Performance of Working Fluids for Power Generation in a Supercritical Organic Rankine Cycle

Author(s):  
Rachana Vidhi ◽  
Sarada Kuravi ◽  
Saeb Besarati ◽  
E. K. Stefanakos ◽  
D. Yogi Goswami ◽  
...  

This paper reports on the performance of various organic refrigerants and their mixtures as working fluids for power generation in a supercritical Rankine cycle (SRC) from geothermal sources. Organic fluids that have zero or very low ozone depletion potential and are environmentally safe are selected for this study. Geothermal source temperature is varied from 125–200°C, and the cooling water temperature is changed from 10–20°C. The effect of varying operating conditions on the performance of the thermodynamic cycle has been analyzed. Operating pressure of the cycle has been optimized for thermal efficiency for each fluid at each source temperature. The condensation pressure is determined by the cooling condition and is kept fixed for each condensation temperature. Energy and exergy efficiencies of the cycle have been obtained for the pure fluids as a function of heat source temperature. Mixtures of organic fluids have been analyzed and effect of composition on performance of the thermodynamic cycle has been studied. It is observed that thermal efficiency over 20% can be achieved for 200°C heat source temperature and the lowest cooling temperature. When mixtures are considered as working fluids, the thermal efficiency of the cycle is observed to remain between the thermal efficiencies of the constituent fluids.

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2 Part A) ◽  
pp. 831-842
Author(s):  
Chao Luo ◽  
Jun Zhao ◽  
Yongzhen Wang ◽  
Hongmei Yin ◽  
Qingsong An ◽  
...  

To match for the different temperature of the geothermal resource and strengthen the flexibility of organic Rankine cycle, a variable capacity power generation superstructure based on flash and organic Rankine cycle for geothermal energy was proposed. A combined flash-binary experimental prototype is newly established to investigate thermodynamic performance both on system and equipment in this paper. Pressured hot water is adopted as the extensive worldwide existed hydrothermal geothermal resource, eliminating the influence of the used heat transfer oil on evaporating process. The experimental results show that there is an optimal mass-flow rate of R245fa under the condition of different heat source temperature. Flash and binary power subsystem dominate the flash-binary power system, respectively, when the heat source temperature is 120? and 130?. The isotropic efficiency of modified compressor just between 0.2 and 0.25. The power output of per ton geofluid are 0.78 kWh/t and 1.31 kWh/t, respectively, when the heat source temperature are 120? and 130?. These results will predict the operation data of flash-binary power plant driven by the low-medium temperature geothermal water for construction in western of China.


2013 ◽  
Vol 805-806 ◽  
pp. 649-653
Author(s):  
Bing Zhang ◽  
Shuang Yang ◽  
Jin Liang Xu ◽  
Guang Lin Liu

The optimum working conditions of 11 working fluids under different heat source temperatures for an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) were located in our previous work. In the current work, the system irreversibility of each candidate were calculated and compared at their optimal operating conditions. Obvious variation trends of both the cycle efficiency and irreversibility were found for different types of organic fluids. It is suggested, when selecting working fluid for our ORC system, the critical temperature should be as close as possible to the heat source temperature to achieve high cycle efficiency but avoid large irreversibility. The relationships between the structure of the molecules and the critical temperature of the working fluids are investigated qualitatively and potentially meaningful for the rational selection of proper organic fluids for certain ORCs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (15) ◽  
pp. 3024 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chinedu K. Unamba ◽  
Paul Sapin ◽  
Xiaoya Li ◽  
Jian Song ◽  
Kai Wang ◽  
...  

Several heat-to-power conversion technologies are being proposed as suitable for waste-heat recovery (WHR) applications, including thermoelectric generators, hot-air (e.g., Ericsson or Stirling) engines and vapour-cycle engines such as steam or organic Rankine cycle (ORC) power systems. The latter technology has demonstrated the highest efficiencies at small and intermediate scales and low to medium heat-source temperatures and is considered a suitable option for WHR in relevant applications. However, ORC systems experience variations in performance at part-load or off-design conditions, which need to be predicted accurately by empirical or physics-based models if one is to assess accurately the techno-economic potential of such ORC-WHR solutions. This paper presents results from an experimental investigation of the part-load performance of a 1-kWe ORC engine, operated with R245fa as a working fluid, with the aim of producing high-fidelity steady-state and transient data relating to the operational performance of this system. The experimental apparatus is composed of a rotary-vane pump, brazed-plate evaporator and condenser units and a scroll expander magnetically coupled to a generator with an adjustable resistive load. An electric heater is used to provide a hot oil-stream to the evaporator, supplied at three different temperatures in the current study: 100, 120 and 140 ∘ C. The optimal operating conditions, that is, pump speed and expander load, are determined at various heat-source conditions, thus resulting in a total of 124 steady-state data points used to analyse the part-load performance of the engine. A maximum thermal efficiency of 4.2 ± 0.1% is reported for a heat-source temperature of 120 ∘ C, while a maximum net power output of 508 ± 2 W is obtained for a heat-source temperature at 140 ∘ C. For a 100- ∘ C heat source, a maximum exergy efficiency of 18.7 ± 0.3% is achieved. A detailed exergy analysis allows us to quantify the contribution of each component to the overall exergy destruction. The share of the evaporator, condenser and expander components are all significant for the three heat-source conditions, while the exergy destroyed in the pump is negligible by comparison (below 4%). The data can be used for the development and validation of advanced models capable of steady-state part-load and off-design performance predictions, as well as predictions of the transient/dynamic operation of ORC systems.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (20) ◽  
pp. 6648
Author(s):  
Young-Min Kim ◽  
Young-Duk Lee ◽  
Kook-Young Ahn

The supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) power cycle is a promising development for waste heat recovery (WHR) due to its high efficiency despite its simplicity and compactness compared with a steam bottoming cycle. A simple recuperated S-CO2 power cycle cannot fully utilize the waste heat due to the trade-off between the heat recovery and thermal efficiency of the cycle. A split cycle in which the working fluid is preheated by the recuperator and the heat source separately can be used to maximize the power output from a given waste heat source. In this study, the operating conditions of split S-CO2 power cycles for waste heat recovery from a gas turbine and an engine were studied to accommodate the temperature variation of the heat sink and the waste heat source. The results show that it is vital to increase the low pressure of the cycle along with a corresponding increase in the cooling temperature to maintain the low-compression work near the critical point. The net power decreases by 6 to 9% for every 5 °C rise in the cooling temperature from 20 to 50 °C due to the decrease in heat recovery and thermal efficiency of the cycle. The effect of the heat-source temperature on the optimal low-pressure side was negligible, and the optimal high pressure of the cycle increased with an increase in the heat-source temperature. As the heat-source temperature increased in steps of 50 °C from 300 to 400 °C, the system efficiency increased by approximately 2% (absolute efficiency), and the net power significantly increased by 30 to 40%.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Ahmad K. Sleiti ◽  
Wahib Al-Ammari ◽  
Mohammed Al-Khawaja

Abstract Refrigerants of the conventional cooling systems contribute to global warming and ozone depletion significantly, therefore it is necessary to develop new cooling systems that use renewable energy resources and waste heat to perform the cooling function with eco-friendly working fluids. To address this, the present study introduces and analyzes a novel regenerative thermo-mechanical refrigeration system that can be powered by renewable heat sources (solar, geothermal, or waste heat). The system consists of a novel expander-compressor unit (ECU) integrated with a vapor compression refrigeration system. The integrated system operates at the higher-performance supercritical conditions of the working fluids as opposed to the lower-performance subcritical conditions. The performance of the system is evaluated based on several indicators including the power loop efficiency, the coefficient of performance (COP) of the cooling loop, and the expander-compressor diameters. Several working fluids were selected and compared for their suitability based on their performance and environmental effects. It was found that for heat source temperature below 100 °C, adding the regenerator to the system has no benefit. However, the regenerator increases the power efficiency by about 1 % for a heat source temperature above 130 °C. This was achieved with a very small size regenerator (Dr = 6.5 mm, Lr = 142 mm). Results show that there is a trade-off between high-performance fluids and their environmental effects. Using R32 as a working fluid at heat source temperature Th=150 °C and cold temperature Tc1=40 °C, the system produces a cooling capacity of 1 kW with power efficiency of 10.23 %, expander diameter of 53.12 mm, and compressor diameter of 75.4mm.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suresh Baral

The current research study focuses on the feasibility of stand-alone hybrid solar-geothermal organic Rankine cycle (ORC) technology for power generation from hot springs of Bhurung Tatopani, Myagdi, Nepal. For the study, the temperature of the hot spring was measured on the particular site of the heat source of the hot spring. The measured temperature could be used for operating the ORC system. Temperature of hot spring can also further be increased by adopting the solar collector for rising the temperature. This hybrid type of the system can have a high-temperature heat source which could power more energy from ORC technology. There are various types of organic working fluids available on the market, but R134a and R245fa are environmentally friendly and have low global warming potential candidates. The thermodynamic models have been developed for predicting the performance analysis of the system. The input parameter for the model is the temperature which was measured experimentally. The maximum temperature of the hot spring was found to be 69.7°C. Expander power output, thermal efficiency, heat of evaporation, solar collector area, and hybrid solar ORC system power output and efficiency are the outputs from the developed model. From the simulation, it was found that 1 kg/s of working fluid could produce 17.5 kW and 22.5 kW power output for R134a and R245fa, respectively, when the geothermal source temperature was around 70°C. Later when the hot spring was heated with a solar collector, the power output produced were 25 kW and 30 kW for R134a and R245fa, respectively, when the heat source was 99°C. The study also further determines the cost of electricity generation for the system with working fluids R134a and R245fa to be $0.17/kWh and $0.14/kWh, respectively. The levelised cost of the electricity (LCOE) was $0.38/kWh in order to be highly feasible investment. The payback period for such hybrid system was found to have 7.5 years and 10.5 years for R245fa and R134a, respectively.


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