Bottoming ORC Power Plant

Davide Occello
Introduction
This report is about the construction of a model and the design of an Organic
Rankine Cycle (ORC) Power Plant, bottoming an Internal Combustion Engine,
which produces a hot mixture of water and glycol. The ORC has to be designed
in order to maximize the economic benet of the plant, and the following aims
have to be reached:
1. Construction of the plants model and determination of the degrees of
freedom
2. Choice of the organic working uid
3. Imposition of some thermodynamic constraints
4. Optimization of the cycle
5. Calculation of the eciencies
6. Analysis of the eect of a dierent Water-Glycol mixture
1
1 ORC Power Plant Scheme
2
2 Construction of the plants model
The idea used in the construction of the model is explained in the ow chart
in gure 2. The coloured tiles express particular stages of the process such as
input parameters (purple) , constrained variables (yellow) and the optimization
function (green).
As can be seen the dierent input variables have an eect only on some of
the calculations, leaving the other untouched, this permits to run a more direct
optimization.
Now an detailed analysis of each peace of the plant will be done.
Evaporation and Condensation pressures
Using the tables extracted from SOLKANE for a given working uid, an inter-
polating function was written, so that any thermodynamic property could be
determined using two variables in the superheated vapour zone and only one
in the wet zone. In this way the calculation of the working pressures is shrunk to:
P
evap
= P(T
evap
, wet)
P
cond
= P(T
cond
, wet)
Turbine
Known the plants working pressures and the TIT (Turbine inlet temperature),
which is the evaporation temperature (input parameter), the specic work can
be calculated as follows:
L
turb
= h
2
h
1
=
iso
(h
2s
h
1
)
Obviously the enthalpy h
1
= h

, the saturated vapour enthalpy at the evap-

oration temperature, while the h
2s
is calculated this way:
h
1
= h(T
evap
, = 1)
s
1
= s(T
evap
, = 1)
h
2s
= h(s
1
, P
cond
)
The TOT (Turbine outlet temperature) can be now calculated:
TOT = T(h
2
, P
cond
)
3
Figure 1: ORC Model Flow diagram
4
Pump
Similar calculations can be done also for the pump (isoentropic):
L
pump
= v
1
(P
e
vap P
c
ond)
Where :
v
1
= v(T
cond
, = 0)
The POT (Pump outlet temperature) can be now calculated:
POT = T
cond
+
L
pump
Cp
Heat exchanger notation
In order to simplify the notation of the heat exchanger formulas the graph in
gure 2 will be taken as a model.
Figure 2: Heat Exchanger Scheme
5
Evaporator
The following procedure was used for the calculations in the evaporator:
On the hot side (Water Glycol Mixture):
T
h2
= T
h1

( mh
v
)
m
wg
Cp
wg
Where h
v
is the latent heat of evaporation a the given evaporation tempera-
ture (input parameter), m is the ORC mass ow (input parameter) and w g
subscript indicates the Water-glycol mixture parameters.
On the cold side (Evaporating organic uid):
T
c2
= T
c1
So the graph in gure 2 can be plotted and the heat exchanger characteris-
tics can be calculated:

evap
=
T
h1
T
h2
T
h1
T
c1
NTU
evap
= log(1
evap
)
U
evap
= 2500 [W/m
2
K]
;
A
evap
=
NTU
evap
Cp
wg
m
wg
U
evap
Condenser
The condenser is composed of two sections, one in which the uid is outside the
wet zone, and one in which the uid condenses, for this reason the calculation
is a little bit more complex.
Condensation zone
On the cold side (Cold water):
T
c2
= T
c1
+
( mh
v
)
m
w
Cp
w
Where h
v
is the latent heat of evaporation a the given condensation temper-
ature (input parameter), m is the ORC mass ow (input parameter) and w
subscript indicates the Cold Water parameters. T
c1
= 28 [C]
6
Figure 3: Evaporator T-x diagram
On the hot side (Condensing organic uid):
T
h3
= T
h2
= T
cond
Cooling zone
For the cooling zone we have dierent border conditions, such as:
T
c3
= T
cond
2
T
c2
and T
h2
are known, so:
T
h1
= T
h2
+
m
w
Cp
w
mCp
(T
c3
T
c2
)
Constraints The value of T
h1
calculated this way has to be lower than the
Turbines outlet temperature. This constraint was applied because the model
doesnt guarantee it and it is thermodynamically impossible to have the opposite
condition in a real plant.
So the graph in gure 5 can be plotted and the heat exchanger characteristics
can be calculated:

cond
=
T
c1
T
c2
T
h1
T
c1
7
Figure 4: Condenser Model

precond
=
T
h1
T
h2
T
h1
T
c2
NOTE In the calculation of the ecacy of the heat exchangers, the formula
is written in a way that permits to simplify the heat capacity.
NTU
cond
= log(1
cond
)

precond

(1 e
NTU
precond
(1Cr)
(1 Cr e
NTU
precond
(1Cr)
= 0 (Implicit calculation)
U
cond
= 2500 [W/m
2
K] U
precond
= 50 [W/m
2
K]
A
cond
=
NTU
cond
Cp
w
m
w
U
cond
A
precond
=
NTU
precond
(Cp m)
min
U
precond
8
Figure 5: Condenser T-Q diagram
Regenerator
The regenerator was approached as every other heat exchanger, with the simpli-
cation of the face that the mass ow is the same on both sides of the exchanger.
The border conditions were the following:
T
h1
= TOT (Turbine outlet temperature)
T
c1
= POT (Pump outlet temperature)
T
h2
= Pre CIT (Pre-Condenser inlet temperature)
And so with a simple energy balance the T
c2
can be calculated:
T
c2
= T
c1
+ (
Cp
h
Cp
c
)(T
h1
T
h2
)
And the heat exchanger characteristics are:

reg

(1 e
NTUreg(1Cr)
(1 Cr e
NTUreg(1Cr)
= 0 (Implicit calculation)
U
reg
= 50 [W/m
2
K] A
reg
=
NTU
reg
(Cp m)
min
U
reg
9
Figure 6: Regenerator T-x Diagram
Pre-Heater
The pre-heater works between the following border conditions:
T
h1
= EOT
h
(Evaporator Outlet Temperature - Hot side)
T
c1
= ROT
c
(Regenerator Outlet Temperature - Cold Side)
T
c2
= T
evap
(Evaporation Temperature)
And so with a simple energy balance the T
h2
can be calculated:
T
h2
= T
h1
(
mCp
m
w
Cp
w
)(T
c2
T
c1
)
And the heat exchanger characteristics are:

PH

(1 e
NTU
PH
(1Cr)
(1 Cr e
NTU
PH
(1Cr)
= 0 (Implicit calculation)
U
PH
= 600 [W/m
2
K] A
reg
=
NTU
PH
(Cp m)
min
U
PH
10
Figure 7: Preheater T-x Diagram
3 Choice of the organic uid
In order to maximize the economic benet of the plant, the choice of the work-
ing uid is crucial. The choice was run over a wide range of candidates from
the SOLKANE database, and a comparison of the various characteristics of the
dierent uids was analysed.
The uid has to comply to the following characteristics:
In the wet zone at T
evap
and T
cond
High ratio (High turbine specic work)
Possibly small evaporation pressure (< 20 bar) for mechanical reasons
Possibly condensation pressure around 1 bar
The rst condition is the most important because without is the cycle cannot
work, so a rst selection of uids was done on that criteria.
Then a comparison of the remaining uids was done on the basis of the second
criteria, and was chosen the uid which had the maximum , the R365mfc. In
fact, choosing two mock evaporation and condensation temperatures within the
maximum range (93 - 28) the pressure ratio = P
evap
/P
cond
was maximum for
R365mfc.
11
Moreover the uid complied to the other conditions also, and so it was chosen
as the best candidate to test.
4 Thermodynamic Constraints
Because of the fact that the model has 4 degrees of freedom, it could go also
in places where there is no thermodynamic meaning, and so in order to keep a
certain degree of realism in the simulation the following constraints were intro-
duced:
All the [0;1]
All Areas < 100m
2
Pre-CIT TOT (as said before)
Mass ows under 25 [kg/s]
5 Optimization
The optimization was conducted manually, aiming to maximize the economic
benet of the plant. The optimization function (Back time) was calculated as
follows:
P
net
= m(L
turb

gen

inv

mec

Lpump
pump
elp,gen
) P
aux
P
turb
= m(L
turb

gen

inv

mec
)
P
pump
= m(
Lpump
pump
elp,gen
)
Data
Capital cost Se=200000 [euro]
Electricity Selling price S
en
= 0.28 [euro/kWh]
Electricity Buying price S
st
= 0.11 [euro/kWh]
Water price Cw=1.7 [euro/h]
Working time tw=7500 [h/year]
Fixed costs Oemc=3500 [euro/year]
Variable costs Oemv=0.03 [euro/KWh]
P
aux
= 6 [kW]
12
Economic Balance
Income
I = S
en
P
turb
tw [euro/year]
Costs
Oem = Oemv P
net
tw [euro/anno]
Oaux = (P
aux
+P
pump
) tw S
st
[euro/anno]
Ow = tw Cw
Annual Earnings
R = I (Oemc +Oemv +Oaux +Ow)
Backtime
t
ritorno
= Se/R
Free variables
The free variables chosen for the model are :
T
evap
Evaporation Temperature
T
cond
Condensation Temperature
m Mass ow of the main cycle
m
w
Mass ow of the cooling water
Temperature range In order to optimize the cycle the Temperature range
was extended as possible, until the area of the heat exchangers began to be too
high. This because the higher the temperature range is, the higher the power
and the eciency of the cycle could be.
Main cycle mass ow The mass ow of the main cycle acted directly to
change the power of the plant, so increasing it was wanted, but the problem
was that with too high mass ow the other constraints were not met, mainly
the 3rd one (Pre-CIT TOT), but also the areas exploded.
Cooling Water Mass ow This mass ow was one of the only parameters
that could permit to increase the plant power, by permitting to increase the
main cycle mass ow, and so it was brought to the maximum.
13
The nal values
T
evap
= 89 [C]
T
cond
= 32 [C]
m = 1.05 [kg/s]
m
w
= 25 [kg/s]
Results
P
net
= 14.7 [kW]
t
ritorno
= 10.24 [years]
Areas and eciencies
Evaporator A
evap
= 35.6 [m
2
]
evap
= 0.83
Condenser A
cond
= 27.1 [m
2
]
cond
= 0.48
Pre-Condenser A
precond
= 43.0 [m
2
]
precond
= 0.77
Regenerator A
reg
= 49.5 [m
2
]
reg
= 0.75
Pre-Heater A
PH
= 10.9 [m
2
]
PH
= 0.98
6 Calculation of the eciencies
Carnot Eciency

carnot
= 1 (
T
cond
T
evap
) = 1
305.15
362.15
= 15.7%
Limit Eciency

lim
=

a
Q
a
+
b
Q
b
+
c
Q
c
Q
a
+Q
b
+Q
c
= 14.2%
Where:

i
= 1
i

T
cond
Tevap

i
=

i
=
T

m
Tmin

i
=
T

m
Tmax
14
Figure 8: ORC Cycle T-s Diagram
Q
i
are the absorbed heats
As can be seen in the cycle in gure 8 the following simple relations:

B
= 1
T
cond
Tevap

A
= 1

A
=
(T2+T1)/2
Tevap

B
=
(T

5
+T5)/2
T
cond

B
= 1
And for the heat part, the following ones:
Q
A
= h
2
h
1
Q
B
= h
BC
h
2
Q
C
= h
3
h
BC
15
Real Eciency at shaft

re
= 1
Q
out
Q
in
= 13, 7%
Where:
Q
in
= h
3
h
1
Q
out
= h
5
h
6
Real Electrical Eciency

el
=
L
net
Q
in
= 7, 02%
Where:
Q
in
= 209, 8 7500 = 1.57 [GWh/anno] is the inlet heat
L
net
= 14, 7 7500 = 0.11 [GWh/anno] is the work after the eciency
chain
Combined Plant Eciency
Because of the fact that this is a bottoming ORC cycle, the overall eciency
of the plant will be dened by the following equation, given a certain eciency
of the topping cycle:

comb
=
L
tot
Q
in,ICE
=
L
ICE
+L
ORC
L
ICE
+Q
cool
+Q
rad
+Q
th
= 43, 6%
Where
ICE
= 42, 5%, L
ICE
= 5827500, L
ORC
= 14, 77500, Q
th
= 4967500,
Q
cool
= 235 7500 , Q
rad
= 56 7500
16
7 Analysis of the eect of the water-glycol mix-
ture
The glycol mass fraction in the hot source had an eect on the cycle overall.
This was because the glycol is fairly less dense and has also a lower cp than
water. So leaving the MATLAB routine unchanged, increasing the glycol mass
fraction, the overall heat capacity of the hot ow lowered imposing a more
ecient heat exchanger to compensate. This led to an increase in the area of
both the Evaporator and the Pre-Heater, as showed in gure 9.
Figure 9: Eect of the Glycol mass fraction in the hot source water
On the other hand
17