Techno-Economic Evaluation of the Effect of Impurities on the Performance of Supercritical CO2 Cycles

Abstract

The development of new power generation technologies are necessary to meet growing energy demands and emission requirements. The supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) cycle is one such technology; it has relatively high efficiency, potential to enable 100% carbon capture, and compact components. The S-CO2 cycle is adaptable to almost all of the existing power producing methods including fossil, solar, and nuclear technologies. However, it is known that the best combination of the operating conditions, equipment, working fluid and cycle layout determine the maximum achievable efficiency of a cycle. Impurities in the cycle have some effect on the S-CO2 power cycle as presented in our previous work. The effect of impurities is positive or negative and affects all components. The effect of mixture compositions on the techno-economic evaluation is important information for the global understanding of the effect of mixtures on the S-CO2 power cycle. This paper focuses on the techno-economic evaluation of a hypothetical power plant with the S-CO2 power cycle. Two cases are considered for techno-economic evaluation. The difference between these cases is in the heat source and the associated heat exchanger (PCHE and shell and tube heat exchanger). Cost estimation was performed for three indicators (the levelized cost of electricity, the internal rate of return, and the net present value), which are important for economic viability and the rate of return of the project.