Review of supercritical CO2 power cycle technology and current status of research and development

The supercritical CO2 (S-CO2) Brayton cycle has recently been gaining a lot of attention for application to next generation nuclear reactors. The advantages of the S-CO2 cycle are high efficiency in the mild turbine inlet temperature region and a small physical footprint with a simple layout, compact turbomachinery, and heat exchangers. Several heat sources including nuclear, fossil fuel, waste heat, and renewable heat sources such as solar thermal or fuel cells are potential application areas of the S-CO2 cycle. In this paper, the current development progress of the S-CO2 cycle is introduced. Moreover, a quick comparison of various S-CO2 layouts is presented in terms of cycle performance.