Static Converter for High Energy Utilization, Modular, Small Nuclear Power Plants

Author(s):  
Mohamed S. El-Genk ◽  
Jean-Michel P. Tournier

This paper presents and analyzes the performance of high efficiency, high total energy utilization, static converters, which could be used in conjunction with small nuclear reactor plants in remote locations and in undersea applications, requiring little or no maintenance. The converters consist of a top cycle of Alkali Metal Thermal-to-Electric Conversion (AMTEC) units and PbTe thermoelectric (TE) bottom cycle. In addition to converting the reactor thermal power to electricity at 1150 K or less, at a thermodynamic efficiency in the low to mid thirties, the heat rejection from the TE bottom cycle could be used for space heating, industrial processing, or sea water desalination. The results indicated that for space heating applications, where the rejected thermal power from the TE bottom cycle is removed by natural convection of ambient air, a total utilization of the reactor thermal power of > 80% is possible. When operated at 1030 K, potassium AMTEC/TE converters are not only more efficient than the sodium AMTEC/TE converters but produce more electrical power. The present analysis showed that a single converter could be sized to produce up to 100 kWe and 70 kWe, for the Na-AMTEC/TE units when operating at 1150 K and the K-AMTEC/TE units when operating at 1030 K, respectively. Such modularity is an added advantage to the high-energy utilization of the present AMTEC/TE converters.

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1691 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdullah Kaya ◽  
M. Tok ◽  
Muammer Koc

The Emirate of Abu Dhabi heavily relies on seawater desalination for its freshwater needs due to limited available resources. This trend is expected to increase further because of the growing population and economic activity, the rapid decline in limited freshwater reserves, and the aggravating effects of climate change. Seawater desalination in Abu Dhabi is currently done through thermal desalination technologies, such as multi-stage flash (MSF) and multi-effect distillation (MED), coupled with thermal power plants, which is known as co-generation. These thermal desalination methods are together responsible for more than 90% of the desalination capacity in the Emirate. Our analysis indicates that these thermal desalination methods are inefficient regarding energy consumption and harmful to the environment due to CO2 emissions and other dangerous byproducts. The rapid decline in the cost of solar Photovoltaic (PV) systems for energy production and reverse osmosis (RO) technology for desalination makes a combination of these two an ideal option for a sustainable desalination future in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. A levelized cost of water (LCW) study of a solar PV + RO system indicates that Abu Dhabi is well-positioned to utilize this technological combination for cheap and clean desalination in the coming years. Countries in the Sunbelt region with a limited freshwater capacity similar to Abu Dhabi may also consider the proposed system in this study for sustainable desalination.


2021 ◽  
Vol 96 (4) ◽  
pp. 107-112
Author(s):  
YU.S. FILIMONOVA ◽  
◽  
E.G. VELICHKO ◽  

Modification of the composition and structure of heavy concrete with the use of a complex chemical-mineral additive consisting of fly ash from thermal power plants, a superplasticizer, a high-valence hardening accelerator AC and a fine-dispersed clinker component is considered. Modified concrete is characterized by an increase in compressive strength at a brand age by 67%, a decrease in the water content of a concrete mixture by 13.6% and an improvement in its workability by 11-12 cm. With the combined use of a superplasticizer and a high-valence hardening accelerator AC a significant synergistic effect is observed in the format of enhancing their plasticizing effect. The high efficiency of the application of the mixed-dispersed clinker component has been established.


2020 ◽  
Vol 181 ◽  
pp. 03005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Boretti ◽  
Stefania Castelletto ◽  
Wael Al-Kouz ◽  
Jamal Nayfeh

In a recent publication, North European experts argue that “Saudi Arabia can achieve a 100% renewable energy power system by 2040 with a power sector dominated by PV single-axis tracking and battery storage”. They also say “Battery storage contributed up to 30% of the total electricity demand in 2040 and the contribution increases to 48% by 2050”. Based on considerations specific to the geography, climate conditions, and resources of Saudi Arabia, it is explained as batteries and photovoltaic solar panels are not the best choice for the country's energy sector. To cover all the total primary energy supply of Saudi Arabia by solar photovoltaic, plus battery storage to compensate for the sun's energy intermittency, unpredictability, and seasonal variability, is impracticable and inconvenient, for both the economy and the environment. Better environment and economy may be achieved by further valorizing the fossil fuel resources, through the construction of other high-efficiency plants such as the combined cycle gas turbine plants of Qurayyah, development of novel technologies for the production of clean fuels and clean electricity, including oxyfuel combustion and carbon capture and storage. Construction of nuclear power plants may also be more beneficial to the economy and the environment than photovoltaic and batteries. Regarding solar energy, enclosed trough solar thermal power systems developed along the coast have much better perspectives than solar photovoltaic, as embedded thermal energy storage is a better approach than battery storage. Further, a centralized power plant works better than distributed rooftop photovoltaic installations covered by dust and sand, rusted or cracked. Finally, pumped hydro energy storage along the coast may also have better perspectives than battery storage.


2014 ◽  
Vol 488-489 ◽  
pp. 970-974
Author(s):  
Gang Wang ◽  
Jian Zhong Shi

the large-scale application of non-grid-connected wind power in sea water desalination industry has not only solved the difficulty in grid connection of wind power, but also can be an inexhaustible clean energy supply for the sea water desalination. Such application, breaking through the traditional sea water desalination technology and wind power development ideas and realizing the 100% local use of renewable energies, is a perfect combination of the new energy industry and the power consumption industry. The large-scale industrialization application of non-grid-connected wind power sea water desalination can not only maximize the efficiency of wind power and realize the unification of social benefit, environmental benefit and economic benefit, but also is of great strategic significance in accelerating the transformation of the economic development mode of China, and meanwhile, plays a leading role in the diversified development of the world wind power industry. 1. High-energy consumption factors restrict the development of sea water desalination Sea water desalination is a source-opening incremental technology for realizing the utilization of water resources, which can increase the total amount of fresh water and is not limited by time, space and climate with good water quality, and can guarantee the stable water supply of drinking water for coastal residents and industrial water supplementation. Since sea water desalination is the substitutional and incremental technology of fresh water resources, many countries are attaching more and more importance on it. With the rapid development of the economy and society of China, especially with the acceleration of urbanization, some coastal developed areas and large cities near the sea are having a greater and greater demand on water resources. In this condition, the development of sea water desalination has a great strategic significance in the supplementation of water resources in the sustainable development process of these areas[1,2].


Author(s):  
Zhen Xian Lin ◽  
Lin Fu

With the process acceleration of China’s energy conservation and the full development of the market economy, the environmental protection is to coexist with the power plants’ benefits for thermal power plants. Relative to the traditional mode named “determining power by heat”, it is not adequate that the heating demand is only to be met, the maximizations of economy benefits and social benefits are also demanded. At present, several large-scale central heating modes are proposed by domestic and foreign scholars, such as the parallel arrangement and series arrangement of heating system for the traditional heating units and NCB heating units (NCB heating unit is a new condensing-extraction-backpressure steam turbine and used to generate the power and heat, it has the function of extraction heating turbine at constant power, back pressure turbine or extraction and back pressure heating turbine and extraction condensing heating turbine.), and running mode with heating units and absorbed heat pumps, and so on. Compare and analyze their heating efficiency, heating load, heating area, power generation, and the impact on the environment. The best heating mode can be found under the different boundary conditions, it can be used to instruct the further work. The energy utilization efficiency will be further improved.


2013 ◽  
Vol 860-863 ◽  
pp. 656-662
Author(s):  
Yi Lv ◽  
Hui Zhang ◽  
Yu Jin Yue ◽  
Li Jun Yang ◽  
Xiao Dong Zhang

Many power plants adopt air-cooled condensers (ACC) with finned tubes, using ambient air to condense turbine exhaust steam. Each condenser unit is mainly composed of two heat transfer surfaces like A and large diameter axial flow fans driving air. In the study of environmental wind effects, etc, due to the condenser unit size is bigger, it is necessary to simplify the condenser unit internal flow and heat transfer calculation, but the deviations introduced by these simplifies failed to get enough attention. In view of one condenser unit, three kinds of flow and heat tansfer combinated model were respectively investigated. A computational fluid dynamics software (CFD) is used to solve the problem.Research priority is analyzing the deviations of internal flow and heat transfer features in the condenser unit according to the extracted datum. The study gives some useful informatin to the design of a thermal power plant with an ACC system.


Author(s):  
Francesco Fantozzi ◽  
Francesco Di Maria ◽  
Umberto Desideri

Solid waste, and bio-residuals in general, are usually disposed of or alternatively converted into energy by means of medium to big scale power plants. For isolated communities, usually in protected natural areas, this turns into high energy and waste management costs because of their intrinsic distance from landfills and power plants. Considering also the electric dependency from the grid, small towns are commonly showing low sustainability. This paper focuses on both problems by evaluating the economic feasibility and the global warming contribution of an innovative micro scale waste to energy system based on a microturbine fuelled by waste pyrolysis gas. The plant reaches high efficiency, considering the scale, because of its high regenerative rate and is tailored to the waste disposal needs of Giano Dell’Umbria a small town in central Italy. The economic analysis was carried out, with the Net Present Value method, to determine the expected capital cost of the plant considering that the innovative technology utilized does not allow a reliable cost evaluation. The global warming contribution was calculated considering CO2 and CH4 avoided emission from landfilling and the better CO2 emission rate of such a technology with respect to the status quo. Results obtained show an acceptable cost positioning for the plant that makes it an interesting solution for distributed waste to energy systems. Executive projecting and construction of the proposed technology was funded and a pilot plant will be built and tested in 2002, in a laboratory facility of the University of Perugia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-112
Author(s):  
A.V. Shabanov ◽  
◽  
D.V. Kondratiev ◽  
V.K. Vanin ◽  
A.Yu. Dunin ◽  
...  

The most effective method of reducing nitrogen oxides in diesel exhaust gas is selective purifica-tion by the SCR-NH3 method. The method uses ammonia released during thermolysis and hydroly-sis of a urea solution when it is injected through a nozzle into a neutralizer. This method has a rela-tively low efficiency of cleaning the exhaust gas from nitrogen oxides. The main factor hindering the achievement of high efficiency of the NOx neutralization system is the insufficiently high tem-perature during the implementation of this process. The article analyzes various ways to increase the efficiency of the neutralization process and proposes a new method for neutralizing NOx by using urea injection into the cylinders of the inter-nal combustion engine at the expansion stroke in a diesel internal combustion engine. Efficiency can be achieved due to a higher exhaust gas temperature in the cylinder of the internal combustion engine and an increase in the time of the process of thermolysis and hydrolysis of urea. The kinetics of the decomposition of nitrogen oxides, the process of NH3 oxidation, and the cal-culation of temperature conditions in the cylinder of a diesel internal combustion engine at the ex-haust cycle are considered. The experience of neutralization of NOx contained in the flue gases of thermal power plants, where NOx purification takes place at high temperatures without the use of a catalyst, is analyzed. It is shown that the modernization of the SCR-NH3 process, due to the injection of urea at the exhaust stroke in a diesel internal combustion engine, will simplify the existing method of NOx neutralization and at the same time obtain additional advantages for a modern high-speed engine


2021 ◽  
Vol 280 ◽  
pp. 05016
Author(s):  
Waleed K. Al-Nassar ◽  
S. Neelamani ◽  
Teena Sara William

The worldwide environmental concern and awareness created a way towards the generation of pollution-free wind and solar renewable energies. Wind and Photovoltaic (PV) power plants of each 10 MW capacity located in the Shagaya area, west of Kuwait, were compared after one year of operation. The wind power plants recorded high capacity factors resulting in a yearly power production of 42.59 GWh, 21% higher than expected (contractual 31.160 GWh). It will reduce the emission of CO2 throughout the projected lifetime of 25 years by 118,303 tons. CAPEX (capital Expenditure) and OPEX (operation expenditure) were taken into consideration throughout the life of the plants along with investment costs resulting in a levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for wind of 0.015 KWD/kWh or 0.046 USD/kWh, compared to 0.027 KWD/kWh or 0.082 USD/kWh for solar PV (44% lower than PV). Offshore, Boubyan Island, Northern Kuwait territorial waters, were found to be the foremost appropriate for wind energy generation, with Wind Power Density of more than 500 Watt/m2 in summer which is ideal for the high energy demanding season in Kuwait. The LCOE for offshore wind energy was 27.6 fils/kWh, compared to 39.3 fils/kWh for thermal power plants.


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