ANNUAL REPORT - mechmining.uq.edu.au · The loan was repaid in full in 2015. The ... investment in the geothermal wells. The corollary is the imperative to extract the maximum possible

|QGECE Annual Report 1|

ANNUAL REPORT QUEENSLAND GEOTHERMAL ENERGY CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE

2015 - 2016


OUR VISION 3

OUR MISSION 3

OUR DIRECTOR 3

FOREWORD 4

HIGHLIGHTS 5

ADVISORY BOARD 7

RESEARCH 8

HEAT SOURCE DISCOVERY AND CHARACTERISATION PROGRAM 8

POWER CONVERSION PROGRAM 14

HEAT EXCHANGERS PROGRAM 20

SYSTEM INTEGRATION PROGRAM 28

TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEES (TAC) 30

COLLABOARTION & ENGAGEMENT 31

EDUCATION 36

UNDERGRADUATE & POSTGRADUATE COURSEWORK PROGRAMS 36

QGECE WEEKLY SEMINAR PROGRAM 37

POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH STUDENTS 38

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS 42

FINANCIAL SUMMARY 46

PUBLICATIONS 47

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 52

APPENDIX 54

CONTENTS

Dr Kamel Hooman |QGECE Annual Report 3|

The Queensland Geothermal Energy Centre of Excellence (QGECE) was established in 2009 with a grant of $12 million and a $3 million loan from the Queensland State Government. The loan was repaid in full in 2015. The purpose of the Centre is to help accelerate the development of the Queensland and Australian geothermal energy industry through a managed program of strategically targeted research, development and demonstration projects in innovative technologies in close collaboration with the Queensland State Government, and other key stakeholders.

The global network of collaborators with the QGECE includes geothermal companies, equipment manufacturers, renewable energy consultants, universities, as well as national and international energy agencies.

Together, the Centre team and its collaborators have expertise to meet the key challenges posed by the Centre’s ambitious vision. These are: • Optimum energy extraction and sustainable resource management. • Efficient power conversion. The Centre is exploring radically new options based on synergies with other

generation technologies, especially solar-thermal and natural gas augmentation. It is also reviewing possibilities which have been proposed in earlier research.

• A cooling system for a desert zone in the world’s driest inhabited continent. This demands extreme efficiency in condensing the working fluid. Advances in thermal management have benefits for conventional power plants hence, the Centre focuses on innovative platforms for cooling systems.

• Resolve transmission issues inherent to renewable power plants which are located more than 500km from major load centres and the national grid.

To work with equipment manufacturers, geothermal companies, geothermal power station designers and consultants to research, develop and demonstrate new technologies for the geothermal industry, and to collaborate with the Queensland State Government and other stakeholders to develop and promote geothermal energy in Queensland and in Australia.

Dr Kamel Hooman is the Director of the QGECE. Dr Kamel Hooman was appointed to the role of Director on 1 July 2014.

OUR VISION

OUR MISSION

OUR DIRECTOR


Australia has very significant geothermal energy resources, including in Queensland, but despite this potential, there is currently no commercial geothermal energy production for power generation purposes.

The QGECE since its beginning in 2009 has engaged in extensive and on-going discussions with the Australian Geothermal Energy Industry and Commonwealth and State Governments to assess what needs to be done to realise Australia’s geothermal energy potential. The main challenge is the difficulty in bringing hot water to the surface in sufficient quantities to justify the large investment in the geothermal wells. The corollary is the imperative to extract the maximum possible power from that expensive brine before it is injected back into the underground reservoir. As well, all potential future geothermal power generation sites would be located inland in arid country and unless efficient air- cooled condenser technologies can be developed, they would fail to realise up to 20 per cent of their power generation capacity.

With the determination to be ready with solutions for these problems when the geothermal companies start producing power, the QGECE embarked on an ambitious research program to develop new and better methods of transforming the heat resource in geothermal brine to electricity and to do so with minimum use of fresh water.

The QGECE adopted a strategy of addressing the fundamental issues concerning power conversion and air cooled condensers rather than running after quick partial solutions. As a result of our investment over the years in developing the requisite skills and research laboratories, the QGECE is now the only team in Australia with the international reputation and the recognised capability to develop efficient and cost-effective geothermal

power technologies. This strategy has paid off in two ways. Firstly, the QGECE is in a position to assist an Australian geothermal power developer to produce up to 50 per cent higher power compared what can be supplied by off-the-shelf products. Secondly, the QGECE solutions are applicable not only to geothermal power but to all power generation from renewable heat.

The QGECE’s research and development highlights over the past twelve months are summarised in the following section of the Report. The Centre has now created major research infrastructure facilities to underpin future research endeavours for the geothermal and other renewable energy conversion industries.

Since taking on the role of the Centre Director on 1 July 2014, Dr Kamel Hooman has provided excellent leadership to the staff and its large cohort of postgraduate research students who in time will add greatly to the capacity of the geothermal industry. The QGECE’s research and support staff, together with the research students, are to be congratulated

on their achievements. My thanks is also extended to the members of the Board and the members of the Technical Advisory Committees for their support and guidance to the QGECE over the past year.

The QGECE’s term of financial support from the Queensland State Government ends on the 31st December 2015. However, the reputation of the QGECE that has developed over the term, leveraged from that strong base of support, has enabled it to achieve a capacity to attract on-going financial support for its research and development endeavours well into the future.

We look forward to your ongoing interest and support of the QGECE in the coming years.

Emeritus Professor Trevor Grigg Chair, Advisory Board

FOREWORD


Significant advances have been achieved in the QGECE research programs and the following are the highlights:

• The first turbine, designed for operation with refrigerant R245fa has finished manufacture and was successfully installed in the high pressure tests loop at Pinjarra Hills. First spinning tests of the turbine have now been completed. Reaching this stage has demonstrates the center’s ability to design rotating machinery to convert thermal energy to shaft power. Data collected from the turbine will allow validation of the design tools developed by the center. At the same time the turbine design, commissioning and test project has provided much great training opportunities for the MSc and PhD students undergoing their studies at the center.

7kW refrigerant (R245fa) turbine installed in the High Pressure Test Loop at Pinjarra Hills.

• The newly-refurbished Gatton wind tunnel has been successfully used for the wet media and spray cooling research projects. The facility is equipped with sensors of temperature, flow, pressure as well as accurate (laser-based) flow visualisation instrumentation (PDPA) at air speeds up to 10 m/s in a test section large enough (1.7m x 1.7m) to accommodate commercial heat exchanger bundles. The wind tunnel has also played a vital role in the Centre’s project concerning solar mirror cleanliness and solar mirror cleaning mechanisms. The tunnel is now used to establish the optimum nozzle parameters and stand-off distances for cleaning of solar mirrors using pressurised sprays by carrying out tests at different wind conditions.

• A small natural draft cooling tower (20 meter in height and 12 meter in diameter) is proposed for use in remote site renewable power plants was built at the UQ Gatton renewable park site and was officially opened by Minister Enoch (Science and Innovation) on 23 September 2015. The natural draft cooling tower is equipped with heat exchangers and has a heat rejection capacity of about 1 MW. The tower is fully instrumented with temperature, air flow, and pressure sensors. Inlet air pre-cooling by wet media and water spray will be tested in the tower.

HIGHLIGHTS


Opening of the Hybrid Cooling Tower Research Facility; Minister Enoch and Professor Alan Rix (Pro-Vice-Chancellor).

• QGECE organised the 17th International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR) conference on air-cooled heat exchangers and cooling towers in September 2015. This conference was one of the largest international events and provided a unique opportunity for the participants to present state-of-the-art technologies in both cooling tower and air-cooled heat exchangers. The conference was a success with over 80 delegates attending from all over the world.

IAHR Conference Delegation.


• Dust monitors installed in the Collinsville power plant and Kogan Creek power station have generated useful information for solar mirror fouling and cleaning.

• The contribution of the mantle heat in addition to the radiogenic granites, as the main geothermal heat

sources in many Queensland areas, is causing a rethink of geothermal exploration strategy in our State. As part of this research, the Centre has developed a substantive project proposal to exploit the geothermal resource in Queensland’s Galilee Basin to provide the power for the future development in this area through a supercritical CO2 geothermal siphon.

• The QGECE has installed two ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems (water- and refrigerant loops) at

its Gatton Campus to assist with air conditioning of the Gatton Campus library from 2016. Comprehensive instrumentation for continuous monitoring of the system performance and soil temperatures is a feature of the heat pumps. The facility is a showcase for GSHP technology. The results will inform commercial applications and address scalability, integration with chilled and hot water systems, and strategies for GSHPs in the Queensland climate. Drilling wells and installations were completed in September 2014 and a GSHP Workshop November 2014 brought university and Australian industry experts together.

• The Renewable Power Generation Laboratory is also the home of the QGECE Portable Power Plant. This

demountable power plant has been developed in collaboration with one of our turbine research partners, Verdicorp, as a technology development and demonstration platform for low temperature (<150°C) applications. It has the capability of stand-alone operation at remote sites, generating up to 50-kWe of electricity. The power plant is expected to be available for use in 2016.

• The QGECE has teamed up with CITIC, a world leader Chinese manufacturer of turbine and heavy duty mining

equipment to develop high-temperature supercritical turbines. The first subcritical turbine designed by our team was manufactured this year in Brisbane by a local company called Naeco.

The Queensland Geothermal Energy Centre of Excellence has an Advisory Board whose role is to set and monitor the strategic direction of the Centre and to monitor its performance.

Role Name (as at December 2016)

Independent Chair Emeritus Professor Trevor Grigg

Centre Director- School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, The University of Queensland

Dr Kamel Hooman

Executive Dean- Faculty of Engineering, Architecture, Information Technology, The University of Queensland

Professor Simon Biggs

Director- The University of Queensland Energy Initiative

Professor Chris Greig

Chief Government Geologist- Geological Survey of Queensland (GSQ)

Mr Brad John

Executive General Manager Asset Management- Ergon Energy

Mr Tony Pfeiffer

Director Industry Services and Emergency Response- Department of Energy and Water Supply

Mr Kumar Thambar

Past Director- Australian Geothermal Solutions Dr Adrian Williams

ADVISORY BOARD


The Centre conducts research under four program headings: Heat Source Discovery and Characterisation, Power Conversion, Heat Exchangers and System Integration. The following pages describe progress in these programs from 1 July 2015 – 31 December 2016.

HEAT SOURCE DISCOVERY & CHARACTERISATION PROGRAM

Program Leader Dr Aleks Atrens

Research Team Dr Tonguc Uysal

Dr Yuanshen Lu

Dr Scott Bryan

Associate Professor Massimo Gasparon

Professor Victor Rudolph

Associate Professor Jason Stokes

Ms Victoria Marshall

Ms Coralie Siegel

Ms Ezgi Unal

Key Points

• QGECE has continued to support geothermal development in regional Queensland through evaluation of

geothermal potential and analysis of power cycles. • The QGECE’s Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHP) research facility at the Gatton Library was opened in mid-

2016. • The QGECE is building research capacity in GSHP analysis.

Ground Source Heat Pumps

The QGECE’s Ground Source Heat Pump facility at the UQ Gatton Campus, was completed in early 2016. It was officially opened by Queensland Energy Minister Mark Bailey, UQ Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Alan Rix, School of Mechanical & Mining Engineering Head of School Professor David Mee, and the QGECE Board Chair Professor Trevor Grigg on Thursday 14 July in a ceremony at the University’s Gatton Campus.

Left: Queensland Energy Minister Mark Bailey officially opens the Gatton Ground Source Heat Pump Research Facility; Right: Dr Lu explains features of the heat pumps to guests at the opening.

RESEARCH


The opening and associated press releases were effective in building awareness of ground source heat pumps as a technology option for space heating & cooling, with written news articles published by UQ News1, Engineers Australia2, and Architecture & Design3, and a television segment on National Nine News4.

A technical summary of the facility capabilities and future research potential has been published5. Data measurements are related to both the dynamics of heat transfer from the GSHP wells into the surrounding ground and of thermal flows within the surface equipment of the GSHP systems.

An example of the type of data collected from one of the heat rejection wells is shown below. Note that fluctuations in load result in the GSHP pumps varying between on and off states, which is the cause of the rapid short-term temperature fluctuations. For example, the thermal convergence visible in the last five days of operation is an extended period in which the well is not used for heat rejection during which the temperatures relax toward baseline ground temperatures.

Temperature vs. time measured by sensors at depths of 20 m, 40 m, 80 m, and 100 m in one of the cooling water heat rejection wells5.

An example of the data collected from the surface equipment is shown in below, which demonstrates both the fluctuating load behaviour and clearly shows the effects of changes in ambient conditions.

Temperature vs time of fluid flows between the surface components of the GSHP system5.


The Gatton Campus GSHP Ground Source Heat Pump Facility provides a foundation for undergraduate student research projects. Building on four undergraduate research projects in previous years, this year students evaluated the suitability of ground source heat pumps to supply heat for thermal control of greenhouses for temperature- sensitive crops in Australian climates6, and performance evaluation of GSHP performance under a variety of different Australian microclimates and system usage patterns7. An example of the type of system model evaluated by students is shown below.

Schematic diagram of model of coupled greenhouse-GSHP system6.

These student research projects generally explored performance variation of different GSHP designs and the trade-offs between GSHP capacity and performance. For example, the graph below shows the number of days per year that a structure is maintained above a minimum temperature as a function of varying GSHP capacity. When coupled with agricultural cost models, this modelling capacity would allow estimation of optimised systems for particular agricultural applications.

Local optimisation of GSHP system for greenhouse heating6 - variation of system parameters can identify the technical trade-offs between GSHP capacity and meeting designated heating targets.

Geoscience

The QGECE research team has continued to further advance understanding of underground thermal resources and how to locate them. In particular, there have been the following substantial geoscience research findings over the past year:

• Analysis of stalagmites from the Dim Cave in southwest Turkey continued (a previous publication mentioned in last year’s annual report had identified these as a new record of climate over the last 80,000 years). The


new research involved an analysis of three of stalagmites to interpret the possible sources and geochemical conditions of fluids responsible for their deposition8, including assessment of trace elements, calcium, and stable/radiogenic isotopes variation in cave seepage waters. This work provided important insights into changes in moisture balance in southwest Turkey over the last 80,000 years.

• CO2 outbursts in southwest Turkey were also studied9. These were evaluated by analysing vein and breccia carbonates using high-resolution U-series geochronology, microstructural and geochemical studies including C-O-Sr isotope and rare-earth element analyses. The microscale U-series indicated the veins formed 273,000 to 20,500 years ago. Within the constraints imposed by the microstructure and geochronology, the isotopic composition of the veins was interpreted to reflect episodic CO2 degassing through a crack-seal mechanism, associated with both seismic and aseismic deformation. This research provides important insights into the characteristics and genesis of CO2-bearing fluids in tectonically active regions

• A study of carbonic spring deposits in south-central Australia has provided evidence for recent mantle degassing along crustal-scale strike-slip faults10. These faults cut through the entire crust, and coincide with a significant heat flow anomaly and major boundary in composition and lithospheric thickness. The faults provide a pathway for mantle degassing of CO2, which from U-series dating has been interpreted to occur every 3,000 to 5,000 years over the last 26,000 years. This work proves a link between mantle degassing, tectonic activity, and geothermal systems in Australia.

Fault planes, (a-b), spring (c), mineral deposition at a water bore (d), and mineral samples (e-g) from the Norwest fault

zone of south-central Australia10. These features are associated with degassing of mantle-associated CO2.


Queensland Geothermal Development Support

The QGECE conducted analysis of the geothermal potential in Western Queensland to evaluate potential opportunities for future geothermal development. The report used data from the Queensland Groundwater Database, Queensland Digital Exploration Reports, and the OzTemp database. While the background thermal gradients were low, the report noted regional heterogeneity, including existing wells which encountered substantially elevated temperatures. Depending on availability of sufficient fluid flow-rates, there may be candidate sites for small-scale geothermal development.

Temperature vs. depth for water wells within 100 km and oil & gas wells within 200 km of Charleville; dashed lines show thermal gradients from 20 to 40 °C/ km, dotted line shows a general trend of 30 °C/km; notable are the outlying data with much greater potential for geothermal development.

The QGECE continues to provide support to parties interested in the development of geothermal resources. The QGECE provided an in-confidence evaluation of potential power generation from particular Western Queensland sites. This involved iterative cycle analysis evaluating the thermal efficiency of a range of different cycle parameters for a specified thermal mass and minimum cycle temperature. The figure below provides an illustrative example of an organic Rankine cycle, in which variation of design parameters would alter the cycle path and affect overall thermal efficiency. From a comprehensive analysis of different parameters, the optimum operating condition can be selected.

Temperature-entropy diagram qualitatively illustrating the thermodynamic path of a modelled organic Rankine cycle; variation in the cycle parameters (maintaining cycle point 3 within the constrained region) alters the overall thermal efficiency of the cycle.


References

1. Fung, C. Revolutionary cooling system is keeping down the heat and the cost. 2016 6/02/2017]; Available from: https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2016/07/revolutionary-cooling-system-keeping-down-heat-and- cost.

2. Queensland engineers research using the ground to cool buildings. 2016 6/02/2014]; Available from: https:// www.engineersaustralia.org.au/portal/news/queensland-engineers-research-using-ground-cool-buildings.

3. New ground source heat pump keeps QLD library cool without air-conditioning. 2016 6/02/2017]; Available from: http://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/news/new-system-keeping-uq-s-gatton-library-cool-withou.

4. VIDEO: Queenslanders offered energy saver solution. 2016 6/02/2017]; Available from: http://www. architectureanddesign.com.au/news/new-system-keeping-uq-s-gatton-library-cool-withou.

5. Lu, Y., et al., An experimental facility to validate ground source heat pump optimisation models for the Australian climate. Energies, 2017. 10(1).

6. Buffington, J., Modelling and Optimisation of a Ground Source Heat Pump Heated Greenhouse, in School of Mechanical & Mining Engineering. 2016, The University of Queensland: Brisbane, QLD.

7. Pedemont, B., Analysis of local climate data effect on ground source heat pump efficiency using numerical methods, in School of Mechanical & Mining Engineering. 2016, The University of Queensland: Brisbane, QLD.

8. Ünal-İmer, E., et al., High-resolution trace element and stable/radiogenic isotope profiles of late Pleistocene to Holocene speleothems from Dim Cave, SW Turkey. Palaeogeography, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 2016. 452: p. 68-79.

9. Ünal-İmer, E., et al., CO2 outburst cycles in relation to seismicity: constraints from microscale geochronology and geochemistry of late Quaternary vein carbonates, SW Turkey. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 2016. 187: p. 21-40.

10. Ring, U., et al., Recent mantle degassing recorded by carbonic spring deposits along sinistral strike-slip faults,

south-central Australia. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2016. 454: p. 304-318.

http://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2016/07/revolutionary-cooling-system-keeping-down-heat-and-




http://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/portal/news/queensland-engineers-research-using-ground-cool-buildings

http://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/portal/news/queensland-engineers-research-using-ground-cool-buildings

http://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/news/new-system-keeping-uq-s-gatton-library-cool-withou

http://www/


POWER CONVERSION PROGRAM

Program Leader Dr Ingo Jahn

Research Team Dr Andras Nagy

Dr Braden Twomey

Mr Hugh Russell

Mr David Stevens

Mr Mosen Modirshanechi

Mr Mostafa Odabaee

Mr Jianhui Qi

Mr Kan Qin

Mr Fairuz Zakariya

Mr Joshua Keep

Mr Phil Swann

Converting Thermal Energy (High Pressure & Temperature Gas)

Additional significant achievements have been made by the power conversion group. Initially the focus was on optimising the power extraction process. Compared to early years of the center, which focused on the question “how to match the power cycle operating condition and component design” (e.g. pressure ratios, flow rates, fluid type, and turbine type) to a given energy source and building of test capabilities the focus has now shifted to the design and testing of turbine hardware.

In this context the following research questions are being answered: • How can we extract power most efficiently, given a set of turbine inlet conditions? • How accurate are our predictive tools?

In addition we received the Portable Power Plant (see page 31) which was designed to our specification. This completed on-site commissioning.

Power Cycle Testing Facilities

The University of Queensland’s Pinjarra Hills site is home to state-of-the-art power cycle testing facilities which were developed by the QGECE. In 2016 the high pressure loop has undergone two upgrades. The first saw the loop being commissioned to an increased operating range for refrigerants, allowing tests with pressures up to 20MPa, 250°C working fluid temperatures , and heater powers of 66kW . This gives us the capability to start exploring waste heat recovery applications. The second upgrade saw the loop being upgraded and recommissioned to it’s full high pressure rating in preparation for testing with supercritical CO2 (sCO2). This has included an upgrade to the main pump allowing the flow rate to be tripled when operating with CO2 and replacement of certain piping sections. A first series of commissioing tests with sCO2 have been completed and confirmed that we can maintain stable operating points in the supercritical region.

The loop has also been used for a range of pump characterisation tests that are essential for demonstrating the viability of using positive displacement pumps in various Rankine and possibly, Brayton cycle configurations when operating transcritical or supercritical cycles.


Testing the UQ 7kW Refrigerant Turbine

Experimentally measured pump cavitation limit for operation with R245fa. Data shows save pressure separation, relative to saturation line, that is required for save pump operation. This is a key input parameter for loop and power cycle design as it influences the condenser requirements.

Testing of the first radial-inflow refrigerant turbine designed by QGECE staff commenced in 2015. Progress with these tests has been slow but steady. As a number of unforeseeable issues relating to the turbine oil system, rotordynamics and loop operation limits that required substantial modifications were discovered. While this led to delays, it also enabled the creation of a wealth of knowledge around turbine design and operation as well as loop design. This knowledge will become a major asset for the design of future turbine systems, such as the sCO2

turbines and power loops we are currently working on.

The Centre’s advanced instrumentation and data acquisition system has been critical in obtaining the data to accurately quantify the accuracy of our predictions and simulations.


New National Instruments & Labview based control system for the high pressure test loop and turbine assembly.

So far the 7kW turbine has been tested at speeds up to 10,000RPM using a revised oil system. This revised system enables the avoidance of issues with working fluid condensation that can be encountered in refrigerant systems. Currently further modifications to the turbine are underway to address rotordynamic issues that limit the rotational speed.

Revised turbine oil system incorporating pre-heated oil reservoir and oil jets for bearing lubrication.

The preliminary data from the 10,000RPM tests have provided new insight towards better understanding of the turbine aerodynamics and design criteria that should be applied for the correct sizing of pipework in refrigerant or

other Brayton cycle loops.

Design of 100kW supercritical CO2 turbine

Following on from the operating point selection for a 100kW CO2 turbine in 2015, the Centre has developed a

complete prototype design. Funds from stage 2 of Australian Solar Thermal Research Initiative will enable this prototype or an updated design derived from this prototype to be manufactured for testing. This will be the first radial inflow turbine operating with sCO2 in Australia and the first sCO2 turbine in the world designed and tested by a university.


Model of prototype of 100kW CO2 turbine developed within QGECE.

The design process for the 100kW turbine also highlighted a number of gaps in literature, in relation to turbomachinery operating with sCO2, this has led to the creation of new research projects to investigate sealing,

shaft cooling, and windage.

Optimised design for high pressure turbine inlets. A hybrid design incorporating features from inlet plenums and

volutes allow reduced losses in the fluid supply while at the same time simplifying manufacture.


Other Capabilities

Work on our local capability in turbine design and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) continues to progress. In addition to the previously developed tools for the preliminary turbine design, the QGECE now has a series of in- house tools to aid the design of the major turbine subsystems. These status of these tools is summarized in the table below.

Name Purpose Authors

TOPTURB 1-D throughflow code that allows the preliminary optimization of rotor passage geometries. This code bridges the gap between the zero dimensional design codes such as TOPGEN and the full 3-D Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes.

J. Keep, I. Jahn

Turbine Meshing A novel method to generate the ‘aerodynamic’ rotor geometry, including the computational mesh required for 3-D CFD simulations has commenced. This allows for more effective geometry generation and optimization compared to traditional approaches.

I. Jahn

Foil Bearings Using the in-house CFD code Eilmer we have developed a multi-physics simulation tool for foil bearings. This has provided new insight into the energy and cooling requirements for foil bearings operating with sCO2 and how the rotor-dynamics are affected by the dense working fluid.

K. Qin, P. Jacobs, I. Jahn

Eilmer This 3-D CFD code has been extended to allow the simulation of radial turbines and the set of sCO2

simulations of a radial inflow turbine have been completed.

P. Jacobs, R. Gollan, I.Jahn

The in-house developed CFD code “Eilmer3” has been further expanded to incorporate moving and dynamic mesh capabilities and also dynamic mesh interfaces that allow the simulation of transient turbine simulations. These capabilities have been used extensively to analyse the operation of foil bearings with supercritical fluids and more recently also for the simulation of turbines.


Development of multi-physics simulation capability in the UQ in-house CFD code Eilmer. This has allowed investigations of the Fluid-Structure-Thermal Interaction within Foil bearings operating with sCO

2.

CFD simulation of sCO2 turbine. Figures show instantaneous flow solution of a transient simulation.

Static Pressure (left) and Velocity Vectors (right).


HEAT EXCHANGERS PROGRAM

Program Leader Dr Zhigang Guan

Research Team Dr Kamel Hooman

Professor Hal Gurgenci

Dr Yuanshen Lu

Mr Hugh Russell

Mr Bert Di Pasquale

Mr Abdullah Alkhedhair

Dr Iman Ashtiani Abdi

Mr Mohamadhosein Sadafi

Ms Fadhilah Shikh Anuar

Mr Xiaoxiao Li

Mr Yubiao Sun

Mr Shengzhe Yu

Mr Farhan Raza

Mr Navid Dehdashti Akhavan

Mr Lin Xia

Advanced Heat Exchanger Technologies and Natural Draft Dry Cooling Towers

All thermal power plants produce waste heat as a by-product and this heat must be continuously rejected in order to keep a power plant efficient. A cooling tower serves as the waste heat rejection device that dumps the waste heat to the atmosphere. Due to the relatively low source temperature of geothermal power plants, the heat rejection per kWh of net generation form geothermal power plants will be four or more times as great as from its fossil-fuelled counterparts. Therefore, heat exchanger and cooling tower designs are crucial for geothermal and other renewable power plants.

The cooling towers used in thermal power plants are either wet or dry. Although wet cooling is generally more efficient than dry cooling, it has been reported that a modern fossil-fuelled power plant equipped with a wet-cooling system, an average of 1.6 to 2.5 m3 of cooling water will be required for cooling per MWh of net generation; about 2.7 to 3.6 m3/MWh(e) of cooling water is required for concentrating solar power plants using parabolic trough collector; about 8.0 – 10.0 m3/MWh(e) of cooling water will be required for geothermal power plants. This large quantity of water may be limited by policy or cost in arid, remote areas, where renewable plants are most likely to be located in Australia.

An aim of the QGECE’s advanced heat exchanger program is to develop efficient heat exchangers and hybrid natural draft dry cooling technologies for renewable power plants located in arid areas. Dry cooling towers transfer heat through air-cooled heat exchangers and no water is required. While dry cooling does not require fresh water to reject waste heat, it suffers efficiency loss when ambient temperature is high. Development of hybrid cooling technology is needed to increase the performance of natural draft dry cooling during operation in high ambient temperatures. Significant progresses have been made in 2015-2016.

Wind tunnel study on spray cooling

When natural draft dry cooling tower operates at high ambient temperature, its efficiency can be improved by introducing a small amount of water to pre-cool the inlet air. PhD graduate Dr Suoying He demonstrated that the cooling efficiency of a natural draft dry cooling tower operating at high ambient temperature can be improved significantly by selecting the correct wet media based on testing various wet media in the Gatton Campus wind tunnel. Another PhD graduate, Dr Abdullah Alkhedhair, investigated the pre-cooling of inlet air to cooling tower by using nozzle sprays. In his study, Dr Alkhedhair conducted a parametric analysis on the effect of different spray characteristics parameters and various hollow-cone droplet size distribution patterns on a spray cooling system performance for nozzle design optimisation1,2. A validated Eulerian-Lagrangian 3-D model with a novel nozzle


representation method for hollow-cone nozzles was used to perform the analysis. The results showed a clear trend of increasing spray cooling efficiency as droplet velocity increases due to better spray dispersion. More than 20% improvement in cooling performance was achieved by increasing droplet velocity from 20 to 80 m/s as shown below. A spray nozzle with high injection velocity, small droplet size distribution, large cone angle and a droplet size pattern of mean droplet size increasing towards the spray periphery was found to be the best for sprays.

Predicted cooling efficiency at different droplet velocity.

Experimental tests with the Gatton Campus wind tunnel were conducted to investigate the spray characterisation of nine promising high pressure, hollow-cone nozzles for inlet air pre-cooling at different atomization pressures and environmental conditions. Droplet transport and water evaporation were measured using a 2D-Phase Doppler Particle Analyser (PDPA) and a high speed photography system. The cooling efficiency was calculated based on the measurement. The study demonstrated the feasibility of utilising spray cooling systems in natural draft dry cooling towers and the complete evaporation of water droplets can be achieved under natural draft dry cooling towers (NDDCTs) typical condition at a hot and dry ambient condition.

While the spray cooling uses small amount of fresh water to pre-cool the inlet air to improve power plant efficiency, PhD graduate, Dr Mohamadhosein Sadafi, explored the use of highly saline water, like coal seam water, for inlet air pre-cooling3,4. He investigated the performance of saline water, compared to pure water in spray cooling by both numerical and experimental studies. A new model was developed and used to simulate saline water droplet evaporation and the model was verified by the experimental results. His studies showed that using saline water for spray cooling improves cooling efficiency by 8% close to the nozzle. Furthermore, full evaporation takes place substantially earlier compared to the pure water case resulting in the wet length can be significantly shortened, thereby minimising the losses and footprint of a hybrid cooling tower.


Development of low cost and highly efficient small natural draft cooling tower for Australian reginal application condition

A challenge in developing small natural draft cooling tower technology is associated with the cross wind and high ambient temperature. A small natural draft dry cooling tower with the height of 20m has been built at the Unversity’s Gatton Campus. The tower was fully instrumented by the QGECE and it provides unique research facility for developing hybrid cooling technologies for renewable power plants. There has been excellent progress

on modelling and experimental studies with this world first class research facility.

Gatton testing tower with complete instrumentation system.

PhD student, Mr Xiaoxiao Li, has created 1-D and full scale 3-D (CFD) models of the Gatton Campus tower to predict the cooling performance of the tower with various ambient conditions5,6. The 1-D model has been verified by the experimental results and was also coupled into the power plant cycle analysis. The 3-D models has identified that this small size tower can reject heat ranging from 1.9 to 3.1MW and is well suit for 1-3 MW solar power plants running in supercritical CO2 power cycle for Australian reginal conditions. The 3-D model results also shown that crosswind affects the cooling efficiency by decreasing the buoyance force causing by disturbing the air flow in the tower.

Modelling results show air steam lines of the Gatton 20m natural draft cooling tower in different crosswind conditions.


Experimental tests with Gatton natural draft dry cooling tower have been conducted with constant heat load of 600kW and 800kW, respectively, under various ambient temperatures (ranged from 20 °C to 32 °C). The experimental results were used to validate the models and to identify the design issues of small natural draft cooling towers. Experimental results showed that the ambient temperature has negative effect on the cooling tower performance and the inlet and outlet water temperature increase with the increase of the ambient temperature.

Measurement results from Gatton tower: inlet and outlet water and air temperatures.

Spray cooling optimisation

An increase in power production by spray cooling assistance during the hottest ambient temperature offers a great potential to increase revenue for geothermal and other renewable power plants. The key issue in spray cooling is to optimise the nozzle selection and placements (locations) to achieve the water fully evaporation before it reach the heat exchanger and to maximise cooling efficiency. PhD student Mr Yubiao Sun and occupational trainee Mr Lin Xia conducted CFD modelling with different nozzle arrangements to optimise the spray cooling based on the real velocity field of the Gatton cooling tower7. The main findings from their studies are:

• The nozzle injection direction has a great effect on the pre-cooling performance. • The optimum injection angle to achieve full evaporation varies with the height of nozzle location. • Injection direction has a great influence on the evaporation of the injected water droplets.

The modelling results will be used for preparing spray tests with the Gatton Campus 20m tower in the next year.


Temperature distribution at the vertically middle plane and heat exchanger surface for different injections. (a) Full-evaporation cases of varied injection angles at H= 2m;

(b) full-evaporation cases of varied injection angles at H= 2.5m, 3m and 4m; (c) full-evaporation cases of varied injection angles at H= 4m.


Design and optimization of a heat exchanger for supercritical CO2 power plant cooling

Using supercritical CO2 (sCO2) as the working fluid of turbine in renewable power plants has the potential to significantly increase the power plant efficiency. Although there are several studies undertaking analysis of heat exchangers for sCO2 power cycle cooling, designing a suitable heat exchanger for direct dry cooling in a Brayton cycle with sCO2 is required. However, special challenges are involved with designing the cooling system for sCO2

Brayton cycle due to the unique properties of CO2 under supercritical condition.

PhD student, Mr Navid Dehdashti Akhavan, has identified the important issues related to the cooling requirements for a solar thermal power plant operating with a sCO2 Brayton cycle. Experimental study at the University’s Pinjarra Hills high pressure loop will be carried out to identify cooling characteristic for optimising heat exchangers.

Application of natural draft dry cooling tower in coal seam gas production

After successful completion of the performance study on air cooled heat exchanger (ACHE) for Arrow Energy’s two gas processing plants8, the QGECE has been requested by the coal seam gas (CSG) producer, Arrow Energy Pty Ltd, to conduct a study on replacing the existing ACHE with QGECE’s Gatton natural draft dry cooling tower module.

The current cooling system of Arrow Energy is a fan draft system which consumes power for fan operation; however the cooling system also generates noise and the maintenance cost for the moving part is high. Therefore, Arrow Energy Pty Ltd has approached the QGECE to conduct a feasibility study on replacing the currently fan driven air-cooled system in the production plants with QGECE’s hybrid natural draft cooling tower. The aims of the study include:

• reducing OPEX through elimination of fan loads and simplification of maintenance • addressing their concern on the safety hazard produced by fans noise. The image below shows the proposed

natural draft dry cooling tower for CSG production plants.

Current Fan-driven ACHE in CSG production Proposed natural draft dry cooling

QGECE is also working with Jord international to develop jet enhanced natural draft dry cooling system for coal seam gas industry9.


Heat exchanger and solar mirror fouling study

Fouling of heat exchangers, as well as its mitigation and cleaning, forms an important challenge for the QGECE. Particulate fouling of air-cooled heat exchanger is being studied by PhD student, Ms Fadhilah Shikh Anuar.

Dust is the dominant source for solar collectors fouling in concentrated solar thermal (CST) power plants and regular cleaning is required to recover the reflectance loss caused by mirror fouling. The significant characteristics of dust such as the size, distribution, density, shape, composition, chemistry and charge have been studied by QGECE MPhil student Mr Shengzhe Yu. Mr Yu has collected the dust samples from both the dust monitor and the solar mirrors installed in the proposed Collinsville solar power plant site.

A new PhD student, Mr Farhan Raza, is studying mirror cleaning optimisation using high pressure water spray to restore the reflectivity levels of mirrors to the best possible extent by minimising water consumption. Another goal of his study is to identify the relationship between the airborne dust and the dust deposited on mirror surface. Such relationships would aid in forecasting and decision making to optimise cleaning requirements including cleaning schedules.

References Dust monitor and the mirror test bench installed on site.

1. Abdullah Alkhedhair, Ingo Jahn, Hal Gurgenci, Zhiqiang Guan, Suoying He, Yuanshen Lu. 2016. Numerical simulation of water spray in natural draft dry cooling towers with a new nozzle representation approach: Applied Thermal Engineering, Volume 98, Pages 924-935

2. Abdullah Alkhedhair*, Ingo Jahn, Hal Gurgenci, Zhiqiang Guan, Suoying He, 2016. Parametric study on spray cooling system for optimising nozzle design with pre-cooling application in natural draft dry cooling towers: International Journal of Thermal Sciences, Volume 104, June 2016, Pages 448-460

3. M.H. Sadafi., S. González Ruiz., M.R. Vetrano., I. Jahn., J. van Beeck., J.M. Buchlin., K. Hooman, 2016. An investigation on spray cooling using saline water with experimental verification: Energy Conversion and Management, Volume 108 (2016), Pages 336–347

4. M.H. Sadafi, I. Jahn, K. Hooman, 2015. Cooling performance of solid containing water for spray assisted dry cooling towers, Energy Conversion and Management 91 (2015) 158–167.

5. Xiaoxiao Li, Zhiqiang Guan, Hal Gurgenci, Yuanshen Lu, Suoying He (2016). Simulation of the UQ Gatton natural draft dry cooling tower. Applied Thermal Engineering.

6. Xiaoxiao Li, Lin Xia, Hal Gurgenci and Zhiqiang Guan, 2016. Performance enhancement for the natural draft dry cooling tower under crosswind condition by optimizing the water distribution, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 107 (2017) 271–280.

7. Xia, Lin, Gurgenci, Hal, Liu, Deyou, Guan, Zhiqiang, Zhou, Ling and Wang, Pei (2016) CFD analysis of pre-cooling water spray system in natural draft dry cooling towers. Applied Thermal Engineering, 105 1051-1060.

8. Yuanshen Lu, Zhiqiang Guan, Kamel Hooman, Prashant S. Parulekar, 2016, An investigation on cooling performance of air-cooled heat exchangers used in coal seam gas production, Heat Transfer Engineering.

9. Lu, Y., Guan, Z., Gurgenci, H., Alkhedhair, A., and He, S. (2016) Experimental investigation into the positive effects of a tri-blade-like windbreak wall on small size natural draft dry cooling towers. Applied Thermal Engineering.

Mr Pasquale and Mr Yu installed the test

bench for dust sample collection and degradation study


SYSTEM INTEGRATION PROGRAM

Program Leader Dr Anand Veeraragavan

Research Team Mr David Stevens

Mr Sam Williamson

Mr Viv Bone

Mr Thomas Reddell

The System Integration (SI) group has been investigating various sCO2 Brayton cycle configurations to meet an objective for the 25 MW Australian Solar Thermal Research Initiative (ASTRI) project. The recompression cycle has been investigated as it is a promising power cycle configuration for next-generation thermal power plants. The SI group continues to investigate the recompression cycle and various cycle enhancement options for the recompression cycle. The SI group is also investigating a transcritical CO2 cycle as an option which could be commercially implemented in a much shorter time-frame. While the recompression cycle promises higher efficiency, there is still some technological developmental required, particularly for the compressors, before the recompression cycle can reach these high efficiencies. The transcritical cycle is being developed to utilise off-the- shelf sCO2 pumps. This investigation is in the preliminary stage; however early results show that the reduction in

efficiency is modest and the transcritical cycle may be an attractive option as an intermediate sCO2 power block configuration to facilitate the commercialisation process.

The SI team has also been exploring dry air cooling system configuration options for the sCO2 Brayton cycle. A

preliminary comparative study investigating direct versus indirect NDDCT cooling of the sCO2 Brayton cycle has

found that direct NDDCT cooling of the sCO2 Brayton cycle is a promising cooling option where cooling water is not

available. The direct cooling option involves cooling the sCO2 directly in the NDDCT, whereas the indirect option involves an intermediate cooling water loop. The direct cooling configuration results in a higher inlet temperature difference in the NDDCT, which results in the direct NDDCT cooling configuration requiring less heat transfer surface area and a smaller tower in order to achieve the same cooling duty. According to this finding, the direct cooling NDDCT configuration offers reduced capital cost compared to the more conventional indirect cooling system for similar system performance. These preliminary findings motivate further investigation into direct NDDCT cooling of sCO2.

The recompression cycle with (left) direct cooling NDDCT, and (right) indirect cooling NDDCT.

The cooling performance of the Gatton Campus cooling tower was characterised using experimental data obtained by the Heat Exchangers Group. This experimental data was used to develop a one-dimensional model for the Gatton Campus cooling tower. This model allows the prediction of the tower’s performance under varying ambient conditions. This model was incorporated into a cycle model for a recuperated sCO2 Brayton cycle model for CSP. In this case, the Gatton cooling tower is employed in an indirect cooling configuration with a low pressure intermediate cooling water loop. The influence of the cooling tower performance across a range of ambient temperatures, on the performance of the power cycle was analysed.


Technical Advisory Committees (TACs) were established in each of the broad program areas. The TAC provided advice to the Director about the conduct of the Centre in a particular research area or a research project. The members of the TAC have relevant expertise, were nominated by the Director, and approved by the Board. The TACs did not meet in 2015/2016; however, most of the members continued to be contacted individually helping the research conducted at the QGECE.

Technical Advisory Committees of the QGECE

Committee Area Membership

Ground Source Heat Pump

Graeme Beardsmore, Hot Dry Rocks Pty Ltd

Chris Booth, Australian Geothermal Solutions

Hal Gurgenci, QGECE

Kamel Hooman, QGECE

Ian Johnston, The University of Melbourne

Mark Langdon, QPS Geothermal

Marci Webster-Mannison, School of Architecture UQ

Heat Source Discovery and Characterisation

Graeme Beardsmore, Hot Dry Rocks Pty Ltd

Scott Bryan, QUT

David Champion, Geosciences Australia

Massimo Gasparon, QGECE

Sue Golding, QGECE

Kurt Knesel, QGECE

Richard Suttill, Origin Energy

Behnam Talebi, Queensland Geological Surveys

Tonguc Uysal, QGECE

Doone Wyborn, Geodynamics

Transmission Mehdi Eghbal, QGECE

Luke Falla, Senior Engineer, Australian Energy Market Operator Ltd

Terry Miller, Manager Network Development, Powerlink Queensland

Tapan Saha, QGECE

Power Conversion Samuel Button, Origin Energy

Allan Curtis, Parsons Brickenhoff

Zhiqiang Guan, QGECE

Stephen Hinchliffe, Sinclair Knights Merz

Kamel Hooman, QGECE

Peter Jacobs, QGECE

Tony Roe, Geodynamics

Andrew Rowlands, QGECE

TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEES (TAC)


The Centre continues to actively collaborate and engage with industry and other tertiary institutions.

Engagement

QGECE staff regularly meet with industry stakeholders and researchers. A summary of meetings is submitted quarterly to the QGECE Board.

QGECE staff also regularly collaborate with staff at other educational institutions. Through travel grants and publications, staff have collaborated with the following institutions: Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester (UMIST), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Stuttgart, TH-Nouernberg, Tsinghua, Tianjin, Xian Jiaotong, Shandong, Shanghai Jiaotong, MIT, Detroit-Mercey, Ecole Centrale Paris, Marne La Valle, Toulouse, Miguel Hernadez, Ghent, ETH- Zurich, Bogazici, GFZ-Potsdam, Padova Napoli Seconda, Australian National University, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), University of South Australia and Queensland University of Technology.

Visitors

A number of visitors were received over the period July 2015 to December 2016, including:

• Associate Professor Paul Petrie-Repar of KTH (Royal Institute of Technology), Sweden visited for a period of six weeks to work with the Power Generation Team on Expanders.

• Professor Kewen Li of the Department of energy Resources Engineering, Stanford University, U.S.A. visited for 1 week.

• Dr Pradeep Bansal of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, visited for two weeks to participate in the 17th IAHR

International Conference on Cooling Tower & Heat Exchangers.

• Dr Franco Magagnato of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

There were also six occupational trainees who visited during this time. Two of them were from China and the other four were from France, Chile, Spain and Germany.

Verdicorp Portable Power Plant for Remote Demonstration of Geothermal Power

The QGECE’s Portable Power Plant is a demountable Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) that has been developed in collaboration with our turbine research partner, Verdicorp. The portable plant is a technology development and demonstration platform for low temperature (<150°C) applications, such as geothermal bore water and waste heat from processing plant. The plant has the capability of stand-alone operation at remote sites, where it can generate up to 45 kWe of electricity, and is intended to be used to demonstrate the potential of geothermal power generation across Queensland.

The Portable Plant was successfully commissioned in October 2016. It is located at the University’s Pinjarra Hills site in the Renewable Power Generation Laboratory (RPGL) and has now produced net electrical power for more

than 20 hours of continuous operation.

COLLABORATION AND ENGAGEMENT

QCEGE Annual Report 32

UQ engineer David Stevens and Verdicorp General Manager Randolph Dietzel with

the completed Portable Plant.

Plant Design

The Portable Plant is a simple Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) with one pre-heat stage and operates with R245fa refrigerant as the working fluid. The plant was designed with the following thermal specifications:

• Approximately 600 kW heat input • Temperature sources between 85 and 100 °C • Operation at ambient temperatures between 5 and 30 °C • Produces up to 45 kWe gross electric power

Factory and site acceptance testing of the Portable Plant show that it can operate in ambient temperatures up to 40 °C and potentially produce above 50 kWe gross electric power.

Verdicorp Turbogenerator


Gross Power Output specifications for Portable Plant

The Portable Plant has a number of features that allow flexible operation with different heat sources and in different locations.

The plant was designed with capacity for both geothermal brine and thermal oil flow inputs, to allow testing at the QGECE Renewable Power Generation Laboratory (RPGL) and operation with remote geothermal wells. This was made possible via a custom intermediate heat skid that operates on pressurised hot water. The heat skid has two input heat exchangers, designed for geothermal brine and thermal oil respectively. These heat exchangers heat up the pressured hot water, which in turn provides heat into the ORC via a pre-heater and evaporator.

The plant’s mounting skid was designed for the Portable Plant to be easily transportable. It easily fits inside a 20ft shipping container and has four rated lifting lugs for crane transportation. The plant was also designed with the capacity for a higher temperature turbogenerator (up to 150 °C heat input) which would allow up to 75 kWe gross electric power generation in the future.

Finally, the Portable Plant has a sophisticated operating and control system. This system allows the plant to be started up and shutdown automatically, fine control over a number of plant elements, and remote operation and technical

support.

Intermediate heat skid showing thermal oil (left) and

geothermal brine (right) heat exchangers.


Plant Manufacture

The Portable Plant was manufactured by Verdicorp in Florida, USA. Although construction began in January 2016, there were some significant delays and challenges and the plant was not completed until August. In order to expedite the manufacturing process, inspection engineers were hired from WorleyParsons USA to validate the construction and performance of the plant in the Verdicorp factory. Once validated, the module was transported via ship to Port of Brisbane.

Plant Commissioning

The Portable Plant arrived at the Port of Brisbane at the beginning of October, and kicked off a busy month of commissioning at the QGECE’s Renewable Power Generation Laboratory. The plant was transported to the laboratory and it was set down with the existing Air Cooled Condenser using a mobile crane. This was followed by completing the required piping and electrical tie-ins between the two equipment and to the QGECE thermal oil heater and main distribution board. Once the tie-ins were completed, there was extensive pressure, leak and electrical costing performed on all connections to ensure they were fit for purpose.

Placement of Portable Plant using 25T Franna.

Work on mechanical and electrical tie-ins.


1MW thermal oil heater used for testing the Portable Plant.

The Portable Plant was tested using the QGECE’s 1 MW diesel oil heater. Strict measures were put in place for onsite performance testing to ensure the plant could meet its intended design specifications. This included at least 16 hours of operation in the testing week, most importantly operation at part load, low and high ambient temperature and a complete testing of the plant’s safety systems. The Portable Plant exceeded expectations and all systems operated as intended.

Portable Plant main operating screen showing key component performance and power output.


Future Plans

There is promising future use for the Portable Plant throughout Queensland. In particular, there is interest from Queensland services company Local Government Infrastructure Services (LGIS) to use the plant a demonstration of the capability of their future geothermal power plant in Winton. This demonstration would be happening in the first quarter of 2017. There are other potential sites for future deployment of the plant, including UQ’s Gatton Campus and a few sites of QGECE partners.

The Centre is actively involved in providing a geothermal energy education option for undergraduate and postgraduate students at The University of Queensland.

Undergraduate & Postgraduate Coursework Programs

• Undergraduate thesis projects – engineering students complete a research thesis in their final year at The University of Queensland. Approximately 30 of 160 thesis projects in the School were supervised by Centre staff.

• Postgraduate Engineering Coursework – eight students undertaking their postgraduate coursework thesis

were supervised and supported by Centre staff.

• Visiting Lectures – Centre staff are invited to energy-related undergraduate courses to deliver lectures on geothermal energy.

The above activities help the university graduate engineers and scientists with exposure to the geothermal energy sector and understanding of the issues involved in geothermal energy utilisation.

QGECE Weekly Seminar Program

The QGECE holds weekly seminars to keep all research staff informed about what is happening across the Centre, and to provide an opportunity for students and staff from outside the Centre, as well as visitors, to hear about current research.

Date Presenter Topic

6 August 2015 Janri Qi Biomass for power generation

11 August 2015 Hal Gurgenci Radial inflo turbine manufacturing

18 August 2015 Hugh Russell ASME TurboExpo Report

25 August 2015 Yuanshen Lu Arrow Project: Lessons Learned

1 September 2015 Andras Nagy Introduction and Instrumentation

29 September 2015 XiaoXiao Li Hybrid Cooling Tower at Gatton: Reserach Plan

6 October 2015 Janry Qi Supercritical CO2 Systems for Concentrating Solar Thermal Applications

13 October 2015 Fadhilah Shikh Anuar Fouling of metal from heat exchangers

20 October 2015 Iman Ashtiani Abdi GSITA stay at Harvard-MIT

27 October 2015 Jacob Hess CFD simulation of supercritical turbines

23 February 2016 Franco Magagnato (KIT-Germany)

Simulation of Transient Flows in Turbo Machines Using the Harmonic Balance Method

1 March 2016 Kamel Hooman Our move from QGECE to RECCE: some updates

EDUCATION


QGECE Weekly Seminar Program (cont)

Date Presenter Topic

8 March 2016 MH Sadafi Sensitive papers for saline water spray cooling

15 March 2016 Thomas Eckert (MUAS- Germany)

CFD-FEA simulation and optimisation of a turbo compressor

22 March 2016 Pilar Orihuela (UoS-Spain) Thermohydraulics of bio-porous filters

5 April 2016 Zhuozhao Chen GSHP systems modelling and verification versus our Gatton set up

19 April 2016 Luis Marin (UTFSM-Chile) Methodology to size the heliostats field for a CST plant

26 April 2016 Yubiao Sun Nozzle Spray design for Gatton cooling tower

10 May 2016 Jason Czapla “Controlled Thermal Resources’ 250MW geothermal power plant in Salton Sea”

17 May 2016 Professor Kewen Li (Stanford/China University of Geo-Science Beijing)

“Power Generation using Thermoelectric Machines and Fracture Characterization”

24 May 2016 Luis Marin (UTFSM - Chile) Methodology to size the heliostats field for CST plant

7 June 2016 M. Odabaee, M. M. Chi, J. Qui, I. Jahn, B. Twomey and H. Russell

“ASME Dry runs”

Postgraduate Research Students

The majority of QGECE students enrol through the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, with a small number enrolling through the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at UQ or at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Students have access to a free University-wide skills training program run by the Graduate School.

The main involvement of the Centre in the education area is postgraduate research training. The current list of students and graduates are given in the following tables. The Centre’s current 20 postgraduate research students form a diverse, international group.

Students are encouraged to participate in the Faculty’s annual Postgraduate Conference. This conference provides an opportunity for postgraduate students to present their research to academics and industry partners, to improve presentation skills, and to network with potential employers and research partners. The conference also provides a chance for attendees to interact and gain an overview of research across the Faculty. Each year, the Centre sponsors The Professor Klaus Bremhorst Prize for best presentation related to Mining Engineering and Energy.

Students enrolled at The University of Queensland undertake three milestones as part of their MPhil or PhD program. The three milestones undertaken by all RHD students are:

• Milestone 1: Confirmation of Candidature

• Milestone 2: Mid-candidature Review

• Milestone 3: Thesis Review

At each milestone, students receive formative advice about the direction, scope, planning of their research, and the feasibility of their research plan. It is also an opportunity to review the resources that are needed to sustain their candidature (e.g. the composition of an advisory team, the technical support needed for the work, and the physical and financial resources needed to achieve the proposed outcomes of a thesis).

The University of Queensland offers competitive Graduate School International Travel Awards (GSITA). This Award is intended to support one or more of the following:

• Enhance the quality of candidature, thesis and/or associated research output

• Develop additional skills for career post-candidature

• Contribute stronger research linkages between UQ and a key partner.


Current QGECE Postgraduate Research Students List

Student Program Project Title Commenced Next Milestone

Xin Kang PhD Combustion based portable power generating system

Apr 2, 2013 Thesis Under Examination

Mohsen Modirshanechi

PhD Wake visualization behind a rough cylinder in cross-flow

Jul 1, 2013 Thesis Review

Mostafa Odabaee

PhD Metal foams for improving the performance of water cooled heat exchangers

Sep 3, 2013 Thesis Review

Kan Qin PhD Design and testing a mixed-fluid turbine Oct 1, 2013 Thesis Review

Shengzhe Yu MPhil The automatic cleaning system for concentrating solar power (CSP) plants

Oct 21, 2013 Thesis Under Examination

Mohd Zakariya PhD Gas-liquid interaction for gas turbine bearing chamber

Oct 29, 2013 Thesis Review

Xiaoxiao Li PhD Numerical and Experimental Study of Small Natural Draft Dry Cooling Tower for Renewable Power Plant


Jianhui Qi PhD Supercritical CO2 systems for concentrating solar thermal applications


Fadhilah Shikh Anuar

PhD The experimental study of fouling in diesel engine exhaust gas recirculation thermoelectric generator EGR TEG coolers


Joshua Keep PhD Develop automated design code for advanced transcritical and supercritical turbines

Jan 12, 2015 Thesis Review

Yubiao Sun PhD Optimizing the selection of heat exchangers for solar enhanced natural draft dry cooling tower

Apr 13, 2015 Mid-Candidature Review

Navid Dehdashti Akhavan

PhD Design and optimisation of scaled natural draft cooling towers for geothermal and solar power plants

Apr 14, 2015 Mid-Candidature Review

Liam Montgomery

MPhil Computational analysis of storage integrated solar thermophotovoltaic (SISTPV) systems

Jul 13, 2015 Confirmation of Candidature

Viv Bone PhD Model based control of supercritical CO2 concentrating solar thermal plants

Oct 13, 2015 Mid-Candidature Review

Jianyong Wang PhD Supercritical CO2 systems for concentrating solar thermal applications

Oct 26, 2015 Mid-Candidature Review

Farhan Raza PhD Study on solar mirror fouling and efficient cleaning system for concentrating solar power plants based on the optimised water jet cleaning system

Jan 8, 2016 Confirmation of Candidature

Thomas Reddell PhD Dynamic modelling of a supercritical carbon dioxide cycle

Jan 8, 2016 Confirmation of Candidature

Sam Duniam PhD Design optimisation for an Australian EGS power plant

Jan 14, 2016 Mid-Candidature Review

Phillip Swann MPhil Investigation of a curtain type fluidic jet seal for sC02 turbine rotors

Jan 15, 2016 Mid-Candidature Review

Christo Nel MPhil Saline water spray mechanisms for inlet pre- cooling of air

July 29, 2016 Confirmation of Candidature


QGECE Postgraduate Research Graduates List

Name Program Project Title Award Date

Principle Advisor

Current Position

Dr Aleks Atrens

PhD Carbon-Dioxide-Based Engineered Geothermal Systems

Aug 15, 2011

Hal Gurgenci Medical student, UQ and part-time staff member QGECE

Prashant Parulekar

MPhil Gas Turbine Control in Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle Plants

Mar 31, 2012

Hal Gurgenci Mechanical Engineering Manager at Arrow Energy

Hugh Russell MPhil Groundwater Condenser Cooling for Geothermal Power Plants in Central Australia

Jul 4, 2013

Hal Gurgenci QGECE Research Officer

Dr Carlos Andre de Miranda Ventura

PhD Aerodynamic design and performance estimation of radial inflow turbines for renewable power generation applications

Jun 7, 2013

Peter Jacobs Cambridge

Dr Huong Mai Nguyen

PhD Power System Stability for Long Distance Connection of Renewable Energy Resources Utilizing Hybrid Multi-terminal HVDC

Jun 21, 2013

Tapan Saha Electric Power University, Vietnam

Dr Rajinesh Singh

PhD Dynamics and Control of a Closed Carbon-Dioxide Brayton Cycle

Oct 25, 2013

Peter Jacobs Project Engineer, Vipac Engineers and Scientists

Dr Kazi Nazmul Hasan

PhD Investigation of cost benefit and regulatory issues of large scale renewable power integration to a remote transmission grid

Mar 17, 2014

Tapan Saha The University of Manchester

Dr Pourya Forooghi

PhD Heat transfer of fluids with highly variable properties in plate type heat exchangers

Sep 19, 2014

Kamel Hooman

Post-Doctoral Fellow at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Germany

Dr Mehryar Sakhaei

PhD Inclined Arrangement for Heat Exchanger Bundles

Oct 3, 2014

Kamel Hooman

Lecturer, Military Techno-logical College Muscat, Oman

Dr Alexander Middleton

PhD Geochemistry and geochronology of fluid flow events in high heat-producing granitic systems

Oct 23, 2014

Suzanne Golding & Dr Tonguc Uysal

Geological Survey of Finland

Victoria Marshall

MPhil Petrological, geochemical and geochronological characterisation of heat- producing granites in Queensland

Dec 10, 2014

Kurt Knesel unknown

Dr Yuanshen Lu

PhD The development of small-size natural draft dry cooling tower for geothermal power plans

Jan 30, 2015

Zhiqiang Guan

Assisting QGECE research group

Dr Jason Czapla

PhD Investigation of Supersonic Impulse Turbines for Application to Geothermal Binary Power Stations

Feb 13, 2015

Peter Jacobs Santos


Name Program Project Title Award Date

Principle Advisor

Current Position

Dr Suoying He PhD Wetted-medium evaporative pre-cooling for natural draft dry cooling tower performance enhancement

Apr 24, 2015

Hal Gurgenci Shandong University

Dr Ezgi Unal PhD U-series dating of carbonates along tectonically active zones of Turkey in a relationship between CO2 degassing, volcanic/paleo-seismic, and climatic events

Nov 6, 2015

James Shulmeister & Jian-xin Xin Zhao

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Hacettepe University

Dr Abdullah M S Alkhedhair

PhD Heat exchanger optimisation for geothermal power plants

Nov 20, 2015

Hal Gurgenci Assistant Professor, King Abdlaziz

Dr Braden Twomey

PhD Dynamic Modelling of an Organic Rankine Cycle and Simulation of the QGECE- Verdicorp ORC Test Plant

Feb 26, 2016

Hal Gurgenci Postdoctoral Research Fellow, QGECE

Stephen Gwynn-Jones

MPhil Design of Internally Air Cooled Pipes to Prevent Thermal Bending

June 20, 2016

Kamel Hooman & Hugo Joubert

Industry Fellow, Tenova Australia Pty Ltd

Dr Iman Ashtiani Abdi

PhD Wake visualisation behind a rough cylinder in cross-flow

June 20, 2016

Kamel Hooman


Dr Ampon Chumpia

PhD Improving the performance of air-cooled condensers by using metal foams.

June 22, 2016

Kamel Hooman


Dr Hosein Sadafi

PhD Simulating dry cooling system for geothermal power plants

Aug 29, 2016

Kamel Hooman


The table below summarises the Centre performance against the Key Performance Indicators established in the Centre Agreement.

Key performance indicators of the QGECE (2009 - 2016)

KPI Target over five years

Current

Number of postgraduate research students 12 28

Postgraduate Student Completions 12 21

Number of competitive research grants 5 13

Number of projects with industry funding 3 7

Number of refereed publications (from inception) 40 228

Number of research projects undertaken in Queensland 8 15

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIs)


Competitive Grants (Category 1)

Title QGECE Investigators

Funding Agency Total Funded (ex GST)

Duration

Water Model Test Rig Hooman, K Tenova $55,000 2016

National draft dry cooling tower in geothermal and solar power plant application

Guan, Z Queensland International Fellowship

$26,000 2009-2010

Air cooled metal foam heat exchangers Hooman, K UniQuest Pathfinder $35,000 2010

Metal foam heat exchanger for dry cooling Hooman, K, Rudolph, V

ANLEC $157,388 2012-2013

Advanced facility for research on rheology and flow of complex fluids at high pressure and temperature towards clean energy from deep earth resources (Chemical Engineering led)

Gurgenci, H ARC-LIEF $293,442 2014

X-ray transparent core flood apparatus (Chemical Engineering led)

Gurgenci, H ARC-LIEF $375,000 2015

A novel air-cooled fuel cell system Hooman, K ARC Discovery (DP) $202,000 2011-2013

True triaxial cell for advanced testing of porous media (Civil Engineering led)

Hooman, K MEI $417,000 2014

Development of advanced waste heat recovery system: application to metal foam heat exchangers

Hooman, K FASIC $6,000 2014

Australian Solar Thermal Research Initiative (ASTRI)

Gurgenci, H, Meredith, P

ASTRI $2,820,337 2013-2016

Hybrid Cooling Towers Gurgenci, H, Hooman, K

Queensland Government Smart Futures Co-Investment Fund

$1,650,000 2013-2015

Advanced waste heat recovery systems Hooman, K ARC DECRA $340,000 2015-2017

New surface characterisation facility for nanotechnology, bioengineering and manufacturing research

Hooman, K MEI $88,360 2015

Projects with Industry Participation

Title Investigator Funding Agency Total Fund- ed (ex GST)

Duration



ASTRI $2,820,337 2013-2016



$1,650,000 2013-2015

RAC- Collinsville Solar Thermal Power Station (RATCH)

Meredith, P, Gurgenci, H

RATCH $350,000 2013-2015

Daandine air cooled heat exchanger (Arrow Energy)

Hooman, K, Guan, Z

Centre for Coal Seam Gas $55,000 2014-2015

Tipton gas plant (Arrow Energy)

Hooman, K, Guan, Z

Centre for Coal Seam Gas $72,000 2014-2015

Pipe bending analysis Hooman, K XSTRATA $16,000 2014

Valen Light Hooman, K UniQuest $ 20,000 2014


Research projects undertaken in Queensland

Title Investigator Funding Agency Total Fund- ed (ex GST)

Duration

RAC- Collinsville Solar Thermal Power Station (RATCH)

Meredith, P, Gurgenci, H

RATCH $350,000 2013-2015

Development of a remote area power plant

Hooman, K, Atrens, A

Ergon - 2015

Daandine air cooled heat exchanger (Arrow Energy)

Hooman, K, Guan, Z

Centre for Coal Seam Gas/Arrow

$55,000 2014-2015

Tipton gas plant (Arrow Energy) Hooman, K, Guan, Z

Centre for Coal Seam Gas/Arrow

$72,000 2014-2015

Pipe bending analysis Hooman, K XSTRATA $16,000 2014

National draft dry cooling tower in geothermal and solar power plant application

Guan, Z Queensland International Fellowship

$26,000 2009-2010

Air cooled metal foam heat exchangers

Hooman, K UniQuest Pathfinder $35,000 2010

Metal foam heat exchanger for dry cooling

Hooman, K, Rudolph, V

ANLEC $157,388 2012-2013

A novel air-cooled fuel cell system Hooman, K ARC Discovery (DP) $202,000 2011-2013

True triaxial cell for advanced testing of porous media (Civil Engineering led)

Hooman, K MEI $417,000 2014

Development of advanced waste heat recovery system: application to metal foam heat exchangers

Hooman, K FASIC $6,000 2014



ASTRI $2,820,337 2013-2016



$1,650,000 2013-2015

Advanced waste heat recovery systems

Hooman, K ARC DECRA $340,000 2015-2017

New surface characterisation facility for nanotechnology, bioengineering and manufacturing research

Hooman, K MEI $88,360 2015


Financial Summary

The details of income and expenditure are presented as the Financial Statement prepared by the Contract & Grants Accounting Section of The University of Queensland (see page 53).

The University of Queensland in-kind contribution to 31 December 2016 has been $452,637. This is based on the overheads for the QGECE-funded research staff, the overheads for the QGECE postgraduate students, and the salary and overheads for the other University of Queensland staff contributing to the QGECE projects but not receiving salary compensation.

The calculation for the in-kind contribution is uses the following formula:

UQ _ inkind = QGECEpaidstaff +UQpaidstaff + PhDstudents

That shows that the UQ in-kind contribution has three components:

Item Methos (as approved by the Board on 13/3/2012)

QGECE-paid staff (overheads only)

QGECE Staff Salary Total / 1.26 x 1.5

UQ-paid staff (salary and overheads)

UQ-paid Staff Salary x QGECE-fraction /1.26 x 3

PhD Student (overheads only) $10,000/student per year x No of students

QGECE Gatton Cooling Tower


Refereed Journal Publications

Alkhedhair, Abdullah, Guan, Zhiqiang, Jahn, Ingo, Gurgenci, Hal and He, Suoying (2015) Water spray for pre-cooling of inlet air for Natural Draft Dry Cooling Towers: experimental study. International Journal of Thermal Sciences, 90 70-78.

Alkhedhair, Abdullah, Jahn, Ingo, Gurgenci, Hal, Guan, Zhiqiang and He, Suoying (2016) Parametric study on spray cooling system for optimising nozzle design with pre-cooling application in natural draft dry cooling towers. International Journal of Thermal Sciences, 104 448-460.

Alkhedhair, Abdullah, Jahn, Ingo, Gurgenci, Hal, Guan, Zhiqiang, He, Suoying and Lu, Yuanshen (2016) Numerical simulation of water spray in natural draft dry cooling towers with a new nozzle representation approach. Applied Thermal Engineering, 98 924-935.

Anuar, Fadhilah Shikh, Malayeri, M. Reza and Hooman, Kamel (2016) Particulate fouling and challenges of metal foam heat exchangers. Heat Transfer Engineering, 1-13.

Araghi, Alireza Hosseini, Khiadani, Mehdi and Hooman, Kamel (2016) A novel vacuum discharge thermal energy combined desalination and power generation system utilizing R290/R600a. Energy, 98 215-224.

Bansal, Pradeep and Hooman, Kamel (2016) Latest developments in the field of cooling towers and heat exchangers - selected papers from the 17th IAHR international conference on cooling tower and heat exchanger 7-11 September 2015, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Applied Thermal Engineering, 105 951-952.

Fairuz, Z. M. and Jahn, I. (2016) The influence of real gas effects on the performance of supercritical CO2 dry gas seals. Tribology International, 102 333-347.

Guan, Zhiqiang, Gurgenci, Hal and Zou, Zheng (2016) Design of solar enhanced natural draft dry cooling tower for solar thermal power plants. International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures Journal, 57 1: 97-103.

He, Suoying, Gurgenci, Hal, Guan, Zhiqiang, Huang, Xiang and Lucas, Manuel (2015) A review of wetted media with potential application in the pre-cooling of natural draft dry cooling towers. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 44 407-422.

He, Suoying, Guan, Zhiqiang, Gurgenci, Hal, Hooman, Kamel, Lu, Yuanshen and Alkhedhair, Abdullah M. (2015) Experimental study of the application of two trickle media for inlet air pre-cooling of natural draft dry cooling towers. Energy Conversion and Management, 89 644-654.

He, Suoying, Gurgenci, Hal, Guan, Zhiqiang, Hooman, Kamel, Zou, Zheng and Sun, Fengzhong (2016) Comparative study on the performance of natural draft dry, pre-cooled and wet cooling towers. Applied Thermal Engineering, 99 103-113.

He, Suoying, Gurgenci, Hal, Guan, Zhiqiang, Huang, Xiang and Lucas, Manuel (2015) A review of wetted media with potential application in the pre-cooling of natural draft dry cooling towers. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 44 407-422.

Hooman, K., Li, J. and Dahari, M. (2016) Slip flow forced convection through microducts of arbitrary cross-section: Heat and momentum analogy. International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, 71 176-179.

Hooman, K. and Malayeri, M. R. (2016) Metal foams as gas coolers for exhaust gas recirculation systems subjected to particulate fouling. Energy Conversion and Management, 117 475-481.

Imani, Gholamreza and Hooman, Kamel (2016) Lattice Boltzmann pore scale simulation of natural convection in a differentially heated enclosure filled with a detached or attached bidisperse porous medium. Transport in Porous Media, 1-23.

Li, Xiaoxiao, Guan, Zhiqiang, Gurgenci, Hal, Lu, Yuanshen and He, Suoying (2016) Simulation of the UQ Gatton natural draft dry cooling tower. Applied Thermal Engineering, 105 1013-1020.

PUBLICATIONS


Li, Xiaoxiao, Xia, Lin, Gurgenci, Hal and Guan, Zhiqiang (2017) Performance enhancement for the natural draft dry cooling tower under crosswind condition by optimizing the water distribution. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 107 271-280.

Lu, Mingyuan, Mead, James, Wu, Yueqin, Russell, Hugh and Huang, Han (2016) A study of the deformation and failure mechanisms of protective intermetallic coatings on AZ91 Mg alloys using microcantilever bending. Materials Characterization, 120 337-344.

Lu, Mingyuan, Russell, Hugh and Huang, Han (2015) Fracture strength characterization of protective intermetallic coatings on AZ91E Mg alloys using FIB-machined microcantilever bending technique. Journal of Materials Research, 3010: 1678-1685.

Lu, Yuanshen, Guan, Zhiqiang, Gurgenci, Hal, Alkhedhair, Abdullah and He, Suoying (2016) Experimental investigation into the positive effects of a tri-blade-like windbreak wall on small size natural draft dry cooling towers. Applied Thermal Engineering, 1051000-1012.

Lu, Yuanshen, Guan, Zhiqiang, Gurgenci, Hal, Hooman, Kamel, He, Suoying and Bharathan, Desikan (2015) Experimental study of crosswind effects on the performance of small cylindrical natural draft dry cooling towers. Energy Conversion and Management, 91238-248.

Lu, Yuanshen, Guan, Zhiqiang, Hooman, Kamel and Parulekar, Prashant S. (2016) An investigation on cooling performance of air-cooled heat exchangers used in coal seam gas production. Heat Transfer Engineering, 1-16.

Odabaee, Mostafa, Sauret, Emilie and Hooman, Kamel (2016) CFD simulation of a supercritical carbon dioxide radial-inflow turbine, comparing the results of using real gas equation of estate and real gas property file. Applied Mechanics and Materials, 846 85-90.

Peterseim, J. H. and Veeraragavan, A. (2015) Solar towers with supercritical steam parameters - is the efficiency gain worth the effort?. Energy Procedia, 691123-1132.

Qin, Kan, Jahn, Ingo, Gollan, Rowan and Jacobs, Peter (2016) Development of a computational tool to simulate foil bearings for supercritical CO2 cycles. Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, 138 9: 092503-1-092503-19.

Qin, Kan, Jahn, Ingo and Jacobs, Peter (2016) Development of a fluid-structure model for gas-lubricated bump-type foil thrust bearings. Applied Mechanics and Materials, 846 169-175.

Sadafi, M. H., Gonzalez Ruiz, S., Vetrano, M. R., Jahn, I., van Beeck, J., Buchlin, J. M. and Hooman, K. (2016) An investigation on spray cooling using saline water with experimental verification. Energy Conversion and Management, 108 336-347.

Sadafi, M. H., González Ruiz, S., Vetrano, M. R., van Beeck, J., Jahn, I., Buchlin, J. M. and Hooman, K. (2016) On the Influence of low-power laser source on the evaporation of single droplets: experimental and numerical approaches. Journal of Applied Fluid Mechanics, 9 1: 81-87.

Sadafi, M. H., Jahn, Ingo and Hooman, Kamel (2016) Nozzle arrangement effect on cooling performance of saline water spray cooling. Applied Thermal Engineering, 1051061-1066.

Sadeghi, R., Shadloo, M. S. and Hooman, K. (2016) Numerical investigation of the natural convection film boiling around elliptical tubes. Numerical Heat Transfer Part A: Applications, 70 7: 707-722.

Veeraragavan, A., Beri, J. and Gollan, R. J. (2016) Use of the method of manufactured solutions for the verification of conjugate heat transfer solvers. Journal of Computational Physics, 307 308-320.

Xia, Lin, Gurgenci, Hal, Liu, Deyou, Guan, Zhiqiang, Zhou, Ling and Wang, Pei (2016) CFD analysis of pre- cooling water spray system in natural draft dry cooling towers. Applied Thermal Engineering, 105 1051-1060.

Xia, Lin, Li, Jishun, Ma, Wei, Gurgenci, Hal, Guan, Zhiqiang and Wang, Pei (2016) Water consumption comparison between a natural draft wet cooling tower and a natural draft hybrid cooling tower — An annual simulation for luoyang conditions. Heat Transfer Engineering, 1-10.


Youselfi, S., Atrens, A. D., Sauret, E., Dahari, M. and Hooman, K. (2015) CFD convective flow simulation of the varying properties of CO2-H2O mixtures in geothermal systems. The Scientific World Journal, 2015 843068: 843068.1-843068.8.

Conference Presentations

Alkhedhair, Abdullah, Guan, Zhiqiang, Jahn, Ingo and Gurgenci, Hal (2015). Parametric study on spray cooling systems in natural draft dry cooling towers with a new nozzle representation approach. In: Kamel Hooman, Hal Gurgenci, Zhiqiang Guan, Yuanshen Lu and Manuel Lucas, Proceedings of the 17th IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat Exchanger. IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, (1-12). 7-11 September 2015.

Ashtiani Abdi, Iman, Odabaee, Mostafa, Khashehchi, Morteza and Hooman, Kamel (2015). Pore size effect on the wake shear layer of a metal foam covered cylinder at relatively high Reynolds number. In: International Symposium on Turbulence and Shear Flow Phenomena (TSFP-9), Melbourne, Australia. 30 June - 3 July 2015.

Duniam, Sam and Gurgenci, Hal (2015). Annual performance variation of an EGS power plant using an ORC with NDDCT cooling. In: Kamel Hooman, Hal Gurgenci, Zhiqiang Guan, Yuanshen Lu and Manuel Lucas, Proceedings of the 17th IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat Exchanger. IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, (1021-1029). 7-11 September 2015.

Forooghi, Pourya, Hess, Jacob, Frohnapfel, Bettina and Hooman, Kamel (2015). Heat transfer of fluids with highly variable properties in plate-type heat exchangers. In: Kamel Hooman, Hal Gurgenci, Zhiqiang Guan, Yuanshen Lu and Manuel Lucas, Proceedings of the 17th IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat Exchanger. IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, (152-161). 7-11 September 2015.

Ingo Jahn, Duniam, Sam and Veeraragavan, Ananthanarayanan (2015). Cooling issues for small-scale sCO2

powerplants. In: Kamel Hooman, Hal Gurgenci, Zhiqiang Guan, Yuanshen Lu and Manuel Lucas, Proceedings of the 17th IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat Exchanger. IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, (253-261). 7-11 September 2015.

Keep, Joshua A., Head, Adam J. and Jahn, Ingo H. (2016). Design of an efficient space constrained diffuser for supercritical CO2 turbines. In: IOP Journal of Physics: Conference Series. NICFD 2016 for propulsion and power, Varenna, Italy. 20-21 October 2016.

Keep, J. A. and Jahn, I. J. (2016). Design method and performance comparison of plenum and volute delivery systems for radial inflow turbines. In: 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference. Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth, Australia. 5-8 December 2016.

Keep, Joshua A. and Jahn, Ingo H. (2016). Development of a space marching throughflow code for radial inflow turbines. In: ASME Turbo Expo 2016: Turbine Technical Conference and Exposition, Seoul, South Korea. 13-17 June 2016.

Kuruneru, Sahan T.W., Sauret, Emilie, Saha, Suvash C., Gu, YuanTong and Hooman, Kamel (2015). A novel experimental method to assess industrial aerosol deposition in idealised porous channels. In: Kamel Hooman, Hal Gurgenci, Zhiqiang Guan, Yuanshen Lu and Manuel Lucas, Proceedings of the 17th IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat Exchanger. IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, (553-562). 7-11 September 2015.

Li, Jishun, Lin, Xia, Ma, Wei, Gurgenci, Hal and Guan, Zhiqiang (2015). Water consumption comparison between a natural draft wet cooling tower and a natural draft hybrid cooling tower – an annual simulation for Luoyang conditions. In: Kamel Hooman, Hal Gurgenci, Zhiqiang Guan, Yuanshen Lu and Manuel Lucas, Proceedings of the 17th IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat Exchanger. IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, (344-359). 7-11 September 2015.

Li, Jishun, Song, Tianyi, Li, Xiaoxiao, Gurgenci, Hal and Guan, Zhiqiang (2015). Design of a natural draft dry cooling tower for a 30- mwe concentrating solar thermal plant using a supercritical CO2 cycle. In: Kamel Hooman, Hal Gurgenci, Zhiqiang Guan, Yuanshen Lu and Manuel Lucas, Proceedings of the 17th IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat Exchanger. IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, (360-368). 7-11 September 2015.


Li, Xiaoxiao, Guan, Zhiqiang, Gurgenci, Hal and Lu, Yuanshen (2015). Simulation of the UQ Gatton natural draft dry cooling tower. In: Kamel Hooman, Hal Gurgenci, Zhiqiang Guan, Yuanshen Lu and Manuel Lucas, Proceedings of the 17th IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat Exchanger. IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, (374-385). 7-11 September 2015.

Li, Xiaoxiao, Gurgenci, Hal and Guan, Zhiqiang (2016). Performance comparison of the crosswind effect on different size of natural draft dry cooling towers. In: International Symposium on Industrial Chimneys and Cooling Towers, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. 5-8 October 2016.

Lu, Yuanshen, Guan, Zhiqiang, Gurgenci, Hal, He, Suoying and Alkhedhair, Abdullah (2015). Experimental study on the effects of a tri-blade-like windbreak wall on small size natural draft dry cooling towers. In: Kamel Hooman, Hal Gurgenci, Zhiqiang Guan, Yuanshen Lu and Manuel Lucas, Proceedings of the 17th IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat Exchanger. IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, (393-412). 7-11 September 2015.

Lu, Yuanshen, Parulekar, Prashant, Guan, Zhiqiang and Hooman, Kamel (2015). A study on cooling performance of air-cooled heat exchangers for CSG production. In: Kamel Hooman, Hal Gurgenci, Zhiqiang Guan, Yuanshen Lu and Manuel Lucas, Proceedings of the 17th IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat Exchanger. IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, (413-430). 7-11 September 2015.

Odabaee, Mostafa, Sauret, Emilie and Hooman, Kamel (2016). Multi-objective aerodynamic optimisation of a real gas radial-inflow turbine. In: Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2016: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition GT2016. ASME Turbo Expo 2016: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition, Seoul, South Korea. 13–17 June 2016.

Odabaee, M., Shanechi, M. M., Guan, Zhiqiang and Hooman, K. (2015). Comparison of direct and indirect cooling in an sCO2 Brayton cycle for concentrated solar power plants. In: Kamel Hooman, Hal Gurgenci, Zhiqiang Guan, Yuanshen Lu and Manuel Lucas, Proceedings of the 17th IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat Exchanger. IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, (493-503). 7-11 September 2015.

Odabaee, M., Shanechi, M. M., Guan, Zhiqiang and Hooman, K. (2015). Heat transfer augmentation and opimisation in a solar enhanced natural draft dry cooling tower. In: Kamel Hooman, Hal Gurgenci, Zhiqiang Guan, Yuanshen Lu and Manuel Lucas, Proceedings of the 17th IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat Exchanger. IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, (451-459). 7-11 September 2015.

Pourmohamadiyan, Pedjman, Hassanpoor, Arman, Soheili, Adel, Afshari, Ehsan and Hooman, Kamel (2016). A new automatic spark generation system for gasoline engines. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology. IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology, ICIT 2016, Taipei, Taiwan, (1016- 1021). 14-17 May 2016.

Qi, Jianhui, Reddell, Thomas, Qin, Kan, Hooman, Kamel and Jahn, Ingo H. J. (2016). Supercritical CO2 radial turbine design performance as a function of turbine size parameters. In: Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2016: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition. ASME Turbo Expo 2016: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition, Seoul, South Korea, (58137.1-58137.14). 13-17 June 2016.

Qin, Kan, Jahn, Ingo and Jacobs, Peter (2016). Effect of operating conditions on the elasto-hydrodynamic performance of foil thrust bearings for supercritical CO2 cycles. In: Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2016: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition. ASME Turbo Expo 2016: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition, Seoul, South Korea. 13-17 June 2016.

Qin, K., Jahn, I. H. and Jacobs, P. A. (2016). Prediction of dynamic characteristics of foil thrust bearings using computational fluid dynamics. In: 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference. Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth, WA, Australia. 5-8 December 2016.

Russell, Hugh, Hooman, Kamel and Guan, Zhiqiang (2015). Design, construction and early testing of a 1-mw natural draft dry cooling tower. In: Kamel Hooman, Hal Gurgenci, Zhiqiang Guan, Yuanshen Lu and Manuel Lucas, Proceedings of the 17th IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat Exchanger. IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, (527-534). 7-11 September 2015.


Sadafi, M. H. and Hooman, K. (2015). Contact of droplets with heat exchanger surfaces in spray assisted dry cooling towers using saline water – a numerical study. In: Kamel Hooman, Hal Gurgenci, Zhiqiang Guan, Yuanshen Lu and Manuel Lucas, Proceedings of the 17th IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat Exchanger. IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, (543-552). 7-11 September 2015.

Sakhaei, Mehryar, Ashtiani Abdi, Iman and Hooman, Kamel (2015). Transient investigation of hydrodynamics of flow in inclined tube bundles. In: Kamel Hooman, Hal Gurgenci, Zhiqiang Guan, Yuanshen Lu and Manuel Lucas, Proceedings of the 17th IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat Exchanger. IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, (583-591). 7-11 September 2015.

Shanechi, Mohsen Modir, Odabaee, Mostafa and Hooman, Kamel (2015). Optimisation of a high pressure ratio radial- inflow turbine: coupled CFD-FE analysis. In: ASME Turbo Expo 2015: Turbine Technical Conference and Exposition (GT2015). ASME Turbo Expo, Montreal, Canada. 15-19 June 2015.

Shanechi, Mohsen Modir, Veidt, Martin and Hooman, Kamel (2016). Forced Response Analysis of Supercritical CO2

Radial Inflow Turbine Designed for Concentrating Solar Power. In: Proceedings of the Asme Turbo Expo: Turbine Technical Conference and Exposition, 2016, Vol 9. ASME Turbo Expo: Turbine Technical Conference and Exposition, Seoul South Korea, (519-529). 13-17 June 2016.

Stennett, Samuel, Chan, Wilson, Gildfind, David and Jacobs, Peter (2016). Validating the k-omega turbulence model for 3D flows within the CFD solver Eilmer. In: The 2nd Australasian Conference on Computational Mechanics. Australasian Conference on Computational Mechanics, Brisbane, Australia, (67-72). 30 November - 1 December 2015.

Sun, Yubiao , Guan, Zhiqiang and Hooman, Kamel (2016). Single nozzle arrangement optimization for pre-cooling of inlet air in natural draft dry cooling towers. In: Reinhard Harte and Klaus Kaemmer, ICCT 2016 International conference on industrial chimneys & cooling towers. International Symposium on Industrial Chimneys and Cooling Towers, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, (411-419). 5-8 October 2016.

Twomey, Braden, Nagy, Andras, Russell, Hugh, Rowlands, Andrew, Czapla, Jason, Singh, Rajinesh, Ventura, Carlos A de M and Jahn, Ingo (2016). The University of Queensland refrigerant and supercritical CO2 test loop. In: Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2016: Power for Land, Sea and Air. ASME Turbo Expo 2016, Seoul, South Korea, (58110.1- 58110.11). 13-17 June 2016.

Wang, J., Gollan, R. J. and Veeraragavan, A. (2016). Verification of RANS turbulence model in Eilmer using the Method of Manufactured Solutions. In: 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference. 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth, Australia. 5 – 8 December 2016.

Xia, Lin , Zhiqiang Guan and Gurgenci, Hal (2016). Pre-cooling performance comparison for water spray system designed by two NDDCT numerical models. In: Reinhard Harte and Klaus Kaemmer, ICCT 2016 International conference on industrial chimneys & cooling towers. International symposium on industrial chimneys and cooling towers, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, (471-477). 5-8 October 2016.

Xia, Lin, Guan, Zhiqiang, Gurgenci, Hal and Liu, Deyou (2015). CFD analysis of the water spray system with the vertical arranged nozzle for the pre-cooling in natural draft dry cooling towers. In: Kamel Hooman, Hal Gurgenci, Zhiqiang Guan, Yuanshen Lu and Manuel Lucas, Proceedings of the 17th IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat Exchanger. IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, (627-642). 7-11 September 2015.

Zakariya, Mohd Fairuz and Jahn, Ingo H. J. (2016). Performance of supercritical CO2 dry gas seals near the critical point. In: Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2016: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition. ASME Turbo Expo 2016, Seoul, South Korea, (56537.1-56537.10). 13-17 June 2016.

Zhiqiang Guan, Kamel Hooman and Hal Gurgenci (2016). A review on crosswind effect and mitigation: a challenge in natural draft cooling tower design. In: Reinhard Harte and Klaus Kaemmer, ICCT 2016 International conference on industrial chimneys & cooling towers. International symposium on industrial chimneys and cooling towers, Rotterdam Netherlands, (157-170). 5-8 October 2016.


FINANCIAL STATEMENTS



The Queensland Geothermal Energy Centre of Excellence David Mee, Head of School, School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering

December 2016 Update

Research in the Queensland Geothermal Energy Centre of Excellence (QGECE) is focussed on renewable thermal power generation. The research is wide ranging.

Background

The Queensland Geothermal Energy Centre of Excellence (QGECE) was established in 2009 with a grant of $15 million from the Queensland State Government to help accelerate the development of the Queensland and Australian geothermal energy industry through a managed program of strategically targeted research, development and demonstration projects in innovative technologies in close collaboration with the Queensland State Government and other key stakeholders.

The key challenges posed in the Centre’s vision have been: • Optimum energy extraction and sustainable resource management. • Efficient power conversion - The Centre will explore radically new options based on synergies with other

generation technologies, especially solar-thermal and natural gas augmentation. It will also review possibilities which have been proposed in earlier research.

• A cooling system for a desert zone in the world’s driest inhabited continent - This will demand extreme efficiency at condensing the working fluid. As advances in cooling have benefits for conventional power plants, innovative platforms for cooling systems will be a significant focus of the Centre.

• To resolve transmission issues inherent to a power plant which is located more than 500 km from major load centres and the national grid.

The main achievements of the Centre are summarised as follows.

The QGECE, since its beginning in 2009, has engaged in extensive and on-going discussions with the Australian Geothermal Energy Industry and Commonwealth and State Governments to assess what needs to be done to realise Australia’s geothermal energy potential. The main challenge is the difficulty in bringing hot water to the surface in sufficient quantities to justify the large investment in the geothermal wells. The corollary is the imperative to extract the maximum possible power from that expensive brine before it is injected back into the underground reservoir. As well, all potential future geothermal power generation sites would be located inland in arid country and unless efficient air-cooled condenser technologies can be developed, they would fail to realise up to 20% of their power generation capacity.

With the determination to be ready with solutions for these problems when the geothermal companies start producing power, the QGECE embarked on an ambitious research program to develop new and better methods of transforming the heat resource in geothermal brine to electricity and to do so with minimum use of fresh water.

The QGECE adopted a strategy of addressing the fundamental issues concerning power conversion and air cooled condensers rather than running after quick partial solutions. As a result of our investment over the years in developing the requisite skills and research laboratories, the QGECE is now the only team in Australia with the international reputation and the recognised capability to develop efficient and cost- effective geothermal power technologies.

This strategy has paid off in two ways. Firstly, the QGECE is in a position to assist an Australian geothermal power developer to produce up to 50 per cent higher power compared what can be supplied by off-the- shelf products. Secondly, the QGECE solutions are applicable not only to geothermal power but to all power generation from renewable heat.

The Centre has now created major research infrastructure facilities to underpin future research endeavours for the geothermal and other renewable energy conversion industries.

APPENDIX


Power Conversion Program

The major project areas/achievements are: • The QGECE has developed software called TOPGEN that can be used to optimise the extraction of power from

the available energy source.

Recent developments:

• Optimising the transient operation of the cycle. • Optimising the power conversion efficiency of the turbine and power block that converts the

thermal energy to usable shaft work.

Applications: ??• Modular dynamic models of the complete organic Rankine cycle which could be used to

speed the design of large renewable power plants by allowing for design-stage simulations of transient effects. Such effects are a source of uncertainty for engineers during plant

design. While this software has been specifically designed for renewable thermal power systems, it could potentially be applied to any thermal-power generation system.

• The Centre has designed, constructed and commissioned a power-cycle testing facility (loop) for testing a wide variety of organic working fluids at pressures up to 3.5 MPa and temperatures up to 160°C with heating and cooling capacities up to 50 kW. A test stand has been developed; it is capable of being used to test turbines that can generate up to 5 kW shaft power and that run at up to 30,000 RPM shaft speed.

Recent developments: ??• Upgrade to allow for supercritical tests at up to 20 MPa with improved heat input capabilities.

• Design and manufacture of turbines • Make measurements on the test stand. This allows validation testing of turbomachinery design

tool, models and CFD codes developed in the Centre. • Suitable for turbines operating in the sub-critical, trans-critical and super-critical regimes.

Applications:

• Testing of turbines for generation of power from renewable-energy sources. • The facility could be used to test turbines that may have applications in nuclear power

generation but the facility has not been designed specifically for this.

QGECE Power-cycle testing facility at the Pinjarra Hills site.


• 3D, transient and steady-state, compressible, turbulent Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes are being developed and applied to turbine design for geothermal and solar-thermal applications.

Recent developments:

• Commercial and open-source software is being used to model flows. • Additions are being made to the in-house code, EILMER, developed by Dr Jacobs and his research

team over the last 20 years at UQ, to permit simulation of turbine flows.

Applications:

• Simulation of flows through turbines for power extraction in renewable-energy applications. • Could also be used to simulate the flow through gas turbines for aero gas turbine applications

but has not been specifically designed for this.

• Research has been conducted on the design of turbines for supercritical carbon dioxide cycles.

Applications:

• Design of turbines for solar thermal energy applications. • It is not expected that this research would have applications in aero gas turbines since the

working fluids are very different.

• Research has been conducted into film-riding bearings and film-riding seals for application in supercritical turbomachinery. This will permit design of more efficient turbines and power blocks.

Applications:

• Design of seals for supercritical turbomachinery. • It is not expected that this research would have applications in aero gas turbines since the

working fluids are very different.

• Research has been conducted on fluid-structure interactions in supercritical turbines. This could lead to optimisation of the aerodynamics of the flow when deflections of structures are taken into account. This is important when turbines are highly loaded and when rotational speeds are high.

Applications:

• Design of turbines for renewable-energy applications. • The technology may have application to gas turbines for aero gas turbine applications but this is

not the specific purpose of the research.

• The Centre has developed, in collaboration with US manufacturer, Verdicorp, the QGECE Portable Power Plant. This is a technology development platform that takes a heat stream from any source and converts it to electrical energy. It is intended to be used at the QGECE site at Pinjarra Hills or at a remote location.

Applications:

• Testing the suitability of low temperature heat sources for electrical power production.


Heat Exchangers Program

The major project areas/achievements are:

• Air-cooled heat exchangers

• Projects involve optimisation of heat exchanger arrangements for air-cooled applications.

Applications:

• Geothermal and solar-thermal power generation. • This is research that has a very wide range of applications in any areas for heat transfer near

ambient atmospheric temperatures.

• Heat exchangers for supercritical fluids

• Numerical and experimental studies of advanced heat exchangers. • One project investigated the heat transfer mechanisms for supercritical fluids flowing in different

heat exchangers (including inclined pipes, double pipes and plate heat exchangers).

Applications:

• Geothermal and solar-thermal power generation.

• Natural-draft cooling towers

• Design of small natural-draft cooling towers for remote area renewable power generators. These towers are expected to be suitable for power plants below 10 MWe output. Studies include the effects on crosswinds on tower performance.

Applications:

• Cooling towers for renewable-energy applications. • Cooling towers also have application in all forms of thermal power generation.

• 20-m natural-draft cooling tower test facility

• The 20-m high, 12-m diameter natural draft cooling tower is equipped with heat exchangers and has heat rejection capacity of about 700 kW. It was constructed in 2014 and was officially opened in 2015. The tower is fully instrumented with temperature, air flow, and pressure sensors. Inlet air pre-cooling by wet media and water spray can be tested with the tower.

Applications:

• Testing of cooling towers for renewable-energy applications. • Cooling towers also have application in all forms of thermal power generation.

• Solar-enhanced cooling of inlet air to cooling towers

• The addition of solar collector to further heat the air after it leaves the heat exchangers in a conventional natural draft cooling system increases the temperature difference between the inside and outside of tower, which leads to an increased air flow rate through the heat exchangers.

Applications:

• Dry cooling towers for renewable-energy applications, particularly where water is scarce. • Cooling towers also have application in all forms of thermal power generation.


• Evaporative cooling of inlet air to cooling towers

• This study investigated whether wetted media can be used to improve the performance of Natural Draft Dry Cooling Towers. It was found that there is a critical ambient temperature below which pre- cooling application does not benefit NDDCT performance. This is particularly useful in areas where the ambient temperature is high, such as in outback Australia where some geothermal energy sources are located.

Applications:


• Nozzle and wet media characterisation for hybrid cooling

• An alternative method of cooling the inlet air is to spray water (possibly salt water) into the inlet air to reduce the inlet air temperature.

Applications:


• Solar mirror cleaning

• Different techniques for cleaning dust and other matter from mirrors in large solar arrays has been investigated.

Applications:

• Solar-thermal power plants.

System Integration Program

The System Integration Program was launched in 2014. The major project areas/achievements are:

• Full Thermal System Modelling and Optimisation

One aim of this project is to create performance models at the component and system level for supercritical thermal power systems (that are comprised of a solar collector/receiver or a geothermal well, turbine, thermal storage, cooling system, etc.). This will potentially lead to better component models and systems that work seamlessly together and result in systems with higher overall efficiency at lower cost.

Applications: • Design of renewable-power systems and control thereof.

• Thermo-economic modelling of renewable-energy power-generation systems.

The aim of this project is to generate thermo-economic models that will enable forecasting of the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) for a future power plant.

Applications:

• Selection of components and systems (including the amount of storage, turbine operating conditions, receiver efficiency, cooling options) for most economic generation of electrical power from thermal systems.


• Direct Normal Irradiance Measurements and Forecasting.

The aim of this project is to develop the ability to predict the change in incoming solar power and take suitable control action to optimise the thermal output. For example, the incoming solar power varies due to cloud cover at different times of the day.

Applications:

• Solar-power generation plants.

The likely development of that research going forward including in the context of significant additional funding.

In the future, the QGECE will most likely pursue research in the conversion of power from renewable sources for generation of electricity for maximum power output and efficiency. The main focus is expected to be on turbines, heat exchangers and overall system modelling and control. There will be two main sources of renewable energy that will be the focus – geothermal and solar thermal. The current expectation is that solar thermal applications will dominate in the immediate future. However, many of the technologies are applicable in both areas. The major technical difference between the two applications, that is relevant to the QGECE research, is the maximum temperature to which the working fluid used in the power cycle is heated. For geothermal applications the maximum temperature is of the order of 250°C whereas for concentrated solar thermal applications the maximum temperature may be up to 700°C or higher. The efficiency of thermal cycles is limited by the Carnot efficiency. The Carnot efficiency is limited by the difference between the maximum temperature in the cycle and the temperature at which heat is rejected. Therefore, the higher temperature cycles are more attractive and have wider ranging applications than the lower temperature cycles.

The following are potential funding sources to maintain and grow QGECE activities. • ARC Discovery Program to support exploratory research • ARC Fellowships to fund salaries for untenured staff for exploratory research • ARC Linkage Program with some industry assistance to support applied research • Australian Solar Thermal Research Initiative

Mobile plant: This has been commissioned and is suitable for small scale geothermal applications. There have not yet been any offers to use this equipment by external parties.

Pinjarra Hills Power-cycle testing facility: This is continuing with four more years of funding through the ASTRI at the level of $2.4M to UQ. There is a possible extension of funding for a further two years taking the total additional funding to $3.6M. This facility is amied at the 1 MW to 30 MW plant size which is considered a good size for remote/ off-grid applications.

Cooling tower: The 20-m cooling tower test facility is currently being considered for applications in cooling compressor oils in Coal Seam Gas applications. It is advantageous over other systems because of the fact that the cooling can be accomplished without any moving parts so maintenance and reliability are higher than alternative systems. Potential projects are in discussions with the UQ Coal Seam Gas Centre and with Woodside Petroleum. Seed funding will hopefully lead to applications for ARC Linkage Project support.

The UQ Gatton Wind Tunnel: The wind tunnel is continuing to be used to support activities in the cooling tower work and in simulation for spray cooling.

One potential project being pursued by the QGECE is to combine the mobile plant and the cooling tower to provide a demonstration of solar-thermal power generation at the UQ Gatton campus. This would involve installing a 1000 m2

array to capture solar thermal energy and use it to run the portable plant to extract power. The cooling tower would then be used to expel waste heat. This complete system would then be a source of data for solar thermal energy research and cooling tower research and would provide a demonstration of solar thermal power generation.


International collaborations

The international partners with which the Centre currently collaborates are as follows: • The Centre has developed a strategic partnership with the US turbine and power plant manufacturer Verdicorp

with the purpose of developing next-generation turbine technology based on varying supercritical cycles. This technology is important in EGS due to the variability of Enhanced Geothermal Systems resources.

• The QGECE has formal relationships with the following overseas research institutions: - Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum, Potsdam, Germany - Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI), Japan • In addition to these formal relationships, the Centre researchers have active relationships with several leading

overseas institutions including the Instituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia of Italy; National Renewable Energy Laboratories, Golden, Colorado; the Stellenbosch University, South Africa; and the University of Texas at Austin.


Queensland Geothermal Energy Centre of Excellence

The University of Queensland Brisbane Qld 4072

Australia Phone: +61 7 3365 3668

Web: www.geothermal.uq.edu.au

CRICOS Provider Number 0025B

http://www.geothermal.uq.edu.au/

Documents

ANNUAL REPORT - mechmining.uq.edu.au · The loan was repaid in full in 2015. The ... investment in the geothermal wells. The corollary is the imperative to extract the maximum possible