Optimal design of geothermal power plants: A comparison of single-pressure and dual-pressure organic Rankine cycles.

• Dual pressure transcritical ORC is usually the best in the range of conditions tested. • Specific work output between 5 and 70 kJ/kg were obtained from simulations. • Five fluids (R218, R115, R227ea, RC318, RE245cb2) stand out in the optimization. • Optimal values of cooling tower range are lower at colder brine and hotter cold sink. • Parasitic loads (pumps, cooling) range from 15 to 45% of the gross power produced. Four variants of the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) applied to geothermal power plants are optimized by means of numerical tools. These variants are: (i) the subcritical ORC with single-pressure heater (ORC/S/SC), (ii) the transcritical ORC with single-pressure heater (ORC/S/TC), (iii) the subcritical ORC with dual-pressure heater (ORC/D/SC), and (iv) the transcritical ORC with dual-pressure heater (ORC/D/TC). All the systems are recuperative and include a wet cooling tower. The objective function is the specific work output and design variables include operating pressures, mass flow ratios between the brine and the working fluid, superheaters effectiveness and cooling tower range. The systems are optimized for 20 different potential working fluids. The optimization is performed for inlet brine temperatures from 80 to 180 °C, and for ambient air wet bulb temperatures from 10 to 32 °C. The results show: (i) the superiority of ORC/D/TC for most of the cases, (ii) the relevance of using a dual-pressure heater at high sink temperature and low brine temperature, and (iii) the importance of choosing the right cooling tower range for an optimal power plant design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]