Abstract
The Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is a well-established way to recover energy from a single waste heat source. This paper aims to select the suitable configuration, number of loops, and working fluids for the Multi-Loop ORC (MLORC) by using multi-objective optimization. The thermodynamic and economic performance of MLORC in three various configurations was analyzed. Multi-objective optimizations of the series and parallel MLORC using different working fluid groups were conducted to find the optimal configuration, number of loops, and working fluid combination. The analysis results show that the series–parallel MLORC performed the worst among the three configurations. The optimization results reveal that series MLORC has a higher exergy efficiency than the parallel MLORC. The exergy efficiency of the optimal solution in series dual-loop, triple-loop, and quadruple-loop ORC is 9.3%, 7.98%, and 6.23% higher than that of parallel ORC, respectively. Furthermore, dual-loop is the optimal number of cycles for recovering energy from a single heat source, according to the grey relational grade. Finally, the series dual-loop ORC using cyclohexane\\cyclohexane was the suitable configuration for utilizing a single waste heat source. The exergy efficiency and levelized cost of electricity of the series dual-loop ORC with the optimal parameters are 62.18% and 0.1509 $/kWh, respectively.
Highlights
Reducing CO2 to net zero is the most challenging task that humanity has ever encountered [1]
The thermodynamic model of Multi-Loop ORC (MLORC) is implemented in MATLAB 2016a with the CoolProp 6.41 [42]
Of the total exhaust energy that can be used. These results suggest that optimization in heat proportion of the exhaust gas energy could improve the thermodynamic and economic performance of the parallel MLORC
Summary
Reducing CO2 to net zero is the most challenging task that humanity has ever encountered [1]. Low-grade heat power generation technologies are pivotal to achieve the target [2]. The technologies could recover industrial waste heat and improve fossil fuel utilization efficiency [3]. More than that, these could be applied to some renewable energy that has low-grade heat [4]. The Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) may have the most potential among all the low-grade heat power generation technologies [5,6]. Many researchers have focused on improving the thermodynamic and economic performance of the ORC [7] in the past decade
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