Under the contract, SwRI will demonstrate supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) power cycle using pressurized oxy-combustion process, which uses pure oxygen as the primary oxidant instead of air.
SwRI’s Mechanical Engineering Division program director Dr. Klaus Brun said the new power cycle is expected to improve the overall system efficiency while generating an output stream of sequestration-ready CO2 at pipeline pressures.
"The power cycle leverages developments in pressurized oxy-combustion technology, an SwRI-developed cryogenic CO2 compression scheme and recent developments in supercritical CO2 power cycles," Brun said.
According to Brun, the two key objectives of the $0.7m contract are to achieve 90% CO2 removal without going beyond 35% of increase in the electricity costs; and to attain improved overall plant efficiencies with 90% CO2 capture and 2,200 psi compression.
The one-year contract is one of the eight contracts awarded by the DOE, the company said.
