IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v13y2020i7p1598-d339821.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Novel Exergy Indicator for Maximizing Energy Utilization in Low-Temperature ORC

Author

Listed:
  • Marcin Jankowski

    (ORC Power Plants Research and Development Centre, West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, al. Piastów 17, 70-310 Szczecin, Poland)

  • Aleksandra Borsukiewicz

    (ORC Power Plants Research and Development Centre, West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, al. Piastów 17, 70-310 Szczecin, Poland
    School of Mechanical & Mining Engineering, The University of Queensland, Queensland 4072, Australia)

Abstract

In the last decade, particular attention has been paid to the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) power plant, a technology that implements a classical steam Rankine cycle using low-boiling fluid of organic origin. Depending on the specific application and the choice of the designer, the ORC can be optimized using one or several criteria. The selected objectives reflect various system performance aspects, such as: thermodynamic, economic, environmental or other. In this study, a novel criterion called exergy utilization index ( XUI ) is defined and used to maximize the utilization of an energy source in the ORC system. The maximization of the proposed indicator is equivalent to bring the heat carrier outlet temperature to the ambient temperature as close as possible. In the studied case, the XUI is applied along with the total heat transfer area of the system, and the multi-objective optimization is performed in order to determine the optimal operating conditions of the ORC. Moreover, to reveal a relationship between the XUI and important ORC performance indicators, a parametric study is conducted. Based on the results, it has been found that high values of the XUI (~80%) correspond to optimal values of exergy-based indicators such as: exergy efficiency, waste exergy ratio, environmental effect factor or exergetic sustainability index. Furthermore, the values of the XUI = 60%–80% are associated with beneficial economic characteristics reflected in a low payback period (<11.3 years). When considering the ecological aspect, the maximization of XUI has resulted in minimization of exergy waste to the environment. In general, the simple formulation and straightforward meaning make the XUI a particularly useful indicator for the preliminary evaluation and design of the ORC. Furthermore, the comparative analysis with respect to other well-known performance indicators has shown that it has a potential to be successfully applied as the objective function in the optimization of ORC power plants.

Suggested Citation

  • Marcin Jankowski & Aleksandra Borsukiewicz, 2020. "A Novel Exergy Indicator for Maximizing Energy Utilization in Low-Temperature ORC," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-20, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:7:p:1598-:d:339821
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/7/1598/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/7/1598/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shengjun, Zhang & Huaixin, Wang & Tao, Guo, 2011. "Performance comparison and parametric optimization of subcritical Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) and transcritical power cycle system for low-temperature geothermal power generation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(8), pages 2740-2754, August.
    2. Cui, Yunfei & Geng, Zhiqiang & Zhu, Qunxiong & Han, Yongming, 2017. "Review: Multi-objective optimization methods and application in energy saving," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 681-704.
    3. Lecompte, Steven & Huisseune, Henk & van den Broek, Martijn & Vanslambrouck, Bruno & De Paepe, Michel, 2015. "Review of organic Rankine cycle (ORC) architectures for waste heat recovery," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 448-461.
    4. Da Lio, Luca & Manente, Giovanni & Lazzaretto, Andrea, 2017. "A mean-line model to predict the design efficiency of radial inflow turbines in organic Rankine cycle (ORC) systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 187-209.
    5. Vivian, Jacopo & Manente, Giovanni & Lazzaretto, Andrea, 2015. "A general framework to select working fluid and configuration of ORCs for low-to-medium temperature heat sources," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 727-746.
    6. Liu, Changwei & Gao, Tieyu, 2019. "Off-design performance analysis of basic ORC, ORC using zeotropic mixtures and composition-adjustable ORC under optimal control strategy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 95-108.
    7. Xiao, Lan & Wu, Shuang-Ying & Yi, Tian-Tian & Liu, Chao & Li, You-Rong, 2015. "Multi-objective optimization of evaporation and condensation temperatures for subcritical organic Rankine cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 723-733.
    8. Borsukiewicz-Gozdur, Aleksandra, 2013. "Exergy analysis for maximizing power of organic Rankine cycle power plant driven by open type energy source," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 73-81.
    9. Li, Jian & Ge, Zhong & Duan, Yuanyuan & Yang, Zhen, 2019. "Design and performance analyses for a novel organic Rankine cycle with supercritical-subcritical heat absorption process coupling," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 1400-1414.
    10. Li, Jian & Ge, Zhong & Duan, Yuanyuan & Yang, Zhen & Liu, Qiang, 2018. "Parametric optimization and thermodynamic performance comparison of single-pressure and dual-pressure evaporation organic Rankine cycles," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 409-421.
    11. Zhang, Cheng & Liu, Chao & Wang, Shukun & Xu, Xiaoxiao & Li, Qibin, 2017. "Thermo-economic comparison of subcritical organic Rankine cycle based on different heat exchanger configurations," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 728-741.
    12. Aydin, Hakan, 2013. "Exergetic sustainability analysis of LM6000 gas turbine power plant with steam cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 766-774.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ladislao Eduardo Méndez-Cruz & Miguel Ángel Gutiérrez-Limón & Helen Lugo-Méndez & Raúl Lugo-Leyte & Teresa Lopez-Arenas & Mauricio Sales-Cruz, 2022. "Comparative Thermodynamic Analysis of the Performance of an Organic Rankine Cycle Using Different Working Fluids," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-23, April.
    2. Jankowski, Marcin & Klonowicz, Piotr & Borsukiewicz, Aleksandra, 2021. "Multi-objective optimization of an ORC power plant using one-dimensional design of a radial-inflow turbine with backswept rotor blades," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).
    3. Shuozhuo Hu & Zhen Yang & Jian Li & Yuanyuan Duan, 2021. "A Review of Multi-Objective Optimization in Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) System Design," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-36, October.
    4. Konur, Olgun & Yuksel, Onur & Aykut Korkmaz, S. & Ozgur Colpan, C. & Saatcioglu, Omur Y. & Koseoglu, Burak, 2023. "Operation-dependent exergetic sustainability assessment and environmental analysis on a large tanker ship utilizing Organic Rankine cycle system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(PA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xu, Weicong & Zhao, Ruikai & Deng, Shuai & Zhao, Li & Mao, Samuel S., 2021. "Is zeotropic working fluid a promising option for organic Rankine cycle: A quantitative evaluation based on literature data," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    2. Jankowski, Marcin & Klonowicz, Piotr & Borsukiewicz, Aleksandra, 2021. "Multi-objective optimization of an ORC power plant using one-dimensional design of a radial-inflow turbine with backswept rotor blades," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).
    3. Jankowski, Marcin & Borsukiewicz, Aleksandra & Wiśniewski, Sławomir & Hooman, Kamel, 2020. "Multi-objective analysis of an influence of a geothermal water salinity on optimal operating parameters in low-temperature ORC power plant," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    4. Li, Jian & Hu, Shuozhuo & Yang, Fubin & Duan, Yuanyuan & Yang, Zhen, 2019. "Thermo-economic performance evaluation of emerging liquid-separated condensation method in single-pressure and dual-pressure evaporation organic Rankine cycle systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    5. Yi, Zhitong & Luo, Xianglong & Chen, Jianyong & Chen, Ying, 2017. "Mathematical modelling and optimization of a liquid separation condenser-based organic Rankine cycle used in waste heat utilization," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 916-934.
    6. Chintala, Venkateswarlu & Kumar, Suresh & Pandey, Jitendra K., 2018. "A technical review on waste heat recovery from compression ignition engines using organic Rankine cycle," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 493-509.
    7. Zhonghe Han & Peng Li & Xu Han & Zhongkai Mei & Zhi Wang, 2017. "Thermo-Economic Performance Analysis of a Regenerative Superheating Organic Rankine Cycle for Waste Heat Recovery," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-23, October.
    8. Song, Chongzhi & Gu, Mingyan & Miao, Zheng & Liu, Chao & Xu, Jinliang, 2019. "Effect of fluid dryness and critical temperature on trans-critical organic Rankine cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 97-109.
    9. Li, Jian & Peng, Xiayao & Yang, Zhen & Hu, Shuozhuo & Duan, Yuanyuan, 2022. "Design, improvements and applications of dual-pressure evaporation organic Rankine cycles: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    10. Shuozhuo Hu & Zhen Yang & Jian Li & Yuanyuan Duan, 2021. "A Review of Multi-Objective Optimization in Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) System Design," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-36, October.
    11. Lazzaretto, Andrea & Manente, Giovanni & Toffolo, Andrea, 2018. "SYNTHSEP: A general methodology for the synthesis of energy system configurations beyond superstructures," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 924-949.
    12. Marenco-Porto, Carlos A. & Nieto-Londoño, César & Lopera, Leonardo & Escudero-Atehortua, Ana & Giraldo, Mauricio & Jouhara, Hussam, 2023. "Evaluation of Organic Rankine Cycle alternatives for the cement industry using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology and energy-economic-environmental (3E) analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    13. Li, Jian & Yang, Zhen & Shen, Jun & Duan, Yuanyuan, 2023. "Enhancement effects of adding internal heat exchanger on dual-pressure evaporation organic Rankine cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    14. Li, Jian & Yang, Zhen & Hu, Shuozhuo & Yang, Fubin & Duan, Yuanyuan, 2020. "Thermo-economic analyses and evaluations of small-scale dual-pressure evaporation organic Rankine cycle system using pure fluids," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    15. Zhang, Ji & Wu, Ding & Huang, Xiaohui & Hu, Xudong & Fang, Xi & Wen, Chuang, 2024. "Comparative study on the organic rankine cycle off-design performance under different zeotropic mixture flow boiling correlations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    16. Wang, Mingtao & Zhang, Juan & Liu, Qiyi & Tan, Luzhi, 2020. "Effects of critical temperature, critical pressure and dryness of working fluids on the performance of the transcritical organic rankine cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    17. Li, Jian & Ge, Zhong & Duan, Yuanyuan & Yang, Zhen, 2019. "Effects of heat source temperature and mixture composition on the combined superiority of dual-pressure evaporation organic Rankine cycle and zeotropic mixtures," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 436-449.
    18. Chen, Ying & Liu, Yuxuan & Nam, Eun-Young & Zhang, Yang & Dahlak, Aida, 2023. "Exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental analysis and optimization of an integrated double-flash-binary geothermal system and dual-pressure ORC using zeotropic mixtures; multi-objective optimization," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    19. Cavazzini, G. & Bari, S. & Pavesi, G. & Ardizzon, G., 2017. "A multi-fluid PSO-based algorithm for the search of the best performance of sub-critical Organic Rankine Cycles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 42-58.
    20. Masi, Massimo & Da Lio, Luca & Lazzaretto, Andrea, 2020. "An insight into the similarity approach to predict the maximum efficiency of organic Rankine cycle turbines," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:7:p:1598-:d:339821. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.