Research and Development of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Coal-Fired Power Systems

Using supercritical carbon dioxide(S-CO2)Brayton cycle instead of the traditional steam Rankine cycle is a promising technique to enhance the coal-fired power generation efficiency.Researchers from all over the world are actively designing and exploring efficient S-CO2 coal-fired power plants in recent years with great efforts made to overcome the significant technical challenges in the cycle layouts of S-CO2 and its specific thermal integration with coal-fired heat resources.This paper provides a detailed review of the research progress on the coal-fired power generation using S-CO2 Brayton cycles.The basic knowledge of S-CO2 properties,the promising S-CO2 power cycles and the conceptual designs for S-CO2 coal-fired power plants are comprehensively summarized,with some key issues in the constructing process and the corresponding engineering solutions being emphatically discussed.Based on the current achievements,the overall technical and economic evaluations on the S-CO2 coal-fired power system are figured out.Furthermore,the specific integration applications of S-CO2 cycles with different coal firing devices and modes including pulverized coal combustion,circulating fluidized bed combustion,oxy-coal combustion,pressurized fluidized bed combustion,chemical looping combustion are discussed.Finally,the main challenges requiring further studies are highlighted.     

Performance of S-CO_2 Brayton Cycle and Organic Rankine Cycle(ORC) Combined System Considering the Diurnal Distribution of Solar Radiation

This paper researches the performance of a novel supercritical carbon dioxide(S-CO_2) Brayton cycle and organic Rankine cycle(ORC) combined system with a theoretical solar radiation diurnal distribution. The new system supplies all solar energy to a S-CO_2 Brayton cycle heater, where heat releasing from the S-CO_2 cooler is stored in the thermal storage system which is supplied to the ORC. Therefore, solar energy is kept at a high temperature, while at the same time the thermal storage system temperature is low. This paper builds a simple solar radiation diurnal distribution model. The maximum continuous working time, mass of thermal storage material, and parameter variations of the two cycles are simulated with the solar radiation diurnal distribution model. 10 organic fluids and 5 representative thermal storage materials are compared in this paper, with the mass and volume of these materials being shown. The longer the continuous working time is, the lower the system thermal efficiency is. The maximum continuous working time can reach 19.1 hours if the system provides a constant power output. At the same time, the system efficiency can be kept above 38% for most fluids.     

Organic Brayton Cycles with solid sorption thermal compression for low grade heat utilization

While organic Rankine cycles have been widely used for power generation using low grade thermal energy, Brayton cycles have not been considered feasible because the work required to compress the gas nearly compensates the turbine work output. However, if the low grade energy can be used for thermal compression of the working fluid, it may be possible to gainfully operate the Brayton cycle. With this in mind, a solid sorption based Brayton cycle is proposed in this paper. R134a, CO₂, R507a, propane, R32 and R410a with activated carbon as sorbent, were considered in this proof-of-concept study due to the ready availability of adsorption data. Even though the thermal efficiency is low (<8%), the proposed scheme could add an option for distributed power generation using solar or waste heat. It is found that if irreversibilities in turbine and thermal compression are considered R32 gives a better performance than CO₂ and R410a.     

Performance optimisation for two classes of combined regenerative Brayton and inverse Brayton cycles

This paper proposes a new cyclic model of combined regenerative Brayton and inverse Brayton cycles. The new combined regenerative Brayton and inverse Brayton cycles recover heat energy after the working fluid leaves the turbine of the inverse Brayton cycle while the original combined regenerative Brayton and inverse Brayton cycles recover heat energy before the working fluid enters the turbine of the inverse Brayton cycle. Performance analysis and optimisation of the two classes combined cycles are carried out. Furthermore, the effect of the regenerator on the performance of the two combined cycles is analysed. It is found that the new combined cycle can obtain higher thermal efficiency and larger specific work than those of the original combined cycle at low compressor pressure ratio of the top cycle, and the regenerator can improve the performance of both the combined cycles. By theoretical analysis of this paper, it reveals that the new combined cycle will be well applied in the prospect, and the original combined cycle will be suited to low power output equipments. This paper aims at enriching the gas turbine theory and providing a possible way to save energy.     

Energetic and exergetic parametric study of a SOFC-GT hybrid power plant

A parametric study is conducted on a hybrid SOFC-GT cycle as part of a national program aiming to improve the efficiency of the actual gas turbine power plants and to better undertake the future investigations. The proposed power plant is mainly constituted by a Gas Turbine cycle, a SOFC system, and an ammonia water absorption refrigerating system. An external pre-reformer is installed before the SOFC. Heat recovery systems are adopted to valorize the waste heat at the SOFC and GT exhausts. The gas from the SOFC exhaust is also used as additional supply for the combustion chamber. An extraction is performed on the gas Turbine in order to feed the SOFC cycle by thermal heat flux at medium pressure.The equations governing the electrochemical processes, the energy and the exergy balances of the power plant components are established. Numerical simulation using EES software is performed. The influences of key operating parameters, such as humidity, pre-reforming fraction, extraction fraction from the Gas Turbine and fuel utilization on the performances of the SOFC-GT hybrid system are analyzed. Obtained results show that the integration of the SOFC enhances significantly the hybrid overall cycle efficiency. The increase of the ambient temperature and humidity reduces the system efficiencies. The utilization factor has a negative effect on the SOFC temperature and voltage. That leads to a decrease in the power plant performances. While the pre-reforming fraction, has a positive effect on the indicated parameters.     

Thermodynamic analysis of an integrated power generation system driven by solid oxide fuel cell

A new integrated power generation system driven by the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is proposed to improve the conversion efficiency of conventional energy by using a Kalina cycle to recover the waste heat of exhaust from the SOFC-GT. The system using methane as main fuel consists an internal reforming SOFC, an after-burner, a gas turbine, preheaters, compressors and a Kalina cycle. The proposed system is simulated based on the developed mathematical models, and the overall system performance has been evaluated by the first and second law of thermodynamics. Exergy analysis is conducted to indicate the thermodynamic losses in each components. A parametric analysis is also carried out to examine the effects of some key thermodynamic parameters on the system performance. Results indicate that as compressor pressure ratio increases, SOFC electrical efficiency increases and there is an optimal compressor pressure ratio to reach the maximum overall electrical efficiency and exergy efficiency. It is also found that SOFC electrical efficiency, overall electrical efficiency and exergy efficiency can be improved by increasing air flow rate. Also, the largest exergy destruction occurs in the SOFC followed by the after-burner, the waste heat boiler, the gas turbine. The compressor pressure ratio and air flow rate have significant effects on the exergy destruction in some main components of system.     

Exergy analysis of a cogeneration plant using coal gasification and solid oxide fuel cell

This paper presents exergy analysis of a conceptualized combined cogeneration plant that employs pressurized oxygen blown coal gasifier and high‐temperature, high‐pressure solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) in the topping cycle and a bottoming steam cogeneration cycle. Useful heat is supplied by the pass‐out steam from the steam turbine and also by the steam raised separately in an evaporator placed in the heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). Exergy analysis shows that major part of plant exergy destruction takes place in gasifier and SOFC while considerable losses are also attributed to gas cooler, combustion chamber and HRSG. Exergy losses are found to decrease with increasing pressure ratio across the gas turbine for all of these components except the gas cooler. The fuel cell operating temperature influences the performance of the equipment placed downstream of SOFC. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A performance analysis of integrated solid oxide fuel cell and heat recovery steam generator for IGFC system

Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is a promising technology for electricity generation. Sulfur-free syngas from a gas-cleaning unit serves as fuel for SOFC in integrated gasification fuel cell (IGFC) power plants. It converts the chemical energy of fuel gas directly into electric energy, thus high efficiencies can be achieved. The outputs from SOFC can be utilized by heat recovery steam generator (HRSG), which drives the steam turbine for electricity production. The SOFC stack model was developed using the process flow sheet simulator Aspen Plus, which is of the equilibrium type. Various ranges of syngas properties gathered from different literature were used for the simulation. The results indicate a trade-off efficiency and power with respect to a variety of SOFC inputs. The HRSG located after SOFC was included in the current simulation study with various operating parameters. This paper describes IGFC power plants, particularly the optimization of HRSG to improve the efficiency of the heat recovery from the SOFC exhaust gas and to maximize the power production in the steam cycle in the IGFC system. HRSG output from different pressure levels varies depending on the SOFC output. The steam turbine efficiency was calculated for measuring the total power plant output. The aim of this paper is to provide a simulation model for the optimal selection of the operative parameters of HRSG and SOFC for the IGFC system by comparing it with other models. The simulation model should be flexible enough for use in future development and capable of predicting system performance under various operating conditions.     

燃气轮机废热利用的新型动力系统热力学分析

基于能量等级回收和梯级利用的原则,构建了一种燃气轮机废热利用的新型动力系统。该系统主要由燃气轮机布雷顿循环(GTC)、再压缩式超临界CO₂布雷顿循环(S-CO₂)、朗肯循环(RC)、有机朗肯循环(ORC)和有机闪蒸循环(OFC)组成。该动力系统不仅克服了单个子循环热量回收范围窄的局限性,而且通过回热的方式实现了能量的梯级利用,进而提高了系统效率。通过Aspen HYSYS软件对构建的动力系统及各子循环分别进行模拟仿真,进一步研究了工况参数对系统的影响。与现有文献中的数据对比表明,该动力系统中各子循环均得到较好的验证。在相同工况条件下,文献中动力系统净功率为48 592.84 kW,热效率和火用效率分别为42.41%和62.02%,而本研究系统净功率为50 040.46 kW,热效率和火用效率分别达到43.673%和73.593%。因此,该新型动力系统具有较好的能源利用效果。     

太阳能冷热电联供分布式能源系统的研究

以太阳能应用为背景，讨论了能够实现独立建筑冷热电联供的两种分布式能源系统的原理。以太阳能作为唯一热源，用于加热气体工质，进行闭式Brdyton循环发电。其透平释放的余热通过余热制冷方式供冷或通过换热器直接供热．可实现独立建筑的冷热电联供。当把燃料电池系统和该热动力系统组合起来，则可实现白天和夜间连续的独立建筑冷热电联供。该系统不消耗化石能源，无污染，能源利用效率高，具有进一步理论研究的价值和推广应用潜力。     

A performance analysis of integrated solid oxide fuel cell and heat recovery steam generator for IGFC system

Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is a promising technology for electricity generation. Sulfur-free syngas from a gas-cleaning unit serves as fuel for SOFC in integrated gasification fuel cell (IGFC) power plants. It converts the chemical energy of fuel gas directly into electric energy, thus high efficiencies can be achieved. The outputs from SOFC can be utilized by heat recovery steam generator (HRSG), which drives the steam turbine for electricity production. The SOFC stack model was developed using the process flow sheet simulator Aspen Plus, which is of the equilibrium type. Various ranges of syngas properties gathered from different literature were used for the simulation. The results indicate a trade-off efficiency and power with respect to a variety of SOFC inputs. The HRSG located after SOFC was included in the current simulation study with various operating parameters. This paper describes IGFC power plants, particularly the optimization of HRSG to improve the efficiency of the heat recovery from the SOFC exhaust gas and to maximize the power production in the steam cycle in the IGFC system. HRSG output from different pressure levels varies depending on the SOFC output. The steam turbine efficiency was calculated for measuring the total power plant output. The aim of this paper is to provide a simulation model for the optimal selection of the operative parameters of HRSG and SOFC for the IGFC system by comparing it with other models. The simulation model should be flexible enough for use in future development and capable of predicting system performance under various operating conditions.     

A Parametric Study of an Irreversible Closed Intercooled Regenerative Brayton Cycle

Entropy generation minimization technique is used in the analysis of an irreversible closed intercooled regenerative Brayton cycle coupled to variable-temperature heat reservoirs. Mathematical models are developed for dimensionless power and efficiency for a multi-stage Brayton cycle. The dimensionless power and efficiency equations are used to analyze the effects of total pressure ratio, intercooling pressure ratio, thermal capacity rates of the working fluid and heat reservoirs, and the component (regenerator, intercooler, hot- and cold-side heat exchangers) effectiveness. Using detailed numerical examples, the optimal power and efficiency corresponding to variable component effectiveness, compressor and turbine efficiencies, intercooling pressure ratio, total pressure ratio, pressure recovery coefficients, heat reservoir inlet temperature ratio, and the cooling fluid in the intercooler and the cold-side heat reservoir inlet temperature ratio are analyzed.     

Improved thermodynamic and aerodynamic design method and off‐design performance analysis of a radial inflow turbine for ORC system

Radial inflow turbine is one of the crucial components of organic Rankine cycle (ORC) system, which has great impact on the performance of system. R245fa was selected as the working fluid to recycle the waste heat source with a temperature of 350 to 400 K. The genetic algorithm (GA) was employed in thermodynamic design to optimize the 10 key design parameters, which are needed in aerodynamic design of the ORC turbine. Isotropic efficiency was the fitness function of 10 key variables in GA. The three‐dimensional geometry model was built based on the thermodynamic and aerodynamic design and then was imported into the commercial software ANSYS‐CFX to conduct viscous numerical simulation. Based on the three‐dimensional simulation, the off‐design performance in different mass flow rate, static inlet temperature coupled with different rotational speed was investigated respectively. The results show that at design condition, the maximum efficiency deviation is only 2.5% with the rotational speed variations among the range of 10%, so the radial inflow turbine designed in this research possesses great off‐design performance.     

Brayton refrigeration cycle for gas turbine inlet air cooling

In this paper, a new approach to enhance the performance of gas turbines operating in hot climates is investigated. Cooling the intake air at the compressor bell mouth is achieved by an air Brayton refrigerator (reverse Joule Brayton cycle) driven by the gas turbine and uses air as the working fluid. Fraction of the air is extracted from the compressor at an intermediate pressure, cooled and then expands to obtain a cold air stream, which mixes with the ambient intake. Mass and energy balance analysis of the gas turbine and the coupled Brayton refrigerator are performed. Relationships are derived for a simple open gas turbine coupled to Brayton refrigeration cycle, the heat rejected from the cooling cycle can be utilized by an industrial process such as a desalination plant. The performance improvement in terms of power gain ratio (PGR) and thermal efficiency change (TEC) factor is calculated. The results show that for fixed pressure ratio and ambient conditions, power and efficiency improvements are functions of the extraction pressure ratio and the fraction of mass extracted from the air compressor. The performance improvement is calculated for ambient temperature of 45°C and 43.4% relative humidity. The results indicated that the intake temperature could be lowered below the ISO standard with power increase up to 19.58% and appreciable decrease in the thermal efficiency (5.76% of the site value). Additionally, the present approach improved both power gain and thermal efficiency factors if air is extracted at 2 bar which is unlike all other mechanical chilling methods. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Heat Transfer Characteristics of Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger with Supercritical Carbon Dioxide and Molten Salt

Molten salt and supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO_2) are important high temperature heat transfer media,but molten salt/S-CO_2 heat exchanger has been seldom reported.In present paper,heat transfer in printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) with molten salt and S-CO_2 is simulated and analyzed.Since S-CO_2 can be drove along passage wall by strong buoyancy force with large density difference,its heat transfer is enhanced by natural convection.In inlet region,natural convection weakens along flow direction with decreasing Richardson number,and the thermal boundary layer becomes thicker,so local heat transfer coefficient of S-CO_2 significantly decreases.In outlet region,turbulent kinetic energy gradually increases,and then heat transfer coefficient increases for turbulent heat transfer enhancement.Compared with transcritical CO_2 with lower inlet temperature,local heat transfer coefficient of S-CO_2 near inlet is lower for smaller Richardson number,while it will be higher for larger turbulent kinetic energy near outlet.Performance of PCHE is mainly determined by the pressure drop in molten salt passage and the heat transfer resistance in S-CO_2 passage.When molten salt passage width increases,molten salt pressure drop significantly decreases,and overall heat transfer coefficient slightly changes,so the comprehensive performance of PCHE is improved.As a result,PCHE unit with three semicircular passages and one semi-elliptic passage has better performance.     

Performance comparison of three solid oxide fuel cell power systems

An energy analysis of three typical solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) power systems fed by methane is carried out with detailed thermodynamic model. Simple SOFC system, hybrid SOFC‐gas turbine (GT) power system, and SOFC‐GT‐steam turbine (ST) power system are compared. The influences of air ratio and operative pressure on the performance of SOFC power systems are investigated. The net system electric efficiency and cogeneration efficiency of these power systems are given by the calculation model. The results show that internal reforming SOFC power system can achieve an electrical efficiency of more than 49% and a system cogeneration efficiency including waste heat recovery of 77%. For SOFC‐GT system, the electrical efficiency and cogeneration efficiency are 61% and 80%, respectively. Although SOFC‐GT‐ST system is more complicated and has high investment costs, the electrical efficiency of it is close to that of SOFC‐GT system. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

钢铁企业佘热蒸汽利用状况的研究

余热回收和利用是钢铁企业节能减排的重要措施。分析了钢铁企业余热蒸汽回收利用系统的特点,研究表明,做好余热蒸汽的回收和科学利用可以使钢铁企业对一次能源的需求量减少约8％。余热蒸汽利用系统要根据“按质用能,温度对口,梯级利用,热和能尽其利用”的原则进行统一的规划。开发先进的余热蒸汽调控和利用技术,是目前余热蒸汽回收利用的关键,随着钢铁企业余热蒸汽回收量的增加,应该大力发展蒸汽制冷、余热蒸汽发电等技术。     

Novel and optimal integration of SOFC-ICGT hybrid cycle: Energy analysis and entropy generation minimization

Integrating fuel cells with conventional gas turbine based power plant yields higher efficiency, especially solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) with gas turbine (GT). SOFCs are energy efficient devices, performance of which are not limited to Carnot efficiency and considered as most promising candidate for thermal integration with Brayton cycle. In this paper, a novel and optimal thermal integration of SOFC with intercooled-recuperated gas turbine has been presented. A thermodynamic model of a proposed hybrid cycle has been detailed along with a novelty of adoption of blade cooled gas turbine model. On the basis of 1st and 2nd law of thermodynamics, parametric analysis has been carried out, in which impact of turbine inlet temperature and compression ratio has been observed on various output parameters such as hybrid efficiency, hybrid plant specific work, mass of blade coolant requirement and entropy generation rate. For optimizing the system performance, entropy minimization has been carried out, for which a constraint based algorithm has been developed. The result shows that entropy generation of a proposed hybrid cycle first increases and then decreases, as the turbine inlet temperature of the cycle increases. Furthermore, a unique performance map has also been plotted for proposed hybrid cycle, which can be utilized by power plant designer. An optimal efficiency of 74.13% can be achieved at TIT of 1800 K and r_p,c 20.     

Effects of operating and design parameters on the performance of a solid oxide fuel cell–gas turbine system

We present a steady‐state thermodynamic model of a hybrid solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC)–gas turbine (GT) cycle developed using a commercial process simulation software, AspenPlus?. The hybrid cycle model incorporates a zero‐dimensional macro‐level SOFC model. A parametric study was carried out using the developed model to study the effects of system pressure, SOFC operating temperature, turbine inlet temperature, steam‐to‐carbon ratio, SOFC fuel utilization factor, and GT isentropic efficiency on the specific work output and efficiency of a generic hybrid cycle with and without anode recirculation. The results show that system pressure and SOFC operating temperature increase the cycle efficiency regardless of the presence of anode recirculation. On the other hand, the specific work decreases with operating temperature. Overall, the model can successfully capture the complex performance trends observed in hybrid cycles. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parametric optimization design for supercritical CO2 power cycle using genetic algorithm and artificial neural network

Supercritical CO₂ power cycle shows a high potential to recover low-grade waste heat due to its better temperature glide matching between heat source and working fluid in the heat recovery vapor generator (HRVG). Parametric analysis and exergy analysis are conducted to examine the effects of thermodynamic parameters on the cycle performance and exergy destruction in each component. The thermodynamic parameters of the supercritical CO₂ power cycle is optimized with exergy efficiency as an objective function by means of genetic algorithm (GA) under the given waste heat condition. An artificial neural network (ANN) with the multi-layer feed-forward network type and back-propagation training is used to achieve parametric optimization design rapidly. It is shown that the key thermodynamic parameters, such as turbine inlet pressure, turbine inlet temperature and environment temperature have significant effects on the performance of the supercritical CO₂ power cycle and exergy destruction in each component. It is also shown that the optimum thermodynamic parameters of supercritical CO₂ power cycle can be predicted with good accuracy using artificial neural network under variable waste heat conditions.