Subtask 5.10 - Testing of an Advanced Dry Cooling Technology for Power Plants
- Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States)
The University of North Dakota’s Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) is developing a market-focused dry cooling technology that is intended to address the key shortcomings of conventional dry cooling technologies: high capital cost and degraded cooling performance during daytime temperature peaks. The unique aspect of desiccant dry cooling (DDC) is the use of a hygroscopic working fluid—a liquid desiccant—as a heat-transfer medium between a power plant’s steam condenser and the atmosphere. This configuration enables a number of beneficial features for large-scale heat dissipation to the atmosphere, without the consumptive use of cooling water. The overall goal of this project was to accurately define the performance and cost characteristics of DDC to determine if further development of the concept is warranted. A balanced approach of modeling grounded in applied experimentation was pursued to substantiate DDC-modeling efforts and outline the potential for this technology to cool full-scale power plants. The resulting analysis shows that DDC can be a lower-cost dry cooling alternative to an air-cooled condenser (ACC) and can even be competitive with conventional wet recirculating cooling under certain circumstances. This project has also highlighted the key technological steps that must be taken in order to transfer DDC into the marketplace. To address these issues and to offer an extended demonstration of DDC technology, a next-stage project should include the opportunity for outdoor ambient testing of a small DDC cooling cell. This subtask was funded through the EERC–U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Program on Research and Development for Fossil Energy-Related Resources Cooperative Agreement No. DE-FC26-08NT43291. Nonfederal funding was provided by the Wyoming State Legislature under an award made through the Wyoming Clean Coal Technologies Research Program.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- FC26-08NT43291
- OSTI ID:
- 1127159
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Subtask 4.8 - Fate and Control of Mercury and Trace Elements
Subtask 3.11 - Production of CBTL-Based Jet Fuels from Biomass-Based Feedstocks and Montana Coal