Abstract
The organic Rankine cycle (ORC) is considered as one of the most viable technology to recover low-grade waste heat. A multi-objective optimization model is established to simultaneously derive the maximum exergy efficiency and the minimum electricity production cost (EPC) of a specific ORC system by employing the genetic algorithm (GA). Evaporation temperature and condensation temperature are selected as decision variables. At first, variations of exergy efficiency and EPC with evaporation temperature and condensation temperature are investigated respectively using R245fa, R245ca, R600, R600a, R601 and R601a as working fluids. Subsequently, a multi-objective optimization is performed and the Pareto frontiers for various working fluids are obtained. Results indicate that performance of the specific ORC system with R245fa as working fluid is better that with other working fluids.
Highlights
The global primary energy consumption and carbon emissions in recent decades are shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, respectively [1]
R245fa, R245ca, R600, R600a, R601 and R601a were selected as working fluids to analyse thermodynamic and economic performances of the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) system
Properties of the organic working fluids were calculated by REFPROP v9.0 software from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Summary
The global primary energy consumption and carbon emissions in recent decades are shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, respectively [1]. Afterwards, ORC was proved to be a promising and superior technology to effectively convert low-grade waste heat into power, and applied in many fields, including solar, geothermal, biomass, ocean thermal energy and waste heat recovery [4,5]. The evaluation criteria could be categorized into three classes which are thermodynamic indicators including net power output, thermal efficiency, exergy efficiency [17]; economic indicators including electricity production cost (EPC) [9, 18,19,20], levelized energy cost (LEC) [20], specific investment cost (SIC) [21], net present value (NPV), depreciated payback period (DPBP) [22]; and environmental impact through life cycle assessment (LCA) [23,24]. R245fa, R245ca, R600, R600a, R601 and R601a were selected as working fluids to analyse thermodynamic and economic performances of the ORC system
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call