Solar-driven Organic Rankine Cycle Research Articles

Techno-economic-environmental study and artificial intelligence-assisted optimization of a multigeneration power plant based on a gas turbine cycle along with a hydrogen liquefaction unit

According to the literature, there is a research gap concerning the practical heat recovery in solar-driven systems that have the capability to produce liquid hydrogen. In this study, an innovative combination of dual-loop solar-driven organic Rankine cycle and liquefied natural gas (LNG) heat recovery is designed to produce and liquefy hydrogen. The proposed system includes parabolic trough solar collectors (PTSCs), a Rankine cycle, a dual-loop organic Rankine cycle, LNG regasification process, proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer, and Claude hydrogen liquefaction cycle. A data-driven method is developed to analyze the system from techno-economic and environmental perspectives. The results show that LNG energy recovery improves the liquefaction work by as much as 7.96 kWh/kgH2. It is also concluded that the optimum compaction pressure range for the liquefaction cycle is 4.67 MPa, which is associated with better results. In these conditions, liquefaction work, liquefaction Coefficient of Performance (COP), and liquefaction exergy efficiency are 164.6 kJ/kg, 0.157 and 17.05%, respectively. To find optimum operating conditions, a supervised learning approach is applied to the developed code and the trained network is optimized using the genetic algorithm (GA). The optimization results reveal that a 10.98 $/h increase in total cost rate causes an 18% improvement in hydrogen production rate.

Thermodynamic investigation of a solar-driven organic Rankine cycle with partial evaporation

The partial evaporation organic Rankine cycle (PE-ORC) is an emerging technology for the efficient exploitation of low-temperature heat sources. The purpose of the present study is the energy and thermodynamic analysis of a solar-fed PE-ORC with a solar field of evacuated flat plate collectors coupled to a sensible storage tank. The studied PE-ORC operates with the environmentally friendly working fluid R1233zd(E) with variable evaporation percentage in the expander inlet. The thermodynamic investigation is done with a validated model in Engineering Equation Solver, and the transient analysis is performed with the TRNSYS tool by coupling it with the thermodynamic model. According to the dynamic analysis, the annual electrical yield is found at 6243 kWh, while the maximum obtained value is found at 3.81 kW. Moreover, the annual mean solar field efficiency was calculated at 45.0%, the annual mean thermodynamic cycle efficiency at 8.71% and the annual mean system efficiency at 3.68%.

A novel solar-driven Organic Rankine Cycle system based on the two-stage solar thermal collection and accumulation

Solar thermal power has attracted much attention because it is instrumental to solar energy storage and power grid peak shaving. Among the various solar thermal power technologies, the Organic Rankine Cycle stands out as a prevalent choice for low and intermediate-temperature (80 – 200 °C) solar thermal power generation applications. However, it is required of the concentrating solar collectors for medium temperature supply and its performance is greatly affected by the off-design operation owing to variable solar irradiance. In this paper, a novel solar-driven Organic Rankine Cycle system that consists of a two-stage solar thermal collection and accumulation design is proposed to solve the above issues. Two-stage non-concentrating solar plants are adopted to harvest global solar irradiance and regulate system operation. Two-stage energy accumulators can not only mitigate the influence of the solar irradiance fluctuation on the Organic Rankine Cycle off-design running but also enhance the temperature drop of thermal energy storage. Through the experimental test and numerical simulation, the results indicate that the influence of solar irradiance on the Organic Rankine Cycle steady operation has been weakened (reducing power output fluctuation range by approximately 70%), and the overall system efficiency has also been improved by 43.85%. Consequently, the solar Organic Rankine Cycle system proposed in this paper exhibits superior thermal performance compared to the conventional systems and is conducive to the advancement of the non-concentrating solar thermal power system.

Combination of solar with organic Rankine cycle as a potential solution for clean energy production

The increasing requirement for energy, severe environmental problems, and the paucity of traditional sources of energy were among the most pressing global challenges which needed addressing immediately. Hence, the utilization of solar energy was such a vital tool for confronting critical issues including global warming, the depletion of fossil fuels as well as rising energy consumption owing to new lifestyle tendencies. More importantly, the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) was demonstrated to be a dependable technology capable of efficiently transforming low-to-medium-level heat sources into usable uses. Because of the great compatibility between the solar thermal-based collector technologies' working temperatures and the cycle’s required temperatures, using solar irradiation to drive an ORC was a viable technique based on renewable energy. The key significance of this review lies in summarizing the utilization of solar-driven ORC and its potential for the applications like water desalination, water pumping, and power generation. The key features like working fluid consideration and component selection are highlighted. Also, the challenges in the sector and the scope for further studies are discussed in detail. The final remarks show that solar ORC can be considered a promising avenue for the development of sustainable energy systems in a broader view.

Towards an Efficient Multi-Generation System Providing Power, Cooling, Heating, and Freshwater for Residential Buildings Operated with Solar-Driven ORC

In buildings, multi-generation systems are a promising technology that can replace discrete traditional energy production methods. A multi-generation system makes it possible to efficiently produce electricity, cooling, heating, and freshwater simultaneously. This study involved the numerical analysis of a modified proposed novel solar-driven multi-generation system (MGS-II) integrated with the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC), Humidification–Dehumidification Desalination System (HDH), and Desiccant Cooling System (DCS) by using heat recovery and thermal energy storage (TES) units. In addition, a comparison study with the basic multi-generation system (MGS-I) is performed. The proposed system is designed to supply electricity, air conditioning, domestic heating, and fresh water to small/medium-sized buildings. How operating conditions affect system productivity and performance metrics have been investigated. The results show that the proposed multi-generation system (MGS-II) can produce electrical power, space cooling, domestic heating and fresh water while maintaining comfortable conditions inside the conditioned space. Moreover, the MGS-II outperforms the MGS-I system, and the maximum MGS-II system productivity; electricity production (\({W_{net}^{\bullet}}\)), freshwater (\({m_{fresh}^{\bullet} }\)), space cooling (\({Q_{cooling}^{\bullet} }\)), and domestic heating (\({Q_{heating}^{\bullet} }\)) are 102.3 kW, 141.5 kg/h, 20.77 kW, and 225 kW, respectively. In addition, the highest total gained output ratio (TGOR), specific total gained energy (STG), and specific total gained energy equivalent price (STGP) of the MGS-II system are 0.6303, 3.824 kWh/m2, and 0.149 USD/m2, respectively. The accepted ranges of comfortable space-supplied air conditions (temperature and humidity) are 15.5–18.2 °C and 9.2–12.00 gv/kga for both systems, MGS-I and MGS-II. Finally, the current system (MGS-II) has the maximum of the system’s performance indicators and productivity (TGOR and \({{\overset{.}{m}}_{fresh} }\)) compared with the other reported systems.

Time series aggregation-based design and operation optimization of a solar-driven organic Rankine cycle incorporating variation of environmental temperature and solar radiation

The efficient utilization of renewable energy, e.g., solar energy, has become a major requirement to build a clean and efficient energy system and achieve the goal of carbon neutrality. Organic Rankine cycle (ORC) is one of the most promising technologies for converting solar energy into power. However, life-span low operation performance is still a barrier to the wide-spread application of ORC. Design and off-design operation optimization is significant in improving the life-span performance of ORC. In the routine methods, the ORC system is usually designed under a specific rated condition. However, the ORC mostly operates under off-design conditions. The conventional method separates the off-design operation process from the design process and typically loses solution optimality. In the present study, the off-design operation conditions are incorporated into the design process. A time series aggregation-based method for design and operation optimization of a solar driven ORC is proposed. K-means algorithm is applied to achieve the optimal aggregation operating points for the environmental temperature and solar radiation. The design and operation optimization model incorporating the off-design component performance is developed. The optimal design and operating schemes are achieved based on the aggregated operating points, and the effectiveness of the proposed method is validated. The results indicate that the ORC obtained by the proposed method features a 37.37% lower electricity production cost compared with the conventional method.

A solar thermal driven ORC-VFR system employed in subtropical Mediterranean climatic building

This paper investigates the configuration of solar thermal collector driven organic Rankine cycle (ORC) utilized to power air-conditioning system of the two-story office building in Paralimni, Cyprus, through a Variable-Refrigerant-Flow (VRF) system. The reason to choose this Mediterranean climate of Paralimni, Cyprus, is due to its higher dependency on fossil fuels compared to many other countries in the EU and with a high potential of harnessing solar irradiations and demand for air-conditioning (AC) loads. This location is categorized as warm temperate zones, subtropical climates and is placed in the subcategory of Mediterranean climates with humid winters and dry summers according to climatic zone, highly demanding for air conditioning. Based on the climatic data of the study area, this system can make an effective performance. Modeling the building and estimating the AC system power consumption is carried out in the DesignBuilder. Designing the organic Rankine cycle is done with EES. A solar hot water system is designed with TRNSYS to supply the required mass flow rate of water at the desired temperature of 95 °C. In this climate, the annual surface irradiation rate is 1,793 kWh/m2 whilst the AC energy requirement of a two-story building is 7,909 kWh. The employed ORC with an internal heat exchanger is designed with a constant output rate of 3.920 kW, which delivers a total of 8,154 kWh yearly. The required heat input of the ORC is supplied by a solar hot water system, employing evacuated tube collectors. The solar system consumes a 454 kWh auxiliary heating rate per year to deliver the desired mass flow rate and outlet temperature for the ORC. As a result, the designed solar-driven ORC delivers a net of (8,154 – 454) kWh = 7,700 kWh energy each year, meaning 7,700 kWh energy saving per year, equal to 97% of VRF annual energy demand. This amount of yearly energy saving yields 2,010 USD yearly capital saving as the reward of investment in this system, and defining a 20-year project, the implementation of this solar-driven power generation system at the end of the project's lifetime would save 25,049 USD.

Investigation of a Solar-Driven Organic Rankine Cycle with Reheating

The purpose of this simulation study is the examination of a solar-driven power cycle that is driven by collectors with evacuated tubes. The power cycle is an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) that works with cyclopentane. The novelty of the cycle is the use of reheating in order to enhance its thermodynamic efficiency, while the cycle also has a recuperator. Moreover, the cycle is compared with the conventional ORC in order to determine the performance enhancement with the examined idea. The analysis is done with a developed program in Engineering Equation Solver and both in steady-state and transient conditions for a typical year. The analysis was conducted in terms of energy and economic performance. According to an optimization procedure for maximizing the net present values of the investment, it is found that the novel design leads to a net present value of 68 k€, a simple payback of 10 years, and a yearly energy efficiency of 7.0%, while the respective values for the conventional ORC are 44 k€, 10.8 years, and 5.1% for its optimal design according to the net present values maximization. Thus, it is obvious that the suggested design increases both energy and financial performance, compared to the usual design.

Energy and exergy analyses of a hybrid system integrating solar-driven organic Rankine cycle, multi-effect distillation, and reverse osmosis desalination systems

This study analyzes the energy and exergy of a novel arrangement of a solar driven organic Rankine cycle (ORC), two reverse osmosis (RO) desalination systems, and a multi-effect distillation (MED) desalination unit. The ORC power is used as power sources of the high-pressure pump of the RO unit and pumping system of the MED unit. Also, the waste heat of the ORC condenser is utilized as the heat impetus of the MED unit. The results demonstrate that increasing the solar radiation intensity and collector module length leads to increase in the ORC power output, produced freshwater, and total exergy destruction. Increasing the volumetric flow rate of the collector reduces the temperature of the output fluid from the solar collector field, but the mass flow rate is increased, resulting in the highest net output power from the ORC system at a volume flow rate of 11000 lit/min. The exergy analysis reveals that the solar collector, as the system heat source, has the highest total exergy destruction share of 65% in the system. Also, among the organic fluids, toluene, n-decane, n-nonane and n-octane have the highest ORC power, the highest amount of produced freshwater, and the least exergy destruction for ORC, respectively.

Exergoeconomic Optimization of Low Temperature Solar Driven Organic Rankine Cycle

Exergoeconomic Optimization of Low Temperature Solar Driven Organic Rankine Cycle

Heat transfer and economic analyses of using various nanofluids in shell and tube heat exchangers for the cogeneration and solar-driven organic Rankine cycle systems

Abstract This project attempts to evaluate the effect of nanofluids on thermal performance and the economic parameters of shell and tube heat exchangers. First, two thermodynamic processes including combined heat and power (CHP) system and solar-driven organic Rankine cycle (ORC) are simulated using the Aspen HYSYS. The CHP and ORC systems can produce 25 MW and 175.8 kW of electrical power, respectively. Thereafter, to use the nanofluids in the heat exchangers of these systems, the thermophysical specifications are modeled in the MATLAB software and validated with previous investigations. For this purpose, four kinds of nanofluids consisting of Al2O3/H2O, TiO2/H2O, Cu/H2O and Ag/H2O are utilized. According to the results, by adding the nanoparticles to the base fluid, the thermal conductivity, viscosity, heat transfer coefficient and density increase and the heat capacity reduces. The economic assessment and parametric analysis on concentration of the nanoparticles are conducted. The variations of concentration of nanoparticles are taken to be 0.5–4%. It was found that in ORC system, by employing 1% concentration of Ag/H2O, Cu/H2O, Al2O3/H2O and TiO2/water nanofluids, the overall cost is reduced by 3.1%, 1.9%, 1.2% and 0.9%, respectively. Also, in CHP system, at a concentration of 2% for Ag/water, Cu/water Al2O3/water and TiO2/water nanofluids, the total cost decreases by 4.4%, 3%, 1% and 0.5%, respectively. It was denoted that the utilization of nanofluids in thermodynamic cycles can considerably reduce the total cost of heat exchangers and the whole process.

NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF A SOLAR-DRIVEN ORGANIC RANKINE CYCLE COUPLED TO A GEOTHERMAL FIELD

The objective of this work is to investigate a solar-driven Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) for power production with a geothermal well as the heat sink for the ORC condenser. The examined unit combines the exploitation of two renewable energy sources. Solar irradiation is exploited by using solar dish concentrators with spiral absorbers, while the geothermal field includes vertical boreholes with U-tubes. The system is investigated parametrically with a developed model in Engineering Equation Solver, and the examined parameters are the solar beam irradiation level, the total thermal conductivity of the ORC condenser, the borehole length, the number of the boreholes and the mean ground temperature. For the default scenario, it is found that system electrical efficiency is 21.45%, the ORC’s thermodynamic efficiency is 35.99%, and the solar field efficiency is 61.30%. Moreover, it is found that the examined system is 5.7% more efficient than a conventional air-cooled condenser system.

Solar-driven water pump with organic Rankine cycle for pressurized irrigation systems: A case study

Supplying electrical power for pumps in irrigation systems is a costly and challenging procedure, especially in remote or rural areas. The objective of the current investigation is the suggestion and analysis of a solar-driven Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) that provides the required power of a pressurized irrigation system. Parabolic trough collectors were used as a heat source for feeding the ORC with heat, while the ORC produces the proper electricity for moving the pumping system. A developed mathematical model has been used for the simulation of the solar-driven power system. The thermodynamic model of the ORC has been developed in Engineering Equation Solver. Totally, eight different organic fluids were tested in the ORC, and the high pressure of the ORC was optimized in all of the cases. The optimal performance was found with MDM as the working fluid in the ORC with a system efficiency of 12.19%. The minimum collecting area was evaluated to be about 22.6 m2, providing 2.2 kW net electricity for the pressurized irrigation system. Moreover, the collector efficiency, the thermodynamic efficiency, and the storage efficiency were respectively obtained as 47.85%, 27.46%, and 92.72% for the optimum design.

Energy and Exergy Performance Comparative Analysis of a Solar-Driven Organic Rankine Cycle Using Different Organic Fluids

Abstract In this study, the performance of parabolic trough collector (PTC) integrated with an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) is investigated to find the optimum operating scenarios and to assess the exergy destruction at different components of the system. A commercial PTC LS-2 model with Therminol VP-1 as heat transfer fluid was integrated with an ORC that was examined for its thermal and exergetic performance using different organic fluids. It was found that every fluid has an optimum pressure and temperature level at which it works better than other fluids. R134a (tetrafluoroethane, CH2FCF3) showed the best performance for the turbine inlet temperature range from 340 K to 440 K regarding the achieved energy and exergy efficiencies. At a temperature of 362.8 K and a pressure of 2750 kPa, R134a showed the highest energy efficiency of 8.55% and exergy efficiency of 21.84% with the lowest mass flowrate required in ORC. Energy efficiency of other fluids, namely, R245fa (pentafluoropropane, CF3CH2CHF2), n-pentane, and toluene, was less than 5%. On the other hand, toluene exhibited thermal efficiency of 23.5% at a turbine inlet temperature of 550 K and a pressure of 2500 kPa, while the exergy efficiency was 62.89% at solar irradiation of 1 kW/m2.

Combined microgrid power production and carbon dioxide capture by waste heat cascade utilization of the solar driven Organic Rankine cycle

This paper proposes to utilize the waste heat of a solar-driven Organic Rankine cycle (ORC) to support the regeneration process of the carbon capture by adsorption (CCA) subsystem. The waste heat is utilized in cascaded form, where the higher temperature component is supplied to the CCA device, and the lower temperature component is internally exchanged to increase the ORC efficiency. The proposed system is studied for the microgrid application, where a thermodynamic analysis is conducted to evaluate the electrical and exergy performance of the proposed system under 1 day of solar irradiance. The analysis is achieved by coupling the simulation models of each subsystem, where the influences of the ORC pressure ratio, turbine inlet temperature, regeneration temperature, and the CO2 input source are investigated. Results show that the proposed system is optimal when combined with CO2 capture of the animal farm; When a 50 m2 and 100 solar concentrations solar thermal plant is used, an optimal regeneration temperature of 75 °C existed to yield 4375.6 kg of CO2 per day and 0.3 MW electricity. The corresponding ORC and CO2 capture exergy efficiencies are 0.25 and 0.012, respectively, which sum to be higher than the basic solar-ORC under the same conditions.

Thermodynamic, Economic and Sustainability Analysis of Solar Organic Rankine Cycle System with Zeotropic Working Fluid Mixtures for Micro-Cogeneration in Buildings

Globally there are several viable sources of renewable, low-temperature heat (below 130 °C), particularly solar energy, geothermal energy, and energy generated from industrial wastes. Increased exploitation of these low-temperature options has the definite potential of reducing fossil fuel consumption with its attendant very harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers have universally identified the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) as a practicable and suitable system to generate electrical power from renewable sources based on its beneficial usage of volatile organic fluids as working fluids (WFs). In recent times, researchers have also shown a preference towards deployment of zeotropic mixtures as ORC WFs because of their capacity to improve thermodynamic performance of ORC systems, a feat enabled through the greater matching of the temperature profiles of the WF and the heat source/sink. This paper demonstrates the thermodynamic, economic and sustainability feasibility, and the notable advantages of using zeotropic mixtures as WFs through a simulation study of an ORC system. The study examines first the thermodynamic performance of ORC systems using zeotropic mixtures to generate electricity powered by a low-temperature solar heat source for building applications. A thermodynamic model is developed with a solar-driven ORC system both with and excluding a regenerator. Twelve zeotropic mixtures with varying compositions are evaluated and compared to identify the best combinations of mixtures that can yield high performance and high efficiency in their system cycles. The study also examines the effects of the volume flow ratio, and evaporation and condensation temperature glides on the ORC’s thermodynamic performance. Following a detailed analysis of each mixture, R245fa/propane and butane/propane are selected for parametric study to investigate the influence of operating parameters on the system’s efficiency and sustainability index. For zeotropic mixtures, results disclosed that there is an optimal composition range within which binary mixtures are inclined to perform more efficiently than the component pure fluids. In addition, a substantial enhancement in cycle efficiency can be obtained by a regenerative ORC, with cycle efficiency ranging between 3.1–9.8% and 8.6–17.4% for ORC both without and with regeneration, respectively. Results also revealed that exploiting zeotropic mixtures could enlarge the limitation experienced in selecting WFs for low-temperature solar ORCs. Moreover, a detailed economic with a sensitivity analysis of the solar ORC system was performed to evaluate the cost of the electricity and other economic criteria. The outcome of this investigation should be useful in the thermo-economic feasibility assessments of solar-driven ORC systems using working fluid mixtures to find the optimum operating range for maximum performance and minimum cost.

Investigation of an innovative PV/T-ORC system using amorphous silicon cells and evacuated flat plate solar collectors

Solar-driven organic Rankine cycle (s-ORC) power generation is a promising technology with thermal storage for flexible operation to meet domestic variable electricity demand. A satisfactory efficiency of this technology can be obtained only at medium-to-high temperature, for which conventional flat plate and evacuated tube solar collectors are not suitable while solar concentrators cannot efficiently utilize diffuse solar radiation. Evacuated flat plate (EFP) collectors have recently been developed for efficient solar heat collection in the temperature range from 100 to 200°C, suitable for the ORC system. At present, the cost of EFP collectors is relatively high and will lead to a long payback period of the s-ORC system. To increase the annual power yield and reduce the payback time, inexpensive amorphous silicon (a-Si) solar cells are proposed to be integrated into the EFP collectors. It is the first time to put forward such photovoltaics/thermal (PV/T) design combining a-Si cells and EFP collectors. Compared with polycrystalline silicon cells (poly-Si), a-Si cells may have a higher electrical efficiency at a higher operating temperature due to the thermal annealing effect and are expected to have a long lifetime without encapsulation in the vacuum environment provided by the EFP collectors. In this study, the a-Si PV/T-ORC system using EFP collectors is investigated. Transient performance analysis of a-Si PV/T-ORC is given for the weather data of two selected days. A comparison is also made with a stand-alone poly-Si PV system, poly-Si PV/T-ORC system and s-ORC system with EFP collectors alone, respectively. The results indicate that for a typical day in July, the a-Si PV/T-ORC system has the highest daily power output of 0.822 kWh/m2, 102.3% more than the s-ORC system, 23.8% more than the stand-alone poly-Si PV system and 12% more than the poly-Si PV/T-ORC system, respectively.

Financial Optimization of a Solar-Driven Organic Rankine Cycle

The objective of this work is the financial optimization of a solar-driven organic Rankine cycle. Parabolic trough solar collectors are used as the most mature solar concentrating system and also there is a sensible storage system. The unit is examined for the location of Athens in Greece for operation during the year. The analysis is conducted with a developed dynamic model in the program language FORTRAN. Moreover, a developed thermodynamic model in Engineering Equation Solver has been used in order to determine the nominal efficiency of the cycle. The system is optimized with various financial criteria, as well as with energy criteria. The optimization variables are the collecting area and the storage tank volume, while the nominal power production is selected at 10 kW. According to the final results, the minimum payback period is 8.37 years and it is found for a 160 m2 collecting area and a 14 m3 storage tank, while for the same design point the levelized cost of electricity is minimized at 0.0969 € kWh−1. The maximum net present value is 123 k€ and it is found for a 220-m2 collecting area and a 14-m3 storage tank volume. Moreover, the maximum system energy efficiency is found at 15.38%, and, in this case, the collecting area is 140 m2 and the storage tank volume 12 m3. Lastly, a multi-objective optimization proved that the overall optimum case is for a 160-m2 collecting area and a 14-m3 storage tank.

Effect of use of MWCNT/oil nanofluid on the performance of solar organic Rankine cycle

In the current study, a solar-driven organic Rankine cycle (ORC) system was thermodynamically, economically and environmentally investigated. A focal point concentrator with two different cavity-shape receivers was investigated as the ORC heat source. More specifically, the cylindrical and the hemispherical cavity receivers were examined and compared as the most usual and promising choices. MWCNT/oil nanofluid and R113 were used as the solar heat transfer fluid and ORC working fluid respectively. The main aim of this research is an investigation of different cavities in the solar dish and the investigation of the impact of the use of nanofluids in the solar system by different points of view. The results of this work showed that the hemispherical cavity receiver with nanofluid is the most efficient choice with 21.4% system efficiency, while the use of pure thermal oil in the hemispherical cavity leads to 18.9%. On the other hand, the use of the cylindrical cavity leads to 17.8% and 15.8% system efficiency with nanofluid and pure thermal oil respectively. The levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) was 0.077 €/kWh and 0.076 €/kWh for the cylindrical and hemispherical cavity receiver respectively. Moreover, it was concluded that the solar ORC system with the hemispherical cavity receiver as the ORC heat source had resulted in more positive environmental influence related to the cylindrical one.

Effects of size and volume fraction of alumina nanoparticles on the performance of a solar organic Rankine cycle

The objective of this work is the investigation of a solar-driven organic Rankine cycle with nanofluid-based solar dish concentrator. Three different cavity receivers are tested with the alumina/oil nanofluid in order to determine the most effective choice. More specifically, the examined cavities are hemispherical, cubical, and cylindrical, while the organic Rankine cycle is a non-regenerated system with superheating, R601 working fluid and heat rejection temperature at 310 K. The analysis is perfumed using the first and the second thermodynamic laws. The organic Rankine cycle is investigated for different pressure in the turbine inlet and different nanoparticle concentrations are also studied. According to the results, the thermal performance of the cavity and the electricity production are improved by decreasing alumina nanoparticle size, and by increasing the nanofluid concentration. Moreover, the optimum pressure in the turbine inlet was found at 2 MPa. Finally, the hemispherical cavity receiver has been found to be the best choice with cubical to be the second one and the cylindrical to be the less effective choice.