How Ultra-Efficient CO2 Turbines Are The Future of Energy

Summary

The video dives into the groundbreaking potential of supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) turbines in revolutionizing modern energy systems. Unlike traditional steam turbines, these CO2 turbines are more efficient and compact, presenting transformative possibilities for electricity generation. This video by Ziroth's creator, Ryan Inis, explains how supercritical CO2 operates, its benefits over steam turbines, and provides insights into real-world applications, highlighting its role in the future of power plants. Despite certain technical challenges, such as material durability at high temperatures, the technology holds promise for enhancing efficiency and reducing environmental impacts in energy generation.

Highlights

• Discover how CO2 in a supercritical state can revolutionize energy generation. 🚀
• Supercritical CO2 turbines are smaller and more efficient than traditional steam turbines. 🔄
• These turbines operate at high temperatures, boosting efficiency and reducing energy loss. 🌡
• Material challenges need to be addressed for widespread adoption of CO2 technology. 🛠
• Real-world projects are already demonstrating the viability of CO2 turbines in the energy sector. 🌍

Key Takeaways

• Supercritical CO2 turbines present a revolutionary shift in energy generation by being highly efficient and compact. ⚡
• The state of supercritical CO2 allows it to flow like a gas with the density of a liquid, optimizing turbine performance. 💧
• These turbines can operate in high-temperature conditions, which enhances their energy efficiency significantly. 🌡
• Real-world applications show promising results, yet challenges like material durability need to be overcome. 🚀
• The compact size and high efficiency of CO2 turbines make them suitable for future power plants and renewable energy systems. 🔋

Overview

Supercritical carbon dioxide turbines are emerging as a game-changer in the field of energy generation. Unlike traditional steam turbines, these advanced turbines utilize CO2 in a unique state that significantly increases efficiency while reducing the size of the turbine system. This video by Ryan Inis of Ziroth delves into how these turbines work, their potential advantages, and the exciting developments happening in the industry.

At the core of this innovation is the state of supercritical CO2, which behaves with the fluidity of gas and the density of a liquid. This allows for more efficient turbines that are capable of operating under high temperatures without the energy loss associated with phase changes from gas to liquid or vice versa. The technology promises to make electricity generation more efficient, streamlined, and environmentally friendly.

Despite their potential, supercritical CO2 turbines face several challenges, including ensuring the durability of materials used to withstand extreme conditions. However, ongoing projects like the Step Demo pilot plant in Texas indicate progress towards overcoming these hurdles. As these turbines become more efficient and cost-effective, they are poised to lead the way in transitioning to cleaner and more sustainable energy solutions.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Energy Breakthroughs This chapter delves into the frequent announcements regarding energy breakthroughs, such as fusion reactors and concentrated solar power. Despite the innovations, these technologies generally revert back to a steam turbine generator that has been in use since 1884. The process typically involves generating heat to create steam, which spins a turbine, consequently spinning an electrical generator to produce electricity.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Supercritical CO2 Turbines Introduction The chapter introduces the concept of supercritical carbon dioxide turbines as a more efficient alternative to steam turbines. These turbines have the potential to transform electricity generation in modern power plants. The chapter also hints at recent developments that are advancing this technology, and it aims to explore how they work and their implications for the future of energy.
• 01:00 - 02:00: Understanding Supercritical CO2 The chapter explores the concept of supercritical CO2 and its potential benefits, particularly in modern energy systems where CO2 is often seen negatively. The discussion focuses on its functionality in a supercritical state and provides insights into current projects, performance data, and future perspectives.
• 02:00 - 03:00: Demonstration and Transition of CO2 In this chapter, the focus is on explaining the unique properties of supercritical CO2, which acts as an intermediate state of matter. This state allows CO2 to flow like a gas while possessing the density of a liquid, approximately half the density of water. Before diving into the scientific details, the chapter mentions a demonstration led by Dr. James Orgill, illustrating the concept and transition of CO2 in this state.
• 03:00 - 03:30: Application in Turbines In the chapter titled 'Application in Turbines', the Action Lab YouTube channel demonstrates how a pressure chamber is used to compress solid CO2 (dry ice) into liquid CO2. This transformation occurs due to the high pressure exerted within the chamber, pushing the molecules close enough to prevent them from becoming gaseous. By adding a piece of styrofoam into the chamber, the visible boundary or interface between the liquid and gaseous states of CO2 is revealed, illustrating the changes in state under different conditions. This experiment highlights the concept of pressure-induced phase changes, which may have applications in turbine operations or other technological processes where pressure manipulation is critical.
• 03:30 - 04:30: Efficiency of Supercritical CO2 Turbines The chapter explains how liquid CO2 transforms into a supercritical fluid when heated in a vessel. During this transition, the interface layer disappears, and objects like styrofoam appear suspended in the supercritical CO2. This supercritical CO2 expands to occupy the full volume of the pressure vessel and is considered for use in turbines for next-generation power plants.
• 04:30 - 06:30: Challenges and Real World Applications The chapter titled 'Challenges and Real World Applications' delves into various heat sources such as fusion energy, solar power, and natural gas. It presents a graph that elucidates the scientific principles governing these energy sources. The graph illustrates the relationship between temperature and pressure, prominently featuring a scenario in which CO2 transitions under specific conditions. Initially, the CO2 is very cold and in a solid state within a pressure chamber. As the temperature escalates, the CO2 transforms from a solid to a liquid and eventually into supercritical CO2 after surpassing the critical temperature threshold. The discussion highlights the challenges and applications associated with managing these transitions in real-world energy solutions.
• 06:30 - 08:00: Conclusion and Future Prospects The chapter delves into the concept of supercritical CO2, explaining the specific conditions required to achieve this state, which includes temperatures above 31°C (88°F) and pressures exceeding 74 atmospheres (170 psi). Once CO2 is in its supercritical state, the chapter explores its application within turbines.

How Ultra-Efficient CO2 Turbines Are The Future of Energy Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 we often hear about new energy breakthroughs from fusion reactors to concentrated solar power but most of these all circle back to the same invention we've been using since 1884 the steam turbine generator no matter how revolutionary the technology the process often involves generating heat and using it to create steam which then is used to spin a turbine this turbine then spins an electrical generator and Bob's your uncle you've got electricity that you can match and
• 00:30 - 01:00 export to the grid but the breakthrough in today's video replaces the steam turbine for something far more efficient meaning it could change the electricity generation phase of nearly everything used in modern power plants this invention is the supercritical carbon dioxide turbine and recent developments are really starting to heat up let's see how it works and what it means for the future of our energy i'm Ryan Inis and this is a Xerox deep
• 01:00 - 01:30 dive carbon dioxide or CO2 is generally seen as a bad thing in modern energy systems but when put into its supercritical state it could actually be part of the solution i respect your time so we'll get straight into how it works and if you want to jump through you can look at the labeled timeline below for current projects performance data and future outlooks the first thing to understand about supercritical CO2
• 01:30 - 02:00 turbines is of course supercritical CO2 itself think of supercritical CO2 as an in between state of matter it causes CO2 to flow like a gas but with the density of a liquid i forgot to add this into the script but I've just looked it up and it's roughly half the density of water so it's like a gas with extremely high densities so before getting into the science of it all I wanted to see a demonstration thankfully there is an incredible one by Dr james Orgill from
• 02:00 - 02:30 the Action Lab YouTube channel using a pressure chamber with two thick acrylic windows a block of dry ice which is solid CO2 turns into liquid CO2 it goes into a liquid here because of the high pressures which push the molecules together stopping them from turning into a gas with a piece of styrofoam floating around you can see the interface layer which shows the boundary between the liquid and the gas in the pressure
• 02:30 - 03:00 vessel as the vessel heats up the liquid CO2 starts to transition into a superc critical fluid and the interface layer disappears the piece of styrofoam is now seemingly suspended in the superc critical CO2 which has expanded to take up the full volume of the pressure vessel it is this supercritical CO2 that can be used to spin turbines in our next generation of power plants regardless of
• 03:00 - 03:30 whether the heat source is fusion energy solar power or even natural gas I found this graph which helps show the science of what's happening here the bottom x-axis shows temperature and the y-axis on the side shows pressure in the video we saw the very cold CO2 started as a solid in the pressure chamber as the temperature increased it then transitioned into a liquid with the temperature continuing to rise it crossed the critical threshold and became supercritical CO2 the critical
• 03:30 - 04:00 point on the graph is the minimum temperature and pressure required to get CO2 into its supercritical state it happens at temperatures above 31° C or 88° F and pressures above 74 atmospheres or 170 psi so that is how supercritical CO2 works but I wanted to know how it's being used inside turbines once we have our superc critical CO2 it must be used
• 04:00 - 04:30 to spin a turbine to make the electricity similar to a steam turbine the process starts with compression and then a heat source heating up the supercritical CO2 which causes it to expand this expansion forces it through the pipes into the turbine's blades which forces them to spin around the turbine's motion can then be used to spin an electrical generator however there are some key differences the turbines are much smaller and with much
• 04:30 - 05:00 thicker blades this is because the superc critical CO2 is more dense than steam so the blades have to be stronger to take the forces but it also means that these higher densities allow the turbine to generate a lot more power for its size this means a superc critical CO2 turbine can be around 10 times smaller than a competing steam turbine steam turbines can also have issues with wear and tear due to the presence of
• 05:00 - 05:30 water droplets within them with the water droplets hitting into high-speed blades and causing erosion however because the CO2 stays in its supercritical state it reduces these challenges and helps improve the turbine's lifespan one of the key benefits for superc critical CO2 turbines though is how they improve efficiency which as many of you know is one of my favorite things the efficiency gains come from three main places which we'll cover after a quick
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• 07:00 - 07:30 turbines the second reason for its high efficiency is that it can operate at higher temperatures which means the supercritical CO2 has further to drop between the inlet and outlet of the turbine having this high initial temperature and therefore large temperature drop is important for efficiency because it means the turbine has extracted more energy and converted it into useful electricity here I find it useful to remember that the hotter something is the easier it is to cool
• 07:30 - 08:00 down and finally the superc critical CO2 always stays in its supercritical state which is important because there is a lot of energy wasted when you convert from one phase to another like a liquid to a gas or gas to a liquid which is where you lose a lot of energy in the steam turbine process because the superc critical CO2 never experiences this energy wasting phase change the efficiency is maximized these things together along with some added bonuses boost the efficiencies to up to 50% up
• 08:00 - 08:30 from around 40% in modern steam turbines when looking at the real world applications of superc critical CO2 however it's worth remembering it's not all sunshine and rainbows it does have some challenges which is why we're not seeing these everywhere just yet one of the biggest hurdles is material durability superc critical CO2 cycles operate at extreme temperatures and high pressures requiring advanced alloys and coatings to withstand long-term exposure
• 08:30 - 09:00 without degradation in fact these high temperatures can cause more of a challenge than the water droplets that are present in the steam turbines the seals and bearings also face challenges because conventional designs struggle to manage the highdensity high-speed flow of supercritical carbon dioxide additionally the lack of standardization and large-scale deployment further slows adoption as industries remain cautious about investing in unproven technology
• 09:00 - 09:30 but here at Zeroth we're not ones to dwell on limitations we like to remain optimistic so with that being said let's have a look at the real world systems using superc critical CO2 there are a number of exciting projects such as the one from Sandia National Laboratories for the first time researchers there delivered electricity produced by a supercritical CO2 system to the Sandia Kirtland Air Force Base electrical grid however I want to focus on the super
• 09:30 - 10:00 critical transformational electric power or step demo pilot plant in Texas as there is a little more information available this $155 million 10 megawatt facility is a collaborative effort between General Electric Southwest Research Institute GTI Energy and the US Department of Energy in 2023 the step demo achieved mechanical completion marking a significant milestone towards
• 10:00 - 10:30 demonstrating the commercial viability of superc critical CO2 technology by May 2024 the plant successfully generated electricity for the first time with the turbine reaching its full speed of 27,000 RPM at an operating temperature of 500° C and 250 bar producing 4 megawatt of grid synchronized power the project is now preparing for its next phase expected to begin this year in
• 10:30 - 11:00 2025 where the system will be reconfigured and the turbine inlet temperature will be increased to 715° C significantly boosting efficiency upon full commissioning the step demo is expected to generate 10 megawatt of power with the broader goal of optimizing the power systems for future applications in waste heat recovery solar thermal nuclear fision and fusion and carbon capture integrated fossil
• 11:00 - 11:30 fuel plants what's mindblowing is that this turbine is so compact that it could fit on a kitchen worktop making it roughly 10 times smaller than a competing steam turbine it's this reduction in size that will hopefully continue to drive down costs this system is aiming for 50% efficiency up from around 40% of conventional steam and is paving the way for the future of our power systems i believe CO2 turbines are
• 11:30 - 12:00 poised to revolutionize our electricity generation offering higher efficiencies smaller footprints and lower environmental impacts compared to traditional steam turbines as research advances the technology is gaining traction in next generation power plants including nuclear concentrated solar power and waste heat recovery systems worldclass research labs are leading the efforts to commercialize superc critical CO2 turbines with pilot projects like
• 12:00 - 12:30 the step demo proving their viability however challenges with high temperature materials system durability and cost reductions must be addressed before widespread deployment with continued investment and technological breakthroughs supercritical CO2 turbines could soon become a key player in the global transition towards cleaner more efficient power as you're still watching please consider subscribing it's free and helps the channel a lot you may also like some of my other videos like this
• 12:30 - 13:00 one on a revolutionary new electric motor and don't forget to check out today's sponsor Udu as always thanks for watching