Language
Country/Area
No result found
From Benson to Modern Times: How Supercritical Steam Generators Evolved into the Future of Electricity Production?
The evolution of steam generator technology, from the earliest designs to today's supercritical steam generators, shows how advances in engineering have impacted the entire power industry. As a new type of boiler, supercritical steam generator operates above critical pressure and temperature and has become an indispensable equipment in power production. Unlike traditional subcritical boilers, supercritical steam generators operate at pressures above 22 MPa (3200 pounds per square inch) and high temperatures of 374°C (705°F), allowing the density of water to decrease smoothly without phase changes. , water turns into indistinguishable steam.
When water is heated above a critical temperature and expanded to a certain lower sub-critical pressure, this means the technology is able to efficiently use fuel, enabling efficient electricity production.
Historically, supercritical steam generators were sometimes called Benson boilers. In 1922, Mark Benson received a patent for a boiler design that converted water into steam at high pressure. Safety is a major consideration in Benson's design. Before Benson came along, early steam generator designs could only withstand relatively low pressures, typically around 100 bar (10 MPa), which was the industry standard in steam turbine development at the time. One of the distinctive technical features of these boilers is the riveted water/steam separation drum. As Benson's technology continued to develop, boiler designs quickly deviated from Benson's original concept.
The high efficiency of supercritical steam generators has earned them a place in the contemporary power industry, improving the overall performance of power plants.
Over time, in 1957, the Philo Power Plant in Ohio, USA, became the world's first commercial supercritical steam power generation unit, which could operate at supercritical levels for short periods of time. In 2012, the first coal power plant in the United States designed to operate at supercritical temperatures, the John W. Turkle Coal Power Plant, opened in Arkansas, marking the further maturity of supercritical technology.
As technology advances, innovation in supercritical steam generators continues. The Cotham gas-steam combined cycle power plant in the UK has successfully operated a new heat recovery steam generator which combines the advantages of a Benson boiler with the design advantages of a drum boiler. In addition, China's Yaomeng Power Plant is the first reference project we have seen so far. Construction began in 2001, showing China's ambitions in this technology field.
In 2014, the Australian government research agency CSIRO announced that they had reached new records for the pressure and temperature of supercritical steam through the application of solar thermal energy, further proving the diversity of future technologies.
With the demand for more efficient and lower emission technologies, the coal power industry has also begun to use high efficiency low emission (HELE) technologies, which are based on supercritical and ultra-supercritical coal power generation. These technologies not only improve power generation efficiency but also help reduce the environmental impact of fossil fuels.
Overall, the development of supercritical steam generators shows a clear trend: future power production needs to rely on more efficient technologies to meet the challenges of global energy demand. As we enter an era in which renewables are increasingly important, what role can these technologies play in the future energy mix?
