Multi-objective optimization of supercritical CO2 Brayton cycles for coal-fired power generation with two waste heat recovery schemes

The efficiency of supercritical CO2 (sCO2) Brayton cycle (SCBC) based coal-fired power generation can be enhanced by harnessing the waste heat from sCO2 cooling and flue gas, which currently remains largely untapped. In this paper, we propose two types of design roadmap for utilizing this waste heat. The first method involves using an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) to generate additional power, while the second method utilizes LiBr/H2O absorption refrigeration cycle (ARC) to further cool down compressor inlet sCO2, and thereby reduces its compression power consumption. An energy-economic-environmental multi-criteria models are formulated to access performance of the aforementioned designs and compare them with a standalone sCO2 Brayton recompression cycle system (Standalone). The non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II is applied to carry out the multi-objective optimization of the three systems. The results show that the SCBC-ARC system achieves the maximum thermal efficiency (eta th) and minimum environmental impact load (EIL), while SCBC-ORC system achieves the minimum levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). We also find that minimizing LCOE conflicts with maximizing eta th and minimizing EIL, respectively. The relationship between maximizing eta th and minimizing EIL is consistent, suggesting that increasing efficiency will alleviate environmental impact of the systems. We also identify and discuss balanced designs for the systems, and our results show that the eta th of SCBC-ORC and SCBCARC is 1.40% and 1.70% higher than the Standalone, respectively, the LCOE is 0.56% lower and 3.66% higher than Standalone, respectively, and EIL is 1.16% and 1.59% lower than the Standalone, respectively.