Supercritical CO2 Power Cycle for Solar Applications: Thermodynamic Analysis and 1D Turbomachinery Design

Supercritical CO2 (s-CO2) Brayton cycle is indicated as one of the possible substitutes of the traditional steam cycle, that is currently used to produce the biggest share of electricity. Specifically, one of main candidates is the Brayton recompression cycle, that has been investigated for a wide range of operating conditions. This work is...

Modeling of high temperature volumetric solar receivers with supercritical CO2 and nanoparticles

A new method for capturing solar energy is proposed for a Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant with supercritical CO2 (s-CO2) as a working fluid. The idea is to disperse a low volume fraction of nanoparticles in s-CO2, that functions as a heat transfer fluid in a volumetric solar receiver and as a working fluid in a power cycle. The advantage of...

Models and simulation of non-ideal fluid flows in unconventional turbomachinery: Toward highly efficient next-generation green power systems

The new generation of power plants based on innovative thermodynamic cycles operating with unconventional working fluids, such as CO2 close to its thermodynamic critical point or organic fluids close to their vapour saturation line, is an attractive option for high efficiency conversion of sustainable energy sources in the low and medium power...