A Denver startup has emerged from stealth with an $8 million funding round to commercialize supercritical carbon dioxide power systems that can turn gas turbine waste heat into additional electricity.

American Supercritical says its factory-built sCO2 power block can be installed at a gas turbine’s exhaust, where it captures heat that would otherwise be wasted and converts it into power. The company claims the system can increase a turbine installation’s power output by up to 50% without burning additional fuel.

The technology is initially aimed at simple-cycle gas turbines, which generate electricity directly from hot combustion gases but release substantial amounts of remaining heat through their exhaust. American Supercritical says roughly 140 GW of these turbines operate in the US.

Instead of replacing the turbines, the company’s system is designed to add a secondary power cycle. It does not require modifications to the existing turbine and, according to the company, can be installed without re-permitting the turbine itself.

Conventional combined-cycle plants capture gas turbine exhaust heat to produce steam, which then drives a second turbine to generate additional electricity. American Supercritical wants to perform that job using CO2 held above its critical temperature and pressure.

In this supercritical state, CO2 has properties of both a liquid and a gas. Its high density allows power-generation equipment such as turbines and heat exchangers to be considerably more compact than comparable steam-cycle equipment.

American Supercritical says its system occupies about one-tenth the space of a steam system. The smaller footprint could make waste-heat recovery practical at sites where installing conventional steam equipment would be difficult.

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