IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v9y2016i6p448-d71776.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Thermo-Economic and Heat Transfer Optimization of Working-Fluid Mixtures in a Low-Temperature Organic Rankine Cycle System

Author

Listed:
  • Oyeniyi A. Oyewunmi

    (Clean Energy Processes (CEP) Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK)

  • Christos N. Markides

    (Clean Energy Processes (CEP) Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK)

Abstract

In the present paper, we consider the employment of working-fluid mixtures in organic Rankine cycle (ORC) systems with respect to thermodynamic and heat-transfer performance, component sizing and capital costs. The selected working-fluid mixtures promise reduced exergy losses due to their non-isothermal phase-change behaviour, and thus improved cycle efficiencies and power outputs over their respective pure-fluid components. A multi-objective cost-power optimization of a specific low-temperature ORC system (operating with geothermal water at 98 °C) reveals that the use of working-fluid-mixtures does indeed show a thermodynamic improvement over the pure-fluids. At the same time, heat transfer and cost analyses, however, suggest that it also requires larger evaporators, condensers and expanders; thus, the resulting ORC systems are also associated with higher costs. In particular, 50% n -pentane + 50% n -hexane and 60% R-245fa + 40% R-227ea mixtures lead to the thermodynamically optimal cycles, whereas pure n -pentane and pure R-245fa have lower plant costs, both estimated as having ∼14% lower costs per unit power output compared to the thermodynamically optimal mixtures. These conclusions highlight the importance of using system cost minimization as a design objective for ORC plants.

Suggested Citation

  • Oyeniyi A. Oyewunmi & Christos N. Markides, 2016. "Thermo-Economic and Heat Transfer Optimization of Working-Fluid Mixtures in a Low-Temperature Organic Rankine Cycle System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-21, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:9:y:2016:i:6:p:448-:d:71776
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/9/6/448/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/9/6/448/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heberle, Florian & Preißinger, Markus & Brüggemann, Dieter, 2012. "Zeotropic mixtures as working fluids in Organic Rankine Cycles for low-enthalpy geothermal resources," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 364-370.
    2. Florian Heberle & Dieter Brüggemann, 2016. "Thermo-Economic Analysis of Zeotropic Mixtures and Pure Working Fluids in Organic Rankine Cycles for Waste Heat Recovery," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-16, March.
    3. Chys, M. & van den Broek, M. & Vanslambrouck, B. & De Paepe, M., 2012. "Potential of zeotropic mixtures as working fluids in organic Rankine cycles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 623-632.
    4. Oyewunmi, Oyeniyi A. & Taleb, Aly I. & Haslam, Andrew J. & Markides, Christos N., 2016. "On the use of SAFT-VR Mie for assessing large-glide fluorocarbon working-fluid mixtures in organic Rankine cycles," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 263-282.
    5. Chen, Huijuan & Goswami, D. Yogi & Rahman, Muhammad M. & Stefanakos, Elias K., 2011. "A supercritical Rankine cycle using zeotropic mixture working fluids for the conversion of low-grade heat into power," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 549-555.
    6. Wang, J.L. & Zhao, L. & Wang, X.D., 2010. "A comparative study of pure and zeotropic mixtures in low-temperature solar Rankine cycle," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(11), pages 3366-3373, November.
    7. Angelino, Gianfranco & Colonna di Paliano, Piero, 1998. "Multicomponent Working Fluids For Organic Rankine Cycles (ORCs)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 449-463.
    8. Jesper G. Andreasen & Martin R. Kærn & Leonardo Pierobon & Ulrik Larsen & Fredrik Haglind, 2016. "Multi-Objective Optimization of Organic Rankine Cycle Power Plants Using Pure and Mixed Working Fluids," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-15, April.
    9. Steven Lecompte & Sanne Lemmens & Henk Huisseune & Martijn Van den Broek & Michel De Paepe, 2015. "Multi-Objective Thermo-Economic Optimization Strategy for ORCs Applied to Subcritical and Transcritical Cycles for Waste Heat Recovery," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-28, April.
    10. Hong Gao & Chao Liu & Chao He & Xiaoxiao Xu & Shuangying Wu & Yourong Li, 2012. "Performance Analysis and Working Fluid Selection of a Supercritical Organic Rankine Cycle for Low Grade Waste Heat Recovery," Energies, MDPI, vol. 5(9), pages 1-15, August.
    11. Braimakis, Konstantinos & Preißinger, Markus & Brüggemann, Dieter & Karellas, Sotirios & Panopoulos, Kyriakos, 2015. "Low grade waste heat recovery with subcritical and supercritical Organic Rankine Cycle based on natural refrigerants and their binary mixtures," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 80-92.
    12. Florian Heberle & Dieter Brüggemann, 2015. "Thermo-Economic Evaluation of Organic Rankine Cycles for Geothermal Power Generation Using Zeotropic Mixtures," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-28, March.
    13. Li, You-Rong & Du, Mei-Tang & Wu, Chun-Mei & Wu, Shuang-Ying & Liu, Chao, 2014. "Potential of organic Rankine cycle using zeotropic mixtures as working fluids for waste heat recovery," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 509-519.
    14. Shu, Gequn & Gao, Yuanyuan & Tian, Hua & Wei, Haiqiao & Liang, Xingyu, 2014. "Study of mixtures based on hydrocarbons used in ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle) for engine waste heat recovery," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 428-438.
    15. Ratha Z. Mathkor & Brian Agnew & Mohammed A. Al-Weshahi & Fathi Latrsh, 2015. "Exergetic Analysis of an Integrated Tri-Generation Organic Rankine Cycle," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-22, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Feili, Milad & Rostamzadeh, Hadi & Ghaebi, Hadi, 2022. "Thermo-mechanical energy level approach integrated with exergoeconomic optimization for realistic cost evaluation of a novel micro-CCHP system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 630-657.
    3. Bamorovat Abadi, Gholamreza & Kim, Kyung Chun, 2017. "Investigation of organic Rankine cycles with zeotropic mixtures as a working fluid: Advantages and issues," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 1000-1013.
    4. Magdalena Santos-Rodriguez, M. & Flores-Tlacuahuac, Antonio & Zavala, Victor M., 2017. "A stochastic optimization approach for the design of organic fluid mixtures for low-temperature heat recovery," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 145-159.
    5. Feng, Yongqiang & Hung, TzuChen & Zhang, Yaning & Li, Bingxi & Yang, Jinfu & Shi, Yang, 2015. "Performance comparison of low-grade ORCs (organic Rankine cycles) using R245fa, pentane and their mixtures based on the thermoeconomic multi-objective optimization and decision makings," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(P2), pages 2018-2029.
    6. Schilling, J. & Entrup, M. & Hopp, M. & Gross, J. & Bardow, A., 2021. "Towards optimal mixtures of working fluids: Integrated design of processes and mixtures for Organic Rankine Cycles," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    7. Kolahchian Tabrizi, Mehrshad & Bonalumi, Davide, 2022. "Techno-economic performance of the 2-propanol/1-butanol zeotropic mixture and 2-propanol/water azeotropic mixture as a working fluid in Organic Rankine Cycles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    8. Sánchez, Carlos J.N. & da Silva, Alexandre K., 2018. "Technical and environmental analysis of transcritical Rankine cycles operating with numerous CO2 mixtures," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 180-190.
    9. Miao, Zheng & Zhang, Kai & Wang, Mengxiao & Xu, Jinliang, 2019. "Thermodynamic selection criteria of zeotropic mixtures for subcritical organic Rankine cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 484-497.
    10. Jesper Graa Andreasen & Martin Ryhl Kærn & Fredrik Haglind, 2019. "Assessment of Methods for Performance Comparison of Pure and Zeotropic Working Fluids for Organic Rankine Cycle Power Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-25, May.
    11. Florian Heberle & Dieter Brüggemann, 2015. "Thermo-Economic Evaluation of Organic Rankine Cycles for Geothermal Power Generation Using Zeotropic Mixtures," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-28, March.
    12. Shu, Gequn & Gao, Yuanyuan & Tian, Hua & Wei, Haiqiao & Liang, Xingyu, 2014. "Study of mixtures based on hydrocarbons used in ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle) for engine waste heat recovery," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 428-438.
    13. Yang, Min-Hsiung & Yeh, Rong-Hua & Hung, Tzu-Chen, 2017. "Thermo-economic analysis of the transcritical organic Rankine cycle using R1234yf/R32 mixtures as the working fluids for lower-grade waste heat recovery," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(P1), pages 818-836.
    14. Bao, Junjiang & Zhao, Li, 2013. "A review of working fluid and expander selections for organic Rankine cycle," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 325-342.
    15. Jesper G. Andreasen & Martin R. Kærn & Leonardo Pierobon & Ulrik Larsen & Fredrik Haglind, 2016. "Multi-Objective Optimization of Organic Rankine Cycle Power Plants Using Pure and Mixed Working Fluids," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-15, April.
    16. Florian Heberle & Dieter Brüggemann, 2016. "Thermo-Economic Analysis of Zeotropic Mixtures and Pure Working Fluids in Organic Rankine Cycles for Waste Heat Recovery," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-16, March.
    17. Liu, Qiang & Duan, Yuanyuan & Yang, Zhen, 2014. "Effect of condensation temperature glide on the performance of organic Rankine cycles with zeotropic mixture working fluids," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 394-404.
    18. Qiang Liu & Ran Chen & Xinliu Yang & Xiao Xiao, 2023. "Thermodynamic Analyses of Sub- and Supercritical ORCs Using R1234yf, R236ea and Their Mixtures as Working Fluids for Geothermal Power Generation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-22, July.
    19. Li, You-Rong & Du, Mei-Tang & Wu, Chun-Mei & Wu, Shuang-Ying & Liu, Chao, 2014. "Potential of organic Rankine cycle using zeotropic mixtures as working fluids for waste heat recovery," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 509-519.
    20. Liu, Qiang & Shen, Aijing & Duan, Yuanyuan, 2015. "Parametric optimization and performance analyses of geothermal organic Rankine cycles using R600a/R601a mixtures as working fluids," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 410-420.

    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:9:y:2016:i:6:p:448-:d:71776. 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.