Selection of Working Fluids for Different Temperature Heat Source Organic Rankine Cycle

Abstract

In the current paper, under the condition of different flue gas temperatures and constant flue gas thermal power, the influence of different organic working fluids on the efficiency of sub-critical organic Rankine cycle system were studied. The efficiency and other parameters of the simple system were calculated. The results show that the efficiency of sub-critical organic Rankine cycle system could reach maximum when the parameters of the working fluids in the expander inlet are dry-saturation. Flammability, toxicity, ozone depletion and other factors of the working fluids should be considered in the organic Rankine cycles. R245fa is considered a better choice for low-temperature heat source power generation, and the efficiency of the system is about 10.2%; for the high-temperature heat source, R601a can be considered; however, due to its high flammability, novel working fluids should be further discovered for power generation.