IDENTIFICATION AND EXPERIMENTAL DATABASE FOR BINARY AND MULTICOMPONENT MIXTURES WITH POTENTIAL FOR INCREASING OVERALL CYCLE EFFICIENCY

Abstract

This report describes an experimental investigation designed to identify binary and multicomponent mixture systems that may be for increasing the overall efficiency of a coal fired unit by extracting heat from flue gases. While ammonia-water mixtures have shown promise for increasing cycle efficiencies in a Kalina cycle, the costs and associated range of thermal conditions involved in a heat recovery system may prohibit its use in a relatively low temperature heat recovery system. This investigation considered commercially available non-azeotropic binary mixtures with a boiling range applicable to a flue gas initially at 477.6 K (400 F) and developed an experimental database of boiling heat transfer coefficients for those mixtures. In addition to their potential as working fluids for increasing cycle efficiency, cost, ease of handling, toxicity, and environmental concerns were considered in selection of the mixture systems to be examined experimentally. Based on this review, water-glycol systems were identified as good candidates. However, previous investigations of mixture boiling have focused on aqueous hydrocarbon mixtures, where water is the heaviest component. There have been few studies of water-glycol systems, and those that do exist have investigated boiling on plain surfaces only. In water-glycol systems, water is the light component, which makes these systems unique compared to those that have been previously examined. This report examines several water-glycol systems, and documents a database of experimental heat transfer coefficients for these systems. In addition, this investigation also examines the effect of an enhanced surface on pool boiling in water-glycol mixtures, by comparing boiling on a smooth surface to boiling on a Turbo IIIB. The experimental apparatus, test sections, and the experimental procedures are described. The mixture systems tested included water-propylene glycol, water-ethylene glycol, and water-diethylene glycol. All experimental data were obtained at atmospheric pressure with the test section oriented horizontally. The effect of subcooling in pool boiling of mixtures is another area that has received limited attention. Therefore, experimental data were obtained for the water-propylene glycol and water-ethylene glycol systems for subcoolings ranging from 0 to 30 C. The experimental data showed that boiling heat transfer coefficients were found to have significant degradation due to the mixture effect for each of the water-glycol systems examined. This result is consistent with previous studies which examined water-hydrocarbon mixtures with large boiling ranges. The Turbo BIII surface was found to significantly increase heat transfer in each mixture and pure component in comparison to that for the smooth surface.