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World's first commercial sCO2 power generator begins operation in China (youtu.be)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by cfgaussian@lemmygrad.ml to c/china@lemmygrad.ml

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The world's first commercial supercritical carbon dioxide power generator has begun operation in Southwest China's Guizhou Province. It is viewed as a milestone in changing the power generation mode relying on steam for more than a century. China calls the project "Chaotan-1." CGTN's Zheng Yibing speaks to experts from Nuclear Power Institute of China about it.

Why is this such a big deal? Because traditional power generation relies on steam driven turbines, even in nuclear reactors. The thermodynamic losses in the process are substantial and a major barrier to more efficient power generation. With superheated CO2 as the medium, the efficiency of the energy conversion can be greatly increased and losses reduced.

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[–] rando895@lemmygrad.ml 7 points 2 months ago

Am a physicist who was educated at an institution with super conducting magnets.

Helium is so scarce at this point labs are moving away from it in favour of other methods. So regardless of it being technically better or not, co2 is everywhere and helium is rare.

Liquid helium keeps things cold but is (in some super conducting magnets anyway) often insulated by liquid nitrogen to prevent it from boiling off as quickly. At bare minimum the cost of helium would likely be prohibitive, ignoring everything else.