Conceptual design of AMTEC demonstrative system for 100 t/d garbage disposal power generating facility

The preliminary study results of a conceptual design of AMTEC system applying into garbage disposal power generation are presented here. The study is aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of AMTEC system. The 100 ton/day city waste treatment facility is the design base. The output of the AMTEC power system will be used to drive the blower for circulating fluidized bed combustion, its required output is 55 kW. The AMTEC module operating at low sodium temperature of 650/spl deg/C is investigated, which is made of 14 /spl beta/"-Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ tubes of 150 mm thickness with 15 mm in outside diameter and 150 mm long. As the heat transfer element the high temperature heat pipe is used. Two kinds of module configuration are described, one is with EM pump for sodium circulation, and the other is of wick return type. Utilizing the heat pipe extruding from the wall of the furnace chamber, enough heat input for AMTEC modules can be achieved. The design has used the experimental results obtained by IEE, CAS. Also, the available achievements abroad are the valuable reference for our research. Some issues such as the heat transfer, the heat rejection and the candidate materials are discussed as well.