Waste heat recovery unit

Rankine cycle

Process engineering

Engineering

Power (physics)

Electricity generation

Waste management

Environmental science

Mechanical engineering

Thermodynamics

Heat exchanger

Brayton cycle

Nuclear engineering

Work (physics)

Waste heat

Thermal power station

Supercritical fluid

Physics

SN Applied Sciences

In the European Industry, 275 TWh of thermal energy is rejected into the environment at temperatures beyond 300 °C. To recover some of this wasted energy, bottoming thermodynamic cycles using supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO 2 ) as working fluid are a promising technology for the conversion of the waste heat into power. CO 2 is a non-flammable and thermally stable compound, and due to its favourable thermo-physical properties in the supercritical state, can lead to high cycle efficiencies and a substantial reduction in size compared to alternative heat to power conversion technologies. In this work, a brief overview of the sCO 2 power cycle technology is presented. The main concepts behind this technology are highlighted, including key technological challenges with the major components such as turbomachinery and heat exchangers. The discussion focuses on heat to power conversion applications and benefits of the experience gained from the design and construction of a 50 kWe sCO 2 test facility at Brunel Unive...

Review of supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) technologies for high-grade waste heat to power conversion