Qualitative assessment and global mapping of supercritical CO2 power cycle technology

Abstract Worldwide attempts are being made to harness wasted heat or optimize the power systems by achieving the theoretical efficiency of the supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) power cycle. The heterogeneity and variable quality of scholarly data may challenge researchers of the field (S-CO2 power cycle) to survey all of the available information. This study is focused on scientometric analysis to provide deep insights into global research performance and the collaborative architectonical structure. It reveals the progressive research trend (2000–2019) of the Supercritical Carbon dioxide (S-CO2) power cycle and hotspot areas by considering various quantitative measures. The sophisticated altimetric model was employed to analyze scientific researches that originated from Scopus Elsevier and Web of Science. Quantitative measures include the contribution of countries, organizations, authors, funding agencies, and journals that were investigated and ranked. Moreover, a scientific mapping approach is applied to identifying the cross-connections of each quantitative measure. It is indicated that the S-CO2 power cycle focused research increased exponentially from 2010. National Natural Science Foundation of China, USA Department of Energy, and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities are leading sponsor agencies. USA Department of Energy, Xian Jiao Tong University, and Korea Advance Institute of Science and Technology are the most productive organizations. Similarly, Energy, Applied Thermal Engineering, and Energy Conversion and Management are top productive journals. At the same time, the USA, China, and South Korea are leading countries, and Lee, Jeong Ik Dai, Yiping Lee, and Jekyoung are the most dominating Authors in the S-CO2 power cycle technology developmental contributions. The core study areas include layout configuration with other power cycles, especially the Brayton cycle, optimization of operating conditions, and design of heat exchangers. S-CO2 higher condensation temperature and the need for cooling media below ambient conditions is the big challenge in hot geographic regions. Dynamic modeling with integrated optimization, the study on compactness, simplicity of the S-CO2 power configuration as well as improving condensation temperature could be more hotspot areas in future research.