax Qin
Temperature, T

2
Optimal PR 4

for net work Tmin Qout

1

Entropy, S Entropy, S

52
 Qin
Rankine Cycle (Ideal)
2 3
Boiler
 Processes
(1-2) Isentropic compression
(2-3) Const. pres. heat addition
Pump Turb.
(3-4) Isentropic expansion
WP,in WT,out
(4-1) Const. pres. heat reject.
 Same processes as 1 4
Condenser
Brayton; different
hardware Qout
 Phase changes
Liquid+
 E.g., steam cycle Qin Vapor

Temperature, T
Liquid 3

2 Gas

1 4
Qout

Entropy, S
53
Ideal vs. Actual Processes
Brayton Rankine

1-2, 3-4: Irreversibilities

2-3, 4-1: Pressure losses
54
Power Cycle Variations

 Regeneration
 Intercooling
 Reheating
 Recompression
…

 What is supercritical power cycle?

55
Brayton Cycle + Regeneration

Regenerator
= recuperator

Effectiveness:
ε = (h5-h2)/(h4-h2)

Figure reference: Cengel and Boles (2002)

57
Intercooling & Reheating…
Two Sides of the Same Coin

Minimize compressor Maximize turbine

work input work output

Increase fluid density Decrease fluid density

Intercooling Reheating

Multi-stage Multi-stage
intercooling reheating

Approach isothermal
conditions
58
Multi-Stage Intercooling & Reheating
≈ Isothermal
expansion
Multi-stage
reheat

Multi-stage
intercool
≈ Isothermal
compression
Approximates
Ericsson cycle
Figure reference: Cengel and Boles (2002) ηth,Ericsson = ηth,Carnot

59
Brayton Cycle + Regeneration +
Intercooling + Reheating

Figure reference: Cengel and Boles (2002)

60
Recompression in Brayton Cycle

Source: Ludington (2009)

64
What is a Supercritical Power Cycle?

Supercritical
region
Temperature, T

Pcrit

Tcrit

Liquid
region

Gas
region

Liquid + vapor
region

Entropy, S

65
sCO2 Power Cycles
Why sCO2 for Power Cycles?
Property Effect
High density, • Reduced compressor work, increased Wnet
low viscosity, • Allow more-compact turbomachinery to achieve same
high CP near power
C.P. • Less complex – e.g., fewer compressor and turbine stages,
may not need intercooling
Near- • Good availability for most temperature sinks and sources
ambient Tcrit
Abundant • Low cost
fluid with low
GWP
Familiar • Experience with standard materials, though not necessarily
at high temp. & high pressure

67
CO2 Cost Comparison*

*Based on market pricing for laboratory-grade substance

69
Calculated sCO2 efficiencies close to a steam
cycle for potentially less $/kW

Steam He

He

Source: Wright (2011) and Dostal (2004)

70
Relative Size of Components

5m
Steam turbine: 55 stages / 250 MW
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (with casing)

Helium turbine: 17 stages / 333 MW (167 MWe)

X.L. Yan, L.M. Lidsky (MIT) (without casing)
1m
sCO2 turbine: 4 stages / 450 MW (300 MWe)
(without casing)

Note: Compressors are

comparable in size

Adapted from Dostal (2004)

Source: Wright (2011)

71
Example: 10 MWe Turbine Comparison

Source: Persichilli et al. (2012)

72
sCO2 in Power Cycle Applications
Supercritical CO2 in Power Cycle Applications

[6-1] [6-2]

Concentrated Fossil Fuel [6-3]

Geothermal
Solar Power

[6-5]
Ship-board
[6-4]
Propulsion Waste Heat
Nuclear Recovery[6-11]

122
Supercritical CO2 Power Cycle Applications

[Bowman 2016]
© Southwest Research Institute 2012 123
Heat Source Operating Temperature
Range & Efficiency

Assumptions (Turbomachinery Eff (MC 85%, RC 87%, T 90%), Wright (2011)

125
Supercritical CO2 in Power Cycle Applications

[6-1] [6-2]

Concentrated Fossil Fuel [6-3]

Geothermal
Solar Power

[6-5]
Ship-board
[6-4]
Propulsion Waste Heat
Nuclear Recovery[6-11]

126
Why would we use solar power?

© Southwest Research Institute 2012 127

Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)
 The Sun-Motor (1903)
• Steam Cycle
• Pasadena, CA
• Delivered 1400 GPM of water
 Solar One (1982)
• 10 MWe water-steam solar
power tower facility
• Barstow, CA
Image source: [6-6]
• Achieved 96% availability
during hours of sunshine
 Solar Two (1995)
• Incorporated a highly efficient
(~99%) molten-salt receiver
and thermal energy storage
system into Solar One.

Image source: [6-7]

128
sCO2 CSP Process Diagram

Heliostats

Dual-shaft, tower receiver sCO2 Brayton Cycle solar thermal power

system with thermal energy storage, Zhiwen and Turchi (2011)

129
The transient challenges of a concentrated solar
power plant are significant

Ambient Temperature °C
50
40
30
20
10
0
12:00 AM 6:00 AM 12:00 PM 6:00 PM 12:00 AM
Optimal Cycle Configuration with varying
Compressor Inlet Temperature
Comparison of Recompression Cycles:
Flow Split and Pressure Ratio at Best Efficiency Points
51

B
50

• SAM modeling of typical 49

Cycle Efficiency [%]

sites shows an annual 48
A
47
average compressor inlet 46

temperature to be 37-38ºC 45
35 40 45 50 55

assuming 15ºC approach Average Annual Inlet Temp/

temperature in the cooler 35
Design Point

• Cycle Modeling 30
A

Flow Split [%]

– Optimal flow split 25
B

• 22-33%
• Heavily dependent on CIT 20
35 40 45 50 55

– Optimal PR
• Varies with use of 3.5

intercooling A
Pressure Ratio [-]

– Intercooled cycles are 3

B
more efficient on hot
days, and less efficient on 2.5

cool days 35 40 45

Compressor Inlet Temp [

° C]
50 55

133
CSP Compressor Inlet Variation and
Turbomachinery Performance

• To manage this challenge,

numerous strategies will be
required
– Inventory Control
– Inlet Guide Vanes
– Variable Diffuser Vanes
– Variable Speed Compression
– Novel Control Features

Figure 5: Comparison of Operating Range and Pressure Ratio

Requirements [Modified from Japikse[5]]

137
Conceptual 10 MWe Integrally Geared Compressor
Applied to Recuperated Brayton Cycle
Generator Compressors

Re-Compressors

Shaft to
Generator
Expanders

Main Oil Pump

What are the key challenges to CSP
sCO2 cycles
 Variable inlet temperature creates numerous cycle
challenges
• Dry cooling mandatory
• Compressor operation near the critical point requires
careful cycle control (not yet demonstrated)
 Heat addition to the sCO2 while incorporating
thermal energy storage is challenging
 Turbine inlet temperatures approaching 750° with
very high cycle efficiency requirements expected.

© Southwest Research Institute 2012 140

Supercritical CO2 in Power Cycle Applications

[6-1] [6-2]

Concentrated Fossil Fuel [6-3]

Geothermal
Solar Power

[6-5]
Ship-board
[6-4]
Propulsion Waste Heat
Nuclear Recovery[6-11]

141
Rankine Cycle Application: Nuclear
Power Generation

Image source: [6-8]

142
sCO2 for Nuclear Applications
(550°C-700°C, 34 MPa)

Image source: [6-9]

Image source: [6-4]

143
Proposed Nuclear sCO2 Cycles
 Direct Cycle
• No primary and
secondary Na
loops
• Lower Void
Reactivity

 Indirect Cycle
• Primary Na loop
• Smaller core
size

Kato et al. (2007)

144
Advantages of CO2 Cycle vs. Helium
Cycle in Nuclear Applications
Pro Con
Smaller turbomachinery than steam or Helium preferred to CO2 as a reactor
helium coolant for cooling capability and
inertness
CO2 Brayton cycles are more efficient CO2 requires a larger reactor than
than helium at medium reactor helium or an indirect cycle
temperatures
CO2 is 10× cheaper than Helium New technology

147
Supercritical CO2 in Power Cycle Applications

[6-1] [6-2]

Concentrated Fossil Fuel [6-3]

Geothermal
Solar Power

[6-5]
Ship-board
[6-4]
Propulsion Waste Heat
Nuclear Recovery[6-11]

150
Oxy-Fuel Combustion
Conventional Combustion

Air
(78% N 2 , 21% O 2 )

Fuel
(Solar Turbines 2012)

Oxy-Fuel Combustion
O2 CO 2

Fuel H 2O
151
Direct Oxy-Fuel Combustion
NG O2

CO2 Compressor CO2 Turbine

Oxy Power Electricity

CO2 CO2
Generator
Combustor Out

Condenser
HRSG
CO2
Water Steam
Rankine
Cycle
Electricity
Generator

Steam Turbine

152
Allam Cycle (NetPOWER)

Net Efficiency 58.9%

[Fetvedt 2016]

© Southwest Research Institute 2012 153

The Allam Cycle (NetPOWER)

[Fetvedt 2016]
© Southwest Research Institute 2012 154
Component Development

[Fetvedt 2016]
© Southwest Research Institute 2012 155
 [Fetvedt 2016]
© Southwest Research Institute 2012 156
Indirect Oxy-Fuel Combustion

Zero Emission Oxy-Coal Power Plant with Supercritical

CO2 Cycle, Johnson et al. (2012)
158
What are the key challenges for oxy-
fuel sCO2 cycles

 Very high combuster and expander

temperatures (1200°C)
• Film cooling mandatory
• Containment challenges
• Sealing challenges
 Unproven combustion dynamics
 Complex auxiliary hardware

© Southwest Research Institute 2012 159

Supercritical CO2 in Power Cycle Applications

[6-1] [6-2]

Concentrated Fossil Fuel [6-3]

Geothermal
Solar Power

[6-5]
Ship-board
[6-4]
Propulsion Waste Heat
Nuclear Recovery[6-11]

160
Ship-board Propulsion
 Nuclear sCO2 cycles?
 Improved power to weight
 Rapid startup Image source: [6-10]

 Bottoming cycles

Source: Dostal (2004) 161

Key challenges to sCO2 nautical
applications

 Weight
 Startup transient response times
 Impulse load robustness
 Containment (ships do get hit)

© Southwest Research Institute 2012 162

Supercritical CO2 in Power Cycle Applications

[6-1] [6-2]

Concentrated Fossil Fuel [6-3]

Geothermal
Solar Power

[6-5]
Ship-board
[6-4]
Propulsion Waste Heat
Nuclear Recovery[6-11]

163
Geothermal
 Low Temperature Heat Source
• T ≈ 210°C, P ≈ 100 bar

Pruess (May 19, 2010)

164
US Geothermal Resources

Courtesy: [Higgins 2016]

© Southwest Research Institute 2012 166
Global Geothermal Resources

Courtesy: [Higgins 2016]

© Southwest Research Institute 2012 167
 ECO2G
Conventional Hydrothermal Closed-Loop Supercritical CO2

Courtesy: [Higgins 2016]

© Southwest Research Institute 2012 168
P-v & T-s Diagram T-s

P-v

© Southwest Research Institute 2012 Courtesy: [Higgins 2016]

169
How does a Thermosiphon Work
Cold Gas In Horizontal
Heat In
Hot Gas Out

ΔP Turbine

Courtesy: [Higgins 2016]

© Southwest Research Institute 2012 170
Performance ECO2G

 Power Production
 Electrical power is typically 1 to 2 MWe
per well
 Electrical power can exceed 5 MWe for
some cases
 Financial Projections
 •25 Year LCOE ranges from $0.05 -
$0.10/kWh

© Southwest Research Institute 2012 171

Benefits of s-CO2 Based Geothermal
 Highly Compressible
• Produces a strong thermosiphon
 Inexpensive
 High-Efficiency, Small Turbines
 No Process Water
 Outperforms Hydrothermal
• Steam (flash tank) and binary (ORC) cycles
 Environmentally Friendly
• Relatively Inert
• No Process Water
• Zero Emissions
• Small Footprint

© Southwest Research Institute 2012 172

Challenges to sCO2 goethermal

 Drilling technology is very expensive and

(probably) not a sure thing.

© Southwest Research Institute 2012 173

Supercritical CO2 in Power Cycle Applications

[6-1] [6-2]

Concentrated Fossil Fuel [6-3]

Geothermal
Solar Power

[6-5]
Ship-board
[6-4]
Propulsion Waste Heat
Nuclear Recovery
174
Waste Heat Recovery (Bottoming)
 Rankine Cycle Description
1. Liquid CO2 is pumped to supercritical pressure
2. sCO2 accepts waste heat at recuperator and
waste heat exchanger
3. High energy sCO2 is expanded at turbo-
alternator producing power
4. Expanded sCO2 is cooled at recuperator and
condensed to a liquid at condenser

1
4

3
Image source: [6-11]
Image source: [6-12]
175
Key challenges to sCO2 bottoming
cycles

 Efficiencies and costs must compete with

with steam/ORC at relevant temperatures
 Unproven technology must move into a
field with proven WHR solutions
(steam/ORC)
• Since WHR is not the primary asset in nearly
any implementation, shutting down production
or heat generation for an unproven benefit is
challenging.

© Southwest Research Institute 2012 176

Other sCO2 Power Cycle Applications

Zhang (2005)

Non-Concentrated Combined Heat &

Solar Power Power

177
sCO2 Rankine Cycle in Non-
Concentrated Solar Power
 NCSP (Trans-critical Rankine) Tt = 180°C
• ηe,exp = 8.75%-9.45%
 Photovoltaic
• ηe,exp = 8.2%

Zhang (2005)

Zhang (2007)

178
sCO2 Rankine Cycle in Combined Heat
and Power (CHP)
 Electrical efficiency
• Higher than ordinary steam CHP
• Cascaded s-CO2 plant performed best

Moroz (2014)
179
sCO2 as a Refrigerant

Image source: [6-13]

Image source: [6-14]

180
sCO2 vs R-22 in Refrigeration

 Employed MCHEs
 Summary
• CO2 COP vs. R-22
− 42% Lower at 27.8°C
− 57% Lower at 40.6°C
• Majority of entropy
generation in CO2
cycle was in the
expansion device

Brown (2002) 181

sCO2 in Heat Pumps

 sCO2 replaced as a
refrigerant in domestic heat
pump hot water heater in
Japan.
• COP = 8, 90°C (194°F)
• Compared to COPtyp=4-5

 Qh + We 
 COP = 
 We 
Image source: [6-14]

EcoCute Heat Pump (2007)

182
183
sCO2 Power Cycle
Research Efforts
Development of a High Efficiency Hot Gas Turbo-expander and Low
Cost Heat Exchangers for Optimized CSP SCO2 Operation

J. Jeffrey Moore, Ph.D.

Klaus Brun, Ph.D.
Pablo Bueno, Ph.D.
Stefan Cich
Neal Evans
Kevin Hoopes
Southwest Research Institute
C.J. Kalra, Ph.D.,
Doug Hofer, Ph.D.
Thomas Farineau
General Electric
John Davis
Lalit Chordia
Thar Energy
Brian Morris
Joseph McDonald
Ken Kimball Taken from SunShot Subprogram
Bechtel Marine
Review: Concentrating Solar Power
(Sunshot Grand Challenge Summit
Anaheim, CA, May 19-22, 2014)

185
 Project Objectives
 To develop a novel, high-efficiency supercritical sCO2 turbo-expander
optimized for the highly transient solar power plant duty cycle profile.
– This MW-scale design advances the state-of-the-art of sCO2 turbo-expanders
from TRL3 to TRL6.
 To optimize compact heat exchangers for sCO2 applications to drastically
reduce their manufacturing costs.
 The turbo-expander and heat exchanger will be tested in a 1-MWe test
loop fabricated to demonstrate component performance and endurance.
 Turbine is designed for 10 MW output in order to achieve industrial scale
 The scalable sCO2 expander design and improved heat exchanger address
and close two critical technology gaps required for an optimized CSP
sCO2 power plant
 Provide a major stepping stone on the pathway to achieving CSP power at
$0.06/kW-hr levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), increasing energy
conversion efficiency to greater than 50% and reducing total power block
cost to below $1,200/kW installed.

186
 Project Approach
 Work has been divided into three phases that
emulate development process from TRL3 to
TRL6
 Phase I – Turbomachinery, HX, and flow loop
design (17 months)
 Phase II – Component fabrication and test
loop commissioning (12 months)
 Phase III – Performance and endurance testing
(6 months)
187
 Recuperator Prototypes – 5 and
50 kW
DMLS:
• Expensive and slow to build
• Highly automated
• High pressure drop
• Tested to 5000 psi

Laser Welded Construction:

• Undergoing flow tests
• Exceeded design predictions for
HTC
• Held 2500 psi @ 600°F
190
 TURBOEXPANDER DESIGN
 A novel turboexpander has been designed to meet the
requirements of the sCO2 power with these targets:
• ~14MW shaft power
DGS Face Pressure Distribution from CFD
• >700C inlet temp
• >85% aero efficiency

Multi-stage Axial Turbine

CFD Analysis
10 MW SCO2 Turbine Concept
 Test Loop Design
SwRI B278

Heater
Compressor

sCO2 Pump

Cooler

194
Mechanical Test Configuration
Pipe Section Color
Pump to heater Dark blue
LT heater to recuperator Yellow
Recuperator to HT heater Orange
HT heater to expander Red
Dark
Expander to recuperator
green
Light
Recuperator to existing
green
Existing facility piping White
Existing facility piping
Dark gray
(unused)
Existing piping to pump Light blue
Expander
Air dyno. Silencer

Recuperator

195
DOE sCO2 Test Program
 Research compression loop
• Turbomachinery performance
 Brayton cycle loop
• Different configurations possible
− Recuperation, Recompression, Reheat
• Small-scale proof-of-technology plant
• Small-scale components
− Different than hardware for commercial scale

197
DOE sCO2 Test Program
Turbomachinery

100 mm

Source: Wright (2011)

198
sCO2 Brayton Cycle Test Loop

Source: Wright (2011)

199
sCO2 Brayton Cycle Test Loop

Source: Wright (2011)

200
sCO2 Brayton Cycle Performance
with Regeneration Config.
Maximum Case: Improve with larger scale:
Total Turbine Work, 92 kW • Windage losses
• Thermal losses
• Seal leakage

Source: Conboy et al. (2012)

204
DOE sCO2 Test Program Summary

 Major milestones
• Test loops operational
• Demonstrate process stability/control
 Areas for future development
• Heat exchanger performance
• Larger scale test bed
− Utilize commercial-scale hardware
− Demonstrate more-realistic (better) performance
• CO2 mixtures

205
Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger (PCHE)

sCO2 test loop used by Sandia/ Barber-Nicholls

Heatric PCHE Le Pierres (2011)
206
Heat Exchanger Testing (Bechtel)
 150 kW
 8000 lbm/hr sCO2
 2500 psi

Nehrbauer (2011)
207
Tokyo Institute of Technology (TIT)

(Kato et al., 2007)

208
Corrosion Loop at Tokyo Institute of
Technology

316 SS, 12% Cr alloy, 200-600°C, 10 Mpa CO2, Kato et al. (2007)
212
Other sCO2 Corrosion Test Facilities
 MIT - 650°C, 22 MPa
• Steels
 UW - 650°C, 27 MPa
• Steels Guoping (2009)

 French Alternative Energies and Atomic

Energy Commission - 550°C, 25 MPa
• Steels
 MDO Labs – 54.4°C, 12.4 MPa
• Elastomers, engineering plastics, rubbers,
etc.

213
Geothermal Research
 Explore the feasibility of operating enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) with CO2
as heat transmission fluid
 Collaboration between LBNL (Pruess), UC Berkeley (Glaser), Central Research
Institute of the Electric Power Industry, Japan (Kaieda) and Kyoto University
(Ueda)
• UC Berkeley: laboratory testing of CO2 heat extraction
• Japan: inject brine-CO2 mixtures into Ogachi HDR site (T ≈ 210°C, P ≈ 100 bar)
• LBNL: model reactive chemistry induced by brine-CO2 injection

Schematic of EGS with sCO2 Ogachi, Japan – HDR Site

Pruess (May 19, 2010) Pruess (May 18, 2010)
214
sCO2 Critical Flow (Univ. Wisconsin)

(Anderson, 2009)
215
Future Trends for
sCO2 Power Cycles
Future trends and research needs
Intermediate-scale is needed to demonstrate commercial viability of full-
scale technologies (i.e. 10 Mwe)

Materials
Long term corrosion testing (10,000 hrs)
Corrosion of diffusion-bonded materials (PCHE HX)
Coatings to limit/delay corrosion
Corrosion tests under stress

Heat Exchangers
Improved heat transfer correlations near the critical region for varying geometries
Improve resolution of local heat transfer measurements
Heat exchanger durability – studying effects of material, fabrication, channel geometry,
fouling, corrosion, and maintenance

Rotordynamics
Analysis of rotor-dynamic cross-coupling coefficients for sCO2

Pulsation analysis
Development of transient pipe flow analysis models for sCO2
Future trends and research needs

Control System and Simulation

Detailed models of turbo machinery
Improved transient analysis – surge, shutdown events

Fluid properties
Mixture of sCO2 and other fluids
Physical property testing of CO2 mixtures at extreme conditions with significantly reduced
uncertainties (i.e. < 1%)

10 MW Scale Pilot Plant

Summary
Both supercritical power cycles and the use of
sCO2 are not new concepts

sCO2 is used in a variety of industries as a solvent

sCO2 is desirable for power cycles because of its near-critical fluid

properties

CO2

Supercritical
region

221
sCO2 power cycles can be applied to many heat
sources and have a small footprint
The near ambient critical temperature of CO2 allows it to be matched with a
variety of thermal heat sources

Geothermal
Concentrated
Fossil Fuel
Solar Power

Ship-board
Nuclear Propulsion

The combination of favorable property variation and high fluid density of

sCO2 allows small footprint of machinery
1.50
PR = 1.4 PR = 2.0
Air Air
1.25
S-CO2 S-CO2

1.00

Impeller Dia.
0.75
[m]

0.50

0.25

0.00
0 10000 20000 30000
Shaft Speed [rpm] 222
The near future goal is to improve understanding
and develop commercial-scale power
International sCO2 power cycle research is ongoing
Power production test loops Materials corrosion test facilities

Machinery component test loops Fluid property testing

More research is needed sCO2 power cycle applications

Intermediate scale (10MW) demonstration

Materials testing at high temperature, pressure and stress
Property testing with sCO2 mixtures
Rotordynamics with sCO2
sCO2 heat transfer and heat exchangers
More detailed dynamic simulation and control systems

Questions? 223
How has technology progressed
What’s
Next

[Bowman 2016]
© Southwest Research Institute 2012 224