Supercritical CO2 power cycles demonstration in Operational environment Locally valorising industrial Waste Heat

Project Information

CO2OLHEAT

Grant agreement ID: 101022831

DOI

10.3030/101022831

Project terminated on 31 January 2024

EC signature date 9 April 2021

Start date 1 June 2021

End date 31 May 2025

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 18 813 891,25

EU contribution

€ 13 999 996,40

Coordinated by

ENERGY AND TURBOMACHINERY NETWORK
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - CO2OLHEAT (Supercritical CO2 power cycles demonstration in Operational environment Locally valorising industrial Waste Heat)

Reporting period: 2022-12-01 to 2024-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The main objective of CO2OLHEAT is to demonstrate up to TRL 7 in a real industrial plant (cement manufacturing plant of Prachovice – CEMEX – CZ), an innovative, economically viable and easy replicable sCO2 power block that via an integrated easy to install skid will enable the operation and design of a novel integrated waste-heat-to-power (WH2P) plant layout to un-tap industrial waste heat valorisation at T>400°C in an efficient and cost effective way. Thanks to sCO2 exploitation, CO2OLHEAT layout will increase WH2P/REIIs grid flexibility targeting a LCOE = 0,05-0,06 €/kWh in the 5-20 MW scale. Within CO2OLHEAT, a 2-MW-Scale demonstration will be performed in a cement manufacturing plant and the concept will also be studied for upscale and replication in other type of resource and energy intensive industries and in power plants (both fossil and RES based) thus guaranteeing a wide replicability potential. This will be further explored thanks to commitment of relevant EU energy utilities .

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Following results were achieved:


A sCO2 cycle configuration with an optimised cycle efficiency, operational flexibility and replicability.
A turbo-expander design that is capable to provide the expected performance in a very large range of operation.
A design of the axial power turbine with a reasonable efficiency even for the very small power output and with a potential for upscaling the power output at very high efficiency (> 90%).
A modular design of a liquid to air heat exchanger with a high heat transfer coefficient.
A basic understanding about the cycle control strategy and hardware required to facilitate the operation.




Project related findings

In order to get a better understanding of the economical and technical feasibility, the work-package priorities had to be changed. More effort was directed to the scoping, feasibility and bankability aspects of the project.
The consortium highly recommends applying a stage wise project execution as being carried out during EPC contracts. Therefore, it is proposed to split these industrial demonstration proposals in 2 stages. The first call will develop solutions for a particular use case. Based on the selection of the best proposals (KPI’s to be defined), the engineering and construction phase including the start-up and operational behavior of the plant can be further developed in the second phase.
A systematic search for alternative demo sites was not successful. Because of the high investment costs and the anticipated high operational risk of the cycle, companies decided not to pursue our tailor-made value propositions.



Replication and dissemination
CO2OLHEAT attracted wide attention and was able to create a worldwide recognised platform in which the main sCO2 knowledge and technology partners are present. Learnings from the project are used to start up initiatives to develop the market for this technology. These initiatives will continue even after the project is terminated.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The waste heat recovery potential of the energy intensive industry should be analysed carefully and after that categorised for the given heat recovery technologies. Depending on the operational boundaries, the most suitable technology needs to be selected.

For demonstration projects that require significant CAPEX, the consortium highly recommends appling a stage wise project execution as being carried out during EPC contracts. Therefore, it is proposed to split these industrial demonstration proposals in 2 stages. The first call will develop solutions for a particular use case. Based on the selection of the best proposals (KPI’s to be defined), the engineering and construction phase including the start-up and operational behavior of the plant can be further developed in the second phase.

Importance of including all the consortium partners in the Communication, Dissemination, and Exploitation (CDE) WP is important to create a good team spirt in general and improve exchange between the different work packages. Good quality of communication materials/tools (printed materials, website, social media) is of paramount importance. Each partner is equipped with a significant potential to contribute to the CDE WP (events participations, conference/scientific papers, company communication, social media activities etc.)

Given the numbers of attendees during the various dissemination events of the CO2OLHEAT project (conference scientific presentations, panel sessions, webinars), it is evident that the expectation of industry is high for the solutions this sCO2 technology will provide in future.
A new initiative with the learnings provided through CO2OLHEAT is KEY!

demo-site design