These days engineers are fervently working towards solving a pressing crisis--efficient energy. GE Global Research has developed an ingenious carbon dioxide powered turbine that could generate power for over 10,000 homes. What’s exceptional about the turbine is that it is extremely small, weighing roughly 68 Kg.
The unit, which is no larger than the size of a regular wooden desk, is driven by supercritical carbon dioxide, which is a unique state that comes to being at a high pressure and at a temperature up to 700°C, where it exists as neither a liquid nor a gas.
At the moment, the design of the turbine will allow up to 10,000 kilowatts of energy to be produced but researchers are looking to scale up the technology, enabling it to generate up to 500 megawatts--enough energy to power an average city.
Luckily, the unit’s compact size and ability to turn on and off rapidly is said to make it useful in grid storage. According to MIT Tech Review, the turbine is about one-tenth the size of a steam turbine of comparable output, and has the potential to be 50 percent efficient at converting heat into usable electricity.
The team is reportedly working with US government agencies to test their turbines, working on projects with the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy and the US Department of Energy.
Researchers at MIT said, “Steam-based systems are typically in the mid-40 percent range; the improvement is achieved because of the better heat-transfer properties and reduced need for compression in a system that uses supercritical carbon dioxide compared to one that uses steam. The GE prototype is 10 megawatts, but the company hopes to scale it to 33 megawatts.”
In addition to producing large quantities of electricity from a comparatively small device, this method claims to give companies an unprecedented opportunity to turn carbon dioxide into cleaner power too.
Also a 3D-printed model of the turbine has been made to demonstrate the principle, but a final version of the current prototype would be expected to weigh about the same as an average person, making it easy to handle and transport for remote and rural deployment.
Doug Hofer, developer of the mini rotor explained, “This compact machine will allow us to do amazing things. The world is seeking cleaner and more efficient ways to generate power. The concepts we are exploring with this machine are helping us address both. With energy demand expected to rise by 50 percent over the next two decades, we can’t afford to wait for new, cleaner energy solutions to power the planet. We have to innovate now and make energy generation as efficient as possible. Programs like those we are working on with the US Department of Energy are helping us get there.”
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 "Doug Hofer, GE Global Research, turbine, turbine energy, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, MIT, electricity carbon dioxi")
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