Exergoeconomic Analysis of a Mechanical Compression Refrigeration Unit Run by an ORC

Abstract

To improve the efficiency of a diesel internal combustion engine (ICE), the waste heat carried out by the combustion gases can be recovered with an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) that further drives a vapor compression refrigeration cycle (VCRC). This work offers an exergoeconomic optimization methodology of the VCRC-ORC group. The exergetic analysis highlights the changes that can be made to the system structure to reduce the exergy destruction associated with internal irreversibilities. Thus, the preheating of the ORC fluid with the help of an internal heat exchanger leads to a decrease in the share of exergy destruction in the ORC boiler by 4.19% and, finally, to an increase in the global exergetic yield by 2.03% and, implicitly, in the COP of the ORC-VCRC installation. Exergoeconomic correlations are built for each individual piece of equipment. The mathematical model for calculating the monetary costs for each flow of substance and energy in the system is presented. Following the evolution of the exergoeconomic performance parameters, the optimization strategy is developed to reduce the exergy consumption in the system by choosing larger or higher-performance equipment. When reducing the temperature differences in the system heat exchangers (ORC boiler, condenser, and VCRC evaporator), the unitary cost of the refrigeration drops by 44%. The increase in the isentropic efficiency of the ORC expander and VCRC compressor further reduces the unitary cost of refrigeration by another 15%. Following the optimization procedure, the cost of the cooling unit drops by half. The cost of diesel fuel has a major influence on the unit cost of cooling. A doubling of the cost of diesel fuel leads to an 80% increase in the cost of the cold unit. The original merit of the work is to present a detailed and comprehensive model of optimization based on exergoeconomic principles that can serve as an example for any thermal system optimization.