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Binary Rankine (Mercury) Cycle
2

Binary Rankine (Mercury) Cycle

Binary Rankine (Mercury) Cycle

(OP)
Hi,

In preparation for the PE, I came across a binary rankine cylce using steam and mercury.  Does anyone know where I can find a "mercury table" (i.e., the same format as traditional steam tabless).  I would prefer an online source but even a textbook reference would be helpful.  

Has anyone seen these cycles in operation or are they strictly an academic interest?

Thanks in advance!

Steven

RE: Binary Rankine (Mercury) Cycle

I believe one mercury cycle plant was built in NJ and one in Mass. in the 1950's. You might find technical papers on the subject in the Proceedings of the American Power conference for the years 1955-1960.

RE: Binary Rankine (Mercury) Cycle

after reviewing online summaries of the history of the mercury cycle, it seems that mercury was primarily used as a cooling medium on first generation nuclear (production) reactors  to avoid problems and limitiations with using water. Apparently the problems with mercury were intractable ,and eventually some reactors were built using liquid sodium coolant.

RE: Binary Rankine (Mercury) Cycle

You will find a brief description, a mollier chart for mercury and some other relevant information in the book:
Power Plant Engineering, by F.T. Morse, Van Nostrand

Cheers

Steve

RE: Binary Rankine (Mercury) Cycle

Perry VI has tables 3-255/6/7 for saturated and superheated mercury with all the relevant thermophysical properties.

RE: Binary Rankine (Mercury) Cycle

I forgot to add that the same book shows a pressure/enthalpy diagram in fig. 3-25.

RE: Binary Rankine (Mercury) Cycle

Steven -

A Mercury-Steam Binary Cycle plant operated in Hartford CT, probably in the late 40s, early 50s. It is long gone.

The cycle was at the South Meadow Plant and included a 15 MW mercury turbine. Mercury vapor at 113 psig and 945 F was produced in an oil-fired mercury boiler. The vapor expanded in a five stage impulse mercury turbine operating at 720 rpm.

The mercury turbine exhausted to a mercury condenser (a HRSG in today's parlance of combined cycles) which produced saturated steam at 410 psig and 450 F. That steam was then superheated to 700 F and sent to the steam turbine.

I believe that GE designed and manufactured this equipment.

An article about this cycle was published in the March 1950 issue of Power Generation magazine. (I have not seen this article but it is cited in a textbook on power plants.)

DickP

RE: Binary Rankine (Mercury) Cycle

This is a bit off the topic, but I found it of interest. I recently purchased a book on aircraft nuclear propulsion. In it was a section on Soviet research in this area. One of their studies was of a nuclear powered aircraft engine with mercury as the working fluid.

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