Thermodynamics and Structural Optimization of Organic Rankine Cycle Plant for Clean Energy Access Using Artificial Bee Colony and Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Algorithms

Abstract

The quest to decarbonize the energy space to avert the negative climate change consequences calls for using low/zero-carbon energy conversion technologies in the energy generation space. The Organic Rankine Cycle is a low/zero-carbon energy conversion technology for recovering waste heat from low to medium-temperature heat sources and for biomass conversion. Therefore, this paper presents the thermodynamic optimization, with an artificial bee colony algorithm, of different ORC configurations, including simple organic Rankine cycle, Regenerative Organic Rankine Cycle, Cascade Organic Rankine Cycle, Organic Rankine Cycle with Superheat, Organic Rankine Cycle with Superheat and Reheat, Regenerative-Superheat Organic Rankine Cycle, Regenerative-Reheat Organic Rankine Cycle and Two Complementary ORC using twelve (12) different working fluids. The thermodynamic optimization was followed by structural optimization using a multi-criteria decision approach. The modified-TOPSIS multi-criteria decision-making analysis was used to perform the structural optimization. The overall optimization study shows that the Regenerative-Reheat Organic Rankine Cycle, operating with an isopentane of 0 GWP and ODP, was selected as the best ORC configuration. The Regenerative-Reheat Organic Rankine Cycle has the following performance; thermal efficiency of 49.5%, maximum power output of 0.4 MW, condenser pressure of 90 kPa, and turbine pressure of 3.37 MPa. The results presented in this work will support clean energy developers in the clean energy access sector, especially in the agrarian community with huge agro-waste generation potentials.