Guidelines for optimal selection of working fluid for an organic Rankine cycle in relation to waste heat recovery

Jakob Hærvig*, Kim Sørensen, Thomas Joseph Condra

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

127 Citations (Scopus)
139 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

General guidelines on how to choose the optimal working fluid based on the hot source temperature available are reported. Based on a systematic approach, 26 commonly used working fluids are investigated by optimisations at hot source temperatures in the range 50-280 °C at intervals of 5 K. The genetic optimisation algorithm is used to optimise net power output by an optimal combination of turbine inlet pressure and temperature, condenser pressure, hot fluid outlet temperature, and mixture composition for mixtures. The results suggest that the optimum working fluid in terms of maximum net power output has a critical temperature approximately 30-50 K above the hot source temperature. When two or more fluids with the same critical temperature are available, the ones with a positive slope of vapour saturation line are generally favoured. When mixtures are considered, the optimal mixture composition should be chosen so that the critical temperature of mixture is approximately 30-50 K below the hot source temperature and the temperature glide during condensing should approximate the temperature rise of the cold source.

Original languageEnglish
JournalEnergy
Volume96
Pages (from-to)592-602
Number of pages11
ISSN0360-5442
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2016

Keywords

  • Critical temperature
  • General guidelines
  • Mixtures
  • Optimisation
  • Organic Rankine cycle
  • Working fluid selection

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