Performance Evaluation of a Solar-Powered Regenerative Organic Rankine Cycle in Different Climate Conditions

Emily Spayde, Pedro J. Mago and Heejin Cho
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Emily Spayde: Department Mechanical Engineering, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS 39762, USA
Pedro J. Mago: Department Mechanical Engineering, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS 39762, USA
Heejin Cho: Department Mechanical Engineering, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS 39762, USA

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-20

Abstract: A model to evaluate the performance of a solar powered regenerative Organic Rankine Cycle (R-ORC) using five dry organic fluids: RC318, R227ea, R236ea, R236fa, and R218, is presented in this paper. The system is evaluated in two locations in the U.S.: Jackson, MS and Tucson, AZ. The weather data for each location is used to determine the heat available from the solar collector that could be used by the R-ORC to generate power. Results from the R-ORC performance are compared with a basic ORC using first and second law criteria as well as primary energy consumption (PEC) and carbon dioxide emission (CDE) savings for both locations. An economic analysis to determine the maximum capital cost for a desired payback period is presented in this paper. A parametric analysis is also performed to study the effect of the turbine efficiency as well as the open feed organic fluid heater intermediate pressure on the system performance. Results indicate that the R-ORC is able to generate more power than the basic ORC for some of the selected working fluids. For the R-ORC, R236ea is the working fluid that show the best performance among the evaluated fluids under the modeled conditions. On the other hand, the basic ORC with R236ea as the working fluid outperformed three of the fluids in the R-ORC. Also, the R-ORC evaluated in Tucson, AZ is able to generate more power, to provide more PEC and CDE savings, and had a higher available capital cost than the R-ORC evaluated in in Jackson, MS.

Keywords: solar ORC; regenerative ORC; Organic Rankine Cycle; primary energy consumption; carbon dioxide emissions (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 (3)

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