Experimental investigation on an R290-based organic Rankine cycle utilizing cold energy of liquid nitrogen

Abstract

Organic Rankine cycle (ORC) has been widely used to utilize low-grade waste heat from low, medium, and high-temperature heat sources. Meanwhile, the research of the ORC operates in the cryogenic temperature has also attracted much attention due to the increasing requirement of liquid natural gas (LNG). However, there is still a lack of experimental research on the cryogenic ORC. In this paper, the experimental study of a cryogenic ORC using a semi-hermetic scroll expander and propane (R290) has been investigated. Liquid nitrogen is used as the cryogenic cold source in this system while the circulation water is used to simulate the low-grade waste heat. The system performance of utilizing the cold energy of the liquid nitrogen and thermal energy of the circulation water has been investigated. First, the effects of the evaporation pressure and pressure drop on system performance are examined. Moreover, the system performance between the regenerative organic Rankine cycle (RORC) and basic organic Rankine cycle (BORC) has been compared. The experimental results indicate that evaporation pressure has a significant effect on system performance, and different optimum evaporation pressure will be obtained under different liquid nitrogen mass flow rates. The maximum electrical power 673.59 W, system thermal efficiency 6.78%, and cold energy utilization efficiency 12.32% can be obtained, while the evaporation pressure and liquid nitrogen mass flow rate are 1.36 MPa and 120 kg/h, respectively. What’s more, the results also indicate that the pressure drop exhibits a high sensitivity on system performance, and there is a clear linear proportional relationship between pressure drop and electrical power. Furthermore, the comparison results show that RORC has a better system performance than BORC. The experimental results provide design and optimal operation strategy for the cryogenic organic Rankine cycle.