Applied Thermal Engineering 126 (2017) 255–275

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Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

The development technology and applications of supercritical CO2 power

cycle in nuclear energy, solar energy and other energy industries
Ming-Jia Li a,b,⇑, Han-Hui Zhu a, Jia-Qi Guo a, Kun Wang a, Wen-Quan Tao a
a
Key Laboratory of Thermo-Fluid Science and Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Energy & Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710049, China
b
Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA

h i g h l i g h t s

 The advantages and classifications of S-CO2 cycles are presented.

 Applications of cycles especially in nuclear and solar industries are summarized.
 The theoretical and experimental analysis of system and component are investigated.
 The comparison of working fluids and component designs are analyzed.
 The challenges to improve the efficiency of S-CO2 cycle applications are concluded.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The development technology and applications of supercritical CO2 power cycle have recently been gain-
Received 24 May 2017 ing a lot of attention for applications to different energy industries. The advantage of the S-CO2 cycle is
Revised 20 July 2017 high-efficiency within an economic and convenient structure. The stable chemical properties make it
Accepted 24 July 2017
be proper to a range of metal material applications. This study provides a detailed comprehensive study
Available online 25 July 2017
of the recent development trends of the S-CO2 power cycle and the different applications of S-CO2 power
cycle in various energy industries, especially nuclear energy and solar energy. The theoretical analysis,
Keywords:
experimental analysis and the classification of different approaches are summarized for energy sources.
Supercritical CO2 power cycle
Working fluid
The comparison of working fluids, component designs are presented in the article as well. The challenges
Nuclear industry for improving the efficiency of S-CO2 power cycle applications are analyzed. The study will be a beneficial
Solar industry complement to understanding the recent progress.
Technology Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Application

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
2. Development status of S-CO2 power cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
2.1. Fundamental advantages of S-CO2 power cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
2.2. Classification and development of S-CO2 power cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
3. The applications of S-CO2 power cycle in nuclear industry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
3.1. Theoretical analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
3.1.1. The system analysis of S-CO2 power cycle in nuclear reactors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
3.1.2. The component analysis of S-CO2 power cycle in nuclear reactors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
3.2. Experimental analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
3.2.1. The performance test of cycle system analysis in nuclear reactors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
3.2.2. The performance test of key components in nuclear reactors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
3.3. The applications of S-CO2 power cycle in lead-based reactor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
3.4. Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

⇑ Corresponding author at: Key Laboratory of Thermo-Fluid Science and Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Energy & Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong
University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710049, China.
E-mail address: mjli1990@mail.xjtu.edu.cn (M.-J. Li).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.07.173
1359-4311/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
256 M.-J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 126 (2017) 255–275

4. The applications of S-CO2 power cycle in solar industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

4.1. Theoretical analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
4.1.1. The system analysis of S-CO2 power cycle in solar energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
4.1.2. The component analysis of S-CO2 power cycle in solar power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
4.2. Experimental analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
4.3. Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
5. The applications of S-CO2 power cycle in other energy industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
5.1. The application of S-CO2 power cycle in geothermal energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
5.2. The application of S-CO2 power cycle in fuel cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
5.3. The application of S-CO2 power cycle in waste heat utilization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
6. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Acknowledgment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

1. Introduction The objective of the paper is to provide a detail comprehensive

review of different applications of S-CO2 cycle in various energy
The world is transforming from fossil energy to clean energy industries, especially in nuclear reactors and solar energy. More-
during the recent decades. Increasingly, the public, researchers over, the paper will be analyzed from the respect of theoretical
and governments are paying more concern to the improvement analysis and that of experimental analysis in both the integrated
of energy efficiency and utility of different energy industries, espe- system and separate components. The remaining section of the
cially in developing countries. For example, the Chinese govern- paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents the development
ment published an Intended Nationally Determined status of S-CO2 power cycle. To the perspective of nuclear reactors
Contributions (INDC) to the Secretariat of the UN Framework Con- and solar energy industry, the theoretical analysis and experimen-
vention to set the objective of climate change. It presented that the tal analysis of components will be detail analyzed in Sections 3 and
intention of the government is to achieve peak carbon dioxide 4. The optimization methods and performance characteristics anal-
emissions by around 2030 and to decrease the carbon dioxide ysis will be investigated as well. Section 5 provides the applica-
emissions per unit of GDP by 60–65% from the 2005 level, and tions of other energy industries including geothermal energy,
the non-fossil energy consumption possesses 15% of the total fuel cell battery and waste heat utilization. Section 6 concludes
energy consumption [1]. China cannot merely depend on adminis- with findings and prospects.
trative policies and measures, the energy consumption structure
should also be adjusted. It is imperative to adopt the new energy
2. Development status of S-CO2 power cycle
as well as advanced technology, to increase the energy efficiency
[2]. To the respect, nuclear energy, solar energy, wind energy and
The fundamentals of S-CO2 power cycle, comparison and lay-
geothermal energy have been highly concerned.
outs of S-CO2 power cycle are briefly summarized in this section.
Some new energy resources are treated as low-grade heat
sources. Because of the low thermal efficiency, the traditional
power cycle may not achieve the required performance when uti- 2.1. Fundamental advantages of S-CO2 power cycle
lizing low-grade heat [3]. The supercritical CO2 (hereinafter
referred to as S-CO2) has been treated as one of the promising S-CO2 is a state when the temperature and pressure of the CO2
working fluid to provide high efficiency, good stability and safety working fluid exceed the critical point (7.38 MPa, 31 °C). It has
to power systems [4–7]. There are many types of research paying both the high heat capacity, high density, and low compression
attention to the analysis and optimization of S-CO2 power cycle coefficient as same as the liquid and the low viscosity as same as
from the respect of various layouts, theoretical analysis and exper- gas. Moreover, the chemical properties of S-CO2 are safe and
imental analysis. Groll and Kim [8] presented a review comprising non-toxic which is suitable to work as the medium of heat transfer
with the latest research trends in transcritical CO2 cycle technology fluid or cycle work. Therefore, the S-CO2 power cycle has been
and the challenges. Sarkar [9] discussed the performance analysis
and optimization of various S-CO2 Rankine cycle configurations
along with the comparison of different working fluids, prototypes
development, component designs, and challenges. Ahn et al. [10]
introduced the current development progress of the S-CO2 cycle
and presented a comparison of various S-CO2 layouts in terms of
cycle performance. It can be found that only a little reviews about
the S-CO2 cycles have been conducted, and these papers are mainly
focused on the development trend of S-CO2 cycle. There is the defi-
cient paper that concentrating on the application status of S-CO2
cycles in various energy industries such as nuclear energy, solar
energy, geothermal energy, etc. The application of S-CO2 cycles in
the fourth generation nuclear reactor is a research frontier topic
particularly. Therefore, it is necessary to summarize the recent
trends of S-CO2 power cycle, the various applications of S-CO2
power cycle in energy industries and the classification of different
approaches. Moreover, it is essential to propose the further needed
and to point out the specific challenges for improving the efficiency
of S-CO2 power cycle applications. Thus this paper, as a beneficial
complement, is necessary and timely. Fig. 1. The T-S diagram of basic Brayton cycle.
 M.-J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 126 (2017) 255–275 257

promoted as one of the thermal cycle which adopting CO2 as a
working fluid of energy conversion. It is usually operated as the
Brayton cycle including adiabatic compression, isobaric heating,
adiabatic expansion and isobaric cooling. The T-S diagram of basic
Brayton cycle as shown in Fig. 1.
In the past decade, there was a number of studies carried out in
view of analyzing the advantages of S-CO2 cycle compared with the
conventional steam Rankine cycle and the He-Brayton cycle [4].
Five merits are demonstrated in the following part. First, the S-
CO2 power cycle has high energy conversion efficiency. S-CO2 is
nearly incompressible around the critical point, and the compres-
sive work can be reduced when the compressor operating point
setting at the quasi-critical temperature. The S-CO2 power cycle
has equally high-efficiency even under lower temperature when
compared with the efficiency of He Brayton cycle (550 °C vs. 850
°C). Because S-CO2 is an inert gas, and it is compatible with struc-
tural materials, the S-CO2 cycles have the potential to achieve a
higher turbine inlet temperature. Dostal et al. concluded that
higher utilized efficiency compared to steam Rankine cycle can
be potentially implemented by adopting the S-CO2 power cycle
when the turbine inlet temperature exceeds 550 °C [11,12]. Dostal
et al. further presented that the efficiency of S-CO2 power cycle is

Recuperation cycle Intercooling cycle

Reheating cycle Interrecuperation cycle

Precompression cycle Splitexpansion cycle

Fig. 2a. The single flow layouts of S-CO2 power cycle.
258 M.-J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 126 (2017) 255–275
Recompression cycle
Preheating cycle
Turbine split flow 2 cycle
Fig. 2b. The split flow layouts of S-CO2 power cycle.
higher than the efficiency of superheated steam cycle when tur-
bine inlet temperature is larger than 470 °C [13]. Second, the struc-
ture of S-CO2 power cycle is economic and simple equipped. It can
obtain modular construction without the deaerator, sewage equip-
ment and chemical demineralization etc. The simpler machinery
and compact scale of S-CO2 process may also reduce the installa-
tion, maintenance, and operation cost of the system. Third, the
main components and the entire system possessed smaller space.
Because the minimum pressure of S-CO2 power cycle (7400
kPa) is larger than the pressure of steam Rankine cycle (5 kPa)
and the pressure of gas Brayton cycle (100 kPa), the characteristic
of high density and good heat transfer performance have been kept
during the cycle work [14,15]. Therefore, the structure of S-CO2
power cycle is compact, and the overall system size of S-CO2 power
cycle only accounts 25% of conventional steam Rankine cycle [16].
Modified recompression cycle
Turbine split flow 1 cycle
Turbine split flow 3 cycle
Fourth, the competitiveness of the dry air cooled S-CO2 cycle can be
obtained. Due to the low critical temperature (304.13 K) and mod-
erate pressure (7.38 MPa) of CO2, the heat exchange with ambient
condition can be easily obtained in S-CO2 cycle. Turchi et al. stud-
ied the S-CO2 Brayton cycle from the respect of a CSP station, they
found out that system accommodates with dry cooling will obtain
greater than 50% efficiency [17]. The SunShot and the Australian
Solar Thermal Research Initiative (CSRISO) also emphasized that
dry cooling of S-CO2 power cycle can reduce water consumption
while remaining high efficiency [17,18]. Finally, the chemical prop-
erties of S-CO2 are stable, the erosion rate and the air ingress rate of
S-CO2 power cycle are much lower compared with other cycles
[10,19,20]. It is appropriate to a range of metal material
applications.
 M.-J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 126 (2017) 255–275
In summary, the development of S-CO2 cycle takes a significant
effect on energy-saving and plays a positive role in the energy
industry.
2.2. Classification and development of S-CO2 power cycle
A brief classification review of S-CO2 power cycle development
is summarized in this section.
The basic S-CO2 Brayton cycle was first proposed by Sulzer [21]
in 1950. Feher further developed a single regenerative S-CO2 cycle
by equipping a regenerator for improving the efficiency of cycle
work [22]. However, the heat capacity of both sides with regener-
ator in the S-CO2 power cycle is seriously unbalanced that leading
to the temperature ‘‘pinch-point” problem. It will create the large
irreversible loss. In order to overcome the deficiency, Dostal et al.
[12] proposed the recompression S-CO2 cycle for improving the
efficiency. They divided regenerators into the high-temperature
heat exchanger and the low-temperature heat exchanger. The split
flow was approved for compensating the specific heat difference in
both sides for improving cycle efficiency. Kato et al. [23] presented
a new cycle mode called direct partial cooling S-CO2 cycle. The
intermediate compression process was developed to reduce the
heat taken away from the cooling water to achieve the purpose
of improving the efficiency of the cycle. Nowadays, there are vari-
ous complex S-CO2 cycles have been applied to different studies.
For example, the regeneration S-CO2 cycle and intercooled regen-
erative cycle are encouraged to be applied to improve cycle effi-
ciency, such as Turchi [17], Moisseytsev and Sienicki [24], Sarkar
and Bhattacharyya [25] and Yasuyoshi [26] etc. Ahn et al. [16]
summarized the classification of advanced S-CO2 cycle layouts as
shown in Fig. 2. They can be categorized into single flow layouts
and split flow layouts. The Single flow layouts are composed of
intercooling, interrecuperation reheating, and precompression.
The split flow layouts include recompression, modified compres-
sion, partial cooling and preheating.
Fig. 3. The applications of S-CO2 cycle in different industries.
259
Because of the above advantages, with the developing technol-
ogy of turbines and heat exchangers, the studies of S-CO2 power
cycle applications have been widely explored worldwide. The main
application areas of S-CO2 cycle are shown in Fig. 3, such as nuclear
power, solar power and geothermal power etc. The theoretical and
experimental analysis in components, optimization, performance
characteristics in nuclear reactors and solar energy will be detail
analyzed in the following sections.
3. The applications of S-CO2 power cycle in nuclear industry
In the 1960s, many studies began to develop a number of
researches on the applications of S-CO2 power cycle [22], which
were mainly adopted for space power generation and ship indus-
try. The thermal efficiencies of various power conversion systems
are demonstrated in Fig. 4 [16], which is composed of organic
Rankine cycle (ORC), air Brayton cycle, steam Rankine cycle, com-
bined cycle gas turbine, and S-CO2 direct and indirect cycle. It can
be found that the S-CO2 cycle maintains a high efficiency over a
range of temperature. It should be a very promising mode of cycle.
Moreover, nuclear power is an economical, reliable and environ-
mental friendly high-density energy power. It has been adopted
as the alternative energy sources to fossil fuels for the protection
of future energy demand and improving the level of environmental
protection. Therefore, the S-CO2 power cycle is much appropriately
adopted in the traditional pressurized water reactors [27,28],
fourth generation nuclear reactors [29], small and medium sized
reactors (eg. system-integrated modular advanced reactor
(SMART)) and nuclear fusion reactors [30,31].
The technology and studies of S-CO2 Brayton cycle in nuclear
reactor system have been developed by many countries, such as
United States, Japan, China and South Korea. The systematic
research of basic theoretical analysis and experimental demonstra-
tion of thermodynamics are proposed in the following parts.
260 M.-J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 126 (2017) 255–275
Fig. 4. Thermal efficiencies of various power conversion systems [16].
3.1. Theoretical analysis
This section will be divided into the system of S-CO2 power
cycle system and key components in nuclear reactors. The theoret-
ical analysis, simulation and optimization research of S-CO2 system
and key components will be detail analyzed.
3.1.1. The system analysis of S-CO2 power cycle in nuclear reactors
The research works of cycle system are mainly focused on the
following four topics: the analysis and optimization of thermody-
namic performance of S-CO2 power cycle in nuclear reactors, the
performance comparison of different forms of S-CO2 power cycle
in nuclear reactors, the improvement of thermodynamic properties
of S-CO2 power cycle in nuclear reactors and the safety analysis
and economic analysis of S-CO2 power cycle in nuclear reactors.
3.1.1.1. Analysis and optimization of thermodynamic performance of
S-CO2 power cycle in nuclear reactors. In the respect of S-CO2 cycle
thermal performance analysis, the thermodynamic principles are
usually adopted. Sarkar [32] employed the energetic and exegetic
analyses to optimize the effect of various operating and design
parameters on the cycle performance and component irreversibil-
ity of S-CO2 recompression cycle. The author further proved that
the irreversibility of heat exchangers has strong influence com-
pared to that of turbo-machineries. Cardemil and da Silva [33]
investigated the thermal performance of power cycles using CO2
as the working fluid. They analyzed different aspects that can affect
the cycle efficiency, such as the type of cycle, configuration (i.e.,
with and without a recuperator), different operational heat source
temperature etc. Mink et al. [34] framed the helium-based modular
of 120 MW nuclear reactor power cycle, and compared the thermal
performance by changing the working fluid to S-CO2. Moreover,
they made a benchmarking comparison of economic analysis. They
found out that the helium is more recommended as the working
fluid for a nuclear reactor power cycle of this magnitude. Hu
et al. investigated the systematic thermodynamic analysis and
optimization of the recompressed S-CO2 cycle. They pointed out
that the efficiency of S-CO2 Brayton cycle for the core outlet tem-
perature of 650 °C is 44.9% [35].
In the respect of integrated analysis for the S-CO2 power cycle
and nuclear reactors, Dostal et al. [12] presented the early study.
A systematic feasibility analysis of detailed major component has
been performed. It was adopted to apply the S-CO2 Brayton power
cycles on the fourth nuclear reactors. The result demonstrated that
the efficiency of S-CO2 Brayton cycle can be higher than 50% com-
prising the one stage of recompression and two-stage recuperation
when the heat source is 650 °C and the pressure ratio is higher
than 3. Hejzlar et al. proved that the S-CO2 power cycle is being
considered as a favorable candidate for the power conversion sys-
tem of Ⅳ nuclear fission reactor [36]. The Argonne National Labo-
ratory (ANL) [37,38] built a 250 MW/95 MW sodium cooled fast
reactor comprising the S-CO2 power cycle. The Na/CO2 intermedi-
ate heat exchanger was being adopted to replace the water vapor
generator. The components and parameters of cycle were opti-
mized with the minimum unit cost of electricity, and the trade-
off relationship between the efficiency of S-CO2 power cycle and
cost of heat exchanger had been analyzed [37]. Ha et al. developed
a new core model which is called KALIMER-600 TRU burner core. It
is transferred from the U core to the TRU core [39]. Mohammadi
et al. [40] estimated and compared the size of core vessel for S-
CO2 cooled core and helium cooled core as well as thermal effi-
ciency of S-CO2 power cycle. Moreover, the coolant void reactivity
and Doppler coefficient of two different coolant types is calculated.
They presented that the mass for S-CO2 cooled core is about 18.1%
more than helium cooled core, and the thickness of S-CO2 cooled
system is about 17.8% more than helium cooled system. However,
the investment costs of S-CO2 cooled core is about 7% lower than
helium cooled system because of the compact structure. Middleton
et al. [41] conducted a thermodynamic analysis of the recompres-
sion S-CO2 power cycle generation systems for high-temperature
gas-cooled reactors. They further analyzed the performance of
the power cycle under dry cooling conditions.
Nuclear power systems usually follow the economies of scale
theory for the better competitiveness, which is as larger a power
generation system as possible. With the increasing needs of dis-
tributed generation systems, more studies begin to investigate
the small modular reactors (SMRs) for the development of reliable
energy power [5]. The study of an integration of S-CO2 power cycle
and the SMRs has been increasingly focused because of the com-
pact structure.
Many studies investigated the thermodynamic performance
analysis and optimization of S-CO2 cycle applications in the SMRs.
 M.-J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 126 (2017) 255–275
Fig. 5. The comparison of different cycle efficiency and net power [46].
Pham et al. [42] employed an exergy analysis and thermodynamic
analysis of two typical nuclear applications including the SMR and
a current generation pressurized water reactor. They presented
that the reheated recompression cycle provides the thermal effi-
ciency of 29.3% while operation in condensing mode increases
the efficiency to 28.6%. Yoon et al. adopted a 300 MWh SMART
developed by Korea Atomic Energy Institute (KAERI) as an experi-
mental objective for applying the S-CO2 Brayton cycle [27]. They
obtained that the maximum efficiency is 30.05% under 310 °C at
22 MPa of the compressor outlet pressure. Ahn and Lee [5] com-
pared the thermodynamic properties of different alternative cycles
with steam Rankin cycle including closed Brayton cycle, S-
CO2 cycle, helium cycle and nitrogen cycle respectively. Some
new layouts were recommended for each fluid while considering
the turbomachinery design and the total volume. A 20 MWh reac-
tor was employed by Bae et al. to analyze how helium Brayton
cycle performance can be influenced by the component level per-
formance. They further investigate the relations between the opti-
mal operating condition and the system size [43]. It has been
proved that the S-CO2 cycle is suitable as a power conversion sys-
tem for small-scale high-temperature gas-cooled reactors.
3.1.1.2. Performance comparison of different forms of S-CO2 power
cycle in nuclear reactors. It is necessary to adopt the most proper
cycle layout for different types of reactors depending on its prop-
erty. Therefore, scholars developed the amount of S-CO2 cycle per-
formance comparison.
Moisseytsev and Sienicki [24] investigated alternative layouts
for S-CO2 Brayton cycle power conversion for a sodium-cooled fast
reactor (SFR). Furthermore, the integration of each S-CO2 cycle lay-
out and Na-to-CO2 reheating heat exchanger have been compared
separately. It has been proved that slight gains in efficiency (0.3%)
of recompression cycle could be achieved by increasing the pres-
sure to 22 MPa. Kulhánek and Dostál [44,45] presented a compar-
ative thermal efficiency analysis of precompression cycle, simple
Brayton cycle and partial cooling cycle in nuclear reactors as well
as the sensitivity analysis of cycle response to a pressure ratio devi-
ation. They found out that the alternative power cycle options
achieved higher efficiency than the simple Brayton cycle. The pre-
compression cycle will achieve equivalent efficiency as the recom-
261
pression cycle when turbine inlet temperature is above 700 °C. The
comparative exergy analysis of supercritical recompression CO2 -
cycle and supercritical Rankine cycle of the SFR were proposed
by Pérez-Piche et al. [46]. The numerical result has been obtained
in Fig. 5 [46]. Santini et al. [47] employed the S-CO2 cycle for poten-
tial application in Mochovce nuclear power station under construc-
tion in the Slovak Republic. The result demonstrated that S-CO2
cycles are appropriated to be equipped with the medium to a
high-temperature range only (higher than about 450 °C). The
investment costs and construction period will also be reduced.
3.1.1.3. Improvement of thermodynamic properties of S-CO2 power
cycle in nuclear reactors. In respect of thermodynamic properties of
S-CO2 power cycle, many studies focus on the following three
issues in the recent decade. First, to improve the performance of
key components of the cycle. Second, to build a new type of S-
CO2 combined cycle. Third, to improve the physical properties of
the critical point in S-CO2 power cycle. The three subjects are
detailed analyzed as follows.
To increase the thermodynamic performance of key components of
the cycle. Nikitin et al. [48] investigated the heat transfer and pres-
sure drop characteristics of the printed circuit heat exchanger
(PCHE) with the S-CO2 experimentally. The numerical result of
heat transfer coefficient is from 300 W m 2 K 1 to 650 W m 2 K 1,
and the maximum power density is around 4.4 MW m 3. It has
been proved that the PCHE is an appropriate compact heat exchan-
ger for the S-CO2 power cycle. A qualitative analysis was performed
by Pidaparti et al. [49] to analyze the performance of adopting
counter flow induced draft cooling tower to reject heat for the S-
CO2 power cycle in the advanced fast reactor (AFR)-100 plant
and the advanced burner reactor (ABR)-1000 plant. They further
compared different cooling options and evaluated the size, power
consumption and water consumption of the cooling towers. The
result indicated that the cooling tower option is a competitive
and economical option compared to the dry air cooling or direct
water cooling options. Heo et al. [50] replaced the ordinary com-
pressor of S-CO2 cycle with an isothermal compressor, and it has
been adopted in the SMRs to reduce the compression work and
the system scale.
262 M.-J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 126 (2017) 255–275
In the perspective of framing a new type of S-CO2 combined cycle.
The bottom cycle was employed by many studies for utilizing the
waste heat of S-CO2 cycle to improve the thermal efficiency of
cycle. The types of layout mainly include the ORC cycle and the
transcritical CO2 (T-CO2) cycle. In order to improve the perfor-
mance of the S-CO2 cycle in the nuclear power plant, Zare et al.
[51] adopted the T-CO2 cycle as the bottom cycle to utilize the dis-
charged heat from the cooler in the S-CO2 cycle. The irreversible
analysis of the S-CO2/T-CO2 combined cycle was performed, and
the result indicated that the thermal efficiency and the exergy effi-
ciency of such a combined cycle are improved by are 5.5% and 26%
when compared with those of the simple S-CO2 cycle, respectively.
Akbari and Mahmoudi [52] investigated thermodynamic analysis
and thermo-economic analysis of a new combined system compos-
ing the S-CO2 recompression Brayton cycle (SCRBC) and the ORC.
Eight different working fluids for the cycles were compared includ-
ing isobutane, isopentane, and n-Butane, n-Pentane, R123, and
R114, R141b and RC318. The related studies includes Xi et al.
[53,54]. The empirical result presented that the exergy efficiency
of a new joint system is higher than that of the SCRBC by up to
11.7%, and the unit cost of the joint system is lower than that of
the SCRBC by up to 5.7%. Mahmoudi et al. [55] proposed a new
combined cycle either. It is composed of the SCRBC and the Kalina
cycle. The numerical result indicated that the exergy efficiency of a
new combined system is higher than that of the SCRBC by up to
10%, and the unit cost of the combined system is lower than that
of the SCRBC by up to 4.9%. The similar studies include Li et al.
[56] and Bae et al. [57] Wang et al. [58,59] analyzed the feasibility
of a combined cycle composing a topping S-CO2 cycle and a bot-
toming T-CO2 cycle. Thermodynamic analysis and optimization
were proposed for the maximum overall thermal efficiency and
lower capital costs.
To improve the physical properties of the critical point in S-CO2
power cycle. In order to take advantage of the low compression effi-
ciency, the inlet condition of compressor has to be controlled
around the CO2 critical point. Importing other gases has been con-
sidered as a feasible method for changing the properties of S-CO2
power cycle, and the variation of changes is depended upon the
type and composition of the mixing gases. Jeong et al. [29] adopted
several gases as candidates of mixture working fluids in the S-CO2
Brayton cycle, which is CO2 mixed with H2, N2, O2, He, Ar, Kr, and
Xe. The experimental result of CO2–He binary mixture presented
that this is the best mixture. It is expected to improve the cycle
efficiency by 1.73% while the inlet temperature of cooling water
is decreased. The similar studies include Hu et al. [60] and Cho
et al. [61].
3.1.1.4. Safety analysis and economic analysis of S-CO2 power cycle in
nuclear reactors. Besides enhancing the thermodynamic perfor-
mance of S-CO2 power cycle in nuclear reactors. Economic analysis,
thermoeconomic analysis and safety analysis are presented as
follows.
Economic analysis. Dostal et al. [12,13] and Schulenberg et al.
[62] demonstrated that the employment of S-CO2 cycle can save
30% of total cost comparing to the utility of steam Rankine cycle.
Hejzlar et al. [63] presented that the two stage reheat systems
are not economic for the system, and the reheat cycle is more eco-
nomic by considering the integration of gas cooled fast reactor and
an indirect cycle.
Thermoeconomic analysis. In recent years, many scholars con-
ducted a thermal economic analysis of the S-CO2 cycle. Zare et al.
[51] adopted thermoeconomic models to analyze exergy perfor-
mance. An optimized study was further carried out to minimize
the unit cost of the cycle products. The result presented that the
unit cost of the cycle products obtained through the optimization
method is less than by around 18.6% and 25.9% compared to the
original case. Benjelloun et al. [64] investigated the thermody-
namic property analysis and economic analysis of the S-CO2 cycles
(direct and indirect) in the fourth generation of nuclear reactors.
Safety analysis. Studies of safety analysis mainly concerned SFRs,
such as Sagayama et al. [65], and Saez et al. [66]. The safety evalu-
ation of sodium water reaction has been one of the most significant
problems because the steam Rankine cycle is the merely proper
option of SFR. It has been proposed to substitute a steam Rankine
cycle for an SFR power conversion to a S-CO2 Brayton cycle [67],
in order to minimize the influence of sodium water reaction on
reactor core. Eoh et al. [68] provided an experimental test on the
condition of fundamental surface reaction, such as sodium temper-
ature, system pressure, and CO2 flow rate with a fixed reacting sur-
face area. The sodium temperature of experiment was from 200 °C
to 600 °C. The result represented that the reaction kinetics over the
sodium temperature range of 300–550 °C is heavily correlated to
the temperature, but it is not sensitive to the velocity of CO2 flow-
ing over the gas–liquid reacting interface [68]. Jung et al. [6] fur-
ther proposed a method to remove the solid reaction products
generated from Na–CO2 interaction including sodium carbonate
(Na2CO3) and carbon monoxide (CO). Three candidate substances,
including sodium bromate (NaBrO3), sodium chlorate (NaClO3),
and sodium tetrafluoroborate (NaBF4), were adopted to convert
byproducts into liquid products for the further filtration.
On the other hand, the safety of S-CO2 cycle power generation
system in SFRs is depended on the dynamic performance and
response characteristics of the system under the accident or non-
design conditions. Therefore, the dynamic performance and control
strategies of CO2 cycle power generation systems have been stud-
ied. Moisseytsev and Sienicki [69] analyzed the dynamic perfor-
mance of 400 MWe S-CO2 cycle power generation system for the
SFR, and studied the effect of the cycle load reduction on the reac-
tion of reactors. Three control strategies of systems were proposed
as below [70]. First, to remain the unchanged secondary circuit
flow and the unchanged inlet temperature of the intermediate heat
exchanger by moving the control rod and changing the speed of the
sodium pump in the secondary and secondary circuits. The chan-
ged output temperature of intermediate heat transfer is varied
with the output power, and the performance of S-CO2 cycle will
be altered. Second, to adjust automatically the core output power
and the flow rate of the primary and secondary sodium loops based
on the signal of metal fuel core reaction intensity. Let it merely be
changed with the heating condition of the S-CO2 cycle. Finally, to
control the power of reactor and flow of reactor by the primary
and secondary sodium pump torque. The core output power and
pump torque need to be changed synchronously on the basis of
the demanding side of the electrical power grid, therefore the load
demand can be matched instantly. Floyd et al. [7] studied the
dynamic performance and response characteristics of the S-CO2
recompression cycle for the SFR with the fluctuation of cooling
temperature. They further set the heating power of the intermedi-
ate heat exchanger and the sodium outlet temperature to be stabi-
lized at the design value by controlling the rotational speed of
main compressors. Ahn et al. [71] designed the application of the
S-CO2 recompression cycle in the SFR, and analyzed the dynamic
performance of S-CO2 cycle with the partial load by using the
quasi-static system analysis program. The regulating effects with
partial load were compared by adopting the inventory control, tur-
bine bypass control and valve control separately. The results
showed that inventory control was most effective, but the main
compressor surge margin would drop sharply when the load was
less than 50%.
3.1.1.5. Applications of S-CO2 power cycle in fusion reactors. Many
scholars paid attention to the fusion energy, which is one of the
effective methods to solve the energy shortage issue. It has the
 M.-J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 126 (2017) 255–275
property of safety, well-controlled and friendly environment. The
deuterium and lithium can be obtained in the long-term. Medrano
et al. [72] performed an investigation of different advanced cycles
in the helium-cooled lithium lead (HCLL) reactor to get an
improvement on the thermodynamic efficiency, and the S-CO2
power cycle has been proved to be the best alternative cycle in
the reactor. Ishiyama et al. [73] compared the characteristics of
cycle efficiency (the steam turbine, helium turbine and CO2 turbine
cycles) that applied in the HCLL reactor. The result indicated that
the efficiency of S-CO2 power cycle is maximum when the divertor
heat source is included. Linares et al. [74,75] presented that the
thermal efficiency of the S-CO2 cycle is higher than that of He Bray-
ton cycle after comparing the performance of the He Brayton cycle,
the basic S-CO2 cycle, and the recompression of the S-CO2 cycle in
the fusion reactor. Halimi and Suh [76] developed the Optimized
Supercritical Cycle Analysis (OSCA) code to apply the S-CO2 Bray-
ton cycle as part of the Modular Optimal Balance Integral System
(MOBIS) in order to get the optimal condition for power conversion
system operation for the HCLL reactor. There are some similar
studies such as Batet et al. [77], Davis et al. [78] and Valls et al. [79].
One of the vital technological issues of fusion reactor technol-
ogy is how to take away the nuclear fusion energy by the heat
transfer fluid effectively. Serrano et al. [80] presented a new layout
of the classical recompression S-CO2 cycle for achieving high tur-
bine inlet temperatures of 600 °C, pressures of 225 bar and high
efficiency of 46.5%. The new layout replaced one of recuperators
by the low-temperature blanket source. Linares et al. [74,75] con-
ducted a detailed exploratory analysis of the commercial applica-
tion and technical feasibility of S-CO2 cycle in the HCLL fusion
reactors. They proposed various layouts based on the cladding,
divertor and vacuum chamber, and optimized parameters to obtain
the most appropriate relations between power generation and the
size of heat exchangers. Linares et al. [75] further investigated the
exergy analysis in the heating and cooling circuits as well as con-
sidered the integration of system control and regenerative system.
3.1.2. The component analysis of S-CO2 power cycle in nuclear reactors
The thermodynamic performance and economic property are
mainly determined by the property of components, such as tur-
bines, heat exchangers, reactors etc. Therefore, various methodolo-
gies are carried out by scholars. The various investigations of
components are detail presented as follows.
3.1.2.1. Turbo-machinery. Turbo-machinery includes compressors
and turbines. Recent studies paid attention to the turbo compres-
sors and turbines because turbo compressors are appropriate for
all S-CO2 cycle systems in the range of 300 MW. In the S-CO2 Bray-
ton cycle, compressor power consumption has a significant impact
Fig. 6. The prototype of compressor designed by the Sandia National Laboratory [83].
263
on the efficiency of the overall cycle system. The characteristics of
low compressibility factor near the critical point can reduce power
consumption and increase the efficiency of cycle effectively. How-
ever, the typical formulas of the ideal gas are no longer applicable
because physical properties of CO2 are sensitive to changes in tem-
perature and changes of pressure near the critical point. The design
of S-CO2 turbine machinery and optimization of performance anal-
ysis are required because the evaluations of the enthalpy and the
changes of pressure should depend on the real gas properties.
Wang et al. [81] designed a two-stage axial-flow compressor by
adopting the AXIAL module of NREC Company and the code of ideal
gas compressor in National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA). They simulated the changes of S-CO2 property by employ-
ing the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) data-
base. Muto et al. [82] and Wright et al. [83] designed a small-sized
centrifugal compressor by framing a module method for the S-CO2
compressor test. The physical property of CO2 was obtained by the
PROPATH software program. Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) out-
lined the design of a small-scale loop, the major components and
compressor prototype (as shown in Fig. 6 [83]). The result indi-
cated that the prototype compressor presents a stable and control-
lable operation near the critical point, which is a 1 MW heater-
class split flow recompression Brayton cycle that will be capable
of generating up to 250 kWe. Dyreby [84] optimized the parame-
ters based on the experimental data of compressor from the SNL.
The fluctuation of physical property of S-CO2 near the critical
point also affects the performance and stability of S-CO2 compres-
sor. Munroe et al. [85] analyzed the S-CO2 shrouded single stage
centrifugal compressors by performing the computational fluid
dynamics (CFD) analysis. The reasonable distribution of pressure
and that of temperature were obtained. Baltadjiev et al. [86] found
that the local flow acceleration around the impeller leading edge
causes the condensation of CO2 in the compressor, and therefore
impacts the stability of the compressor. They also established a
nondimensional criterion to determine whether CO2 condensation
occurs. Moreover, in the vicinity of the critical point, the real gas
effects on the performance and matching of S-CO2 compressor
were studied and assessed [86]. Approaching the critical point,
the results showed that the variation of isentropic exponents can
impact the matching of downstream components.
In the respect of S-CO2 turbine, the difficulty of technology is
lower compared with that of compressors. Research mainly
focused on the concept design of S-CO2 turbine. Cha et al. [87]
planned a 4-stage axial turbine with a rotational speed of 3600 r/
min for the improvement of S-CO2 axial-flow turbine. It indicated
the designed parameters of turbines, including the inlet pressure
of 20 MPa, the inlet temperature of 823 K, and the outlet pressure
of 7.4 MPa. The diagram is as shown in Fig. 7 [87]. Lee et al. [88]
264 M.-J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 126 (2017) 255–275
Fig. 7. The three dimensional shape of the designed S-CO2 turbine [87].
proposed a concept design of dynamic components in the S-CO2
power cycle system. They developed the turbo design program
based on the physical property of gas and conducted the design
of S-CO2 axial turbines and radial turbines. Zhang et al. [89] made
a design of SCO2 turbine and rotational speeds when the required
power outputs are 15 MW (axial) and 1.5 MW (radial). They fur-
ther adopted the CFD method to analyze the flow characteristics
of S-CO2 turbine components. The strength of the components is
calculated and the stress distribution of the turbine parts is
analyzed.
In a short summary, S-CO2 turbine machinery is a developing
field, recent studies mainly focused on the concept design of com-
ponents. It is necessary to analyze more scientific issues, such as
the law of the physical properties of S-CO2 in the components
and the internal flow mechanism.
3.1.2.2. Heat exchanger. The heat exchangers of S-CO2 cycle in
nuclear reactors are composed of intermediate heat exchangers,
recuperators, and coolers. Among them, intermediate heat
exchangers and recuperators are concerned by major studies as
follows.
It is the challenge of intermediate heat exchangers to achieve
the large flow of S-CO2 with the uniform heating and obtain the
pressure loss within the allowable range. Nowadays research paid
attention to the optimization of intermediate heat exchanger and
the physical property of S-CO2 including flow and heat transfer.
Kim et al. [90], Kim et al. [91], and Ngo et al. [92]. Gezelius [93]
compared the printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) and the
shell-and-tube heat exchanger with the same volume and average
temperature difference. The result indicated that the power den-
sity of the PCHE is 58–98 MW/m3, and that of a shell-and-tube heat
exchanger is 6.2 MW/m3. Lee et al. investigated the structural
integrity of PCHE in the SFR. The stress field of typical PCHE flow
channel was simulated by the ANSYS-Mechanical program and
the temperature field was simulated by the Fluent. The result pre-
sented that mechanical stress was mainly caused by the pressure
loaded, and the plasticity of the stainless steel SS316 could reduce
the local stress concentration of the channels in the PCHE. Zhang
[94] developed an intermediate PCHE with a novel surface struc-
ture to evaluate its thermodynamic and mechanical properties.
The author further adopted the thermal-economic optimization
for reducing low total costs and improving heat transfer efficiency.
Fernández and Sedano [95] designed a new lead-lithium/S-CO2
intermediate PCHE for the DCLL fusion reactor and investigated
the permeation behaviors of fluid. The result indicated that the
permeation would not happen when silicon carbide was adopted.
In the respect of recuperators, the numerical simulation of
hydraulic characteristics of S-CO2 PCHE recuperators is concerned
 M.-J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 126 (2017) 255–275 265

Fig. 8. The 100 kW S-CO2 power cycle system experiment platform [100].

Fig. 9. The basic S-CO2 Brayton cycle established by the SNL [104].

by many studies because the efficiency and volume of the entire
reactor system are mainly depended on the thermal hydraulic per-
formance. Nikitin et al. [48] analyzed the thermal hydraulic perfor-
mance by simulating the ‘‘zigzag” PCHE of S-CO2 experimental
loop. Kim et al. [96] analyzed the PCHE with longitudinally corru-
gated flow paths. Xu et al. [97] optimized the fin structure and
arrangement of the PCHE for reducing flow resistance.
3.1.2.3. Cooling reactor. The S-CO2 cooling reactor is primarily
developed in U.S. and Japan. Parma et al. [98] performed a prelim-
inary design and feasibility analysis of the S-CO2 gas-cooled reac-
tor. Kato et al. [99] investigated the analysis and optimization of
S-CO2 thermal cycling, and authors presented that spherical fuels
and block fuels currently using in conventional gas-cooled reactors
can be adopted in the S-CO2 cooled cores.
3.2. Experimental analysis
In recent years, S-CO2 power cycle system experimental appara-
tuses and construction work were performed worldwide with the
development progress of theoretical analysis. The research primar-
ily focused on the performance test and experimental analysis of
key components in the S-CO2 power cycle of the fourth nuclear
reactors.
3.2.1. The performance test of cycle system analysis in nuclear reactors
The international research institutes have comprehensive
experimental apparatuses including the Koell Atomic Power Labo-
ratory (KAPL), the SNL, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science &
Technology (KAIST) and the Institute of Applied Energy (IAE) in
Japan so on. Their research is detail analyzed as follows.
The KAPL was exploring related technology of S-CO2 Brayton
energy conversion system including apparatuses design and exper-
imental tests. The 100 kW S-CO2 power cycle system experiment
platform (as shown in Fig. 8 [100]) was constructed by the cooper-
ation of KAPL and the Bettis Atomic Energy Laboratory (BAEL) in
2012 [100]. The rapid release of high-pressure experimental test
was completed. Kimball et al. [101] and Clementoni et al.
[102,103] provided a systematic experiment on the above experi-
ment platform which included flow and heat transfer experiment
266 M.-J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 126 (2017) 255–275
Fig. 10. The S-CO2 cycle test loop established by the KAIST [105].
of S-CO2, examination of turbine machinery, material compatibility
test and system performance test and so on. The experimental
results verify that the S-CO2 Brayton cycle is a feasible energy con-
version system because the experimental platform was operated
successfully under the situations of start-up, shutdown and vari-
able working conditions.
The SNL established the basic S-CO2 Brayton cycle under the
capacity of 10 MWe and the temperature of 550 °C [104], as shown
in Fig. 9 [104]. The platform was equipped with coaxial compressor
and turbine, and the utility of PCHE was adopted to reduce the size
scale of the heat exchanger. The experimental platform was oper-
ated successfully under the situations of start-up, shutdown and
variable working conditions. The Korea Atomic Energy Research
Institute (KAERI) further conducted a detail investigation of S-
CO2 cycle test system [105]. The S-CO2 Integral Experiment Loop
(SCIEI) was completed for testing the axial turbine mechanical per-
formance (as shown in Fig. 10) [105].
The characteristics of the apparatuses are the utility of multi-
stage compression that having a high pressure ratio and the inlet
temperature of 500 °C. The facility was prepared to be equipped
with sSFRs. The IAE framed a small-scale experimental platform
of S-CO2 power cycle to make performance analysis of turbines.
The main parameters of S-CO2 power cycle in the existing experi-
mental platforms are demonstrated in Table 1.
3.2.2. The performance test of key components in nuclear reactors
The efficiency of S-CO2 cycle system is not only determined by
the heat source temperature but also by the main compressor
and cooler performance in the low-temperature zone. Therefore,
it is necessary to perform an experimental investigation on the
key components of S-CO2 power cycle. At present, little research
institutes have the apparatuses including the SNL, the Bechtel
Company, and the KAPL, the BAEL, and the KAIST. They mainly
focus on the turbine compressor because it is one of the most sig-
nificant technical issues in turbo-machinery. The main parameters
and experimental results of centrifugal compressor designed by
institutes are presented in Table 2 [106].
The SNL primarily explored the performance test of compressor
near the CO2 critical point [83]. They further designed an inte-
grated system with Barber Nichols Company and evaluated the
impact of working fluid leakage. The system was composed of a
semi-open centrifugal turbine, compressor and motor and so on.
Wright et al. finished a closed test on the integration system and
obtained the compressor efficiency of 66%. Kimball [100] experi-
mented the stability of the centrifugal compressor in the low-
speed operation of the two-phase zone. The experimental speed
was limited to 35,000 rpm, most of the data were measured at
25,000 rpm. The result indicated that the density of CO2 near the
critical point is similar to the density of CO2 liquid phase, and
the existence of two-phase flow did not have a negative impact
on the stable operation of compressor. The KAIST framed an exper-
imental platform of the low-pressure S-CO2 compression to exam-
ine the compressor performance under different operating
conditions [107,108]. A canned-motor pump type compressor
was equipped on the platform to avoid the leakage of working fluid
during the high pressure operation. A PCHE was adopted to achieve
the high efficiency of heat exchange. The state of inlet was set to be
the subcritical state in the compressor, and the state of outlet is set
to be supercritical state. The empirical result indicated that the dis-
turbance was not obvious when the working fluid of the compres-
sor was transformed from the subcritical state to the supercritical
state under the slow speed of revolution condition.
In conclusion, although the above-mentioned institutions
achieved the operation of the centrifugal compressors, they did
not obtain the best efficiency. The inlet state of compressors and
the size of turbines were the main reason to influence the opera-
tional speed of compressors. Therefore, the efficiency and stability
of compressor are necessary to improve constantly.
3.3. The applications of S-CO2 power cycle in lead-based reactor
The technology development of fourth generation nuclear reac-
tor are highly concerned worldwide. It has gradually become the
mainstream of new nuclear reactors. There are several requirement
of the reactors: (1) Sustainability. It can provide clean, sustainable
nuclear energy, and can be used for the long-term effective use of
nuclear fuel. (2) Economy. The affordable costs and short cycle con-
struction are welcomed. It can be compared with other energy pro-
jects in electricity markets. (3) Safety and reliability. The fourth
generation nuclear reactor should be stable. (4) To prevent nuclear
proliferation and enhance physical protection. It can be found that
it is the main trend to adopt the passive safety systems and simpli-
fied systems to improve the safety and security of reactors. More-
over, it is important to simplify the fuel power cycle through the
innovative design of power cycle to improve the system economy.
Meanwhile, in order to promote non-power applications and to
 M.-J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 126 (2017) 255–275 267

Table 1
The main parameters of S-CO2 power cycle in the existing experimental platforms.

Country Research Institute Main parameter

U.S. Sandia National Laboratory Recompression cycle: 7.68–13.84 MPa, 32–342 °C:
 Pressure ratio: 1.65;
 Electricity generation: 240 kWe;
 Cycle efficiency: 31.5%;
 Turbine speed: 50,000 RPM;
 Efficiency of turbine: 86–87%;
 Efficiency of compressor: 66–67%.
U.S. Bechtel Company Simple regenerative cycle: 9.03–13.5 MPa; 36–299 °C.
 Electricity generation: 100 kWe;
 Cycle efficiency: 14.7%;
 Rotating speed: 60,000 RPM.
U.S. Echogen Company Simple regenerative cycle:
 Capacity: 7 MWe;
 Rotating speed: 30,000–1800 RPM;
 Inlet temperature: 275 °C.
U.S. SWRI & GE & Thar Energy Simple regenerative cycle:
 Capacity: 1 MWe;
 Conditions of gas machine: 700 °C, 28 MPa.
U.S. Koell Atomic Power Laboratory Simple regenerative cycle:
 Cycle efficiency: 14.7%; Inlet temperature of turbine: 300 °C;
 Pressure ratio: 1.44;
 Turbine speed 55,000–60,000 RPM;
 Efficiency of turbine: 9.8%.
Japan Tokyo Institute of Technology Simple regenerative cycle:
 Thermal capacity: 30 kWth;
 Conditions of gas machine: 527 °C, 20 MPa; Cycle efficiency:14.7%;
 Turbine speed: 100,000 RPM.
Japan Institute of Applied Energy Simple regenerative cycle:
 Thermal capacity: 160 kWe;
 Cycle efficiency: 7%;
 Inlet temperature of turbine: 277 °C;
 Pressure ratio: 1.4;
 Turbine speed: 69,000 RPM;
 Efficiency of turbine: 69%.
Korea Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology Simple regenerative cycle:
 Inlet temperature of compressor: 33.2 °C;
 Inlet temperature of turbine: 500 °C; 7.78–20 MPa.

Table 2
The main parameters and experimental results of centrifugal compressor designed by institutes [106].

Research Institute U.S. SNL U.S. Bechtel & KAPL & Bettis Korea KAIST Japan TIT
Inlet pressure/MPa Design 7.69 9.2 7.78 8.23
Inlet temperature/K Design 305 309 306.2 308
Mass flow/(kg/s) Design 3.5 5.35 6.4 1.2
Rotation speed/(r/min) Design 75,000 75,000 70,000 100,000
Real 64,000 60,000 30,000 70,200
Size/mm Real 37.3 57.2 – 35
Efficiency Design 68% 60% 65% –
Real 66% – – 48%

achieve a variety of commercial objectives, the fourth generation
nuclear reactor will be further developed in the modular types.
The lead-based reactor has been promoted in recent years
because its thermophysical and chemical properties. It is the sys-
tem which the materials of coolant Ⅳ generation advanced nuclear
energy system is the adoption of lead, lead bismuth or lead lithium
alloy. The reactor has obvious advantage in the reactor physical
characteristics and safe operation comparing with traditional reac-
tors, such as small core volume, high operating temperature, high
density of coolant and long refueling cycle. It can be the potential
candidate for the commercial application of modular types.
In order to meet the requirement of small modular type, simple
structure and compact layout, the adopted of S-CO2 Brayton cycle
are recommended by many scholars as a corresponding heat trans-
fer system because of its high efficiency and stability, wide operat-
ing temperature rage and simple compact layout.
There are many of large-scale lead-based reactor programs have
been initiated, including the SVBR-100 project in US, BREST-OD-
300 project in Russia [109], the MYRRHA ADS project in Belgium
[110], the ELECTRA project in Sweden [111], the ELFR and ALFRED
projects in EU [112]. In addition, the US, Japan and South Korea are
also actively developing the key technologies and modular applica-
tions of lead-based reactors. The theoretical analysis of lead-based
reactors is at the beginning to explore the application efficiency S-
CO2 power cycle in lead-based reactors. The research can be ana-
lyzed as follows.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) designed a safe,
portable and autonomous Small Secure Transportable Autonomous
268 M.-J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 126 (2017) 255–275

Table 3 complex dynamic simulation program so that it can be adopted

The main parameters of SSTAR [65].
Name
Capacity
Thermal efficiency
Outlet temperature of coolant
Inlet temperature of coolant
Diameter of fuel rod
Core height
Working fluid
Maximum pressure of circulation
Maximum temperature of
circulation
Lead/S-CO2 intermediate heat
exchanger
for dynamic simulations of all reactor types.
Unit Parameter A conclusion for lead-based reactor can be achieved. The future
MWe 19.8 work will mainly focus on lead-based materials, lead corrosion and
% 44 innovative power cycle, advanced heat transfer systems and equip-
°C 567 ment, system integration, and commercial prototype of S-
°C 420 CO2 cycle system. There are following four challenges need to be
mm 25
m 0.976
solved.
S-CO2 First, structural materials will be corroded by the S-CO2 and
MPa 20 MPa high-temperature lead-based materials. It is necessary to develop
°C 552 the corrosion resistant material with high-temperature resistance
and creep resistance for the lead-based reactor/S-CO2 cycle system.
4 shell and tube heat
exchangers Second, heat is transferred to the S-CO2 power cycle through the
Pb/CO2 intermediate heat exchanger. It is necessary to optimize
the integrated heat transfer between the side coolant of lead-
based reactor and power cycle for achieving high efficient trans-
mission and conversion. Third, it is the key to improving system
performance by constructing the S-CO2 power cycle in accordance
with the characteristics of lead-based reactors. Finally, the proper
structure of lead-based reactor S-CO2 cycle power generation sys-
tem, optimization of operating parameters, evaluation methods
and concept design of integration system are necessary to be fur-
ther investigated.

3.4. Summary

In a conclusion, the S-CO2 power cycle can achieve a relative

Fig. 11. A pool-type cold-fast reactor STAR-LM with capacity of 400 MWt designed
by the ANL [113].
Reactor (SSTAR) which adopted mixed uranium and plutonium
nitride as fuel, and applied S-CO2 power cycle for heat exchange.
The main parameters are demonstrated in Table 3 [65].
The ANL performed a series of experimental and theoretical
analysis to the lead-cooled fast reactor. First, they designed a
pool-type cold-fast reactor STAR-LM with the capacity of 400
MWt, adopting the HT-9 stainless steel as the fuel rod (as shown
in Fig. 11) [113]. The maximum temperature of the core is 650 °C.
The inlet temperature of the liquid lead coolant was 438 °C, and
the outlet temperature of the liquid lead coolant was 578 °C. The
running pressure is 0.1 MPa. The core heat was taken by the cool-
ant through natural circulation without a circuit, and the heat was
transferred to the S-CO2 power cycle via the intermediate heat
exchanger in the vessel. The thermal efficiency of system is 43.2%
[113]. Second, to simulate the dynamic performance of different
operational conditions, the simulation models of the reactor, that
of the intermediate heat exchanger and the simulation program
of the S-CO2 cycle were established respectively [113]. All the
above-mentioned models were further integrated into a complex
dynamic simulation program of the S-CO2 power cycle in the
LFR. The integration program was employed to simulate the
dynamic response of power plants under accident conditions,
and the passive safety of reactor was analyzed [114]. Third, they
further investigated studies on the control strategies of the S-CO2
power cycle in the LFR based on the experimental result of
dynamic response. The control strategies included the control of
intermediate heat exchanger bypasses, the control of turbine inlet
valve, the control of turbine bypasses, the inventory control, and
the shunt control and so on [113,114]. Finally, they modified the
high cycle efficiency at the mild temperature (450–600 °C). The
main advantages of the S-CO2 power cycle is the convenient scale
and its wide applications in nuclear power industries. It is widely
appropriate to be adopted in the fourth generation of nuclear reac-
tors and even applied to the traditional water reactors and nuclear
fusion reactors.
A large number of theoretical studies on the S-CO2 Brayton
cycle system comprising nuclear reactors have proposed by techni-
cal countries, such as USA, China, Japan and Korea etc. Some low
capacity of S-CO2 cycle apparatuses are built to test the perfor-
mance of key components, but the demonstrations of S-CO2 cycle
power generation system in nuclear reactors are still in the explo-
ration stage.
According to the studies above-mentioned, it is a challenge that
the current low power S-CO2 cycle apparatuses cannot achieve
high system efficiency because the cycle efficiency should be
increased with the improvement of power capacity. Moreover,
the degeneration of the performance of S-CO2 turbo-machinery
will be minimized when the power capacity is larger than
10 MW. Therefore, it is a remaining problem to optimize the heat
transfer between dynamic cycle and coolant, to achieve maximum
efficiency of energy conversion, and to improve the performance of
dynamic circulatory as well. Moreover, in order to realize the com-
mercialization of S-CO2 cycle power generation system in the lead-
based reactor, the design and experimental demonstration of the
prototype S-CO2 cycle are needed.
4. The applications of S-CO2 power cycle in solar industry
The development and utilization of solar energy is an important
topic in the field of clean energy applications [115,116]. However,
there are still challenges such as difficult improvement of effi-
ciency in steam Rankine cycle, high investment of solar power sta-
tion and nonuniform solar energy etc. In recent years, the S-
CO2 cycle technology has been widely proposed to be applied to
the solar thermal power generation system. Its advantages include
high efficiency, simple layout, compact structure and air cooling
appropriation etc. Due to the limitation of thermo-physical proper-
 M.-J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 126 (2017) 255–275
ties of materials, the current practical design of turbine inlet tem-
perature is limited to 750 °C. Therefore, the maximum operating
temperature of turbine is limited at 750 °C in the direct solar
power plants. For the indirect solar power plants, the maximum
operating temperature is mostly determined by the thermody-
namic properties of heat transfer fluid (HTF). Speaking to the heat
transfer between molten salt (the cap temperature is 590 °C) and
S-CO2 cycles, the turbine inlet temperature is estimated at 580 °C
with a temperature approach of 10 °C between HTFs.
The development of S-CO2 power cycle in solar thermal power
generation system has become a new research hot point. Recent
studies mainly focus on the theoretical analysis of heat transfer
mechanism, and few studies develop experimental research.
4.1. Theoretical analysis
The systematic research of basic theoretical analysis and exper-
imental demonstration of thermodynamics are proposed in the fol-
lowing parts.
4.1.1. The system analysis of S-CO2 power cycle in solar energy
In this sections, research mainly focuses on the following three
parts. First, to analyze and optimize the thermodynamic properties
of the S-CO2 power cycle and thermo-economic characteristics of
the S-CO2 power cycle. Second, to improve the efficiency of the
S-CO2 power cycle. Third, to investigate the characteristics of sys-
tem dynamic response and the automatic control strategy based
on the fluctuation of solar energy.
4.1.1.1. Analysis and optimization of thermodynamic properties and
thermo-economic characteristics of S-CO2 power cycle. In order to
demonstrate the feasibility and thermo-economic characteristics
of the S-CO2 power cycle in solar thermal systems, the comparison
between the S-CO2 power cycle and other different layouts are
investigated such as the conventional steam Rankine cycle, the
transcritical CO2 cycle and the ORC etc. [117]. Dunham and Iverson
[118] equipped the He-Brayton cycle, the S-CO2 recompression
cycle, the steam-Rankine cycle, the S-CO2/ORC composite cycle
with the solar power plant respectively. Authors compared the
thermodynamic properties of all the layouts. The numerical results
indicated that thermal efficiency of S-CO2 recompression cycle is
the best. Chacartegui et al. [119] and Garg et al. [120] both com-
pared the S-CO2 Brayton cycle and the transcritical CO2 cycle. The
preliminary result of Chacartegui et al. [119] presented that the
S-CO2 Brayton cycle has a greater potential to improve efficiency
and reduce costs. Garg et al. [120] found out that the efficiency
of S-CO2 power cycle can be achieved by 30% at least in the low-
temperature heat source of 820 K.
There are many scholars analyze the thermal properties of S-
CO2 power cycle equipped with different solar energy power. Atif
and Al-Sulaiman [121] explored the performance of a variety of
layout S-CO2 Brayton cycles applied to solar power plants. The
results presented that the recompression S-CO2 cycle has the opti-
mal cycling thermal efficiency over a range of pressure ratio.
Cheang et al. [122] compared the thermal performance of various
S-CO2 layouts including regenerative cycle, recompression cycle,
intercooling cycle and reheating cycle. Authors further optimized
the parameters for the maximum efficiency. Al-Sulaiman and Atif
[123] conducted an integrated study of S-CO2 cycle and solar
power stations in the Dahlan region of Saudi Arabia. Authors com-
pared the thermal performance of regeneration S-CO2 Brayton
cycle and recompression S-CO2 Brayton cycle. The results indicated
that the higher thermal efficiency can be obtained by the recom-
pression of S-CO2 cycle. Padilla et al. [124] combined four types
of S-CO2 Brayton cycles with a tower-type solar thermal power
generation system. In order to optimize the first law efficiency of
269
the system, optimum operating conditions were obtained by the
Sequential Least Squares Program. The result demonstrated that
the recompression with the main compression intercooling has
the best thermal and exergetic performance. The Simple Brayton
cycle had the lowest thermal and exergetic efficiency among the
tested S-CO2 Brayton cycles.
Other scholars performed research of S-CO2 power cycle from
the perspective of economic analysis because S-CO2 power cycle
has the potential to reduce the cost of solar thermal systems.
Cheang et al. [122] argued that the S-CO2 cycle is not the optimal
cycle for solar power plants. The reasons were as follows. First,
the total investment costs will be increased by the costs of high-
temperature resistant material and the costs of high-pressure
resistant material. Second, the operational costs will also be
increased. The thermal efficiency of S-CO2 cycle is reduced because
the real operating conditions are influenced by the fluctuation of
temperature for deviating from the critical point. Neises and Turchi
[125] compared the economics of partial recompression S-CO2
Brayton cycle and partial cooling S-CO2 Brayton cycle. Further-
more, authors analyze the performance of start-up condition and
costs of the system. They presented that partial cooling S-CO2 Bray-
ton cycle had a lower leveled cost of electricity comparing with the
partial recompression S-CO2 Brayton cycle because the size of
recuperator is smaller in partial cooling. It is more suitable to be
adopted in solar power plants.
The Chinese scholars explore more studies in recent years. The
research team from Xi’an Jiaotong University developed a series of
analysis studies on the integration of S-CO2 cycle and solar power
plants. Wang and He [126] analyzed the effect of main influences
on indirect S-CO2 cycle solar power plants. The influences included
the molten salt temperature, the maximum cycle pressure, the
intermediate pressure and the split ratio. Authors further adopted
the genetic algorithms to optimize parameters of the system for
the purpose of maximum exegetic efficiency. They studied the
basic thermodynamic properties of S-CO2 cycles based on tower
solar power plants. Authors established a thermal integration
model of the direct S-CO2 cycle comprising solar thermal power
generation system and further compared thermal properties of dif-
ferent S-CO2 cycle layouts. The result indicated the influences of
main parameters made an effect on the heat absorber, heat storage
system and thermal efficiency. Wang et al. [127] reviewed several
current S-CO2 Brayton cycle layouts, and considered to integrate
them into the existing mature molten salt solar power tower
(SPT) systems. The SPT system comprising the S-CO2 Brayton
cycles was completely modelled by an integrative approach. As
shown in Fig. 12, the performances of these different cycles are
compared comprehensively for applications in molten salt SPT sys-
tems from the aspects of the efficiency.
They further pointed out that although the current S-CO2 Bray-
ton cycle layouts could offer high-efficiency, there were several
challenges for integrating them into the SPT system. For example,
the specific work is relatively small, and the temperature differ-
ence across the solar receiver is narrow. Authors concluded that
the plan of further work is to build novel S-CO2 cycle layouts with
high efficiency, large specific work, and wide temperature
difference.
4.1.1.2. Improvement of efficiency of S-CO2 power cycle. Some studies
focus on the utility of the S-CO2 cycle waste heat that leading the
structure of cycle should be changed to improve the efficiency of
the S-CO2 power cycle.
Besarati and Goswami [128] proposed a new S-CO2 composite
cycle to recover the low-grade waste heat for improving the cycle
efficiency in concentrating solar power. Authors treated the ORC as
the bottoming cycle, and further combined the ORC with the sim-
ple S-CO2 power cycle, the recompression S-CO2 power cycle and
270 M.-J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 126 (2017) 255–275
31
30
29
28
simple recuperation
27
Precompression
Split expansion
26
Recompression
Partial-cooling
25
Inter-cooling
24
400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 800
Hot salt temperature tb/ °C
Fig. 12. Comparison of overall efficiency between SPT systems integrated with
different S-CO2 cycles at various hot salt temperatures [127].
the partial cooling S-CO2 power cycle respectively. The result indi-
cated that adding an appropriate bottoming cycle can increase the
overall cycle efficiency by 3 to 7%. Chacartegui et al. [129] studied
the performance of the simple S-CO2/ORC combined cycle in solar
power plants adopting the simple S-CO2 cycle as the topping cycle.
Moreover, authors tested the several working fluid in the ORC. The
result presented that the efficiency of the simple S-CO2 cycle was
increased by 7–12%. Sánchez et al. [130] proposed a non-
conventional combined cycle comprising a topping supercritical
Brayton cycle working with S-CO2 and a bottoming ORC. The result
demonstrated that the combined cycle is an appropriate alterna-
tive for intermediate temperature (around 1100 K) tower-type
concentrating solar plants. Zhang et al. [131] studied the perfor-
mance of diversion S-CO2 cycle comprising the ORC working with
the liquefied natural gas based on the solar thermal system. The
numerical result indicated that the overall thermal efficiency of
the combined cycle can be achieved by 52%.
4.1.1.3. Characteristics of system dynamic response and the automatic
control strategy based on the fluctuation of solar energy. The solar
thermal power plant is easily affected by the light intensity and
the fluctuation of external environmental temperature. Thus, its
performance is more fluctuating than normal power plants. It is
necessary to analyze the characteristics of system dynamic
response and make the automatic control strategy based on the
different working conditions. Singh et al. [132] established a
dynamic performance analysis model of S-CO2 Brayton cycle. The
purpose was to investigate the changes of system dynamic
response affecting by main parameters. The author pointed out
that increasing the volume ratio of the cold-heat side of recupera-
tor will reduce the dynamic response speed of the power station
when the external environmental temperature fluctuates. Osorio
et al. [133] proposed an integrated model comprising the receiver,
the regenerative unit and intermediate cooled S-CO2 cycle. It has
been found that the regenerative unit can alleviate the influence
of temperature fluctuation of turbine inlet on the stability of the
system, to maintain the continuous operation of the power station.
Singh et al. [134] proposed a new automatic control strategy to
achieve the maximum efficiency of solar power plants by adjusting
the CO2 inventory under the fluctuant temperature. The summer
and winter periods were selected as the research period. Experi-
mental results presented that the automatic CO2 storage of S-
CO2 cycle solar power generation system can achieve higher effi-
ciency than the fixed CO2 inventory of system.
4.1.2. The component analysis of S-CO2 power cycle in solar power
Studies mainly focus on the performance analysis, new struc-
tural design research and development research work of key com-
ponents, such as the S-CO2 turbine machinery, heat exchangers,
solar receivers etc.
With respect to S-CO2 turbine machineries, Kalra et al. [135]
analyzed the performance of the S-CO2 turbo-expander in the S-
CO2 cycle solar power plant under start-up and shutdown condi-
tions. They further developed a highly efficient turbo-expander
for the S-CO2 Brayton cycle solar power plants. When the turbo-
expander operated around the CO2 critical point, it is expected to
reduce the leveled cost of electricity to $ 0.06/KW hr, and to
increase the efficiency of energy conversion to more than 50%.
Liu et al. [136] studied the effect of S-CO2 expander and the effect
of compressor on the cycle efficiency by adopting S-CO2 as the heat
transfer material and working material of solar thermal power
plants. The result pointed out that the cycle efficiency was mainly
850
affected by the performance of turbo-expander.
In the respect of solar receivers, Padilla et al. [124] analyzed the
exergy distributions of the solar receiver in the S-CO2 Brayton cycle
solar power plant. The result presented that the cooled recompres-
sion cycle achieves the highest thermal efficiency (55.2%) at 850 °C.
Xu et al. [137] studied the effect of the arrangement of airfoil fin
(AFF) on heat transfer and flow resistance. The results show that
staggered AFF can make the PCHE achieve the better performance
of heat transfer. Ngo et al. [138] proposed a novel S-channel that
effectively enhances performance of heat transfer and reduces fric-
tional losses.
4.2. Experimental analysis
Experimental analysis is performed to ensure the correctness of
theoretical analysis. A series experimental apparatuses are estab-
lished. The test works mainly focus on the performance analysis
of integrated systems and key components.
In the respect of performance analysis of integrated systems,
Yamaguchi et al. [139] built a cogeneration solar-powered S-CO2
Rankine cycle platform comprising vacuum tube solar collectors,
turbines, high/low temperatures recuperator, pumps etc. The CO2
was heated to a supercritical state of higher temperature, which
is used to drive the turbine to produce mechanical energy and elec-
tricity. The experimental results indicated that the solar CO2 Rank-
ine cycle is stable in the supercritical region. The generation
efficiency of the system was 25%, and the heat recovery efficiency
was 65%. The 10 MWe S-CO2 power cycle apparatus was con-
structed by the SNL and the Echogen Power Systems for testing
the performance of S-CO2 in the concentrated solar power. The
inlet temperature of turbine was 700 °C [140].
In the respect of performance of key components, Nikitin et al.
[141] experimentally tested the pressure drop with the Z-channel
PCHE and developed the empirical correlation of heat transfer. The
study found that the PCHE has a high compactness, and its maxi-
mum work density is high. Tsuzuki et al. [142] conducted experi-
mental and numerical simulations of S-type PCHE. They pointed
out that the reduction of pressure in S-type PCHE was mainly
determined by the uniform distribution of the velocity after flow-
ing the S-fin. Kim et al. [143] found that the generation of sepa-
rated flow can be inhibited by the airfoil fins. Authors further
discussed the effect of the vertical installation and horizontal
installation on the performance of the PCHE. The experimental
result presented that the vertical installation of the PCHE is stable.
Meshram et al. [144] compared the performance of a PCHE with
straight channel and zigzag channel. The simulation results
demonstrated that the zigzag channel PCHE has higher transfer
coefficient than that of the straight channel PCHE. Zhang et al.
[145] built an S-CO2 solar collectors platform to discuss the perfor-
 M.-J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 126 (2017) 255–275
mance of solar collectors at different temperatures of CO2, pres-
sures and mass flows. The result presented that the CO2 tempera-
ture, pressure and mass flow are increased by the amount of light
radiation.
4.3. Summary
In a summary, in the field of solar energy comprising S-CO2
power cycle, the majority of studies focus on the theoretical anal-
ysis. Experimental analysis is on the stage of beginning. Current
research mainly paid attention to the following items. First, sum-
marized the effect of changed key parameters on the performance
of S-CO2 cycle solar power. Second, developed the system dynamic
response of S-CO2 and the automatic control strategy based on the
volatility of solar energy. Third, tested the performance of appara-
tuses and integrated systems for encouraging the application of S-
CO2 in the field of solar energy.
5. The applications of S-CO2 power cycle in other energy
industries
Nowadays, many other energy industries are developed.
Geothermal energy, fuel cell and waste heat utilization are the
three main developing energy industries. The detailed analysis of
applications of S-CO2 power cycle is as follows.
5.1. The application of S-CO2 power cycle in geothermal energy
The main advantages of adopting S-CO2 cycle in the geothermal
system are as follows. First, to simplify the structure of geothermal
power generation system and reduce the investment costs of
power plants. Second, the S-CO2 not only can be adopted as the
working fluid for the cycle but also as a working medium of heat
transfer in the applications of geothermal energy. Because minerals
cannot be dissolved and transported by the S-CO2, components do
not have fouling problems. The current research mainly includes
the theoretical analysis of S-CO2 comprising geothermal energy,
only few research studies the experimental analysis.
In the respect of theoretical analysis, Higgins et al. [146] mod-
elled and optimized the closed geothermal power generation sys-
tem by adopting the S-CO2 as the working fluid. The returned S-
CO2 was used to directly drive the electricity generation and re-
inject the completion cycle after cooling. The result presented that
there is a nonlinear relationship between the power capacity of
system and the mass flow rate of S-CO2.
The SNL focused on the experimental analysis to prove the fea-
sibility of the S-CO2 comprising geothermal energy. Wright et al.
[147] demonstrated that the adopted of the S-CO2 mixed refriger-
ant at low-temperature that could avoid the effect of gas molecular
dissociation on the thermodynamic properties of cycle. In order to
investigate thermodynamic properties of the S-CO2 mixed refriger-
ant cycle in the low-temperature heat source, the SNL proposed
experimental test on the performance of turbo compressors with
different mixed working fluid. The experimental result indicated
that the cycle efficiency is 18.1% at the turbine inlet temperature
of 160 °C and the exhaust temperature of 46.7 °C.
5.2. The application of S-CO2 power cycle in fuel cell
The molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) is a promising applica-
tion for the integration of S-CO2 power cycle because the temper-
ature of S-CO2 is matched with the temperature of MCFC waste gas.
Scholars focus on the integration of S-CO2 comprising the MCFC.
Sanchez et al. [148] compared the performance of air cycle/
MCFC and that of S-CO2/MCFC. The result presented that the appli-
271
cation of S-CO2 power cycle can greatly reduce the compression
work and improve the cycle efficiency. Subsequently, the control
strategy of the S-CO2/MCFC system was studied under partial oper-
ating load [148]. The relationships with inventory control, bypass
control and temperature control were established. The results indi-
cated that the utility of hybrid control technology enables the com-
ponents to achieve better performance under partial operating
loads. Bae et al. [149] compared the performance of MCFC compris-
ing with the S-CO2 recompression Brayton cycle, the simple regen-
erative S-CO2 Brayton cycle and the simple regenerative
transcritical cycle respectively. The result presented that the appli-
cation of S-CO2 power cycle has better performance. Baronci et al.
[150] analyzed the feasibility of applying the S-CO2/ORC composite
cycle to the MCFC. The simulation result presented that the hybrid
cycle is feasible and the cycle efficiency can reach 56.25% at the ini-
tial stage of lifespan in fuel cell. Moreover, the power efficiency of
the battery equipping with the Brayton cycle was twice larger than
that of conventional ORC. The Mehrpooya et al. [151] adopted the
S-CO2 Brayton cycle/MCFC for the recovery of waste heat from cat-
alytic burners. The cycle efficiency was improved by adopting the
S-CO2 Brayton cycle as the bottoming cycle.
5.3. The application of S-CO2 power cycle in waste heat utilization
Waste heat utilization is the hot topic internationally. For
example, the amount of total industrial waste heat is 800 million
tons of standard coal possessing 30% of China’s energy consump-
tion. The temperature of waste heat source is lower than 240 °C
that is not appropriate to recover directly. CO2 is more suitable
to recycle low-temperature waste heat because of the low critical
temperature and low-pressure level. The majority of research focus
on the theoretical analysis. There is few studies develop the
demonstration platforms.
Anderson et al. [152] proposed a small waste heat recovery sys-
tem (1–5 kW) based on the S-CO2 regenerative Rankine cycle.
Authors further analyzed the thermodynamic properties of S-
CO2 cycle at the temperature of 200–500 °C. Kim et al. [153] and
Sarkar et al. [9] summarize the research status of the S-CO2 Rank-
ine cycle applying to low-quality heat sources. The different mod-
els of S-CO2 cycle have been described. They pointed out that the
application of S-CO2 Rankine cycle comprising low-grade heat
source is the promising research. Hou et al. [154] adopted the S-
CO2 cycle to the recovery of waste heat from diesel engines that
improve the thermal efficiency of diesel engines. Wang et al.
[155] investigated the effect of changing parameters on the perfor-
mance of S-CO2 cycle in the low-grade heat source. They further
analyzed the exegetic loss in key components. Finally, they
adopted the genetic algorithm and artificial neural network to
optimize the parameters of S-CO2 cycle. The Echogen Power Sys-
tems designed a waste heat recovery system based on the S-
CO2 cycle [156]. Heat exchange systems, condensers, associated
valves and turbine are included. The 250 kW thermal system was
built, and the 7.5 MW heat engine was under construction.
6. Conclusion
There is an increasing demand for the efficient utility of energy
and reduction of CO2 emissions. The installation of S-CO2 power
cycle can achieve relatively high efficiency compared with other
power conversion systems. There are two main advantages of the
S-CO2 power cycle. First, it has small-scale size which is convenient
to be equipped. Second, it has wide applications including the next
generation nuclear reactors, solar power energy and other energy
industries.
272 M.-J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 126 (2017) 255–275
This study provides a detail comprehensive study of technology
development and applications of S-CO2 cycle in different energy
industries, especially in nuclear reactors and solar energy industry.
Theoretical analysis and experimental analysis are both summa-
rized for above two energy sources. The comparison with working
fluids, component design and challenges are presented in this arti-
cle as well. Four conclusions can be obtained from the study. First,
in the respect of nuclear energy industries, the S-CO2 power cycle
can achieve a high cycle efficiency at the mild temperature
(450 °C-600 °C). It is widely appropriate to be adopted in the fourth
generation of nuclear reactors and even applied to the traditional
water reactors and nuclear fusion reactors. The vital remaining
problem is to optimize main parameters for keeping the perfor-
mance of S-CO2 turbo-machinery when the power capacity is smal-
ler than 10 MW. The choice of optimal layout is also the essential
issue for the integration S-CO2 system. Second, the lead-based
reactor of nuclear energy is a new frontier research. The future
work will mainly focus on lead-based materials, lead corrosion
and innovative power cycles, advanced heat transfer systems and
equipment, system integrations, and commercial prototypes of S-
CO2 cycle system. Third, in the field of solar energy comprising
the S-CO2 power cycle, the majority of studies focus on the theoret-
ical analysis. Experimental analysis is on the stage of beginning.
Current research primarily focused on the following issues: (1)
The effect of changed key parameters on the performance of S-
CO2 cycle. (2) The system dynamic response of S-CO2 and the auto-
matic control strategy based on the fluctuation of solar energy. (3)
The performance of apparatuses and integrated systems. Finally,
the applications of S-CO2 power cycle in other energy industries
are at the beginning stage of exploration. The optimization of sys-
tem properties should be developed in the operational condition.
The common achievements and common technical barriers of
the S-CO2 power cycle applications are summarized as follows.
First, the development of S-CO2 cycle technology has made great
progress during the past decades. The theoretical analysis of S-
CO2 cycle integrating with various heat sources is relatively suffi-
cient, which could provide theoretical guidance for realizing the
future S-CO2 power cycle system. Second, S-CO2 integral systems
have constructed by different countries to evaluate the S-
CO2 cycle performance test loops. Third, there are still challenges
for the applications of S-CO2 cycles in commercial power plants:
(1) The scale of S-CO2 cycles is merely qualified to be adopted in
the prototypes nowadays. It has to be further developed for the dif-
ferent scales in the mature commercial market. (2) For large capac-
ity systems, it is important to select the proper material selection
and structural innovations of S-CO2 heat exchangers. (3) It is nec-
essary to develop the design and improvements in bearings and
seals to prevent leakage of turbo-machinery.
In summary, although there is a number of challenges need to
be solved, the S-CO2 power cycle has good market prospects in dif-
ferent energy industries and it would significantly affect the energy
industries around the world due to its unique benefits.
Acknowledgment
This work is supported by the Key Project of National Natural
Science Foundation of China (No. 51436007).
The authors would also like to thank the Innovative Talents
Support Plan of China Postdoctoral Foundation.
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