The project titled “Development of a small-scale low-temperature Supercritical Organic Rankine Cycle engine with optimised scroll expander and evaporator” [SUPERCRITICAL-ORC] in the framework of the program “SYNERGASIA 2011”, aims to develop and bring into the market a small scale (5-10 kW) low temperature (80-100 ^oC) SuperCritical Organic Rankine Cycle (SCORC) engine, so that the huge potential of low temperature thermal sources (such as waste heat, geothermal energy, solar energy, etc.) to be efficiently and cost effectively exploited for power generation. The main technological innovation concerns the operation of the engine at supercritical conditions, requiring a detailed investigation of the main processes, in order to maximize the system performance.

The main process of a SCORC engine is depicted in the following figure, while during the project focus will be given to the evaporator and the scroll expander.

The project duration is 27 months (start: April 2013) and is partly funded by the General Secretary for Research and Technology (GSRT) (www.gsrt.gr) under contract number 11SYN_7_278.