Thermodynamic and economic optimizations of a waste heat to power plant driven by a subcritical ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle) using pure or zeotropic working fluid

Abstract

This paper carried out the thermodynamic and economic optimizations of a subcritical ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle) using a pure or a zeotropic mixture working fluid. Two pure organic compounds, i.e. n-pentane and R245fa, and their mixtures with various concentrations were used as ORC working fluid for this study. Two optimizations, i.e. exergy efficiency maximization and LCOE (Levelized Cost of Electricity) minimization, were performed to find out the optimum operating conditions of the system and to determine the best working fluid from the studied media. Hot water at temperature of 150 °C and pressure of 5 bars was used to simulate the heat source medium. Whereas, cooling water at temperature of 20 °C was considered to be the heat sink medium. The mass flow rate of heat source is fixed at 50 kg/s for the optimizations. According to the results, the n-pentane-based ORC showed the highest maximized exergy efficiency (53.2%) and the lowest minimized LCOE (0.0863 $/kWh). Regarding ORCs using zeotropic working fluids, 0.05 and 0.1 R245fa mass fraction mixtures present the comparable economic features and thermodynamic performances to the system using n-pentane at minimum LCOE. The ORC using R245fa represents the least profitable system.