Thermodynamic Optimization of a Double-pressure Organic Rankine Cycle Driven by Geothermal Heat Source

Geothermal energy, as a typical low-temperature heat source, has been exploited for decades to generate electricity. Organic Rankine cycle (ORC) system has a high energy conversion efficiency due to the good performance of organic fluids under the geothermal water temperature. In this study, a double-pressure organic Rankine cycle system driven by geothermal heat source is used to generate electricity. The double-pressure ORC system achieves the cascaded utilization of energy, which can improve the efficiency of energy conversion. Mathematical model is established based on thermodynamic laws, and the overall system performance has been evaluated. A parametric analysis is conducted to examine the effects of some key thermodynamic parameters, namely turbine high-level inlet pressure, turbine low-level inlet pressure, turbine high-level inlet temperature, on the system performance. Parametric optimization is conducted by means of genetic algorithm (GA) to find the maximum system performance. At the same time, the performances of three organic working fluids are examined. Results indicate that R245fa has a better performance among the three organic fluids. The exergy efficiency of overall system exceeds 5.8% under the supply water of 120 degrees C, and it produce more than 800kW electricity with the geothermal water at the mass flow rate of 250t/h. It is also found that the exergy efficiency has peak value under the effect of turbine high-level inlet pressure and turbine low-level inlet pressure. In addition, increasing turbine high-level inlet temperature brings a positive effect to the system performance. Exergy analysis is also conducted and the result shows that the main exergy loss occurs in high-pressure evaporator. By system optimization, the double pressure organic Rankine cycle has a better performance in utilizing geothermal energy than single-pressure system. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.