STEP Demo pilot plant achieves full operational conditions for Phase 1 of testing

One of the largest sCO2 demonstration facilities in the world achieves major milestone

2024-10-16

(Press-News.org) SAN ANTONIO — October 16, 2024 —The Supercritical Transformational Electric Power (STEP) Demo pilot plant, a $169 million, 10-megawatt supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) test facility at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio, has completed its first phase of testing, having achieved its full operational speed of 27,000 rpm and operating at a target turbine inlet temperature of 500 degrees Celsius. As STEP achieved this milestone, it was synchronized with the electrical grid, generating approximately four megawatts of net power.

“Achieving full operating conditions while connected to the grid is a major advancement of the commercial maturity of these transformative power systems,” said Dr. Tim Allison, director of SwRI’s Machinery Department. “This accomplishment represents many technical ‘firsts’ due to the combination of power and operating temperatures and showcases the tenacity and perseverance of STEP’s engineering and project teams.”

The STEP Demo pilot plant is one of the largest demonstration facilities in the world for sCO2 technology. It achieved mechanical completion in October 2023, when major subsystems were installed and began commissioning. In May 2024, it generated electricity for the first time.

The completion of Phase 1 has shown the commercial readiness of sCO2 technology and confirmed its ability to meet initial performance targets. In 2025, the plan is to reconfigure the pilot plant into a recompression Brayton cycle, a variation of the power cycle that will boost power output and efficiency. At this point, the project plans to enter a new phase of testing to achieve its full 10-megawatt net power capacity — enough to power 10,000 homes.

“I could not be prouder of the STEP team achieving this major milestone, including reaching the greatest amount of power ever generated using sCO2 as the working fluid,” said SwRI Project Manager Dr. Jeff Moore.

The pilot plant differs greatly from conventional power plants because it uses high-temperature sCO2 instead of water as a thermal medium in its power cycles, increasing efficiency by as much as 10% due to its favorable thermodynamic properties. Carbon dioxide is nontoxic and nonflammable, and sCO2’s efficiency as a working fluid allows for STEP turbomachinery to be approximately one-tenth the size of conventional power plant components, providing the opportunity to shrink the environmental footprint and construction cost of any new facilities. The technology is also compatible with many heat sources including concentrated solar power, advanced nuclear reactors, industrial waste heat, thermal energy storage and geothermal heat.

The STEP Demo project is led by GTI Energy in collaboration with SwRI, GE Vernova Advanced Research, the U.S. Department of Energy/National Energy Technology Laboratory (U.S. DOE/NETL) and several industry participants. New collaborators are welcome to join the STEP Demo pilot project to gain deep technical insight into the technology and actual operating data.

SwRI is an industry leader in the development of sCO2 power cycles. Staff members have conducted numerous U.S. Department of Energy projects advancing the efficiency, reliability and commercial readiness of sCO2 power cycle turbomachinery, heat exchangers, cycles and systems. The team’s extensive experience with sCO2 technology is key to making the STEP Demo project a successful landmark demonstration.

For more information, visit https://www.swri.org/industry/advanced-power-systems/supercritical-transformational-electric-power-pilot-plant.

END

[Attachments] See images for this press release:

STEP Demo pilot plant achieves full operational conditions for Phase 1 of testing 2

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Women more likely than men to die after heart surgery complications

2024-10-16

Despite having no greater chance of developing problems after high risk cardiovascular surgery, women are more likely than men to die from postoperative complications, a University of Michigan-led study suggests. A patient dying of complications after surgery is often referred to as a “failure to rescue”. Investigators assessed more than 850,000 cases of Medicare beneficiaries who had high risk heart surgery — including heart bypass, aortic aneurysm repair, and mitral and aortic valve repair — ...

Bacterial vaccine shows promise as cancer immunotherapy

2024-10-16

Columbia researchers have engineered probiotic bacteria that educate the immune system to destroy cancer cells, opening the door for a new class of cancer vaccines that take advantage of bacteria’s natural tumor-targeting properties. These microbial cancer vaccines can be personalized to attack each individual’s primary tumor and metastases, and may even prevent future recurrences. In studies using mouse models of advanced colorectal cancer and melanoma, the bacterial vaccine supercharged the immune system to suppress the growth of – or in many cases eliminate – primary ...

Involuntary sweeps of homeless encampments do not improve public safety, study finds

2024-10-16

AURORA, Colo. (October 16, 2024) – A new study, out today in the Journal of Urban Health, finds that involuntary sweeps of homeless encampments in Denver, Colorado were not effective in reducing crime. Researchers, led by first author Pranav Padmanabhan, research assistant and MPH student at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, analyzed the effect of involuntary displacement on crime in one-quarter to three-quarters of a mile radius around sweep sites, among all sweeps between November ...

In utero exposure to maternal COVID-19 and offspring neurodevelopment through age 24 months

2024-10-16

About The Study: In this cohort study of pregnant individuals and offspring, exposure to maternal COVID-19 was not associated with abnormal neurodevelopmental screening results through 24 months’ postpartum. Continued study of diverse groups of children is needed because, among other factors, evidence suggests sensitivity of the developing fetal brain to maternal immune activation. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Eleni G. Jaswa, MD, MSc, MAS, email elenijaswa@gmail.com. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website ...

Feeling the heat: a new approach to controlling heat flow in crystals

2024-10-16

Tokyo, Japan – Unwanted heating of electronic components hinders the performance of many devices. For example, the processing speed and memory available to silicon-based computer chips depend strongly on the ability to dissipate heat effectively. Unfortunately, despite high demand, thermal management remains challenging. Now, in a study published in Nature, a team of researchers led by the Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo, has demonstrated the ability to control heat transfer in graphite crystals. Their novel approach applies concepts from fluid ...

The origin of most meteorites finally revealed

2024-10-16

An international team led by three researchers from the CNRS1, the European Southern Observatory (ESO, Europe), and Charles University (Czech Republic) has successfully demonstrated that 70% of all known meteorite falls originate from just three young asteroid families. These families were produced by three recent collisions that occurred in the main asteroid belt 5.8, 7.5, and about 40 million years ago. The team also revealed the sources of other types of meteorites; with this research, the origin of more than 90% of meteorites ...

Breakthrough technology leads to life-saving treatment for deadly skin reaction

2024-10-16

The researchers used spatial proteomics to analyze skin samples from patients with toxic epidermal necrolysis. This cutting-edge approach, known as Deep Visual Proteomics, merges powerful microscopy with AI-driven analysis, laser-guided microdissection and ultimately ultra-high sensitivity mass spectrometry. They zoomed in on individual cells and studied them like never before, creating a map of the thousands of proteins driving this deadly reaction. Thierry Nordmann, first author, clinician-scientist at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry and senior dermatologist at the Ludwig Maximilians Universität München explains: ...

One in three plants call islands home

2024-10-16

A new study has revealed that islands are home to around one in three of the world’s plant species, despite covering just over five per cent of the Earth’s land surface. Dr Julian Schrader, from Macquarie University’s School of Natural Sciences, led a team of a dozen researchers from Australia, Germany, Spain, USA, Greece and Japan in analysing data on more than 304,103 plants – essentially all species known to science worldwide – uncovering a treasure trove of island biodiversity. The team found 94,052 species are native to islands. Of these, 63,280 are endemic –found nowhere else in the world – representing 21 per cent of global plant diversity. The ...

Challenging current understanding, study reveals rapid release of dopamine not needed for initiating movement

2024-10-16

The chemical messenger dopamine is an essential catalyst that fuels activities and behaviors ranging from movement to cognition and learning. However, neuroscientists have long debated whether these functions rely on rapid bursts of dopamine or on the neurochemical’s slower action. A new study led by researchers at Harvard Medical School provides an answer. The work, conducted in mice and published Oct. 16 in Nature, shows that initiating movement doesn’t require a rapid burst of dopamine but instead relies on slow activity of the chemical over time. By contrast, reward-oriented behaviors, related to ...

CSIRO research reveals marine heatwaves are underreported in the deep ocean

2024-10-16

While marine heatwaves (MHWs) have been studied at the sea surface for more than a decade, new research published today in Nature has found 80 per cent of MHWs below 100 metres are independent of surface events, highlighting a previously overlooked aspect of ocean warming. The study was conducted by Australia’s national science agency CSIRO and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. MHWs are prolonged temperature events that can cause severe damage to marine habitats, such as impacts to coral reefs and species displacement. These events are becoming more frequent due to global warming, with notable occurrences off Australia’s East ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

New drug-eluting balloon may be as safe and effective as conventional metal stents for repeat percutaneous coronary interventions

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of automated external defibrillators in private homes

University of Phoenix College of Social and Behavioral Sciences leadership publishes white paper on trauma-informed education

Identifying the best high-biomass sorghum hybrids based on biomass yield potential and feedstock quality affected by nitrogen fertility management under various environments