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In this paper the techno-economic feasibility of employing zeotropic mixtures as working fluids in organic Rankine cycle power systems is assessed. For an application case based on the utilization of low temperature geothermal heat at 135 °C, the net present value of the organic Rankine cycle system was maximized by optimizing the process variables and heat transfer equipment design parameters. Parametric studies detailing the effect of the assumed electricity price and the employed equipment cost estimation models were carried out. The working fluids propane, i-butane, i-pentane, R1234yf, and their mixtures were selected for investigation, since they have shown promising performance in previous studies. The results suggest that the highest net present value (43.1 M€) is reached by the mixture R1234yf/i-butane (53.3/46.7), which is 2.1 M€ higher compared to the most economically feasible pure fluid R1234yf for an electricity price of 0.252 €/kWh. The results of the sensitivity analyses suggest that the techno-economic benefit of using the mixture is robust to variations in the electricity price, the cost of the working fluid, and the equipment cost estimation models. In the comparison of R1234yf based mixtures to propane based mixtures, the inclusion of model for estimating the turbine efficiency is assessed to have a relevant influence on the results. The results also indicate that the R1234yf/propane, R1234yf/i-butane, and R1234yf/i-pentane result in lower cooling water flows and thereby lower cooling tower costs compared with R1234yf.

The installation of an organic Rankine cycle unit on the exhaust line of a marine engine imposes an increase in the backpressure on the engine, resulting in a decrease of the engine performance and a variation of the available waste heat. In this paper, a method is presented for the optimal design of organic Rankine cycle power systems for waste heat recovery in marine applications. The method is based on the use of performance maps for the engine and numerical models for the organic Rankine cycle unit and the waste heat recovery boiler, thereby enabling consideration of the effect of the increased backpressure on the performance of both the main engine and the organic Rankine cycle unit. The method is evaluated on a hypothetical containership fuelled by liquefied natural gas. The results of the study indicate that the overall system fuel consumption can be reduced by 0.52 g/kWh to 1.45 g/kWh by allowing higher backpressure levels on the engine. In addition, the results of the study indicate that for a fixed power output of the organic Rankine cycle unit, a reduction of the space requirement for the waste heat recovery boiler by up to 35% can be attained when increasing the maximum allowed engine backpressure from 3 kPa to 6 kPa.

The International Maritime Organization recently revised the regulations concerning nitrogen and sulphur oxides emissions from commercial ships. In this context, it is important to investigate how emission abatement technologies capable of meeting the updated regulation on nitrogen oxides emissions affect the performance of waste heat recovery units to be installed on board new vessels. The objective of this paper is to assess the potential fuel savings of installing an organic Rankine cycle unit on board a hypothetical liquefied natural gas-fuelled feeder ship operating inside emission control areas. The vessel complies with the updated legislation on sulphur oxides emissions by using a dual fuel engine. Compliance with the nitrogen oxides emission regulation is reached by employing either a high or low-pressure selective catalytic reactor, or an exhaust gas recirculation unit. A multi-objective optimization was carried out where the objective functions were the organic Rankine cycle unit annual electricity production, the volume of the heat exchangers, and the net present value of the investment. The results indicate that the prospects for attaining a cost-effective installation of an organic Rankine unit are larger if the vessel is equipped with a low-pressure selective catalytic reactor or an exhaust gas recirculation unit. Moreover, the results suggest that the cost-effectiveness of the organic Rankine cycle units is highly affected by fuel price and the waste heat recovery boiler design constraints.

A worldwide trend to reduce greenhouse gases emissions has encouraged researchers to study more efficient solutions in oil and gas Industry. Most offshore units are energized by equipment operating at low loads, increasing environmental impact. This work aims identifying optimal designs and layouts of a combined cycle floating power hub tailored for offshore oil production applications. The Brazilian pre-salt basin which forecast high fuel gas production is taken as a case study. A model was developed, integrating the design of the gas turbine, heat recovery units, steam turbine and condenser. Genetic algorithms were applied in two optimization approaches, single-objective and multi-objective. Three parameters were evaluated: equipment purchase cost, thermal efficiency and total weight. The results of the multi-objective optimization indicated that dual-pressure arrangements, featuring 3 gas turbines, 1 heat recovery steam generator and 1 steam cycle, could be an attractive design solution for power hubs. This arrangement has a low cost and weight, while the thermal efficiency is maintained at a reasonably high level (around 53.2 %). Moreover, results indicated that CO2 emissions may be reduced by 18.7 % to 27.2 % at design point and 19% for the power hub lifetime, when compared with the conventional energy supply scenario.

In this paper, we present an assessment of methods for estimating and comparing the thermodynamic performance of working fluids for organic Rankine cycle power systems. The analysis focused on how the estimated net power outputs of zeotropic mixtures compared to pure fluids are affected by the method used for specifying the performance of the heat exchangers. Four different methods were included in the assessment, which assumed that the organic Rankine cycle systems were characterized by the same values of: (1) the minimum pinch point temperature difference of the heat exchangers; (2) the mean temperature difference of the heat exchangers; (3) the heat exchanger thermal capacity (Ū A); or (4) the heat exchanger surface area for all the considered working fluids. The second and third methods took into account the temperature difference throughout the heat transfer process, and provided the insight that the advantages of mixtures are more pronounced when large heat exchangers are economically feasible to use. The first method was incapable of this, and deemed to result in optimistic estimations of the benefits of using zeotropic mixtures, while the second and third method were deemed to result in conservative estimations. The fourth method provided the additional benefit of accounting for the degradation of heat transfer performance of zeotropic mixtures. In a net power output based performance ranking of 30 working fluids, the first method estimates that the increase in the net power output of zeotropic mixtures compared to their best pure fluid components is up to 13.6%. On the other hand, the third method estimates that the increase in net power output is only up to 2.56% for zeotropic mixtures compared to their best pure fluid components.

A worldwide trend to reduce greenhouse gases emissions has encouraged researchers to study more efficient solutions in diverse sectors, including Oil and Gas Industry. Most of offshore units are energized by redundant equipment operating at low loads, turning their energy consumption inefficient and increasing environmental impact. This work aims at identifying the optimal design of a gas and steam turbine combined cycle tailored for offshore oil production applications. The Brazilian pre-salt basin is taken as a case study to improve operational efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions of floating oil production units. The idea is to concentrate the power supply to a floating power plant, composed of combined cycle power blocks. A model is developed, integrating the design of the gas turbine, heat recovery steam generators (single pressure and double pressure), steam turbine and condenser. Genetic algorithms are applied in two optimization approaches, single-objective and multi-objective. Three parameters are evaluated: equipment purchase cost, thermal efficiency and total weight. The results of the multi-objective optimization indicate that dual-pressure arrangement steam cycles, featuring 3 gas turbines, 1 HRSG and 1 steam cycle, could be an attractive design solution for power hubs. This arrangement has a low cost and weight, while the thermal efficiency is maintained at a reasonable high level (around 53.2 %). Moreover, the results indicate that by introducing a power hub, the CO2 emissions may be reduced by 18.7 % to 27.2 % compared with a conventional FPSO design.

Today, some established working fluids are being phased out due to new international regulations on theuse of environmentally harmful substances. With an ever-increasing cost to resources, industry wants toconverge on improved sustainability through resource recovery, and in particular waste heat recovery. Inthis paper, an organic Rankine cycle process and its pure working fluid are designed simultaneously forwaste heat recovery of the exhaust gas from a marine diesel engine. This approach can overcome designissues caused by the high sensitivity between the fluid and cycle design variables and otherwise highresource demands, which through conventional methods cannot be addressed. The global optimal designwas a 1.2MW cycle with 2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5-octafluorohexane as the new fluid. The fluid has no ozone depletionpotential and a global warming potential under the regulatory limit. By using the simultaneousdesign approach the optimum solution was found in 5.04 s, while a decomposed approach found thesame solution in 5.77 h. However, the decomposed approach provided insights on the correlationbetween the fluid and cycle design variables by analyzing all possible solutions. It was shown that thehigh sensitivity between the fluid and cycle design variables was overcome by using the simultaneousapproach. Correlation between net power output and the product of the overall heat transfer coefficientand the heat transfer area could further be addressed by employing a new solution strategy includingmaximum constraints for this product. The use of such constraints resulted in the design of a new fluid(5-chloro-4,5,5-trifluoro-2,3-dimethylpent-2-ene) with a 1.25 MW net power output. Finally, a comparisonwith conventional fluids was shown where 2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5-octafluorohexane offered an improvementon net power output and economic and environmental metrics.

Electricity and power produced from waste heat is particularly relevant in shipping because fuel expenses constitute the majority of the cost of operating the ships; however, the cost-benefit aspect limits the widespread implementation of waste heat recovery power units on ships. This paper presents the thermodynamic analysis of a concept that aims at reducing the cost of an organic Rankine cycle unit by using one of the cylinders in a large diesel engine as expansion device. Numerical models were used to optimise the process parameters and thereby determine the power potential for this concept. The evaluation of 104 working fluids points to cyclopropane, R245fa and R1234ze(z) as the most promising. The results suggest that the power produced by the organic Rankine cycle cylinder is at least equivalent to that of the cylinders operating with the diesel process. This enables potential fuel savings and emissions reductions of about 8.3% in the studied scenario.

The utilization of solar energy based technologies has attracted increased interest in recent times in order to satisfy the various energy demands of our society. This paper presents a thorough review of the open literature on solar energy based heat and power plants. In order to limit the scope of the review, only fully renewable plants with at least the production of electricity and heat/hot water for end use are considered. These include solar photovoltaic and solar thermal based plants with both concentrating and non-concentrating collectors in both solar-only and solar-hybrid configurations. The paper also presents a selection of case studies for the evaluation of solar energy based combined heat and power generation possibility in Denmark. The considered technologies for the case studies are (1) solar photovoltaic modules, (2) solar flat plate collectors, (3) a ground source heat pump, (4) a biomass burner, and (5) an organic Rankine cycle. The various cases are compared on the basis of economic profitability and environmental performance. The results from the case studies indicate that it is economically and environmentally beneficial to invest in both small and large capacity solar-biomass hybrid plants for combined heat and power production in the Nordic climatic conditions. The results also suggest that the configuration with an organic Rankine cycle with solar thermal collectors and a biomass burner is particularly attractive for large capacity plants.

This paper presents a comparison of the conventional dual pressure steam Rankine cycle process and the organic Rankine cycle process for marine engine waste heat recovery. The comparison was based on a container vessel, and results are presented for a high-sulfur (3 wt %) and low-sulfur (0.5 wt %) fuel case. The processes were compared based on their off-design performance for diesel engine loads in the range between 25% and 100%. The fluids considered in the organic Rankine cycle process were MM(hexamethyldisiloxane), toluene, n-pentane, i-pentane and c-pentane. The results of the comparison indicate that the net power output of the steam Rankine cycle process is higher at high engine loads, while the performance of the organic Rankine cycle units is higher at lower loads. Preliminary turbine design considerations suggest that higher turbine efficiencies can be obtained for the ORC unit turbines compared to the steam turbines. When the efficiency of the c-pentane turbine was allowed to be 10% points larger than the steam turbine efficiency, the organic Rankine cycle unit reaches higher net power outputs than the steam Rankine cycle unit at all engine loads for the low-sulfur fuel case. The net power production from the waste heat recovery units is generally higher for the low-sulfur fuel case. The steam Rankine cycle unit produces 18% more power at design compared to the high-sulfur fuel case, while the organic Rankine cycle unit using MM produces 33% more power.

The project PilotORC was aimed at evaluating the technical and economic feasibility of the use of organic Rankine cycle (ORC) units to recover low-temperature waste heat sources (i.e. exhaust gases, scavenge air, engine cooling system, and lubricant oil system) on container vessels. The project included numerical simulations and experimental tests on a 125 kW demonstration ORC unit that utilizes the waste heat of the main engine cooling system on board one of Mærsk's container vessels. During the design of the demonstration ORC unit, different alternatives for the condenser were analyzed in order to minimize the size of the heat exchanger area. Later on the ORC unit was successfully installed on board, and it has been working uninterruptedly since, demonstrating the matureness of the ORC technology for maritime applications. During the onboard testing, additional measuring devices were installed on the unit and experimental data at design and off-design conditions were collected. Several simulation models were developed in order to evaluate alternative integrations of the ORC units with different sources and configurations. The developed models allowed for the study of different ORC configurations at design and off-design conditions, the simulation of radial-inow turbines, and the prediction of thermophysical properties of alternative working fluids. The models for the ORC unit were validated with the collected experimental data.The validated models were used to evaluate the retro-fitting potential of using ORC units for maritime applications, and the relevance of this technology for new-building projects. Firstly, an evaluation of the waste heat resources available on board Mærsk containers fleet, and an estimation of the potential energy recovery by means of the ORC technology was performed. The estimations showed that significant fuel savings can be achieved. It was found that integrating ORC units with the jacket cooling water within the service steam c

Gas-fuelled shipping is expected to increase significantly in the coming years. Similarly, much effort is devoted to the study of waste heat recovery systems to be implemented on board ships. In this context, the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) technology is considered one of the most promising solutions. The ORC favorably compares to the steam Rankine cycle because of its simple layout and high efficiency, achievable by selecting a working fluid with desirable properties. This paper aims at assessing the fuel savings attainable by implementing ORC units on board vessels powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG). The study compares the performance of six different ORC configurations both in design and off-design operation, and provides guidelines with respect to the most promising heat sources and sinks to be utilized by an ORC unit in order to maximize the annual fuel savings. In addition, this paper describes a novel ORC layout rejecting heat to two heat sinks. The results indicate equivalent fuel savings up to 8.9 % when harvesting heat from the exhaust gases, and that the novel configuration ensures an increment of the ORC design power output up to 41 % when utilizing the jacket cooling water as heat source.

For zeotropic mixtures, the temperature varies during phase change, which is opposed to the isothermal phase change of pure fluids. The use of such mixtures as working fluids in organic Rankine cycle power plants enables a minimization of the mean temperature difference of the heat exchangers, which is beneficial for cycle performance. On the other hand, larger heat transfer surface areas are typically required for evaporation and condensation when zeotropic mixtures are used as working fluids. In order to assess the feasibility of using zeotropic mixtures, it is, therefore, important to consider the additional costs of the heat exchangers. In this study, we aim at evaluating the economic feasibility of zeotropic mixtures compared to pure fluids. We carry out a multi-objective optimization of the net power output and the component costs for organic Rankine cycle power plants using low-temperature heat at 90 ◦C to produce electrical power at around 500 kW. The primary outcomes of the study are Pareto fronts, illustrating the power/cost relations for R32, R134a and R32/R134a (0.65/0.35mole). The results indicate that R32/R134a is the best of these fluids, with 3.4 % higher net power than R32 at the same total cost of 1200 k$.

Concentrating solar power plants use a number of reflecting mirrors to focus and convert the incident solar energy to heat, and a power cycle to convert this heat into electricity. This paper evaluates the use of a high temperature Kalina cycle for a central receiver concentrating solar power plant with direct vapour generation and without storage. The use of the ammonia-water mixture as the power cycle working fluid with non-isothermal evaporation and condensation presents the potential to improve the overall performance of the plant. This however comes at a price of requiring larger heat exchangers because of lower thermal pinch and heat transfer degradation for mixtures as compared with using a pure fluid in a conventional steam Rankine cycle, and the necessity to use a complex cycle arrangement. Most of the previous studies on the Kalina cycle focused solely on the thermodynamic aspects of the cycle, thereby comparing cycles which require different investment costs. In this study, the economic aspect and the part-load performance are also considered for a thorough evaluation of the Kalina cycle. A thermoeconomic optimization was performed by minimizing the levelized cost of electricity. The different Kalina cycle simulations resulted in the levelized costs of electricity between 212.2 $ MWh-1 and 218.9 $ MWh-1. For a plant of same rated capacity, the state-of-the-art steam Rankine cycle has a levelized cost of electricity of 181.0 $ MWh-1. Therefore, when considering both the thermodynamic and the economic perspectives, the results suggest that it is not beneficial to use the Kalina cycle for high temperature concentrating solar power plants.

Heat transfer correlations for pool and flow boiling are indispensable for boiler design. The correlations for predicting in-tube flow boiling heat transfer ofammonia-water mixtures are not well established in the open literature and there is a lack of experimental measurements for the full range of composition, vapor qualities, fluid conditions, etc. This paper presents a comparison of several flow boiling heat transfer prediction methods (correlations) for ammonia-water mixtures. Firstly, these methods are reviewed and compared at various fluid conditions. The methods include: (1) the ammonia-water specific flow boiling correlations from the open literature, (2) the ammonia-water specific pool boiling correlations from the open literature extended to flow boiling by using the pure fluid correlation by Gungor and Winterton, and (3) the classical wide-boiling correlations. Secondly, their influence on the required heat exchanger size (surface area)is investigated during numerical design. For this purpose, two case studies related to the use of the Kalina cycle are considered: a flue gas based heat recovery boiler for acombined cycle power plant and a hot oil based boiler for a solar thermal power plant.The results indicate that the nucleate boiling contribution to flow boiling is small compared to the flow boiling contribution for the investigated conditions. Furthermore,the use of the different flow boiling correlation methods resulted in evaporator size differences within 6% for the heat recovery boiler and 28% for the oil based boiler.

Et dansk forskningsprojekt, THERMCYC, arbejder på at udvikle løsninger, som kan gøre udnyttelsen af overskudsvarme til el- og varmeproduktion økonomisk og teknisk mulig og dermed øge industriens bæredygtighed.

This study presents a generic methodology to select working fluids for ORC (Organic Rankine Cycles)taking into account property uncertainties of the working fluids. A Monte Carlo procedure is described as a tool to propagate the influence of the input uncertainty of the fluid parameters on the ORC modeloutput, and provides the 95%-confidence interval of the net power output with respect to the fluid property uncertainties. The methodology has been applied to a molecular design problem for an ORCusing a low-temperature heat source and consisted of the following four parts: 1) formulation of processmodels and constraints 2) selection of property models, i.e. Penge Robinson equation of state 3)screening of 1965 possible working fluid candidates including identification of optimal process parametersbased on Monte Carlo sampling 4) propagating uncertainty of fluid parameters to the ORC netpower output. The net power outputs of all the feasible working fluids were ranked including their uncertainties. The method could propagate and quantify the input property uncertainty of the fluidproperty parameters to the ORC model, giving an additional dimension to the fluid selection process. In the given analysis 15 fluids had an improved performance compared to the base case working fluid.

Organic Rankine cycle (ORC) power systems have recently emerged as promising solutions for waste heat recovery in low- and medium-size power plants. Their performance and economic feasibility strongly depend on the expander. The design process and efficiency estimation are particularly challenging due to the peculiar physical properties of the working fluid and the gas-dynamic phenomena occurring in the machine. Unlike steam Rankine and Brayton engines, organic Rankine cycle expanders combine small enthalpy drops with large expansion ratios. These features yield turbine designs with few highly-loaded stages in supersonic flow regimes. Part A of this two-part paper has presented the implementation and validation of the simulation tool TURAX, which provides the optimal preliminary design of single-stage axial-flow turbines. The authors have also presented a sensitivity analysis on the decision variables affecting the turbine design. Part B of this two-part paper presents the first application of a design method where the thermodynamic cycle optimization is combined with calculations of the maximum expander performance using the mean-line design tool described in part A. The high computational cost of the turbine optimization is tackled by building a model which gives the optimal preliminary design of an axial-flow turbine as a function of the cycle conditions. This allows for estimating the optimal expander performance for each operating condition of interest. The test case is the preliminary design of an organic Rankine cycle turbogenerator to increase the overall energy efficiency of an offshore platform. For an increase in expander pressure ratio from 10 to 35, the results indicate up to 10% point reduction in expander performance. This corresponds to a relative reduction in net power output of 8.3% compared to the case when the turbine efficiency is assumed to be 80%. This work also demonstrates that this approach can support the plant designer in the selection of

Axial-flow turbines represent a well-established technology for a wide variety of power generation systems. Compactness, flexibility, reliability and high efficiency have been key factors for the extensive use of axial turbines in conventional power plants and, in the last decades, in organic Rankine cycle power systems. In this two-part paper, an overall cycle model and a model of an axial turbine were combined in order to provide a comprehensive preliminary design of the organic Rankine cycle unit, taking into account both cycle and turbine optimal designs. Part A presents the preliminary turbine design model, the details of the validation and a sensitivity analysis on the main parameters, in order to minimize the number of decision variables in the subsequent turbine design optimization. Part B analyzes the application of the combined turbine and cycle designs on a selected case study, which was performed in order to show the advantages of the adopted methodology. Part A presents a one-dimensional turbine model and the results of the validation using two experimental test cases from literature. The first case is a subsonic turbine operated with air and investigated at the University of Hannover. The second case is a small, supersonic turbine operated with an organic fluid and investigated by Verneau. In the first case, the results of the turbine model are also compared to those obtained using computational fluid dynamics simulations. The results of the validation suggest that the model can predict values of efficiency within ± 1.3%-points, which is in agreement with the reliability of classic turbine loss models such as the Craig and Cox correlations used in the present study. Values similar to computational fluid dynamics simulations at the midspan were obtained in the first case of validation. Discrepancy below 12% was obtained in the estimation of the flow velocities and turbine geometry. The values are considered to be within a reasonable range for a prelimin

In this paper we present a novel organic Rankine cycle layout, named the organic split-cycle, designed for utilization of low grade heat. The cycle is developed by implementing a simplified version of the split evaporation concept from the Kalina split-cycle in the organic Rankine cycle in order to improve the boiling process. Optimizations are carried out for eight hydrocarbon mixtures for hot fluid inlet temperatures at 120 °C and 90 °C, using a genetic algorithm to determine the cycle conditions for which the net power output is maximized. The most promising mixture is an isobutane/pentane mixture which, for the 90 °C hot fluid inlet temperature case, achieves a 14.5% higher net power output than an optimized organic Rankine cycle using the same mixture. Two parameter studies suggest that optimum conditions for the organic split-cycle are when the temperature profile allows the minimum pinch point temperature difference to be reached at two locations in the boiler. Compared to the transcritical organic Rankine cycle, the organic split-cycle improves the boiling process without an entailing increase in the boiler pressure, thus enabling an efficient low grade heat to power conversion at low boiler pressures.

The Kalina cycle has recently seen increased interest as an alternative to the conventional steam Rankine cycle. The cycle has been studied for use with both low and high temperature applications such as geothermal power plants, ocean thermal energy conversion, waste heat recovery, gas turbine bottoming cycle, and solar power plants. The high temperature cycle layouts are inherently more complex than the low temperature layouts due to the presence of a distillation-condensation subsystem, three pressure levels, and several heat exchangers. This paper presents a detailed approach to solve the Kalina cycle in part-load operating conditions for high temperature (a turbine inlet temperature of 500 °C) and high pressure (100 bar) applications. A central receiver concentrating solar power plant with direct vapour generation is considered as a case study where the part-load conditions are simulated by changing the solar heat input to the receiver. Compared with the steam Rankine cycle, the Kalina cycle has an additional degree of freedom in terms of the ammonia mass fraction which can be varied in order to maximize the part-load efficiency of the cycle. The results include the part-load curves for various turbine inlet ammonia mass fractions and the fitted equations for these curves.

Organic Rankine cycle power systems have recently emerged as promising solutions for waste heat recovery in low- and medium-size power plants. Their performance and economic feasibility strongly depend on the expander. Its design process and efficiency estimation are particularly challenging due to the peculiar physical properties of the working fluid and the gasdynamic phenomena occurring in the machine. Unlike steam Rankine and Brayton engines, organic Rankine cycle expanders have to deal with small enthalpy drops and large expansion ratios. These features yield turbine designs with few highly-loaded stages in supersonic flow regimes. This paper proposes a design method where the conventional cycle analysis is combined with calculations of the maximum expander performance using a validated mean-line design tool. The high computational cost of the turbine optimization is tackled building a model which gives the optimal preliminary design of the turbine as a function of the cycle conditions. This allows to estimate the optimal expander performance for each operating condition of interest. The test case is the preliminary design of an organic Rankine cycle turbogenerator to increase the overall energy efficiency of an offshore platform. The analysis of the results obtained using a constant turbine efficiency and the method proposed in this paper indicates a maximum reduction of the expander performance of 10% points for pressure ratios between 10 and 35. This work also demonstrates that this approach can support the plant designer on deciding the optimal size of the organic Rankine cycle unit when multiple exhaust gas streams are available.

For zeotropic mixtures, the temperature varies during phase change, which is opposed to the isothermalphase change of pure fluids. The use of such mixtures as working fluids in organic Rankine cyclepower plants enables a minimization of the mean temperature difference of the heat exchangers whenthe minimum pinch point temperature difference is kept fixed. A low mean temperature differencemeans low heat transfer irreversibilities, which is beneficial for cycle performance, but it also results inlarger heat transfer surface areas. Moreover, the two-phase heat transfer coefficients for zeotropic mixturesare usually degraded compared to an ideal mixture heat transfer coefficient linearly interpolatedbetween the pure fluid values. This entails a need for larger and more expensive heat exchangers. Previousstudies primarily focus on the thermodynamic benefits of zeotropic mixtures by employing firstand second law analyses. In order to assess the feasibility of using zeotropic mixtures, it is, however,important to consider the additional costs of the heat exchangers. In this study, we aim at evaluatingthe economic feasibility of zeotropic mixtures compared to pure fluids. We carry out a multi-objectiveoptimization of the net power output and the component costs for organic Rankine cycle power plantsusing low-temperature heat at 90 C to produce electrical power at around 500 kW. The primary outcomesof the study are Pareto fronts, illustrating the power/cost relations for R32, R134a and R32/R134a(0.65/0.35mole). The results indicate that R32/134a is the best of these fluids, with 3.4%higher net powerthan R32 at the same total cost of 1200 k$.

Low temperature heat sources are available in many applications, ranging from waste heat from industrial processes and buildings to geothermal and solar heat sources. Technical advancements, such as heat pumps with novel cycle design and multi-component working fluids, make the utilisation of many of those heat sources feasible. In this work a mapping of those heat sources is performed to gain an overview of the potential amount of waste heat and natural heat sources in Denmark. The energy potentials are mapped together with the temperature ranges at which the heat is available and the exergy content of the heat. The mapping is based on data and literature primarily published by Statistics Denmark and the Danish Energy Agency, as well as interviews with specialists and engineering estimates. The results indicate that up to 13 % of the energy input to the analysed sectors is available as waste heat. The total accessible waste heat potential is found to be approximately 266 PJ per year with 58 % of it below 100 °C. In the natural heat category, temperatures below 20 °C originate from ambient air, sea water and shallow geothermal energy, and temperatures up to 100 °C are found for solar and deep geothermal energy. The theoretical solar thermal potential alone would be above 500 PJ per year. For the development of advanced thermodynamic cycles for the integration of heat sources in the Danish energy system, several areas of interest are determined. In the maritime transport sector a high potential is found in exhaust gases, where also high temperatures are present. Also the industry sector has a large waste heat recovery potential from refrigeration and cooling processes, however at much lower temperatures.

We present a generic methodology for organic Rankine cycle optimization, where the working fluid is included as an optimization parameter, in order to maximize the net power output of the cycle. The method is applied on two optimization cases with hot fluid inlet temperatures at 120°C and 90°C. Pure fluids and mixtures are compared to see how mixed working fluids affect performance and important design parameters. The results indicate that mixed working fluids can increase the net power output of the cycle, while reducing the pressure levels. The maximum net power output is obtained by fluids with a critical temperature close to half of the hot fluid inlet temperature. For some mixtures we find the maximum net power when the temperature glide of condensation matches the temperature increase of the cooling water, while for other mixtures there are large differences between these two parameters. Ethane is a fluid that obtains a large net power increase when used in mixtures. Compared to pure ethane, an optimized ethane/propane mixture attains a 12.9% net power increase when the hot fluid inlet temperature is 120_C and a 11.1% net power increase when the hot fluid inlet temperature is 90°C.