SolarPACES 2023 | Oct. 10-13

SolarPACES 2023 | Oct. 10-13

What an excellent opportunity for H2020 DESOLINATION to present its work yesterday at the 29th SolarPACES conference in Sidney on thermal desalination through froward osmosis coupled with CO2-mixture power cycles for CSP (concentrated solar power) applications.

The event brought together an international network of researchers and industrial experts in the development and commercialization of Concentrated Solar thermal systems and Solar Chemistry Technologies.

Represented by its coordinator Politecnico di Milano (Giampaolo Manzolini) and its partners, King Saud University (Hany Al-Ansary) and the University of Derby (Christopher Sansom), H2020 DESOLINATION (funded by CINEA – European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency) was presented at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday in the Solar Industrial Process Heat and Thermal Desalination room.

Effects of Supercritical CO2 Fluid Properties on Heat Exchanger Design

Effects of Supercritical CO2 Fluid Properties on Heat Exchanger Design

Supercritical CO2 (sCO2) in industrial applications is a promising solution for the reduction of equipment size and for the potential increasement of overall efficiency. The characteristics of CO2 near the critical point are advantageous for the heat transfer, with high specific heat capacity when compared to conventional liquid or gas coolants. Moreover, dopants can be mixed to CO2, in a blend, to further increase the heat transfer and elevate the critical point of the fluid. Under the framework of the Horizon 2020 DESOLINATION (DEmonstration of concentrated SOLar power coupled wIth advaNced desAlinaTion system in the gulf regION) project, a heat exchanger was designed using CO2 and blend as working fluids in an innovative power cycle bank of a concentrated solar power (CSP) plant coupled to a water desalination system. In this paper, the innovative heat exchanger is evaluated in terms of the geometry, focusing on heat transfer and turbulence, using computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations with SST k-ω turbulence model and real-gas models with REFPROP library for thermodynamic and transport properties. Within each fluid, the diameter of the channels varied from 1.8–2.2 mm and the results are compared to analytical models. The geometry with 1.8 showed a larger pressure drop, but also larger overall heat transfer coefficient. It is observed that both pressure drop and heat transfer decrease with the diameter. Blend as the hot fluid resulted in higher average temperature and heat transfer coefficient, but in lower pressure drop than pure CO2. Nusselt number correlations were compared, showing the decrease of its values with the diameter for pure CO2, while for the blend it was observed higher values for 2.0 mm of diameter, except for Fang and Xu correlation that showed the same trend as the CO2.

 

Keywords: supercritical CO2; heat exchanger; gas cooler; computational fluid dynamics

Authors:

Afonso Lugo
Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology, Lappeenranta, Finland
Jonna Tiainen
The Switch, Lappeenranta, Finland

R&D Activities on supercritical CO2 in Europe

R&D Activities on supercritical CO2 in Europe

4th episode of ETN webinar series – R&D Activities on sCO2 in Europe: Components challenge – Heat Exchangers
12 June 2023 | online ETN Global brings already the fourth episode of its successful free webinar series “R&D Activities on sCO2 in Europe”. Find out more information about speakers and agenda here, register & save the date!
DESOLINATION #3rd Progress meeting in Paris | May 25, 2023

DESOLINATION #3rd Progress meeting in Paris | May 25, 2023

Today, the H2020 DESOLINATION project is holding its 3rd progress meeting in Paris. What a pleasure for the 21 project partners from Europe and the Gulf Cooperation Region to be together again!

The whole team is delighted to be back at work after a few months’ interruption to develop an innovative process combining concentrated solar power (CSP) on the one hand, and direct osmosis (FO) desalination on the other, to efficiently produce green electricity and fresh water.

H2020 DESOLINATION started in 2021 and seeks to build a first-of-a-kind plant producing fresh water out of solar energy. The demonstrator will be sent to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for testing in 2024.

Many thanks to all the partners for these valuable exchanges, which help move the project forward!

Euromed Congress 2024 | 6-7 May, 2024

Euromed Congress 2024 | 6-7 May, 2024

Vår projektpartner, Membrangruppen vid Lunds universitet, deltog i Euromed Congress 2024, som samorganiserades av Egyptian Desalination Research Center for Excellence i Sharm El Sheikh den 6-9 maj 2024 på Four Seasons Hotel.

This conference serves as a global scientific platform where specialists from International and Egyptian Universities, Research Institutions and Industry discuss the most recent methods for sourcing alternative water sources and energy to keep up with sustainable development in line with the 2030 Egyptian plan.