High-Performance Centrifugal Compressor for Supercritical CO2

Short description of the business experiment

The EU Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA) highlights strategic technologies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, focusing on the use of supercritical CO₂ (sCO₂) as an efficient energy vector. CO₂ near the supercritical regime offers high conversion efficiency, but its unique thermo-fluid-dynamic behaviour presents challenges for traditional industrial compression system designs.

With limited experimental data, high-fidelity computational methods, leveraging High-Performance Computing (HPC), provide faster and more accurate predictions. The experiment begins by setting performance targets, followed by defining baseline geometry through traditional design. The next phase will establish best practices for aerodynamic and structural analysis, considering fluid modelling, turbulence, and stator-rotor interactions.

Mechanical challenges include nonlinear material behaviour, centrifugal forces, and fluid interactions. The final optimisation of the centrifugal compressor will culminate in detailed 3D drawings.

Organisations involved: 

End User:  Compression Service Technology – C.S.T. S.r.l.

Technology expert: Ergon Research S.r.l.