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General Electric Company (GE), in partnership with Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), will develop expander shaft end seals for utility-scale supercritical CO2 (SCO2) power cycles. Phase I includes a conceptual design of a utility-scale end seal capable of meeting the component-level and system-level objectives. GE and SwRI will perform thermodynamic optimization and turbomachinery preliminary design to arrive at a conceptual layout for a utility-scale SCO2 power plant. GE will then develop face seals as a solution to the end shaft sealing needed for SCO2 turbo expanders. Finally, a conceptual design of a dedicated SCO2 facility at SwRI will be developed with sufficient fidelity to enable generation of a detailed Phase II cost and schedule proposal.
The results of this research are intended to enable the DOE transformational goal of $10/metric ton carbon capture by 2035, utilizing indirect coal-fired SCO2 power cycles with thermodynamic cycle efficiencies of 50-52 percent or greater. Additional benefits include reduced water consumption (no evaporator blow-down), reduced power block size (smaller turbomachinery and condenser due to the higher density working fluid), and better thermodynamic integration with post-combustion CO2 capture and compression equipment.