Performance characteristics and working fluid selection for high-temperature organic Rankine cycle driven by solar parabolic trough collector

Categorization and analysis of heat sources for organic Rankine cycle systems

Wei Zhao, Ning Xie, Wei Zhang, Jingpeng Yue, Lingbao Wang, Xianbiao Bu and Huashan Li

International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies, 2021, vol. 16, issue 4, 1135-1149

Abstract: In present paper, thermodynamic analysis and techno-economic assessment of an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) coupled with solar parabolic trough collector (PTC) are investigated. The thermodynamic and economic models, based on the principles of thermodynamics and heat transfer, as well as dynamic economic analysis, are developed for the components of the combined system. By performing a parametric study, the effects of outlet temperature (TPTC,out) and temperature difference between inlet and outlet of PTC (ΔT) and pinch point temperature difference of heat exchangers on the thermo-economic performance are evaluated. Moreover, under reasonable thermodynamic boundary conditions, the optimal operational parameters are obtained via a Pareto frontier solution. It is indicated that the improving TPTC,out is beneficial to the thermo-economic performance. Among the fluid candidates, toluene yields the best energy, exergetic and economic performance. There exists an optimal ΔT at which the thermal and exergy efficiency achieve the maximum. The optimal ΔT is 19–26°C for the screened working fluids. The pinch point temperature difference of evaporator has different impact on the system performance compared with that of condenser. The evaporator pinch point temperature difference has slight influence on the economic performance when it is larger than 10°C. While there is optimized condenser pinch point temperature difference (7–8°C), the economic performance is the optimal. The PTC and heat exchanger are the main source of total investment cost, account for more than 75%. The Pareto frontier solutions can provide a design guide for the decision maker.

Keywords: performance characteristics; working fluid selection; organic Rankine cycle; parabolic trough collector; multi-objective optimization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ijlct/ctab036 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:ijlctc:v:16:y:2021:i:4:p:1135-1149.

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies is currently edited by Saffa B. Riffat

More articles in International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies from Oxford University Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().