Heat recovery from a natural gas powered internal combustion engine by CO2 transcritical power cycle

The present work provides details of energy accounting of a natural gas powered internal combustion engine and achievable work of a utilized CO2 power cycle. Based on experimental performance analysis of a new designed IKCO (Iran Khodro Company) 1.7 litre natural gas powered engine, full energy accounting of the engine were carried out on various engine speeds and loads. Further, various CO2 transcritical power cycle configurations have been appointed to take advantages of exhaust and coolant water heat lost. Based on thermodynamic analysis, the amount of recoverable work obtainable by CO2 transcritical power cycles have been calculated on various engine conditions. The results show that as much as 18 kW power could be generated by the power cycle. This would be considerable amount of power especially if compared with the engine brake power.