The use of supercritical CO2 in deep geothermal reservoirs as a working fluid: Insights from coupled THMC modeling

Author(s):  
Quan Gan ◽  
Thibault Candela ◽  
Brecht Wassing ◽  
Laura Wasch ◽  
Jun Liu ◽  
...  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geng Teng ◽  
Laijie Chen ◽  
Xin Shen ◽  
Hua Ouyang ◽  
Yubo Zhu ◽  
...  

Abstract The centrifugal compressor is the core component of the supercritical carbon dioxide (SCO2) power cycle. It is essential to carry out component-level experimental research on it and test the working characteristics of the compressor and its auxiliary equipment. Building an accurate closed-loop simulation model of closed SCO2 compression loop is a necessary preparation for selecting loop key parameters and establishing system control strategy, which is also an important prerequisite for the stable operation of compressor under test parameters. In this paper, the thermodynamic model of compressor, pre-cooler, orifice plate and other components in supercritical CO2 compression test system is studied, and the simulation model of compression test system is established. Moreover, based on the system enthalpy equations and physical property model of real gas, the compressor, pre-cooler and other components in the test loop are preliminarily designed by using the thermodynamic model of components. Since the operating conditions are in the vicinity of the critical point, when the operating conditions change slightly, the physical properties of the working fluid will change significantly, which might have a greater impact on the operating performance of the system. So the operating performance and the parameter changes of key nodes in the test loop under different operating conditions are calculated, which will provide theoretical guidance for the construction of subsequent experimental loops.


2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 2327-2342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zongliang Qiao ◽  
Youfei Tang ◽  
Lei Zhang ◽  
Chunjian Pan ◽  
Carlos E. Romero ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Yongju Jeong ◽  
Seongmin Son ◽  
Seong kuk Cho ◽  
Seungjoon Baik ◽  
Jeong Ik Lee

Abstract Most of the power plants operating nowadays mainly have adopted a steam Rankine cycle or a gas Brayton cycle. To devise a better power conversion cycle, various approaches were taken by researchers and one of the examples is an S-CO2 (supercritical CO2) power cycle. Over the past decades, the S-CO2 power cycle was invented and studied. Eventually the cycle was successful for attracting attentions from a wide range of applications. Basically, an S-CO2 power cycle is a variation of a gas Brayton cycle. In contrast to the fact that an ordinary Brayton cycle operates with a gas phase fluid, the S-CO2 power cycle operates with a supercritical phase fluid, where temperatures and pressures of working fluid are above the critical point. Many advantages of S-CO2 power cycle are rooted from its novel characteristics. Particularly, a compressor in an S-CO2 power cycle operates near the critical point, where the compressibility is greatly reduced. Since the S-CO2 power cycle greatly benefits from the reduced compression work, an S-CO2 compressor prediction under off-design condition has a huge impact on overall cycle performance. When off-design operations of a power cycle are considered, the compressor performance needs to be specified. One of the approaches for a compressor off-design performance evaluation is to use the correction methods based on similitude analysis. However, there are several approaches for deriving the equivalent conditions but none of the approaches has been thoroughly examined for S-CO2 conditions based on data. The purpose of this paper is comparing these correction models to identify the best fitted approach, in order to predict a compressor off-design operation performance more accurately from limited amount of information. Each correction method was applied to two sets of data, SCEIL experiment data and 1D turbomachinery code off-design prediction code generated data, and evaluated in this paper.


Author(s):  
Kevin W. Brinckman ◽  
Ashvin Hosangadi ◽  
Zisen Liu ◽  
Timothy Weathers

Abstract There is increasing interest in supercritical CO2 processes, such as Carbon Capture and Storage, and electric power production, which require compressors to pressurize CO2 above the critical point. For supercritical compressor operation close to the critical point there is a concern that the working fluid could cross into the subcritical regime which could lead to issues with compressor performance if condensation was to occur in regions where the fluid dropped below the saturation point. Presently, the question of whether there is sufficient residence time at subcritical conditions for condensation onset in supercritical CO2 compressors is an unresolved issue. A methodology is presented towards providing a validated simulation capability for predicting condensation in supercritical CO2 compressors. The modeling framework involves the solution of a discrete droplet phase coupled to the continuum gas phase to track droplet nucleation and growth. The model is implemented in the CRUNCH CFD® Computational Fluid Dynamics code that has been extensively validated for simulation at near critical conditions with a real fluid framework for accurate predictions of trans-critical CO2 processes. Results of predictions using classical nucleation theory to model homogeneous nucleation of condensation sites in supersaturated vapor regions are presented. A non-equilibrium phase-change model is applied to predict condensation on the nuclei which grow in a dispersed-phase droplet framework. Model validation is provided against experimental data for condensation of supercritical CO2 in a De Laval nozzle including the Wilson line location. The model is then applied for prediction of condensation in the compressor of the Sandia test loop at mildly supercritical inlet conditions. The results suggest that there is sufficient residence time at the conditions analyzed to form localized nucleation sites, however, droplets are expected to be short lived as the model predicts they will rapidly vaporize.


2018 ◽  
Vol 240 ◽  
pp. 01036
Author(s):  
Marcin Wołowicz ◽  
Jarosław Milewski ◽  
Piotr Lis

The paper aims to compare the models of working fluids against experimental data for carbon dioxide close to its critical conditions. Fortunately, most of the work is already done and published where the authors compared the models based on the equation of the state (EoS). There are a few other models which were not investigated, thus we would like to add a few new results here and focus only on near-critical properties where the biggest deviation between experimental and calculated properties can be observed. The area of interest was pressure range of 7.39 – 20 MPa and temperature range of 304-340 K just above fluid critical point (7.39 MPa, 304.25 K). Model validation was performed for density and heat capacity as one of the most important parameters in preliminary cycle analysis.


2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Laura Soto-Sánchez ◽  
Carlos Rubio-Maya ◽  
Alicia Aguilar Corona ◽  
Oscar Chávez

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from various sources, mainly fossil fuel power plants, is considered responsible of the global warming effect. Many processes and techniques are still under research for CO2 capture and sequestration. On the other hand, it is proposed that the geothermal heat be mined from geothermal reservoirs using captured CO2. In this sense, some theoretical studies show feasibility of using supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) as a heat mining media in such geothermal reservoirs. In this work, it is carried out a set of numerical simulations to determine the most effective distance between injection and production wells for extracting geothermal energy utilizing sCO2 (Water is used for comparison). In the study, the permeability is considered in the range of 0.5 mD to 3.5 mD, with the aim of determining also the critical point in which sCO2 works better than water (H2O) as a working fluid. The remaining properties such as volume, density and other thermal properties remain fixed. Afterwards, it is constructed a numerical model which is implemented in TOUGH2 and PETRASIM 5 software to simulate the cases established. In the model, it is considered a simplified control volume, i.e. only one well for injection and one for production, assuming a constant flow rate at the inlet and at the outlet, meaning that sequestration is not taken into account. A length of 300 meter is defined for reservoir thickness, considering also a pressure and temperature of 100 bar and 200 °C, respectively. The energy mined is estimated for a period of twenty-five years. As typically, the sensitivity analysis is performed by varying only one property and keeping the remaining properties constant, isolating in this way the effect of such variable. Results show that for small permeabilities H2O works better than sCO2, but it is possible to assure that for permeabilities greater than 1 mD, sCO2 presents more advantages as extracting heat media instead of water. Both, H2O and sCO2 show a linear behavior. A deep analysis is necessary to carry out, because results shows that sCO2 works better in an intermediate zone (greater than 200 meter length, but smaller than 800 meter length). An unusual behavior is presented when the distances between the wells are varied; water shows a linear behavior increasing monotonically, while sCO2 shows a nonlinear behavior for some distances sCO2 works better. As expected, the more the distance, the greater the amount of the energy mined due to the volume related with each one of the distances.


Author(s):  
Marcel Strätz ◽  
Jörg Starflinger ◽  
Rainer Mertz ◽  
Michael Seewald ◽  
Sebastian Schuster ◽  
...  

In case of an accident in a nuclear power plant with combined initiating events, (loss of ultimate heat sink and station blackout) additional heat removal system could transfer the decay heat from the core to and diverse ultimate heat sink. On additional heat removal system, which is based upon a Brayton cycle with supercritical CO2 as working fluid, is currently investigated within an EU-funded project, sCO2-HeRo (Supercritical carbon dioxide heat removal system). It shall serve as a self-launching, self-propelling and self-sustaining decay heat removal system to be used in severe accident scenarios. Since a Brayton cycle produces more electric power that it consumes, the excess electric power can be used inside the power plant, e.g. recharging batteries. A small-scale demonstrator will be attached to the PWR glass model at Gesellschaft für Simulatorforschung GfS, Essen, Germany. In order to design and build this small-scale model, cycle calculations are performed to determine the design parameters from which a layout can be derived.


Author(s):  
Braden Twomey ◽  
Andras Nagy ◽  
Hugh Russell ◽  
Andrew Rowlands ◽  
Jason Czapla ◽  
...  

The use of organic refrigerants or supercritical CO2 (sCO2) as a working fluid in closed loop power cycles has the potential to revolutionise power generation. Thermodynamic cycle efficiency can be improved by selecting bespoke working fluids that best suit a given combination of heat source and heat sink temperatures, but thermal efficiency can be maximised by pairing this with a custom made turbine. This work describes the development and design of a new 100kW thermal laboratory-scale test loop at the University of Queensland. The loop has capabilities for characterising both simple and recuperated refrigerant and sCO2 organic Rankine cycles in relation to overall cycle performance and for the experimental characterisation of radial inflow turbines. The aim of this facility is to generate high quality validation data and to gain new insight into overall loop performance, control operation, and loss mechanisms that prevail in all loop components, including radial turbines when operating with supercritical fluids. The paper describes the current test loop and provides details on the available test modes: an organic Rankine cycle mode, a closed loop Brayton cycle mode, and heat exchanger test mode and their respective operating ranges. The bespoke control and data acquisition system has been designed to ensure safe loop operation and shut down and to provide high quality measurement of signals from more than 60 sensors within the loop and test turbine. For each measurement, details of the uncertainty quantification in accordance with ASME standards are provided, ensuring data quality. Data from the commissioning of the facility is provided in this paper. This data confirms controlled operation of the loop and the ability to conduct both cycle characterisation tests and turbomachinery tests.


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