Feasibility Study of Low Grade Heat Recovery Rankine Cycle Using Ozone-Neutral Refrigerant

Author(s):  
W. Wayne Husband ◽  
Asfaw Beyene

The paper addresses the feasibility of ozone-neutral low grade heat recovery to produce power. The low grade heat source can either be industrial exhaust or solar radiation. Using a scroll expander as a basis for testing, theoretical models yielded a thermal efficiency of 11%, utilizing a non-toxic and non-hazardous working fluid. This project spanned research and development of a system from the comparison of several working fluids, modeling of a theoretical 10 kW unit, the sizing and selection of appropriate system components, and the development of project management tools, in support of its real world development. A cost benefit analysis of the theoretical system shows that solar heat recovery with ozone-neutral refrigerant is a viable option for power generation, at about 1/3 the cost of a comparable photovoltaic system.

Author(s):  
Huijuan Chen ◽  
D. Yogi Goswami ◽  
Muhammad M. Rahman ◽  
Elias K. Stefanakos

A supercritical Rankine cycle using zeotropic mixture working fluids for the conversion of low-grade heat into power is proposed and analyzed in this paper. A supercritical Rankine cycle does not go through two-phase region during the heating process. By adopting zeotropic mixtures as the working fluids, the condensation process happens non-isothermally. Both of the features create a potential in reducing the irreversibility and improving the system efficiency. A comparative study between an organic Rankine cycle and the proposed supercritical Rankine cycle shows that the proposed cycle improves the cycle thermal efficiency, exergy efficiency of the heating and the condensation processes, and the system overall efficiency.


Author(s):  
Vittorio Tola ◽  
Matthias Finkenrath

Reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants utilizing fossil fuels is expected to become substantially more important in the near- to medium-term due to increasing costs associated to national and international greenhouse gas regulations, such as the Kyoto protocol and the European Union Emission Trading Scheme. However, since net efficiency penalties caused by capturing CO2 emissions from power plants are significant, measures to reduce or recover efficiency losses are of substantial interest. For a state-of-the-art 400 MW natural gas-fueled combined cycle (NGCC) power plant, post-combustion CO2 removal based on chemical solvents like amines is expected to reduce the net plant efficiency in the order of 9–12 percentage points at 90% overall CO2 capture. A first step that has been proposed earlier to improve the capture efficiency and reduce capture equipment costs for NGCC is exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). An alternative or complementary approach to increase the overall plant efficiency could be the recovery of available low temperature heat from the solvent-based CO2 removal systems and related process equipment. Low temperature heat is available in substantial quantities in flue gas coolers that are required upstream of the CO2 capture unit, and that are used for exhaust gas recirculation, if applied. Typical temperature levels are in the order of 80°C or up to 100 °C on the hot end. Additional low-grade heat sources are the amine condenser which operates at around 100–130 °C and the amine reboiler water cooling that could reach temperatures of up to 130–140°C. The thermal energy of these various sources could be utilized in a variety of low-temperature heat recovery systems. This paper evaluates heat recovery by means of an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) that — in contrast to traditional steam Rankine cycles — is able to convert heat into electricity efficiently even at comparably low temperatures. By producing additional electrical power in the heat recovery system, the global performance of the power plant can be further improved. This study indicates a theoretical entitlement of up to additional 1–1.5 percentage points in efficiency that could be gained by integrating ORC technology with a post-combustion capture system for natural gas combined cycles. The analysis is based on fundamental thermodynamic analyses and does not include an engineering- or component-level design and feasibility analysis. Different ORC configurations have been considered for thermal energy recovery at varying temperature levels from the above-mentioned sources. The study focuses on simultaneous low-grade heat recovery in a single ORC loop. Heat recovery options that are discussed include in series, in parallel or cascaded arrangements of heat exchangers. Different organic operating fluids, including carbon dioxide, R245fa, and N-butane were considered for the analysis. The ORC performance was evaluated for the most promising organic working fluid by a parametric study. Optimum cycle operating temperatures and pressures were identified in order to evaluate the most efficient approach for low temperature heat recovery.


2017 ◽  
Vol 142 ◽  
pp. 1441-1447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhi Li ◽  
Yiji Lu ◽  
Yuqi Huang ◽  
Gao Qian ◽  
Fenfang Chen ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Maoqing Li ◽  
Jiangfeng Wang ◽  
Lin Gao ◽  
Xiaoqiang Niu ◽  
Yiping Dai

Due to environmental constraints, the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is widely used to generate electricity from low grade heat sources. In ORC processes, the working fluid is an organic substance, which has a better thermodynamic performance than water for low grade heat recovery. The design of the turbine which is the key component in the ORC system strongly depends on the operating conditions and on the scale of the facility. This paper presents an experimental study on a prototype of an axial-flow turbine integrated into a regenerative ORC system with R123 as working fluid. The power output is 10kW scale, and the single-stage turbine is selected. The turbine is specially designed and manufactured, and a generator is connected to the turbine directly. In the experiment, the turbine is tested under different inlet pressure conditions (0.6–1.5MPa), different inlet temperature conditions (80–150°C) and different flow rate conditions. The experimental data such as the pressures, temperatures of the turbine inlet and outlet, flow rate, rotational speed, and electrical power generation are analyzed to find their inner relationships. During the test, the turbine rotational speed could reach more than 3010 r/min, while the design rotational speed is 3000 r/min. The isentropic efficiency of the turbine could reach 53%. The maximum electrical power generated by the turbine-generator is 6.57KW. From the test data the peak value of the temperature difference between the inlet and the outlet of the turbine is 53 °C, and the expansion ratio reaches about 11. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solvers is also used to analyze the performance of the turbine. The distributions of the pressure, Mach number, and static entropy in the turbine flow passage component are examined and the reasons are also obtained. This study reveals the relationships between the performance of the axial-flow turbine and its inlet and outlet vapor conditions. The experiment results and the CFD results lay a foundation for using this type turbine in the ORC systems which product electrical power from a few KW to MW.


Author(s):  
Zhixin Sun ◽  
Shujia Wang ◽  
Fuquan Xu ◽  
Tielong Wang

Natural gas is considered as a green fuel due to its low environmental impact. LNG contains a large amount of cold exergy and must be regasified before further utilization. ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle) has been proven to be a promising solution for both low grade heat utilization and LNG cold exergy recovery. Due to the great temperature difference between the heat source and LNG, the efficiency of one-stage ORC is relatively small. Hence, some researchers move forward to a two-stage Rankine cycle. Working fluid plays a quite important role in the cycle performance. Working fluid selection of a two-stage ORC is much more challenging than that of a single-stage ORC. In this paper, a two-stage ORC is studied. Heat source temperatures of 100,150 and 200°C are investigated. 20 substances are selected as potential candidates for both the high and low Rankine cycles. The evaporating, condensing and turbine inlet temperatures of both Rankine cycles are optimized by PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization). The results show that the best combination for heat source temperature of 100°C is R161/R218 with the maximum exergy efficiency of 35.27%. The best combination for 150°C is R161/RC318 with the maximum efficiency of 37.84% and ammonia/ammonia with the maximum efficiency of 39.15% for 200°C. Fluids with intermediate critical temperature, lower triple point temperature and lower normal boiling temperature are good candidates.


2019 ◽  
Vol 199 ◽  
pp. 111960 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Cavazzini ◽  
S. Bari ◽  
P. McGrail ◽  
V. Benedetti ◽  
G. Pavesi ◽  
...  

2014 ◽  
Vol 1070-1072 ◽  
pp. 1808-1811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han Lv ◽  
Wei Ting Jiang ◽  
Qun Zhi Zhu

Organic Rankine cycle is an effective way to recover low-grade heat energy. In order to improve system performance, for low-temperature waste heat of 120°C and R245fa,R600a,R227ea organic working fluid, using Aspen Plus software conducted simulation by changing the evaporation temperature. Results from these analyses show that decreasing the evaporation temperature, increasing thermal and exergy efficiencies, evaporating pressure, at the same time reduce steam consumption rate.


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