Economic Implementation of the Organic Rankine Cycle in Industry

An organic rankine cycle operates under the same principle as a steam rankine cycle, but with a lower operating temperature and pressure. These operating conditions are a result of substituting, into the closed loop system, a working fluid other than water. This allows a lower grade heat to act as a fuel for operation. The organic rankine cycle can be used in conjunction with a steam rankine cycle to recapture waste heat and improve overall system efficiency. A study was conducted in order to find feasible waste heat recovery applications and the industries which would benefit most from those applications. This study shows calculations and quantitative results for theoretical organic rankine cycle operation. These calculations include energy generation of the system at variable waste heat temperatures. Additionally, economic cost calculations are supplied in order to demonstrate the simple payback period for various system sizes. Two potential applications are reviewed, demonstrating the need for year round operation. Furthermore, current technologies are evaluated to demonstrate the viability of organic rankine cycles in industries with reliable lowgrade waste heat. Several examples of plug and play models are listed along with a variety of other models. Some of these plug and play models help emphasize the fact that implementation is not very complex and could easily be adopted. Using numerical analysis, backed by several case studies, it is determined that an organic rankine cycle can be a useful and economical means of waste heat recovery.