Case Study of an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) for Waste Heat Recovery from an Electric Arc Furnace (EAF)

Steven Lecompte, Oyeniyi A. Oyewunmi, Christos N. Markides, Marija Lazova, Alihan Kaya, Martijn Van den Broek and Michel De Paepe
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Steven Lecompte: Department of Flow, Heat and Combustion Mechanics, Ghent University–UGent, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, Gent 9000, Belgium
Oyeniyi A. Oyewunmi: Clean Energy Processes (CEP) Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
Christos N. Markides: Clean Energy Processes (CEP) Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
Marija Lazova: Department of Flow, Heat and Combustion Mechanics, Ghent University–UGent, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, Gent 9000, Belgium
Alihan Kaya: Department of Flow, Heat and Combustion Mechanics, Ghent University–UGent, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, Gent 9000, Belgium
Martijn Van den Broek: Department of Flow, Heat and Combustion Mechanics, Ghent University–UGent, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, Gent 9000, Belgium
Michel De Paepe: Department of Flow, Heat and Combustion Mechanics, Ghent University–UGent, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, Gent 9000, Belgium

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 5, 1-16

Abstract: The organic Rankine cycle (ORC) is a mature technology for the conversion of waste heat to electricity. Although many energy intensive industries could benefit significantly from the integration of ORC technology, its current adoption rate is limited. One important reason for this arises from the difficulty of prospective investors and end-users to recognize and, ultimately, realise the potential energy savings from such deployment. In recent years, electric arc furnaces (EAF) have been identified as particularly interesting candidates for the implementation of waste heat recovery projects. Therefore, in this work, the integration of an ORC system into a 100 MWe EAF is investigated. The effect of evaluations based on averaged heat profiles, a steam buffer and optimized ORC architectures is investigated. The results show that it is crucial to take into account the heat profile variations for the typical batch process of an EAF. An optimized subcritical ORC system is found capable of generating a net electrical output of 752 kWe with a steam buffer working at 25 bar. If combined heating is considered, the ORC system can be optimized to generate 521 kWe of electricity, while also delivering 4.52 MW of heat. Finally, an increased power output (by 26% with combined heating, and by 39% without combined heating) can be achieved by using high temperature thermal oil for buffering instead of a steam loop; however, the use of thermal oil in these applications has been until now typically discouraged due to flammability concerns.

Keywords: waste heat recovery; electric arc furnace; organic Rankine cycle; case study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

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