Heat Exchangers

Heat Exchangers for Supercritical CO2 Power Cycle Applications
Michael Marshall (SwRI)

Marc Portnoff (Thar Energy)
Renaud Le Pierres (Heatric)
The 7th International Supercritical CO2 Power Cycles ● February 21 – 24, 2022 ● San Antonio, TX, USA 1
Supercritical CO2 has pressure and temperature above
critical values
Source: Musgrove et al. GT2012-70181

The 7th International Supercritical CO2 Power Cycles ● February 21 – 24, 2022 ● San Antonio, TX, USA
Supercritical CO2 allows for effective heat transfer in a
compact package
• High density in supercritical phase Isobars (bara):
240
allows for low volume flow through 200
160
heat exchangers. 120
80
• Low viscosity allows for increased 40
heat transfer coefficients, reduced dP.
𝝆𝑉𝐷ℎ
𝑅𝐸 =
𝝁 Isobars (bara):
240
200
160
120
80
40
Source: NIST REFPROP, v9.1

Supercritical power cycles are unique in their operating region, and
have flexible heat addition and rejection sources
Heat Input:
• Direct-fired (oxy-combustion)
• Indirect-fired (main heat exchanger,
secondary fluid from variety of sources)
Heat Rejection:
• Non-condensing: Dry (air) or water
cooling.
• Condensing: Typically water cooling.
4
Recompression cycle is benchmark for indirect fired
cycles.
Low Temperature High Temperature
Recuperater Recuperater
Compressor
Thermal
Recompressor Turbine Input
Cooler
Main HX (Thermal Input) and Cooler can take on several forms, highly recuperated
nature of cycle helps to drive up thermal efficiency.
5
Real gas properties or phase change can create
‘pinch’ points in the temperature profile
Splitting recuperator into Low Temperature (LTR) and High Temperature (HTR) units
and employing cycle flow splits can get around pinch point issue.
6
Cycle Heat Exchangers – Main Heater
• Main heater design is dependent on heating
medium/energy source.
• Waste Heat Recovery applications can use vertical or
horizontal exhaust stack similar to HRSG.
• Other applications including CSP or Nuclear could
utilize conventional shell-and-tube heat exchangers.
STEP 10 MWe Facility Natural Gas Fired Heater

(Figure: GTI)
(Figure: Southwest Thermal Technology, Inc.)
7
Cycle Heat Exchangers – Recuperators
• Recuperator design seeks to maximize heat transfer
surface area density for HP and LP streams.
• Printed Circuit Heat Exchangers (PCHE) use etched
plates that are diffusion bonded in counterflow heat
transfer.
• Proven technology for design pressures exceeding 250
bar and temperatures above 500 °C.
PCHE flow schematic

(Figure: Heatric)
PCHE Recuperator for DOE SunShot program (VPE)
8
Cycle Heat Exchangers – Coolers
• With a critical temperature around 80 bar
88 [F], sCO2 power cycles are
conducive to the use of air coolers.
• Near the critical point, variation in 85 bar
thermal conductivity and specific 90 bar
heat are significant. 95 bar
• Air coolers use forced convection

from fans, and multiple bays can be
implemented based off of duty Source: NIST REFPROP Source: NIST REFPROP
requirements.
• Water coolers could take on a
semi-welded plate heat exchanger
configuration, PCHE, or shell &
tube. Figure: Goodway
Technologies
9
Cycle Heat Exchangers – Additive Manufacturing
• Additive manufacturing is a prospective
option for sCO2 recuperators and
coolers (water). Figure: Velo3D
• Two leading processes are directed
energy deposition (DED) and powder
bed fusion (PBF).
• DED can achieve faster build rates and
specializes in building off of existing
material. PBF specializes in intricate
channel geometry and steep overhang
angle capability.
Figure: Trumpf
10
Cycle Heat Exchangers – Additive Manufacturing
• Additive Manufacturing machines typically
have limited build volume (kW vs. MW
commercial scale). Core would likely need to
be built in parallel.
• For safe operation, verification methods are
needed to determine material properties and
the presence of imperfections (CT-scan).
• Development programs include ARPA-E
HITEMMP, multiple projects looking to test
additive heat exchangers in 800 °C
environment
Figure: Zhao, J.C. et. al. , ARPA-E
HITEMMP Annual Meeting.
11
Heat Exchanger Thermal Design Overview
Once the cycle has established heat
exchanger design conditions, detailed
design can begin.
The overall approach is to determine the

heat exchanger Unit Cell and correlations for
HTC, DP and conduction resistance.
These data are then used in a discretized

model to find the resulting heat exchanger
performance using energy conservation.
Discretization is required for non-linear fluid

properties. This means that overall
approaches like LMTD and 𝜖 − 𝑁𝑇𝑈 are not
appropriate.
Overall Heat Transfer
This is a plane wall, wall Heat Transfer
resistance in radial systems is
different Heat transferred from or to each
fluid can be expressed as:
𝑄 = 𝑈𝐴 ∗ ΔT
In this equation Δ𝑇 is the driving

temperature difference between the
hot and cold sides of the exchanger.
𝑈𝐴 comes from a 1D heat resistance

network connecting the hot and cold
1 1 1 sides.
= + 𝑅𝑤 +
𝑈𝐴 ℎ𝐴 ℎ ℎ𝐴 𝑐 Figure: Incropera, Dewitt, Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer.
1 1 1
Fluid Heat Transfer = + 𝑅𝑤 +
𝑈𝐴 ℎ𝐴 ℎ ℎ𝐴 𝑐
To calculate the required 𝑈𝐴 term we need the hot and

Gnielinski correlation for smooth wall, fully developed cold side heat transfer coefficients. These can be derived
turbulent flow in a pipe (0.5<Pr<2000 and from experiments, CFD, or from correlations.
3000<RE<5e6)
Experiments or experimentally derived correlations are

most accurate but are geometry dependent.
• Channel shape?
• Channel surface roughness?
• Entry lengths?
• Phase?
• Fin area?
• Close enough?
• Hydraulic diameter?
Wall Resistance 1 1 1
= + 𝑅𝑤 +
𝑈𝐴 ℎ𝐴 ℎ ℎ𝐴 𝑐
Wall resistance inhibits heat flow

between the fluids. The value of 𝑅𝑤
can be obtained from FEA, analytically,
or from experiment.
FEA used to calculate equivalent wall resistance for
checkerboard circular channels
Experiments or experimentally derived
correlations are most accurate but are
geometry dependent.
Configuration UA per m Percent
No wall resistance 26.632 100.0
Resistance network for Equivalent Plane Wall 25.381 95.30
composite cylindrical wall
Checkerboard 24.57 92.25
Staggered 21.90 82.23
Pressure drop Pressure drop changes fluid properties
and also affects cycle. Relationships for
pressure drop can be derived
experimentally or from correlations.
For flow through a tube:
2
𝑙 𝜌𝑉
𝐷𝑃 = 𝑓( )( )
𝐷 2
𝑓 is a function of surface roughness,
diameter, and RE through the Moody
Moody Chart chart (Colebrook equation)
Source: Munson, et. al. Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics.
Energy Conservation
Energy conservation
Heat transferred from or to each
fluid is equal to the enthalpy change
of the respective fluid.
𝑄 = 𝑈𝐴 ∗ Δ𝑇 = 𝑚ሶ ∗ Δℎ
Using a robust fluid property

package means you don’t need to
rely on linearizing assumptions
(Specific heat).
Figure: Incropera, Dewitt, Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer.
Solver Combine all equations and solve. The problem?
Heat transfer changes fluid properties which changes heat transfer

which changes fluid properties and pressure drop. Solution is iterative.
Strategy:
-Divide heat exchanger into divisions
-Guess initial temperature distribution
In each division
-Calculate heat transfer and pressure drop on both hot and cold sides
-Calculate overall UA
-Calculate exit enthalpy (enforce conservation)
-Update fluid properties
Duty Error as a function of iteration count -Go through each division and repeat until converged.
Divisions Direct EOS Tabulated EOS Most of computational effort is spent calculating fluid properties and
solving Colebrook equation. Tabulation and approximations can help.
5 0.251s 0.022s
15 0.933s 0.081s Parallelflow, Counterflow, Crossflow? Change which fluid element talks
to which fluid element.
50 10.3s 0.871s
250 256s 22.2s
Optimization Example
Set Boundary Conditions
• Low Pressure CO2 Stream: 500 [C], 80 [bar]
• High Pressure CO2 Stream: 150 [C], 250 [bar]
• Flowrate: 20 kg/s
Establish Basic Geometry and Material

• Circular passages in counterflow arrangement,
SS316
Set Independent Variables

• Length of HX core
• Number of passages
• Diameter of HP passages
• Diameter of LP passages
Set Objectives
• Maximize effectiveness
• Minimize volume
Set Constraints
• HP pressure loss < 2%
HP – Blue, LP - Red • LP pressure loss < 2%
Optimization Results
Optimization algorithm
• Select type of algorithm
• Set generation count, population size
Optimization evaluator
• Select fluid property package
• Set equations for solid and fluid thermal resistance
• Set equations for pressure drop
• Use 1-D code for energy conservation
Results
• Tradeoffs between performance and size/cost of
heat exchanger becomes evident.
• Numerous factors complicate the design of HX’s,
optimization of core geometry is only one component
of a worthy design.
Enabling the Extraordinary
To Fly To Power To Live
HEATRIC
presented by:
Mebrahtu Embaye: Thermal Engineer
Renaud Le Pierres, Business development Engineer
June 2021
1 Examples of PCHEs globally delivered for Power Cycles
2 Economic feasibility of PCHEs for sCO2 power cycles
3 Benefits of PCHEs
4 PCHEs design and construction
Heatric: ASME Turbo Expo 2021 Technical conference Meggitt proprietary and confidential. No unauthorised copying or disclosure. 2
29 June 2021
1 Examples of PCHEs globally delivered
for Power Cycles
29 June 2021
Examples of PCHEs globally delivered for Power Cycles
PCHEs Globally Delivered Projects for sCO2 Cycles
• sCO2 power cycles

(Recuperator, coolers and
supper heaters)
• Combined Cycle Gas Turbine
(fuel gas heaters and Rotor Air
Coolers, condenser, evaporator
• Energy storage
• Waste heat recovery (WHR),
Nuclear, concentrating solar,
fossil energy
29 June 2021
2 Economic feasibility of PCHEs for sCO2 power cycles
29 June 2021
Economic feasibility of PCHEs for sCO2 power cycles
Economic feasibility – effectiveness of exchangers versus cost and cycle efficiency
• Increasing design temperature:

Change conventional material to high grade alloys (10x –
20x more expensive and potentially limited supply)
• Increasing design Pressure:

Thicker walls with non standard product forms for some
components (i.e. hubs, special forgings, pipes)
• Temperature approaches:
Diminish efficiency returns versus exchanger potentially
doubling in size for minimum gains (Q=U.A.LMTD)
Decreasing pressure drop
• Allowable pressure drop:
Cost ratio
Very high free flow area required (increase size of HE)
potentially beyond compressor / pump cost savings
 Hence sCO2 process design must be balanced

between equipment cost and efficiency gain Overall temp approach
29 June 2021
3 Benefits of PCHEs
29 June 2021
Benefits of PCHEs
Printed Circuit Heat Exchangers
Superior Performance Inherently Safe Compact and Modular
OPEX saving across wide Overall Project CAPEX saving

range of processes Reduced operational risks
Using diffusion bonding with a fully PCHEs are up to 85% smaller than Shell
PCHEs are bespoke diffusion bonded and Tube exchangers, offering:
welded construction, PCHEs:
compact heat exchangers providing:
- can operate at full differential - modularisation for ease of transport,
- close temperature approaches
pressure between streams on-site installation
(>2°C)
- are immune to flow induced - reduced foundation structure
- very high thermal performance (i.e. vibrations and pressure fluctuations
13.6MWth/m3 sCO2 recuperator) - reduced pipework and safety valves
- do not suffer from catastrophic
- high pressure capability (>1,000 Bar) failure mode - retrofit capability in-lieu of S&T
- widest range of temperatures (- - have 30 years track record of safe
196°C to 983°C) operation
29 June 2021
Benefits of PCHEs
Printed Circuit Heat Exchangers
Coolant flow reduction - Temperature optimization

Reduced pumping requirements  Lower capital & operating costs
Smaller diameter piping system  Lower capital costs Reduced weight & space
Greater mechanical & routing flexibility
Smaller coolant inventory  Lower operating weight
Shell & Tube Gas Cooler Heatric Gas Cooler

220 220
Compressed Gas Compressed Gas
200 200 200 200
Cooling Water Cooling Water
180 180
Temperature (°F)
Temperature (°F)
160
160
140 140
140
120 115
120
105
100
95 105
100
80 95
Q = m2 Cp ΔT2
Duty (mmBtu/hr)
Q = m1 Cp ΔT1 80
Duty (mmBtu/hr) Q = m2 Cp(140-95)
Q = m1 Cp (115-95)
55% saving in coolant flow
29 June 2021
Benefits of PCHEs
Mechanical capability
29 June 2021
4 PCHE design and construction
29 June 2021
PCHEs design and construction
Construction process
• Design:
PCHE is designed in-house by specialised engineering team to

customer requirements Design
• Etching:
PCHEs are constructed of stainless steel plates, which are

chemically etched to create the channels. Chemical etching the Etch
channels does not create stress-points which can cause channel
failure.
• Bonding: Bond
Etched plates are stacked and diffusion-bonded together; to
produce a core with the same integrity as a block of steel
• Fabrication: Fabricate
The cores are then welded together, with headers and flanges
attached as required to produce the completed exchanger
29 June 2021
Production process
Bonded core
Welded components
(Nozzles , Flanges Exploded view of
and Headers) PCHEs
29 June 2021
PCHEs design process
Hydraulic design Mechanical design

- Mass flow rate - Design as per code (ASME)
- Overall pressure drop calc - Component minimum wall thickness
- Component loss (Core, nozzle and headers) - Nozzle loads
- loss of Manifolds, elbow, glycol or liquid injection and two phase - NDT if required
distributors if any)
- FEA if not covered by code
- Combined load flange ratings
- Creep and Fatigue life analysis
PCHE Design
process
Thermal design
Material selection - All required thermal calc and Fouling
- Plate sizing and core sizing
- Availability
- Flow pass configuration
-Cost
-design with manifolds if requires
- Mechanical and thermal strength
- Design with multi-streamers if requires
- Corrosion resistant
- Endure maldistribution is avoided
- Manufacturability
Optimizing to minimize cost
- Weldability and Formability
29 June 2021
Material process 500
450
Qualified: 400
Design Stress SE (MPa)

350
• Austenitic Stainless steels 304/304L (S30400, 300
Duplex
S30403) 250
• Austenitic Stainless steels 316/316L (S31600, 200

6Mo
150
S31603) SS316
100 SS304
• Duplex 2205 (S31803) 50
0
• Superduplex (S32750) 0.0 100.0 200.0

Temperature (oC)
300.0 400.0
• Titanium Grade 2 (R50400) Material Allowable Stress:

• 6 Moly (N08367) • SS304 @ 425°C = 100MPa ASME II Part D
• Alloy 617 (N06617) • Duplex @ 150°C = 370MPa ASME II Part D
• 6Moly @ 275°C= 190MPa ASME II Part D
29 June 2021
PCHE design and construction
Thermal design considerations
Thermal contact arrangement (2 streamers) Thermal Contact (multi-streamers)
Counter flow Multipass Multipass counter

counter flow -cross flow Side C
In Series Side A
Side B
Section 1 Section 2
In parallel Side A Side A
Parallel flow Cross flow Side B Side C
Interleaved Side A
Side C
Side B
29 June 2021
Hydraulic design consideration
DP distribution through PCHEs

− Active Core  min. 50% of the total calculated DPTOTAL.
− Header - Nozzles  dynamic head losses enforced, check for
maldistribution
Due to friction:
− Pressure drop through the core V 2 fL
− Treated similarly to loses in pipes DP 
2D
− PCHE experimental studies on fanning friction factor (ƒ)and Re.
Due to fittings:
− Pressure drop through standard core attachments
− Also for additional fittings (elbows, manifolds, etc) DP  KVhead
− Apply the resistance coefficient (K) method
− Most commonly used  expansion and contraction
29 June 2021
Mechanical design Code & Certifications
Materials
Non Destructible Examination (NDE)
• Properties – allowable stress
• Techniques
• Product form specifications –
• Qualifications
Acceptance Testing delivery condition
• ASME V Criteria Criteria • ASME II Part D
• Hydro test
• NACE
• Leak test
• EN 10204
• RT and UT
• NORSOK MDS
• Die penetration
• Client Specs
Rules and Regulations
• Design Code (ASME VIII, EN13445,
PD5500, AS1210)
• Client Spec
• Local Legislation
Analysis Fabrication
• Modes of failure • Welding
• Specific rules • Processing (forging)
• Allowable Stress Acceptance Allowable
• Forming
• Safety factors Criteria Processes
• Margins • Procedure Qualification
• Off design • Operator Qualifications
• Testing Requirements
29 June 2021
7th International
Supercritical CO2 Power Cycles Symposium
San Antonio, TX U.S.A.
February 21-24, 2022
Heat Exchangers for

Supercritical CO2 Power Cycle Applications
Tutorial
Compact Heat Exchangers

Design Considerations, Operations & Testing
Lalit Chordia, PhD, Vahid Vahdat, PhD, Marc Portnoff

Corporate Headquarters
150 Gamma Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15238
Primary Heat Exchanger

sCO2 sCO2
Hot gas to sCO2
Inlet Outlet
Warm Hot
Gas Gas
Microtubes
• Heats up the pressurized sCO2 to high

temperature prior to entering the turbine
Cross Flow, Counter-current
Microtube Heater • Particle contaminants are a concern –
size for periodic cleaning
Thar Energy, LLC © 2022│ All Rights Reserved Work supported by US DOE NETL: DE-FE0024012 2
150 Gamma Drive
Primary Heat Exchanger – Design Considerations

Thar Energy’s sCO2 Primary Heater
Installed, Commissioned and Operated at SwRI
Material Selection
Cross-Flow, 1 • High strength at high temperature (Inconel 740H)
Counter-Current • ASME, Section 8, Div. I approved, 800°C / 300 bar
Arrangement
• Design to creep rupture strength rather than
allowable yield strength
Corrosion
2 • Select materials that are stable in sCO2 and
combustion gas corrosion
Work supported by US DOE: DE-EE0005804\
Design Conditions: Thermal Expansion

3 • Design the structure to allow free thermal
Gas Fired Burner/Blower Outlet expansion under high temperature
Combustion Gas Temp: 870°C
sCO2 HX Outlet: Air Side Pressure Drop
Max Temperature: 715°C @ 255 bar 4 • Air side pressure drop sized to be under limit to
Design Pressure: 280 bar 2.5 MWt ensure overall efficiency
Thermal Capacity
Thar Energy, LLC © 2022│ All Rights Reserved
3
150 Gamma Drive
Primary Heat Exchanger

Cross flow, Counter-current Microtube Heat Exchanger
19’’
Overall Size Comparison
6’’ • Microtube vs. conventional tube, air to CO2 cross flow,
3.5’’
counter-current heat exchangers
• Different tube sizes with the same thermal capacity,
13’’ effectiveness and air side pressure drop
7’’ 10.5’’
1 mm OD 3 mm OD 7 mm OD
Tube OD 1 mm 3 mm 7 mm
Total Tube Length 16,800’’ 9,240’’ 7,020’’
Tube Number 600 220 90
Bundle Weight 4.5 lb 20 lb 90 lb
Surface Density 46 in2/in3 17 in2/in3 7 in2/in3
1 mm OD 3 mm OD 7 mm OD
4
150 Gamma Drive
Water Cooler: Water to sCO2

Gas or Air Cooler: Air to sCO2
Air Cooled
Finned-Tubes Micro-channel
Water Cooled • Cool sCO2 to increase density

and reduce compressor energy
）
Trade off between water vs. air cooling
• Water – more compact, counter-flow, pumping water
uses less energy, water treatment
• Air – Cross-flow, sized to minimize fan energy and to
Brazed-Plate Tube/ Microtube accommodate contaminant removal
5
150 Gamma Drive
sCO2 Water Cooler – Design Considerations

Design Conditions:
• Max Temperature: up to 100°C Material Selection
1
• Pressure: 100 bar • More flexible due to low temperature
• Tradeoffs in cost vs. reliability
depends on the water quality
8’’
126’’ Corrosion and Erosion

2 • Apart from corrosion issue, erosion
should also be taken into account
Maintenance
Counter-Flow 3 • Water-cooled heat exchanger
Shell & Tube Water Cooler requires regular maintenance
Material: Stainless Steel 304

6
150 Gamma Drive
sCO2 Gas - Air Cooler – Design Considerations

AHU_2_TE1 AHU_2_TE2 AHU_In_Temp AHU_Out_Temp
170
160 Higher Pressure - CO2 In

CO2 In
150
140
Micro-channel coils are
130
• 40% more efficient
• 40% smaller
Air In Air Out
Temp (deg F)
120
110
• 50% less refrigerant
CO2 Out • Lower air side P
100
Ambient Air Out

than standard tube & fin coils
90
80 ~2°F Approach Temperature

Higher Pressure - CO2 Out
70
Ambient Air In
60
310 315 320 325 330 335
Time (min.)
At Thar’s test facility, air and CO2 Commercial availability is

approaching temperature as low as 2°F improving with use of CO2
was achieved using micro-channel coil. (R744) as a refrigerant

7
150 Gamma Drive
Recuperator - sCO2 to sCO2

Counter Current
3.0
Helical
Plate Fin
2.5 Microtube
Relative Change in Cost
Corrugated
Stacked Sheet
2.0
HEATRIC (Shiferaw 2016)
Counterflow (NTU Ratio)
1.5
1.0
• Increases the system efficiency by reusing
0.5
Work supported by US DOE NETL: DE-FE0026273
turbine exhaust sCO2 energy
80% 82% 84% 86% 88% 90% 92% 94% 96% 98% 100%
Heat Exchanger Effectiveness [%]
Recuperator specifications influence cost

• Approach Temperature
Relatively independent of the heat • Effectiveness
exchanger concepts evaluated • Pressure Drop

8
150 Gamma Drive
Microtube Recuperator
Counter- current
40’’
135’’ Overall Size Comparison
1 mm OD 450’’
• Microtube vs. conventional tube, counter-
current heat exchangers
3 mm OD
• Different tube sizes with the same thermal
capacity, effectiveness and pressure drop
7 mm OD
Tube OD 1 mm 3 mm 7 mm
Tube Length 40’’ 135’’ 450’’
Tube Number 1500 175 30
Bundle Weight 17 lb 59 lb 244 lb
Surface Density 76 in2/in3 30 in2/in3 12 in2/in3 1 mm OD 3 mm OD 7 mm OD

9
150 Gamma Drive
Thar Energy and SwRI conducted a multi-year study focused on

building cost effective recuperators, at the MWt scale.
• Identified a recuperator concept – Stacked-Sheet Heat Exchanger (SSHX)

❖ High thermal and hydraulic performance (counter-current)
❖ Improve structural integrity and thermal compliance
❖ Compact and light weight
❖ Optimized material usage
• Successfully designed, fabricated, and tested Prototype SSHX recuperators

using several advanced manufacturing processes, such as:
❖ Additive manufacturing (3D printing)
❖ High power laser cutting
❖ Vacuum bonding
❖ Advanced CMM QA/QC methods
Thar Energy, LLC © 2022│ All Rights Reserved 10

150 Gamma Drive
Stacked-sheet Recuperator Concept (SSHX)
• Patterns cut, punched or etched into

Core individual sheets
HPin
• Sheets are aligned, stacked, and joined
HPout (brazed, diffusion bonded)
LPout • Manifolds/headers are added to
LPin separate flow streams and ensure
Manifold uniform flow distribution
The bond between sheets is parallel to the mechanical stresses & perpendicular to the thermal stresses
Improves structural integrity and thermal compliance
High Pin
Recuperator Low Pin
150 Gamma Drive
Prototype SSHX Recuperators
3D-SSHX Laser-SSHX
Criteria
Prototype Prototype
Manufacturing Method 3D Printed Laser Cut Sheets
Materials Inconel 625 Stainless 347H
Channel Pattern Circle-Star Circle-Circle
Manifold Design 3D Printed Laser Cut Sheets
Joining Method Diffusion Braze Diffusion Braze
Opacity ~46% ~73%
150 Gamma Drive
Thar sCO2 HX Test Loop vs. a standard sCO2 Brayton Cycle Loop
Different from Standard Loop

• Pump used in place of a heater
compressor
compressor
recuperator turbine
• Turbine is replaced by back
pressure regulator (BPR)
Pressure
cooler
Test Condition
Recuperated sCO2 Brayton Cycle
Supercritical Carbon Dioxide
• Operating Pressure: 255bar / 87bar
• Operating Temperature: 570°C
Combustion Gas Enthalpy

• Maximum Temperature: 750°C
• Maximum Flow: 250 scfm @ 750°C Thar Loop Compared to Standard Brayton Cycle
Thar Energy, LLC © 2022│ All Rights Reserved Work supported by US DOE NETL: DE-FE0024012, DE-FE0026273 13
150 Gamma Drive
Thar sCO2 HX Test Loop

Purpose of Test Loop
1. Collect sCO2 performance data
2. Validate model used for calculation
3. Verify mechanical design and
material strength
• Operational Performance
• Transient Analysis
• Startup and Shutdown
• Component Performance
❖ Pumps
❖ Filters
❖ Valves
❖ Sensors
Thar Energy, LLC © 2022│ All Rights Reserved Work supported by US DOE NETL: DE-FE0024012, DE-FE0026273 14
150 Gamma Drive
Test Conditions - SSHX Recuperator Prototypes
20 - 75 kWt High P
150, 200, 250 bar
22 - 60°C
SSHX 0.83 - 0.167 kg/s
Low P
Recuperator (5 - 10 kg/min)
66 - 86 bar
200 - 575°C
5 - 10 kg/min
• Test thermal/hydraulic performance over a

range of operating conditions
• Compare actual to predicted performance
Thar Energy, LLC © 2022│ All Rights Reserved Work supported by US DOE NETL: DE-FE0024012, DE-FE0025348 , DE-FE0026273 15
150 Gamma Drive
HX Performance Heat Transfer Equations
High Pout High Pin

THO, PHO, ṁ THI, PHI, ṁ
hHO hHI
Recuperator
Low Pin Low Pout
TLI, PLI, ṁ TLO, PLO, ṁ
hLI hLO
Effectiveness, ϵ = Qact ÷ Qmax UA = Qact ÷ TLn

Qact = minimum(QHI-HO, QLI-LO) Qmax = minimum(Qh max, Qc max) TLn = (Ti – Tii) ÷ LN (Ti ÷ Tii)
QHI-HO = ṁ x (hHO – hHI) Qh max = ṁ x (hLI – h(THI, PLO)) Ti = TLI – THO
QLI-LO = ṁ x (hLI – hLO) Qc max = ṁ x (h(TLI, PHO) – hHI)
Tii = TLO – THI
Approach Temperature = TLO – THI % Pressure Drop

%P = (Pin – Pout) / Pin
R. K. Shah and D. P. Sekulic, Fundamentals of Heat Exchanger Design, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2003
16
150 Gamma Drive
Steady State Time vs. Temperature Plot

Prototype SSHX Recuperators
3D-SSHX – Steady State Plot
3D-
SSHX
Laser-
SSHX
150 Gamma Drive
Temperature vs. Time Plot

Good Energy Balance, < 2% error
Approach T, < 10°C
150 Gamma Drive
Energy Transfer Plots

SSHX Recuperator Prototypes
3D-SSHX Laser-SSHX
Inconel 625 347H Stainless Steel
152 bar #1 152 bar #2 202 bar 256 bar 152 bar #1 151 bar #2 202 bar 252 bar
Qavg/ṁ (kW/kg/s)
700
Qavg/ṁ (kW/kg/s)
700
600 600
500 500
/ṁ (kW/kg/s)
/ṁ (kW/kg/s)
400 400
Transfer,
Transfer,
300 300
Qaverage
EnergyQaverage
200 200
Energy
100 100
0 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Recuperator,
Recuperator,Low Pres. sCO
Low Pressure Inlet
sCO2,2Inlet Temperature
Temperature (°C) (°C) Recuperator,
Recuperator,Low Pres. sCO
Low Pressure Inlet
sCO2,2Inlet Temperature
Temperature (°C) (°C)
Linear Response
Thar Energy, LLC © 2022│ All Rights Reserved Work supported by US DOE NETL: DE-FE0026273
150 Gamma Drive
3D-SSHX Prototype Recuperator

Approach Temperature Plot sCO2 P Plot
152 bar #1 152 bar #2 202 bar 256 bar 68 bar 73 bar 84 bar 82 bar
20 1.6%
18
Temperature (°C)(°C)
1.4%
(%) (%)
16
1.2%
2 P
Temperature
14
sCO2 ∆P
1.0%
Pressure sCO
12
10 0.8%
Pressure
8
Approach
0.6%
Approach
Low Low
0.4%
4
2 0.2%
0 0.0%
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Recuperator, Low
Recuperator, LowPres. sCO
Pressure sCO22,Inlet Temperature
Inlet Temperature (°C) (°C) Recuperator,
Recuperator, LowLow Pressure
Pres. sCO sCOInlet
2, Inlet Temperature
Temperature (°C) (°C)
2
Approach T, < 10°C Ph < 1.5%

Meets design specifications
150 Gamma Drive
3D-SSHX Prototype Recuperator

Good correlation between Design & Actual HX performance data
Transferred Energy, Q Effectiveness, ϵ
152 bar #1 152 bar #2 202 bar 256 bar 152 bar #1 152 bar #2 202 bar 256 bar
80 100%
90%
70
(%) (%)
80%
60
Effectivenessactualactual
(kW)
70%
actual (kW)
50 60%
Effectiveness
QQactual
40 50%
40%
30
30%
20
20%
10 10%
0 0%
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Qmodel
Qmodel(kW)
(kW) Effectiveness model (%)
Effectivenessmodel (%)
150 Gamma Drive
46 MWt Laser-SSHX Recuperator

Parallel Modular Design, Factory Fabricated
3D-SSHX
57% volume
decrease
0.5m x 2.8m x 3m
Example: Eight stacked Laser-SSHX sub-modules

150 Gamma Drive
Data confirms SSHX Recuperator Performance

SSHX Recuperator
meets or exceeds program requirements
S.T.E.P. Target SSHX
Criteria
(Aug 2016) Prototype
Thermal Capacity 45.9 MWt ✓
Thermal Effectiveness 97% ✓
Ph < 1.5% (1.3 bar) ✓
Pressure Loss
Pc < 0.6% (1.3 bar) ✓
Temperature Limit 577°C ✓
Differential Pressure 152 bar ✓
Life 30,000 hr TBD
Cost < $100 / kWt ✓

Package Dimensions 8.8 x 3.6 x 2.6 m ✓
150 Gamma Drive
Transient Tests
COMBO-SSHX:
Laser-SSHX & 3D-SSHX piped in series
24
150 Gamma Drive
Test & Energy Balance Plots

COMBO-SSHX Recuperator
(Laser-SSHX & 3D-SSHX connected in series)
Combo-SSHX Time vs. Temperature Plot Energy Balance Plot
Energy Transferred (kWt)

Temperature (°C)
sCO2 mass flow

~0.115 kg/s (7 kg/min)
Time (min.) Time (min.)

Approach T: < 5°C Good Energy Balance, < 2% error
Effectiveness: > 98%
150 Gamma Drive
COMBO-SSHX
Temperature Transient Plot
T (°C), P (bar), F (kg/min x 50)
Pressure and flow remain stable

26
150 Gamma Drive
COMBO-SSHX
Temperature Transient Plot - expanded
T ~7°C/min. in
the first six min.
~80 bar
~200 Bar
Hot combustion gas adjusts in ~2 min; sCO2 streams take ~10-15 min.
27
150 Gamma Drive
COMBO-SSHX
Pressure Transient Plot
~80 bar
~200 Bar
As High P is increased, sCO2 flow decreases, & Low P Recuperator T increases

28
150 Gamma Drive
COMBO-SSHX
Flow Transient Plot
~80 bar
~200 Bar
As sCO2 flow decreased, Low P Recuperator T increases, & High P increases slightly
(not shown)
29
150 Gamma Drive
Thank you for your kind attention!
Thar Energy’s new Pittsburgh location

200 RIDC Park West Drive, Building 2, Pittsburgh, PA
Contact Information:
Marc Portnoff
Manager, New Technology
Thar Energy, LLC
200 RIDC Park West Drive, Bldg. #2
Pittsburgh, PA 15275-1002
mportnoff@tharenergy.com
Thar Energy, LLC © 2022│ All Rights Reserved 30

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Heat Exchangers for Supercritical CO2 Power Cycle Applications

Michael Marshall (SwRI)

Source: Musgrove et al. GT2012-70181

heat transfer coefficients, reduced dP.

Source: NIST REFPROP, v9.1

STEP 10 MWe Facility Natural Gas Fired Heater

PCHE flow schematic

PCHE Recuperator for DOE SunShot program (VPE)

• Air coolers use forced convection

The overall approach is to determine the

These data are then used in a discretized

Discretization is required for non-linear fluid

In this equation Δ𝑇 is the driving

𝑈𝐴 comes from a 1D heat resistance

To calculate the required 𝑈𝐴 term we need the hot and

Experiments or experimentally derived correlations are

Wall resistance inhibits heat flow

For flow through a tube:

Using a robust fluid property

Heat transfer changes fluid properties which changes heat transfer

Establish Basic Geometry and Material

Set Independent Variables

2 Economic feasibility of PCHEs for sCO2 power cycles

4 PCHEs design and construction

• sCO2 power cycles

• Increasing design temperature:

• Increasing design Pressure:

• Allowable pressure drop:

 Hence sCO2 process design must be balanced

OPEX saving across wide Overall Project CAPEX saving

Coolant flow reduction - Temperature optimization

Shell & Tube Gas Cooler Heatric Gas Cooler

PCHE is designed in-house by specialised engineering team to

PCHEs are constructed of stainless steel plates, which are

Hydraulic design Mechanical design

Design Stress SE (MPa)

• Austenitic Stainless steels 316/316L (S31600, 200

• Superduplex (S32750) 0.0 100.0 200.0

• Titanium Grade 2 (R50400) Material Allowable Stress:

• Alloy 617 (N06617) • Duplex @ 150°C = 370MPa ASME II Part D

• 6Moly @ 275°C= 190MPa ASME II Part D

Thermal contact arrangement (2 streamers) Thermal Contact (multi-streamers)

Counter flow Multipass Multipass counter

In parallel Side A Side A

Parallel flow Cross flow Side B Side C

DP distribution through PCHEs

Heat Exchangers for

Compact Heat Exchangers

Lalit Chordia, PhD, Vahid Vahdat, PhD, Marc Portnoff

Primary Heat Exchanger

• Heats up the pressurized sCO2 to high

Primary Heat Exchanger – Design Considerations

Work supported by US DOE: DE-EE0005804\

Design Conditions: Thermal Expansion

Primary Heat Exchanger

Water Cooler: Water to sCO2

Water Cooled • Cool sCO2 to increase density

sCO2 Water Cooler – Design Considerations

126’’ Corrosion and Erosion