Modular sCO2 power block integrated into the proposed greenfield Pilot Plant Test Facility.

Project Description

The objectives of this project and for this facility are to demonstrate the operability of the supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO₂) power cycle, verify the performance of components (turbomachinery, recuperators, and compressors, etc.), show the potential for producing a lower cost of electricity in relevant applications, and demonstrate the potential and pathway for a thermodynamic cycle efficiency greater than 50 percent. Ultimately, this project will demonstrate at least a 700°C turbine inlet temperature or higher design point, and produce a recompression closed Brayton cycle (RCBC) configuration that can be used to demonstrate and evaluate system and component design and performance capabilities (including turbomachinery and recuperators in steady state, transient, load following, and limited endurance operation). The facility will also be capable of being reconfigured to accommodate potential future testing of system/cycle upgrades, new cycle configurations, and new or upgraded components in addition to next-generation turbomachinery and heat exchanger technology. The project team is led by Gas Technology Institute (GTI) with two prime subrecipients (Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and General Electric Global Research) plus the University of Wisconsin and Natural Resources Canada’s CanmetEnergy. They will design, construct, commission, and operate a 10-MWe sCO₂ pilot plant test facility located at SwRI’s San Antonio, Texas campus.

Project Benefits

Power cycles based on a sCO₂ working fluid have the potential for higher thermal efficiencies and a lower capital cost when compared to state-of-the-art steam-based power cycles. These potential benefits, combined with the compounding performance benefits from a more efficient cycle on balance of plant requirements, fuel use, emissions, water use and cost-of-electricity (COE), have created broad interest in sCO₂ power cycles. The sCO₂ crosscutting initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Offices of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Fossil Energy, and Nuclear Energy, is a collaborative program with the specific mission to reduce the technical barriers and risks to commercialization of the sCO₂ power cycle. The program is structured around a common goal to establish a 10 MWe scale Supercritical Transformational Electric Power (STEP) facility for evaluating the power cycle and component performance over a range of operating conditions. The Pilot Plant Test Facility will advance the state of the art for high temperature sCO₂ power cycle performance from a current technology readiness level (TRL) of 3, Proof of Concept, to a TRL of 7, System Prototype Validated in an Operational System.

Contact Information