Thermodynamic Analysis and Modeling of Extremely Large Pressurized Nitrogen for Alternative Energy Production

This paper presents the results of thermodynamic modeling and analysis of a novel Nitroen (N2) cyle to be used for alternative energy production.The extremely high pressurization of the N2 on the order of 90,000 psi (620.3 MPa / 6205 bar) is used for two processes: i) isothermal compression and ii) adiabatic expansion. The isothermal compression is accomplished by mixing Mercury (Hg) bubbles into the N2. Since the compression is based on the density of the liquid being used, Hg lends itself to the best candidate bubble fluid to use. Preliminary inspection of the enthalpy values for Hg in the pressure regime of interest suggests that Hg is a viable candidate for the bubble fluid to compress the N2. The thermodyanmic computational simulations are carried out in MATLAB and use the NIST REFPROP database for modeling the high presure N2 state points. The paper presents results of the thermodynamic efficeincy, work output and exergy/availability analysis of this proposed cycle. Preliminary results indicate work output on the order of 17 kJ per mole of N2.