Steam vs Supercritical CO2

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Steam vs Supercritical CO2

Feasibility at the stated temperatures

At 1,500 psi and 3,000 psi, the saturation temperature of water is far above 100 C.

Therefore, 45 C and 100 C are not valid steam operating points at these pressures. You would have subcooled liquid water, not steam.

Meaningful steam comparisons at these pressures are at superheated conditions such as 300 C and 700 C.

How these numbers were derived

For the same pressure and temperature, choked mass flux of steam is roughly sixty to sixty five percent of CO₂ because steam has a higher specific gas constant.

Per-kilogram turbine work for steam is typically higher than for CO₂ at high temperature. A good bench rule is:

At 300 C, steam delivers about one and a quarter times the specific work of CO₂.

At 700 C, steam delivers about one and a half times the specific work of CO₂.

Combining those two effects gives an overall power factor versus your earlier CO₂ pipe-limited figures of:

About zero point eight of CO₂ at 300 C.

About zero point nine six of CO₂ at 700 C.

I applied those factors to the same feed-limited CO₂ ceilings you used for the cart to produce comparable steam ceilings below. These are upper bounds for a smooth, short run into a nozzle; real cart values will be lower due to heater limits, bends, valves, and component losses.

Steam at 3,000 psi, practical pipe-limited ceilings

300 C superheated steam

1/8 inch ID: about 40 kW

1/4 inch ID: about 160 kW

3/8 inch ID: about 360 kW

1 inch ID: about 2,240 kW

700 C superheated steam

1/8 inch ID: about 72 kW

1/4 inch ID: about 288 kW

3/8 inch ID: about 648 kW

1 inch ID: about 3,840 kW

Steam at 1,500 psi, practical pipe-limited ceilings

For reference, these are roughly one half of the 3,000 psi CO₂ values, then adjusted by the same steam factors.

300 C superheated steam

1/8 inch ID: about 20 kW

1/4 inch ID: about 80 kW

3/8 inch ID: about 180 kW

1 inch ID: about 1,120 kW

700 C superheated steam

1/8 inch ID: about 36 kW

1/4 inch ID: about 144 kW

3/8 inch ID: about 324 kW

1 inch ID: about 1,920 kW

What these results mean for a developers cart

Heater power will cap you well below these pipe ceilings on a bench rig. A ten to twenty kilowatt heater cannot feed hundreds of kilowatts of turbine power.

Component selection differs. Steam at 700 C demands nickel-based alloys and upgraded seals and bearings.

If you want apples-to-apples testing vs CO₂, target 300 C first. At that point, steam delivers about eighty percent of the CO₂ pipe-limited ceiling for the same line size and pressure, which keeps hardware demands modest.