Preliminary investigation on the adoption of CO2-SO2 working mixtures in a transcritical Recompression cycle

This paper investigates the interest and potential of using working fluids based on Carbon and Sulphur Dioxide mixtures (CO2-SO2) in a transcritical Recompression cycle. In order to assess the actual thermodynamic potential of the concept proposed, the influence of dopant (SO2) content is assessed for two different turbine inlet temperatures (550 degrees C and 700 degrees C). The results obtained are compared with other CO2 mixtures already proposed in literature (CO2-C6F6 and CO2-TiCl4)) and for two alternative cycle layouts (Recuperated Rankine and Precompression). The results pf the analysis reveal that, at high ambient temperature, the Recompression cycle operating on CO2-SO2, with Sulphur Dioxide content between 20% and 30%(v), is a very interesting option for Concentrated Solar Power plants, able to achieve thermal efficiencies asymptotic to 45% and > 51% at 550 degrees C and 700 degrees C respectively. At a minimum cycle temperature of 50 degrees C, the proposed configuration leads to thermal efficiency gains of 6% and 2% with respect to the Brayton and Recompression cycles working on pure CO2. This performance enhancement of the Recompression cycle with CO2-SO2 is comparable to or higher than that enabled by other CO2 mixtures proposed in literature, but with significantly higher specific work (smaller footprint) and temperature rise across the solar receiver (lower installation costs).