Design and performance study of dry cooling system for 25 MW solar power plant operated with supercritical CO2 cycle

Investigating the effect of dry cooling system design on the performance of supercritical CO2 cycle in concentrated solar power application

“…Table 2-12, outlines the key findings of the studies with dry-cooled sCO2 power cycles from the existing literature. Only a few studies (Singh et al [178,179], Dunham and Iverson [124], Zeyghami and Khalili [131], Milani et al [133], Duniam et al [148], and Ehsan et al [147,180,181]) are identified with a focus on the cooling performance of the sCO2 power cycles and are discussed in the following subsections. These studies are important to evaluate the feasibility of dry cooling in sCO2 power cycles for CSP application.…”

“…Most of the research articles studying the thermal assessment of dry-cooled sCO2 cycles considered the cooling system as a black box with the desired compressor inlet temperature. Ehsan et al [147,180] presented a detailed NDDCT model working with sCO2 for direct and indirect cooling systems.…”

“…The cooling mechanism in a supercritical cycle occurs in the proximity of the critical condition where the discrepancy of transport properties is prevalent. The earlier research already demonstrated the heat transfer mechanism of sCO2 in the heat exchanger [147,180]. However, the thermodynamic analysis of NDDCT was conducted in isolation decoupled from the power block.…”

“…Since heat rejection process in a sCO2 power cycle takes place near the critical condition, where the physical properties of sCO2 change with bulk temperature, efficient design of NDDCT is important as it directly affects the cycle performance. Ehsan et al [147,180] modelled the NDDCT operating with sCO2 for direct and indirect arrangement of the cooling circuit. Duniam et al also conducted a study of the direct and indirect arrangement of the dry cooling tower [148].…”

“…The lower compressor inlet temperature is achieved with the direct cooling system. A MATLAB code used for designing the cooling system in [147,180] but the NDDCT model was not equipped with the power block. Most of the research articles studying the cycle performance and the compressor inlet condition prescribed by dry cooling with no details of the cooling system.…”