Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Brayton Cycle Turbines Promise Giant Leap in Thermal-to-Electric Conversion Efficiency
Friday, March 4, 2011 - 07:30
in Physics & Chemistry
Sandia National Laboratories researchers are moving into the demonstration phase of a novel gas turbine system for power generation, with the promise that thermal-to-electric conversion efficiency will be increased to as much as 50 percent -- an improvement of 50 percent for nuclear power stations equipped with steam turbines, or a 40 percent improvement for simple gas turbines. The system is also very compact, meaning that capital costs would be relatively low.