Thermodynamic Optimization of a Waste Heat Power System under Economic Constraint

Liya Ren, Jianyu Liu and Huaixin Wang
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Liya Ren: MOE Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Low and Medium Grade Energy, School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China
Jianyu Liu: MOE Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Low and Medium Grade Energy, School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China
Huaixin Wang: MOE Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Low and Medium Grade Energy, School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 13, 1-23

Abstract: A novel thermo-economic performance indicator for a waste heat power system, namely, MPC, is proposed in this study, which denotes the maximum net power output with the constraint of EPC ≤ EPC 0 , where EPC is the electricity production cost of the system and EPC 0 refers to the EPC of conventional fossil fuel power plants. The organic and steam Rankine cycle (ORC, SRC) systems driven by the flue gas are optimized to maximize the net power output with the constraint of EPC ≤ EPC 0 by using the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II (NSGA-II). The optimization process entails the design of the heat exchangers, the instantaneous calculation of the turbine efficiency, and the system cost estimation based on the Aspen Process Economic Analyzer. Six organic fluids, n-butane, R245fa, n-pentane, cyclo-pentane, MM (Hexamethyldisiloxane), and toluene, are considered for the ORC system. Results indicate that the MPC of the ORC system using cyclo-pentane is 39.7% higher than that of the SRC system under the waste heat source from a cement plant with an initial temperature of 360 °C and mass flow rate of 42.15 kg/s. The precondition of the application of the waste heat power system is EPC ≤ EPC 0 , and the minimum heat source temperatures to satisfy this condition for ORC and SRC systems are obtained. Finally, the selection map of ORC versus SRC based on their thermo-economic performance in terms of the heat source conditions is provided.

Keywords: ORC; SRC; optimization objective; waste heat recovery; electricity production cost; MPC (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: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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