Analysis of the thermodynamic performance of transcritical CO2 power cycle configurations for low grade waste heat recovery

Organic Rankine cycles employing carbon dioxide (CO2) for waste heat recovery became popular in the last years thanks to its excellent heat transfer characteristics and small environmental footprint. Low-grade waste heat (<240 °C) represents the major portion of excess heat globally, but it is ha...

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Main Authors: Veronika Wolf, Alexandre Bertrand, Stephan Leyer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2022-11-01
Series:Energy Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352484722005959
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author Veronika Wolf
Alexandre Bertrand
Stephan Leyer
author_facet Veronika Wolf
Alexandre Bertrand
Stephan Leyer
author_sort Veronika Wolf
collection DOAJ
description Organic Rankine cycles employing carbon dioxide (CO2) for waste heat recovery became popular in the last years thanks to its excellent heat transfer characteristics and small environmental footprint. Low-grade waste heat (<240 °C) represents the major portion of excess heat globally, but it is hard to recover due to the small temperature gap of heat source and heat sink leading to a poor efficiency of the Rankine cycle. Therefore, numerous modifications of the power cycle layout were proposed by academia and industry — reheated expansion, recuperation and intercooled compression among them. This work compares ten cycle architectures for a defined waste heat source (60–100 °C) and heat sink (20 °C). Firstly, CO2 cycle architectures from literature are examined with its original operational parameters. Secondly, the predefined low-grade heat source is implemented into the cycle. The cycles are assessed regarding efficiency, mass flow and pressure. Results show that for source temperatures higher than 80 °C, recuperation and reheated expansion enhance the cycle performance whereas intercooled compression negatively affects the efficiency. The conventional configuration operated most efficiently for temperatures until 80 °C. A road map of thermodynamic efficiencies of CO2 cycle architectures for low-grade waste heat recovery up to 100 °C is delivered.
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spelling doaj.art-39fc0f0e523a48838a3358037cd0d3c62023-02-21T05:10:51ZengElsevierEnergy Reports2352-48472022-11-01841964208Analysis of the thermodynamic performance of transcritical CO2 power cycle configurations for low grade waste heat recoveryVeronika Wolf0Alexandre Bertrand1Stephan Leyer2University of Luxemburg, 2 Avenue de l’Universite, Esch-sur-Alzette, 4365, Luxembourg; Corresponding author.Luxemburg Institute of Science and Technology, 41 Rue de Brill, Belvaux, 4422, LuxemburgUniversity of Luxemburg, 2 Avenue de l’Universite, Esch-sur-Alzette, 4365, LuxembourgOrganic Rankine cycles employing carbon dioxide (CO2) for waste heat recovery became popular in the last years thanks to its excellent heat transfer characteristics and small environmental footprint. Low-grade waste heat (<240 °C) represents the major portion of excess heat globally, but it is hard to recover due to the small temperature gap of heat source and heat sink leading to a poor efficiency of the Rankine cycle. Therefore, numerous modifications of the power cycle layout were proposed by academia and industry — reheated expansion, recuperation and intercooled compression among them. This work compares ten cycle architectures for a defined waste heat source (60–100 °C) and heat sink (20 °C). Firstly, CO2 cycle architectures from literature are examined with its original operational parameters. Secondly, the predefined low-grade heat source is implemented into the cycle. The cycles are assessed regarding efficiency, mass flow and pressure. Results show that for source temperatures higher than 80 °C, recuperation and reheated expansion enhance the cycle performance whereas intercooled compression negatively affects the efficiency. The conventional configuration operated most efficiently for temperatures until 80 °C. A road map of thermodynamic efficiencies of CO2 cycle architectures for low-grade waste heat recovery up to 100 °C is delivered.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352484722005959Waste heat recoveryEnergy efficiencyThermodynamic analysisSupercritical CO2Rankine cycleCycle configuration
spellingShingle Veronika Wolf
Alexandre Bertrand
Stephan Leyer
Analysis of the thermodynamic performance of transcritical CO2 power cycle configurations for low grade waste heat recovery
Energy Reports
Waste heat recovery
Energy efficiency
Thermodynamic analysis
Supercritical CO2
Rankine cycle
Cycle configuration
title Analysis of the thermodynamic performance of transcritical CO2 power cycle configurations for low grade waste heat recovery
title_full Analysis of the thermodynamic performance of transcritical CO2 power cycle configurations for low grade waste heat recovery
title_fullStr Analysis of the thermodynamic performance of transcritical CO2 power cycle configurations for low grade waste heat recovery
title_full_unstemmed Analysis of the thermodynamic performance of transcritical CO2 power cycle configurations for low grade waste heat recovery
title_short Analysis of the thermodynamic performance of transcritical CO2 power cycle configurations for low grade waste heat recovery
title_sort analysis of the thermodynamic performance of transcritical co2 power cycle configurations for low grade waste heat recovery
topic Waste heat recovery
Energy efficiency
Thermodynamic analysis
Supercritical CO2
Rankine cycle
Cycle configuration
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352484722005959
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AT alexandrebertrand analysisofthethermodynamicperformanceoftranscriticalco2powercycleconfigurationsforlowgradewasteheatrecovery
AT stephanleyer analysisofthethermodynamicperformanceoftranscriticalco2powercycleconfigurationsforlowgradewasteheatrecovery