A systematic review of supercritical carbon dioxide(S-CO2) power cycle for energy industries: Technologies, key issues, and potential prospects

The potential contributions of this critical review are to provide a detailed complement of the status, barriers, and prospect of the supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) cycle power technology, and give a clue to promote its application. The state-of-the-art and existing problems of the S-CO2 power technology are reviewed from the perspective of system analysis and component design. The emphasis is put on the application in next-generation high-temperature solar thermal power plants, next-generation compact nuclear reactor power plants, and coalfired power plants to reveal the thermodynamic, economic, environmental, and flexible feasibility. The construction of the S-CO2 demonstration power station developed in recent years is also summarized to provide a comprehensive understanding of the development route. Finally, the potential of the S-CO2 cycle to establish a multi-generation system is proposed with a promising peak-shaving ability. Meanwhile, advice is stated to facilitate the further growth of this novel power conversion technology. This study is expected to help understand the recent development progress in S-CO2 power technology.