Engineers from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute (MEI) proposed a scheme for an oxy-fuel power plant where heat from air separation is returned to the working cycle. This increases efficiency without altering the station's main architecture.

They proposed introducing a separate air circuit connected to the regeneration system. Through this circuit, heat previously lost in the air separation unit is directed back into the plant. The flow was connected to two regeneration levels simultaneously – low and high pressure.

In the classical scheme, energy after fuel combustion is distributed among gas, steam, and CO₂ turbines. In the new configuration, part of the heat is additionally returned through the air circuit and reused.

This allows preheating working fluids without external energy sources. According to calculations, the net electrical efficiency increases by approximately 0.5%, and the power of the steam part by 3 MW under the same cycle parameters. Moreover, the scheme does not require radical reconstruction of the station.

Earlier, it became known that the efficiency of Russian turbines is currently lower than foreign counterparts, but such indicators were a conscious economic choice.

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