Supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton Cycle turbines promise giant leap in power generation

Supercritical fluids are not only used as a solvent media for extraction or fractionation...
In the article I've found the supercritical carbon dioxide is used as fluid for moving turbines in systems that claims higher efficiency.

SOURCE : Sandia Labs News Releases March 4, 2011

Sandia National Laboratories researchers are moving into the demonstration phase of a novel gas turbine system for power generation, with the promise that thermal-to-electric conversion efficiency will be increased to as much as 50 percent -- an improvement of 50 percent for nuclear power stations equipped with steam turbines, or a 40 percent improvement for simple gas turbines. The system is also very compact, meaning that capital costs would be relatively low.

It's not easy being green

Due to the in international year of chemistry, Nature is publishing some interesting papers.

One of them is a reviews of "green chemistry", which 12 principles were formulated by Paul Anastas and John Warner in the 1990s to provide a roadmap for chemists trying to implement green chemistry.

As every body can suppose supercritical fluid technologies are shown as an example of green process that can replace some organic, and unfriendly, solvents...

But their main drawback are also pointed out.

I hope you enjoy the articles and wait you comments!

Supercritical CO2 Power Cycle Symposium

Supercritical CO2 Power Cycle Symposium will be held at  the University of Colorado in Boulder on May 24 - 25, 2011.

The Supercritical CO₂ Power Cycle Symposium is an academic workshop organized to advance supercritical Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) power cycle technology. Every two years researchers, industry partners, and end users meet to learn about advancements in the field; discuss priorities; and establish a critical path for technology development.

The twelve principles of green chemistry

I think that a blog of Supercritical Fluids, Green Chemistry and Sustainable Development must include these 12 principles that are in fact our guideline.

Published in:
Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice, P. T. Anastas and J. C. Warner, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1998.