Thermo-economic analysis of a direct supercritical CO2 electric power generation system using geothermal heat

Xingchao WANG, Chunjian PAN, Carlos E. ROMERO, Zongliang QIAO, Arindam BANERJEE, Carlos RUBIO-MAYA, Lehua PAN

PDF(5405 KB)
PDF(5405 KB)
Front. Energy ›› 2022, Vol. 16 ›› Issue (2) : 246-262. DOI: 10.1007/s11708-021-0749-9
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Thermo-economic analysis of a direct supercritical CO2 electric power generation system using geothermal heat

Author information +
History +

Abstract

A comprehensive thermo-economic model combining a geothermal heat mining system and a direct supercritical CO2 turbine expansion electric power generation system was proposed in this paper. Assisted by this integrated model, thermo-economic and optimization analyses for the key design parameters of the whole system including the geothermal well pattern and operational conditions were performed to obtain a minimal levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). Specifically, in geothermal heat extraction simulation, an integrated wellbore-reservoir system model (T2Well/ECO2N) was used to generate a database for creating a fast, predictive, and compatible geothermal heat mining model by employing a response surface methodology. A parametric study was conducted to demonstrate the impact of turbine discharge pressure, injection and production well distance, CO2 injection flowrate, CO2 injection temperature, and monitored production well bottom pressure on LCOE, system thermal efficiency, and capital cost. It was found that for a 100 MWe power plant, a minimal LCOE of $0.177/kWh was achieved for a 20-year steady operation without considering CO2 sequestration credit. In addition, when CO2 sequestration credit is $1.00/t, an LCOE breakeven point compared to a conventional geothermal power plant is achieved and a breakpoint for generating electric power generation at no cost was achieved for a sequestration credit of $2.05/t.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

geothermal heat mining / supercritical CO2 / power generation / thermo-economic analysis / optimization

Cite this article

Download citation ▾
Xingchao WANG, Chunjian PAN, Carlos E. ROMERO, Zongliang QIAO, Arindam BANERJEE, Carlos RUBIO-MAYA, Lehua PAN. Thermo-economic analysis of a direct supercritical CO2 electric power generation system using geothermal heat. Front. Energy, 2022, 16(2): 246‒262 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-021-0749-9

References

[1]
Romero C E, Wang X. Key technologies for ultra-low emissions from coal-fired power plants. In: Zhang Y S, Wang T, Pan W P, Romero C E, eds. Advances in Ultra-low Emission Control Technologies for Coal-fired Power Plants. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2019: 39–79
[2]
OSTI. GOV. Electric power monthly. Technical Report, Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), 1995
[3]
Figueroa J D, Fout T, Plasynski S, Advances in CO2 capture technology—the US Department of Energy’s carbon sequestration program. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 2008, 2(1): 9–20
CrossRef Google scholar
[4]
Randolph J B, Saar M O. Coupling carbon dioxide sequestration with geothermal energy capture in naturally permeable, porous geologic formations: implications for CO2 sequestration. Energy Procedia, 2011, 4: 2206–2213
CrossRef Google scholar
[5]
Pan C, Chávez O, Romero C E, Heat mining assessment for geothermal reservoirs in Mexico using supercritical CO2 injection. Energy, 2016, 102: 148–160
CrossRef Google scholar
[6]
Garapati N, Randolph J B, Saar M O. Brine displacement by CO2, energy extraction rates, and lifespan of a CO2-limited CO2-Plume Geothermal (CPG) system with a horizontal production well. Geothermics, 2015, 55: 182–194
CrossRef Google scholar
[7]
Adams B M, Kuehn T H, Bielicki J M, A comparison of electric power output of CO2 Plume Geothermal (CPG) and brine geothermal systems for varying reservoir conditions. Applied Energy, 2015, 140: 365–377
CrossRef Google scholar
[8]
Adams B M, Kuehn T H, Bielicki J M, On the importance of the thermosiphon effect in CPG (CO2 plume geothermal) power systems. Energy, 2014, 69: 409–418
CrossRef Google scholar
[9]
Zhang L, Cui G, Zhang Y, Influence of pore water on the heat mining performance of supercritical CO2 injected for geothermal development. Journal of CO2 Utilization, 2016, 16: 287–300
CrossRef Google scholar
[10]
Ahn Y, Bae S J, Kim M, Review of supercritical CO2 power cycle technology and current status of research and development. Nuclear Engineering and Technology, 2015, 47(6): 647–661
CrossRef Google scholar
[11]
Turchi C S, Ma Z W, Dyreby J. Supercritical carbon dioxide power cycle configurations for use in concentrating solar power systems. In: Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2012: Turbine Technical Conference and Exposition, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2013
[12]
Persichilli M, Kacludis A, Zdankiewicz E, Supercritical CO2 power cycle developments and commercialization: why sCO2 can displace steam. In: Power-Gen India & Central Asia, New Delhi, India, 2012
[13]
Wright S A, Conboy T M, Rochau G E, Supercritical CO2 power cycle development summary at Sandia National Laboratories. In: 1st International Seminar on Organic Rankine Cycle Power Systems, Delft, Netherlands, 2011
[14]
Mecheri M, Le Moullec Y. Supercritical CO2 Brayton cycles for coal-fired power plants. Energy, 2016, 103: 758–771
CrossRef Google scholar
[15]
Noaman M, Saade G, Morosuk T, Exergoeconomic analysis applied to supercritical CO2 power systems. Energy, 2019, 183: 756–765
CrossRef Google scholar
[16]
Park S, Kim J, Yoon M, Thermodynamic and economic investigation of coal-fired power plant combined with various supercritical CO2 Brayton power cycle. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2018, 130: 611–623
CrossRef Google scholar
[17]
Sharan P, Neises T, Turchi C. Thermal desalination via supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle: optimal system design and techno-economic analysis without reduction in cycle efficiency. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2019, 152: 499–514
CrossRef Google scholar
[18]
Li M, Xu J, Cao F, The investigation of thermo-economic performance and conceptual design for the miniaturized lead-cooled fast reactor composing supercritical CO2 power cycle. Energy, 2019, 173: 174–195
CrossRef Google scholar
[19]
Atrens A D, Gurgenci H, Rudolph V. Economic optimization of a CO2-based EGS power plant. Energy & Fuels, 2011, 25(8): 3765–3775
CrossRef Google scholar
[20]
Levy E K, Wang X, Pan C, Use of hot supercritical CO2 produced from a geothermal reservoir to generate electric power in a gas turbine power generation system. Journal of CO2 Utilization, 2018, 23: 20–28
CrossRef Google scholar
[21]
Wang X C. Investigation of geothermal heat extraction using supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) and its utilization in sCO2-based power cycles and organic Rankine cycles–a thermodynamic & economic perspective. Dissertation for the Doctoral Degree. Bethlehem: Lehigh University, 2018
[22]
Wang X, Levy E K, Pan C, Working fluid selection for organic Rankine cycle power generation using hot produced supercritical CO2 from a geothermal reservoir. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2019, 149: 1287–1304
CrossRef Google scholar
[23]
Pruess K, Oldenburg C M, Moridis G J. TOUGH2 User’s Guide Version 2[R]. Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), 1999, available at the website of UNT
[24]
Pruess K. ECO2N: A TOUGH2 Fluid Property Module for Mixtures of Water, NaCl, and CO2[R]. Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), 2005, available at the website of lbl
[25]
Pan C, Romero C E, Levy E K, Fully coupled wellbore-reservoir simulation of supercritical CO2 injection from fossil fuel power plant for heat mining from geothermal reservoirs. Journal of CO2 Utilization, 2018, 27: 480–492
CrossRef Google scholar
[26]
Pan L, Freifeld B, Doughty C, Fully coupled wellbore-reservoir modeling of geothermal heat extraction using CO2 as the working fluid. Geothermics, 2015, 53: 100–113
CrossRef Google scholar
[27]
Pan L, Oldenburg C M. T2Well—an integrated wellbore-reservoir simulator. Computers & Geosciences, 2014, 65: 46–55
CrossRef Google scholar
[28]
Pan L, Webb S W, Oldenburg C M. Analytical solution for two-phase flow in a wellbore using the drift-flux model. Advances in Water Resources, 2011, 34(12): 1656–1665
CrossRef Google scholar
[29]
Bezerra M A, Santelli R E, Oliveira E P, Response surface methodology (RSM) as a tool for optimization in analytical chemistry. Talanta, 2008, 76(5): 965–977
CrossRef Google scholar
[30]
Montgomery D C. Design and Analysis of Experiments. Hoboken, USA: John Wiley & Sons, 2017
[31]
Gunst R F, Myers R H, Montgomery D C. Response surface methodology: process and product optimization using designed experiments. Technometrics, 1996, 38(3): 285
CrossRef Google scholar
[32]
Plus ASPEN. Aspen technology. Inc., version. 2009, available at the website of aspentech
[33]
Peletiri S, Rahmanian N, Mujtaba I. CO2 pipeline design: a review. Energies, 2018, 11(9): 2184
CrossRef Google scholar
[34]
Vandeginste V, Piessens K. Pipeline design for a least-cost router application for CO2 transport in the CO2 sequestration cycle. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 2008, 2(4): 571–581
CrossRef Google scholar
[35]
Sanyal S K. Cost of geothermal power and factors that affect it. In: Proceedings of 29th Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering, Stanford, California, USA, 2004
[36]
Gross R, Heptonstall P, Blyth W. Investment in electricity generation: the role of costs, incentives and risks. Imperial College Centre for Energy Policy and Technology (ICEPT) for the Technology and Policy Assessment Function of the UK Energy Research Centre, 2007
[37]
Boggs P T, Tolle J W. Sequential quadratic programming. Acta Numerica, 1995, 4: 1–51
CrossRef Google scholar
[38]
Rubin E S, Chen C, Rao A B. Cost and performance of fossil fuel power plants with CO2 capture and storage. Energy Policy, 2007, 35(9): 4444–4454
CrossRef Google scholar
[39]
USCODE. 26 USC 45Q: credit for carbon oxide sequestration. 2018
[40]
Turton R, Bailie R C, Whiting W B, Analysis, Synthesis, and Design of Chemical Processes (Prentice-Hall International Series in the Physical and Chemical Engineering Sciences). 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall/PTR, 2003
[41]
Silla H. Chemical Process Engineering: Design and Economics. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2003
[42]
McCollum D L, Ogden J M. Techno-economic models for carbon dioxide compression, transport, and storage & correlations for estimating carbon dioxide density and viscosity. 2006, available at the website of repec
[43]
Lemmon E W, Huber M L, McLinden M O. NIST reference fluid thermodynamic and transport properties–REFPROP. 2019–4, available at the website of NIST
[44]
Morris D. RSMeans Mechanical Cost Data. 40th annual edition, Cordian RSMeans Data, Rockland, MA, USA, 2017
[45]
Charles J. Communications with sales rep from Mueller Environmental Designs, Inc. 2017, available at the website of muellerenvironmental
[46]
Qiao Z, Tang Y, Zhang L, Design and performance analysis of a supercritical CO2 (sCO2)-water separator for power generation systems using hot sCO2 from geothermal reservoirs. Geothermics, 2019, 81: 123–132
CrossRef Google scholar

Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the Mexican National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT in Spanish), under the Sectorial Fund for Energy Sustainability, CONACYT-Secretary of Energy (No. S0019-2012-04).

Electronic Supplementary Material

ƒSupplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-021-0749-9 and is accessible for authorized users.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2021 Higher Education Press
AI Summary AI Mindmap
PDF(5405 KB)

Accesses

Citations

Detail

Sections
Recommended

/