Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation (Toshiba ESS) recently reported the successful first fire of its 50MWth commercial-scale combustor at NET Power’s supercritical carbon dioxide power cycle demonstration plant, a revolutionary thermal power generation system that releases few to no emissions into the air. The combustion testing is being carried out at a test rig that is built into the demonstration plant in La Porte, Texas, USA and involves the integrated operation of the full NET Power process.
The realization of clean, low cost energy is the goal of power utility companies everywhere, and the supercritical oxy-combustion CO2 power cycle is a promising solution. It uses a supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) working fluid to produce low-cost electricity while virtually eliminating emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), CO2 and other pollutants. CO2 is separated and collected at high-pressure within the system, with no requirement for additional carbon capture equipment or processes; it realizes near-full carbon capture without any increase in the cost of electricity.
Moving forward, Toshiba ESS will continue combustion testing to evaluate the performance of the combustor and the demonstration plant. The next phase will be to integrate the combustor with a turbine that makes very efficient use of high pressure, high temperature CO2 to generate electricity.
