Six selected Phase-II projects have been awarded funding by the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) to further develop technologies for gas turbine components and supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) power cycles. The six winners will receive a total of a $30 million of research funding through the National Energy Technology Laboratory over the next 3.5 years.
The use of carbon dioxide in its supercritical state is an emerging alternative to using steam as the working fluid in a power cycle. Over the past few years, sCO2 power cycles have gained significant interest across multiple power generation applications (renewable, nuclear, and fossil energy). The use of these power cycles are attractive in comparison to steam because the thermophysical properties of sCO2 allow for higher power outputs in a smaller package. This reduced size increases efficiency and potentially reduces the cost of electricity. Two awards have been selected to develop oxy-combustion technology and turbo-expander seals to advance the state of the art for direct and indirect sCO2 power cycles.
The six winning project teams were selected from eleven contenders that participated in Phase I that was recently completed by private sector companies.
Winners include:
Rotating Detonation Combustion for Gas Turbines—Aerojet Rocketdyne (Canoga Park, CA), in partnership with the Southwest Research Institute, Purdue University, the University of Alabama, the University of Michigan, the University of Central Florida, and Duke Energy, will develop and demonstrate an air-breathing rotating detonation engine combustion system for power-generating gas turbines.
Cost—DOE: $3,942,602/ Non-DOE: $2,880,882/ Total Funding: $6,822,484.
Development of Low-Leakage Seals for Utility-Scale sCO2 Turbines—GE Global Research (Schenectady, NY), in partnership with Southwest Research Institute, will develop turbine end seals and inter-stage seals for utility-scale sCO2 power cycles to achieve a field-trial-ready design. The majority of the work will be focused on maturing turbine end seals by testing them in new and existing facilities at increasing pressures, temperatures, and seal sizes in both air and sCO2 environments.
Cost—DOE: $5,973,693/ Non-DOE: $1,493,423/ Total Funding: $7,467,116.
Cooled High-Temperature Ceramic Matrix Composite Nozzles for Gas Turbines for 65% Efficiency—GE Power (Schenectady, NY), working with GE Global Research and Clemson University, will further develop high-temperature ceramic matrix composite turbine nozzles as an innovative component that will contribute to the DOE goal for advanced gas turbines.
Cost—DOE: $5,874,651/ Non-DOE: $2,517,708/ Total Funding: $8,392,359.
Advanced Multi-Tube Mixer Combustion for 65% Efficiency—GE Power (Schenectady, NY), partnering with GE Global Research, will apply an advanced version of GE’s Micro Mixer combustion technology to enable turbine inlet temperatures in excess of 3,100 F while minimizing NOx emissions.
Cost—DOE: $5,928,825/ Non-DOE: $2,540,925/ Total Funding: $8,469,750.
Ceramic Matrix Composite Advanced Transition for 65% Combined-Cycle Efficiency—Siemens Energy (Orlando), working with COI Ceramics and Florida Turbine Technologies will further develop a ceramic matrix composite design for Siemens’ Advanced Transition combustor in support of 65 percent efficient gas turbine combined-cycles.
Cost—DOE: $5,936,856/ Non-DOE: $1,490,964/ Total Funding: $7,427,820.
High-Inlet Temperature Combustor for Direct-Fired Supercritical Oxy-combustion—Southwest Research Institute (San Antonio, TX), in partnership with Thar Energy LLC, GE Global Research, Georgia Tech, and the University of Central Florida, will demonstrate a directly heated sCO2 oxy-combustor for an advanced state-of-the-art fossil-fired sCO2 power cycle.
Cost—DOE: $3,193,544/ Non-DOE: $798,400/ Total Funding: $3,991,944.