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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "J: Thermal Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2021) | Viewed by 17975

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Dr. Muhammad Imran

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Guest Editor

Department of Mechanical, Biomedical and Design Engineering, College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK
Interests: thermal management; thermal energy storage/systems; computational fluid dynamics; sustainable environment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Alison Subiantoro

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Guest Editor

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Auckland, 5 Grafton Road, 1142 Auckland, New Zealand
Interests: Expander and compressor technology, Thermal management, Thermodynamics, heat transfer, Renewable and clean energy, Sustainability

Prof. Dr. Kyung Chun Kim

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Guest Editor

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, Republic of Korea
Interests: organic rankine cycle; heat transfer and heat exchangers; thermodynamics; experimental fluid mechanics; numerical modelling; advance power generation technologies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The environmental impact of fossil fuels had sparked a significant amount of research interest in efficiency and low carbon energy conversion technologies. At a global scale, about 30%–60% of input energy for thermal energy systems is discarded as waste heat into the environment. Conversion of part of this waste heat can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emission and improve energy efficiency.

The organic Rankine cycle (ORC) is considered an ideal choice for low temperature and waste heat to power conversion technologies. Although the ORC system has been successfully adopted and implemented in industry, the need for cost reduction and efficiency improvement still persist. The ORC technology is being rapidly developed to improve the overall efficiency of conventional energy conversion systems. This Special Issue will provide a comprehensive overview of the latest research and development in the area of ORC technology. Authors are encouraged to submit original research and review articles for the Special Issue. Themes include but are not limited to:

Applications and energy sources;
System design and optimisation;
Working fluids (pure, mixtures, nanofluids);
Turbines and volumetric expanders;
Dynamic modelling and control strategies;
Operational experience on prototypes;
Novel/advanced cycle configurations;
Domestic/multigeneration systems.

Dr. Muhammad Imran
Dr. Alison Subiantoro
Prof. Kyung Chun Kim
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

Organic Rankine Cycle
Waste Heat Recovery
Supercritical CO₂ Power Cycle
Kalina Cycle
Low-Temperature to Power Conversion
Thermodynamic Cycles

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 2951 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Parametric Study of a Supercritical CO₂ Power Cycle for Waste Heat Recovery with Variation in Cold Temperature and Heat Source Temperature

by Young-Min Kim, Young-Duk Lee and Kook-Young Ahn

Energies 2021, 14(20), 6648; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14206648 - 14 Oct 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1256

Abstract

The supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO₂) power cycle is a promising development for waste heat recovery (WHR) due to its high efficiency despite its simplicity and compactness compared with a steam bottoming cycle. A simple recuperated S-CO₂ power cycle cannot fully utilize the waste heat due to the trade-off between the heat recovery and thermal efficiency of the cycle. A split cycle in which the working fluid is preheated by the recuperator and the heat source separately can be used to maximize the power output from a given waste heat source. In this study, the operating conditions of split S-CO₂ power cycles for waste heat recovery from a gas turbine and an engine were studied to accommodate the temperature variation of the heat sink and the waste heat source. The results show that it is vital to increase the low pressure of the cycle along with a corresponding increase in the cooling temperature to maintain the low-compression work near the critical point. The net power decreases by 6 to 9% for every 5 °C rise in the cooling temperature from 20 to 50 °C due to the decrease in heat recovery and thermal efficiency of the cycle. The effect of the heat-source temperature on the optimal low-pressure side was negligible, and the optimal high pressure of the cycle increased with an increase in the heat-source temperature. As the heat-source temperature increased in steps of 50 °C from 300 to 400 °C, the system efficiency increased by approximately 2% (absolute efficiency), and the net power significantly increased by 30 to 40%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low-Temperature Thermodynamic Power Cycles)

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41 pages, 11518 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Integrated Vapor Compression Chiller with Bottoming Organic Rankine Cycle and Onsite Low-Grade Renewable Energy

by Muhammad Tauseef Nasir, Michael Chukwuemeka Ekwonu, Javad Abolfazali Esfahani and Kyung Chun Kim

Energies 2021, 14(19), 6401; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14196401 - 07 Oct 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1924

Abstract

The present study offers a scheme to improve the performance of existing large-scale chillers. The system involves raising the temperature of the chiller’s cooling water stream using renewable energy sources by incorporating an organic Rankine cycle (ORC). The thermal analysis was conducted by raising the temperature of one-third of the approximately 200 ton chiller’s cooling water. The investigation was considered for ORC evaporator inlet temperature of 90~120 °C by the step of 10 °C. Various working fluids for the different ORC evaporator inlet temperatures were examined. Sensitivity analyses conducted on the degree of superheating, degree of subcooling, condenser saturation temperature, pinch point temperature differences of the ORC evaporator and condenser, and the mass flowrates of the heating and cooling streams were also reported. Genetic algorithm was employed to carry out the optimization. The best options for the ORC working fluid at the heating source ORC evaporator inlet temperatures of 90 °C was found to be DME, presenting an improvement of 48.72% in comparison with the rated coefficient of performance (COP) value of the VCC, with a renewable energy input requirement of 710 kW. At the heat source temperatures of 100 °C and 110 °C, butene, which presented an improvement in the COP equal to 48.76% and 68.85%, respectively, with the corresponding renewable energy requirements of 789.6 kW and 852 kW, was found to be the ideal candidate. Meanwhile, at the heat source inlet temperature of 120 °C, R1233zd (E), representing an improvement of 140.88% with the renewable energy input of around 1061 kW, was determined to be the most favorable ORC working fluid candidate. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low-Temperature Thermodynamic Power Cycles)

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27 pages, 4530 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exergoeconomic and Environmental Modeling of Integrated Polygeneration Power Plant with Biomass-Based Syngas Supplemental Firing

by Fidelis. I. Abam, Ogheneruona E. Diemuodeke, Ekwe. B. Ekwe, Mohammed Alghassab, Olusegun D. Samuel, Zafar A. Khan, Muhammad Imran and Muhammad Farooq

Energies 2020, 13(22), 6018; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13226018 - 18 Nov 2020

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 2282

Abstract

There is a burden of adequate energy supply for meeting demand and reducing emission to avoid the average global temperature of above 2 °C of the pre-industrial era. Therefore, this study presents the exergoeconomic and environmental analysis of a proposed integrated multi-generation plant (IMP), with supplemental biomass-based syngas firing. An in-service gas turbine plant, fired by natural gas, was retrofitted with a gas turbine (GT), steam turbine (ST), organic Rankine cycle (ORC) for cooling and power production, a modified Kalina cycle (KC) for power production and cooling, and a vapour absorption system (VAB) for cooling. The overall network, energy efficiency, and exergy efficiency of the IMP were estimated at 183 MW, 61.50% and 44.22%, respectively. The specific emissions were estimated at 122.2, 0.222, and 3.0 × 10⁻⁷ kg/MWh for CO₂, NOx, and CO, respectively. Similarly, the harmful fuel emission factor, and newly introduced sustainability indicators—exergo-thermal index (ETI) and exergetic utility exponent (EUE)—were obtained as 0.00067, 0.675, and 0.734, respectively. The LCC of $1.58 million was obtained, with a payback of 4 years, while the unit cost of energy was estimated at 0.0166 $/kWh. The exergoeconomic factor and the relative cost difference of the IMP were obtained as 50.37% and 162.38%, respectively. The optimum operating parameters obtained by a genetic algorithm gave the plant’s total cost rate of 125.83 $/hr and exergy efficiency of 39.50%. The proposed system had the potential to drive the current energy transition crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic shock in the energy sector. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low-Temperature Thermodynamic Power Cycles)

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15 pages, 3462 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Waste Heat Recovery from Diesel Engine Exhaust Using a Single-Screw Expander Organic Rankine Cycle System: Experimental Investigation of Exergy Destruction

by Yeqiang Zhang, Biao Lei, Zubair Masaud, Muhammad Imran, Yuting Wu, Jinping Liu, Xiaoding Qin and Hafiz Ali Muhammad

Energies 2020, 13(22), 5914; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13225914 - 12 Nov 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2050

Abstract

The organic Rankine cycle is a mature small-scale power generation technology for harnessing low- to mid-temperature heat sources. However, the low efficiency of the cycle still hinders its widespread implementation. To optimize the cycle’s performance, it is crucial to identify the source and magnitude of losses within each component of the cycle. This study, thus, aims to investigate the irreversible losses and their effect on the performance of the system. A prototype organic Rankine cycle (ORC) with the exhaust of a diesel engine as the heat source was developed to experimentally investigate the system and ascertain the losses. The experiments were performed at steady-state conditions at different evaporation pressures from 1300 kPa to 1600 kPa. The exergy loss and exergetic efficiency of the individual component and the overall system was estimated from the experimentally measurement of the pressure, temperature, and mass flow rate. The results indicate that the exergy losses of the evaporator are almost 60 kW at different evaporation pressures and the exergy loss rate is from 69.1% to 65.1%, which accounted for most of the total exergy loss rate in the organic Rankine cycle system. Meanwhile, the highest shaft efficiency and exergetic efficiency of the screw expander are 49.8% and 38.4%, respectively, and the exergy losses and exergy loss rate of the pump and pipe are less than 0.5 kW and 1%. Due to the relatively higher exergy loss of the evaporator and the low efficiency of expander, the highest exergetic efficiency of the organic Rankine cycle system is about 10.8%. The study concludes that the maximum improvement potential lies in the evaporator, followed by the expander. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low-Temperature Thermodynamic Power Cycles)

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19 pages, 5071 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Phase Change Material Storage on the Dynamic Performance of a Direct Vapor Generation Solar Organic Rankine Cycle System

by Jahan Zeb Alvi, Yongqiang Feng, Qian Wang, Muhammad Imran, Lehar Asip Khan and Gang Pei

Energies 2020, 13(22), 5904; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13225904 - 12 Nov 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2452

Abstract

Solar energy is a potential source for a thermal power generation system. A direct vapor generation solar organic Rankine cycle system using phase change material storage was analyzed in the present study. The overall system consisted of an arrangement of evacuated flat plate collectors, a phase-change-material-based thermal storage tank, a turbine, a water-cooled condenser, and an organic fluid pump. The MATLAB programming environment was used to develop the thermodynamic model of the whole system. The thermal storage tank was modeled using the finite difference method and the results were validated against experimental work carried out in the past. The hourly weather data of Karachi, Pakistan, was used to carry out the dynamic simulation of the system on a weekly, monthly, and annual basis. The impact of phase change material storage on the enhancement of the overall system performance during the charging and discharging modes was also evaluated. The annual organic Rankine cycle efficiency, system efficiency, and net power output were observed to be 12.16%, 9.38%, and 26.8 kW, respectively. The spring and autumn seasons showed better performance of the phase change material storage system compared to the summer and winter seasons. The rise in working fluid temperature, the fall in phase change material temperature, and the amount of heat stored by the thermal storage were found to be at a maximum in September, while their values became a minimum in February. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low-Temperature Thermodynamic Power Cycles)

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19 pages, 7473 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Numerical Modeling of Ejector and Development of Improved Methods for the Design of Ejector-Assisted Refrigeration System

by Hafiz Ali Muhammad, Hafiz Muhammad Abdullah, Zabdur Rehman, Beomjoon Lee, Young-Jin Baik, Jongjae Cho, Muhammad Imran, Manzar Masud, Mohsin Saleem and Muhammad Shoaib Butt

Energies 2020, 13(21), 5835; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13215835 - 09 Nov 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3384

Abstract

An ejector is a simple mechanical device that can be integrated with power generation or the refrigeration cycle to enhance their performance. Owing to the complex flow behavior in the ejector, the performance prediction of the ejector is done by numerical simulations. However, to evaluate the performance of an ejector integrated power cycle or refrigeration cycle, the need for simpler and more reliable thermodynamic models to estimate the performance of the ejector persists. This research, therefore, aims at developing a single mathematical correlation that can predict the ejector performance with reasonable accuracy. The proposed correlation relates the entrainment ratio and the pressure rise across the ejector to the area ratio and the mass flow rate of the primary flow. R141b is selected as the ejector refrigerant, and the results obtained through the proposed correlation are validated through numerical solutions. The comparison between the analytical and numerical with experimental results provided an error of less than 8.4% and 4.29%, respectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low-Temperature Thermodynamic Power Cycles)

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19 pages, 2344 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exergetic, Economic and Exergo-Environmental Analysis of Bottoming Power Cycles Operating with CO₂-Based Binary Mixture

by Muhammad Haroon, Nadeem Ahmed Sheikh, Abubakr Ayub, Rasikh Tariq, Farooq Sher, Aklilu Tesfamichael Baheta and Muhammad Imran

Energies 2020, 13(19), 5080; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13195080 - 29 Sep 2020

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3528

Abstract

This study focused on investigating the bottoming power cycles operating with CO₂-based binary mixture, taking into account exergetic, economic and exergo-environmental impact indices. The main intent is to assess the benefits of employing a CO₂-based mixture working fluid in closed Brayton bottoming power cycles in comparison with pure CO₂ working fluid. Firstly, selection criteria for the choice of suitable additive compound for CO₂-based binary mixture is delineated and the composition of the binary mixture is decided based on required cycle minimum temperature. The decided CO₂-C₇H₈ binary mixture with a 0.9 mole fraction of CO₂ is analyzed in two cycle configurations: Simple regenerative cycle (SRC) and Partial heating cycle (PHC). Comparative analysis among two configurations with selected working fluid are carried out. Thermodynamic analyses at varying cycle pressure ratio shows that cycle with CO₂-C₇H₈ mixture shows maximum power output and exergy efficiency at rather higher cycle pressure ratio compared to pure CO₂ power cycles. PHC with CO₂-C₇H₈ mixture shows 28.68% increment in exergy efficiency with the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) 21.62% higher than pure CO₂ PHC. Whereas, SRC with CO₂-C₇H₈ mixture shows 25.17% increment in exergy efficiency with LCOE 57.14% higher than pure CO₂ SRC. Besides showing lower economic value, cycles with a CO₂-C₇H₈ mixture saves larger CO₂ emissions and also shows greater exergo-environmental impact improvement and plant sustainability index. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low-Temperature Thermodynamic Power Cycles)

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