Applied Thermal Engineering 48 (2012) 63e71

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Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Performance analysis of double organic Rankine cycle for discontinuous

low temperature waste heat recovery
Dongxiang Wang, Xiang Ling*, Hao Peng
Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Process Enhancement and New Energy Equipment Technology, School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Technology,
No. 5 Xin Mo Fan Road, Nanjing 210009, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 1 September 2011
Accepted 5 April 2012
Available online 13 April 2012

This research proposes a double organic Rankine cycle for discontinuous waste heat recovery. The
optimal operation conditions of several working uids have been calculated by a procedure employing
MATLAB and REFPROP. The inuence of outlet temperature of heat source on the net power output,
thermal efciency, power consumption, mass ow rate, expander outlet temperature, cycle irreversibility
and exergy efciency at a given pinch point temperature difference (PPTD) has been analyzed. Pinch
point analysis has also been employed to obtain a thermodynamic understanding of the ORC performance. Of all the working uids investigated, some performances between each working uid are rather
similar. For a xed low temperature heat source, the optimal operation condition should be mainly
determined by the heat carrier of the heat source, and working uids have limited inuence. Lower
outlet temperature of heat source does not always mean more efcient energy use. Acetone exhibits the
least exergy destruction, while R245fa possesses the maximal exergy efciency at a xed PPTD. Wet
uids exhibit lower thermal efciency than the others with the increasing of PPTD at a xed outlet
temperature of heat source. Dry and isentropic uids offer attractive performance.
Crown Copyright 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Waste heat recovery
Organic Rankine cycle (ORC)
Low temperature
Working uid
Pinch point analysis

1. Introduction
The steel industry is one of the most energy intensive industries.
Recently, there is a great increasing demand of steel along with the
rapid development of industry, contributing plenty of low
temperature waste heat which accounts for about 30% approximately of the whole waste heat in steel works. However, owing to
lack of effective recovery methods, this part of energy, such as
discontinuous ushing slag water in blast furnace iron making
process, has been directly discharged. Meanwhile, the discharged
waste heat gives rise to thermal pollution and therefore becomes
an environmental concern. Accordingly, adoption of alternative
renewable technologies that are environment friendly to convert
this part of energy into more useful energy, such as shaft power or
electricity, has attracted more and more attention for its potential
in reducing energy consumption and alleviating environmental
problems.
Utilizing conventional steam Rankine cycle (RC) to recover
energy from discontinuous ushing slag water is not the best
choice technologically or the most selection economically due to

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 86 25 83587321; fax: 86 25 83600956.

E-mail address: xling@njut.edu.cn (X. Ling).

dissatisfactory performance [1,2]. However, the organic Rankine

cycle (ORC) is a substitutive technology applicable for low
temperature waste heat recovery. The ORC applies the principle of
the conventional steam RC, and the main difference is the working
uid, organic uid is used in ORC, while water is used in RC. There is
no need to reach a high temperature to generate vapor for running
an expander since boiling temperatures of organic working uids
are lower than steam boiling temperatures. Consequently, ORC
exhibits great exibility in utilizing of low temperature heat source.
Hung et al. [3] compared the efciencies of ORC using cryogens
such as benzene, ammonia, R11, R12, R134a and R113 as working
uids, and found that for operation between two isobaric curves,
isentropic uids are most suitable for recovering low temperature
waste heat. Drescher et al. [4] proposed a method to nd suitable
thermodynamic uids for ORC in biomass power and heat plants,
the results reveal that the family of alkybenzenes shows the highest
efciency. Saleh et al. [5] analyzed the thermodynamic performances of alkanes, uorinated alkanes, ether and uorinated
ethers as working uids in ORC for geothermal power plants based
on the BACKONE equation of state, and found that n-butane has the
highest thermal efciency. Yamamoto et al. [6] developed
a numerical simulation model of ORC and carried out experimental
analysis. The results revealed that R123 gives higher turbine power
than water, and the best operating conditions for R123 exist when

1359-4311/$ e see front matter Crown Copyright 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2012.04.017

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D. Wang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 48 (2012) 63e71

Nomenclature
h
e
I_
ev
Lh
ex
_
m
in
p
out
Q_
hs
s
H
T
is
_
W
L
x
p

enthalpy [kJ/kg]
expander
irreversibility [MW]
evaporator
latent heat [kJ/kg]
exergy [MW]
mass ow rate [kg/s]
inlet
pressure [MPa]
outlet
heat rate [MW]
heat source
entropy [kJ/kg K]
heat source
temperature [K]
isentropic
work [MW]
heat sink
quality
pump

the turbine inlet temperature is as low as possible above the boiling

point of the working uid. Liu et al. [7] investigated the performance of working uids used in ORC for waste heat recovery. They
pointed out that the maximum waste heat recovery efciency
occurs at an appropriate evaporator operation temperature
between the inlet temperature of waste heat and the condensing
temperature. Aljundi [8] analyzed the effect of dry hydrocarbons on
the efciencies of ORC and compared them with other refrigerants.
It is concluded that thermodynamically, hydrocarbons are superior
to some refrigerants and could be the next generation working
uids for geothermal or waste heat recovery systems. Hung [9]
used benzene, toluene, p-xylene, R113 and R123 as working uids
for ORC to recover waste heat. He indicated that efcient operation
of the ORC depends heavily on working conditions of cycle and
thermodynamic properties of working uid, he found that R113 and
R123 have a better performance in recovering a low temperature
waste heat. Hung et al. [10] studied the system efciency of ORC
using solar energy and ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC)
system as heat sources. The results indicated that wet uids with
very steep saturated vapor curves in T-s diagram have a better
overall performance in energy conversion efciencies than that of
dry uids. Larjola [11] pointed out that higher power output is
obtainable when the working uid follows better the heat source
uid to be cooled. Maizza et al. [12,13], Vijayaraghavan et al. [14]
also reported the performances and characteristics of different
working uids for waste heat recovery systems.
Additional, some researchers have showed their interest in the
performance optimization of ORC. Madhawa et al. [15] presented
a cost effective optimum design criterion for ORC adopting low
temperature geothermal heat sources. Wei et al. [16] considered
the system performance analysis and optimization of ORC using
R245fa as working uid and analyzed the thermodynamic performances of an ORC system under disturbances. Dai et al. [17]
adopted exergy efciency as an objective function and optimized
the thermodynamic parameters of ORC for each working uid by
means of the genetic algorithm for low grade waste heat recovery.
Tchanche et al. [18] assessed a comparison of theoretical performances as well as thermodynamic and environmental properties of

Greek symbols
pp
pinch point
DH
enthalpy at a given mass ow rate [MW]
th
thermal
h
efciency [%]
tot
total
Subscripts
wf
working uid
0
reference state
Acronyms
1e5
states in the cycle
ALT
atmospheric lifetime
act
actual
DORC
double organic Rankine cycle
bp
boiling point
GWP
global warming potential
con
condenser
ODP
ozone depletion potential
crit
critical ORC organic Rankine cycle
cw
cooling water
RC
Rankine cycle
d
dry

20 uids in low temperature solar organic Rankine cycle systems.

Schuster et al. [19] investigated the efciency optimization potential in supercritical organic Rankine cycles, and they concluded that
their application seems to bring promising results concerning the
efciency of the systems. Desai et al. [20] have studied the process
integration of ORC and reported that the basic ORC can be modied
by incorporating both regeneration and turbine bleeding to
improve its thermal efciency. Srinivasan et al. [21] presented an
analysis of waste heat recovery from a dual fuel low temperature
combustion engine using ORC.
Most of the investigations concerning waste heat recovery
mentioned above have been focused on the continuous waste heat
recovery. The present work utilized double organic Rankine cycle
and dealt with the waste heat recovery from discontinuous heat
source. Meanwhile, for a xed heat source, lower outlet temperature of heat source does not always mean more efcient energy use.
The optimal performance of the proposed ORC with different
working uids has been comparatively assessed. Pinch point
analysis has also been employed to analyze the ORC performance,
and to establish basic design criteria for the ORC heat exchanger
design.
2. Screening of potential working uids
The selection of working uid has a great effect on the operation
condition, system efciency, economic viability, and environmental
impact. Some important characteristics of a suitable organic
working uid are low toxicity, explosion and controllable ammability characteristics, good material compatibility. Working
uids can be classied into dry, isentropic or wet respectively in
terms of the slope of saturation curve in T-s diagram to be positive,
innite or negative [1]. Dry and isentropic uids exhibit more
desirable for ORC in virtue of avoiding liquid droplet impingent in
the turbine blades during the expansion. Meanwhile, working
uids with high density, low liquid specic heat and high latent
heat are expected to give high turbine work output [22]. A suitable
working uid must also take possession of adequate chemical
stability under the operating conditions. Due to environmental

D. Wang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 48 (2012) 63e71

65

Table 1
Properties of the screened working uids utilized in this study.
Substance

Acetone(w) [23]
Butane(d) [24]
Pentane(d) [22]
Isopentane(d) [8]
CF3I(w) [5]
R141b(i) [24]
R21(w) [22]
R245fa(i) [24]

Molecular formula

C3H6O
C4H10
C5H12
I-C5H12
CF3I
C2H3Cl2F
CHCl2F
C3H3F5

Physical data

Environmental data

Molecular mass (kg/kmol)

Pcrita (MPa)

Tcritb (K)

Tbpc (K)

ALTd (yr)

ODPe

GWPf (100 yr)

58.08
58.12
72.15
72.15
195.91
116.95
102.92
134.05

4.70
3.80
3.37
3.40
3.95
4.46
5.18
3.64

508.05
425.12
469.70
460.35
396.44
479.96
451.48
427.20

329.15
272.60
309.15
300.98
251.30
305.20
282.05
288.05

n.a.
9.3
0.01
0.01
n.a.
9.3
n.a.
7.2

n.a.
0.12
0
0
n.a.
0.086
0.01
0

n.a.
725
20
0
n.a.
700
n.a.
950

n.a.: none-available. (w): wet, (d): dry, (i): isentropic.

a
Pcrit: critical pressure.
b
Tcrit: critical temperature.
c
Tbp: normal boiling point.
d
ALT: atmospheric lifetime.
e
ODP: ozone depletion potential, relative to R11.
f
GWP: global warming potential, relative to CO2.

concerns, ozone depletion potential (ODP), global warming

potential (GWP) and the atmospheric lifetime (ALT) are the main
aspects. For that several working uids have been phased out, while
some others have being phased out in 2020 or 2030. In this paper,
working uids phased out are out of consideration. In the last place,
safety, availability and cost should be considered in the selection of
working uids.
However, until now no one uid that has been identied will
possess all of the desirable attributes mentioned above, and
compromise must be made when selecting the uids. In this
study, one-component working uids are analyzed, and
mixtures are not included in this study owing to the fact that
mixing rule is rather complicated. Thermodynamic properties of
working uids utilized in this study are listed in Table 1,
including three dry uids, three wet uids and two isentropic
uids.

Being heated in vapor generator, Working uids may end in

a saturated vapor state or superheated vapor state. However,
superheating in an ORC will increase the thermal efciency of the
cycle with a very low slope but decreases the exergy efciency.
Therefore, the condition of the working uid at the expander inlet
is set to the state of saturated vapor in this study.
For simplicity, it was assumed that the system reaches a steady
state, no pressure drop in connecting pipes and heat exchangers,
heat losses in each component are also ignored, and the isentropic
efciencies of pump and expander are equal to 0.75 [4,15]. Due to
the fact that the processes of two cycles are similar, all the analysis
mentioned below will base on cycle (a), followed by an optimal
design of cycle (b) on the basis of cycle (a).
3.2. Mathematical model

3. Mathematical analysis

The available energy that can be extracted from the heat source
can be determined as

3.1. DORC system proposed in this study


_ hs hhs;in  hhs;out
Q_ hs m

The DORC system for waste heat recovery from ushing cinder
water is depicted in Fig. 1. Due to the fact that the ushing cinder
water is available for only half an hour, while in another half an
hour the ushing cinder water is absent, a double organic Rankine
cycle (DORC) which consists of two cycles, cycle (a) and cycle (b),
has been proposed for generating power continuously. Cycle (a)
mainly includes a vapor generator, an expander, an electric generator, a condenser, a pump and a liquid reservoir. The only difference
between cycle (b) and cycle (a) is that cycle (b) has a heat storage
tank. When ushing cinder water is available, cycle (a) and heat
storage tank will work, the working uid for which the pressure is
raised by the pump is fed into the vapor generator, and is heated
and vaporized by part of the ushing cinder water which the
remainder is fed into the heat storage tank for storing heat, the
vapor generated then ows into the expander and applies work,
after that, the low pressure vapor exits the expander and enters the
condenser in which it is condensed by the cooling water, nally the
working uid enters the liquid reservoir. When ushing cinder
water is not available, cycle (b) actives, the working uid will be
heated and vaporized by the heat carrier in the heat storage tank,
the vapor generated also applies work in the expander and is
condensed in the condenser, nally the working uid enters the
liquid reservoir. When ushing cinder water is available again and
a new cycle begins. The processes are shown in a T-s diagram in
Fig. 2.

Fig. 1. Schematic representation of the DORC system for waste heat recovery from
ushing cinder water.

(1)

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D. Wang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 48 (2012) 63e71

The thermal efciency is dened as

hth

_ p;act W
_ e;act
W
_
Q

(10)

ev

The total cycle irreversibility can be determined as

I_cycle

X
I_j I_12 I_24 I_45 I_51
j



h  h2a h1  h4
_ wf To  4
m

TH
TL

(11)

The exergy efciency can be dened as

hex hth 1 

TL
TH

1
(12)

3.3. Pinch point analysis

Fig. 2. Schematic representation of the ORC process in a typical T-s diagram for waste
heat recovery.

Due to the system reaching a steady state and only one exit and
one inlet for each component, the irreversibility rate for uniform
ow conditions can be expressed as

h
qi
_ wf To sexit  sinlet
I_ m
T

(2)

Ths;in  Ths;out
DH32a Ths;out
DH42a

(13)

The PPTD can be dened as

(14)

4. Results and discussion

_
_
_ p;act W p;ideal mwf h2s  h1
W

(3)

_ wf To s2a  s1
I_12 m

(4)

hp;is

Tpp

PPTD Tpp  T3

Each process in the ORC can be described as follows:

Process 1 to 2 (Pump)

hp;is

Pinch point temperature difference (PPTD), the temperature

difference between the ushing cinder water and the working uid
rst beginning to vaporize (see Fig. 3), plays a key role in affecting
the heat transfer performance. This is the smallest heat transfer
temperature difference in the vapor generator which determines
the performance limits of the vapor generator. The T-DH diagram
used for the pinch point analysis is illustrated in Fig. 3.
The pinch point temperature can be estimated as

The operating conditions of the proposed ORC are listed in

Table 2. The design condensation temperature is normally above
300 K in order to reject heat to the ambient [22], a reasonable value
of 308.15 K has been given in this paper which is 10 K higher than
that of the low temperature reservoir. The dead state temperature

Process 2 to 4 (Vapor generator)

_ wf h4  h2a
Q_ ev m

(5)



h  h2a
_ wf T s4  s2a  4
I_24 m
TH

(6)

Since the temperature of waste heat is changing during the

process, the temperature of the heat source is considered to be
equal to TH Ths;in Tpp =2.
Process 4 to 5 (Expander)

_ e;act W
_
_ wf h4  h5s he;is
W
e;ideal he;is m

(7)

_ wf To s5a  s4
I_45 m

(8)

Process 5 to 1 (Condenser)



h  h5a
_ wf To s1  s5a  1
I_51 m
TL

(9)

Since the temperature of cooling water is changing during the

process, the temperature of heat sink is considered to be equal to
TL Tcw;in Tcw;out =2.

Fig. 3. Schematic representation of T-DH diagram demonstrating the pinch point

analysis in the vapor generator.

D. Wang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 48 (2012) 63e71

Substitute
name

Value

Inlet temperature of heat source (K)

Outlet temperature of heat source (K)
Mass ow rate of heat source (kg/s)
Evaporating temperature (K)

Ths,in
Ths,out
_ hs
m
Tev

Condensing temperature (K)

Isentropic efciency of pump
Isentropic efciency of expander
Inlet temperature of cooling water (K)
Outlet temperature of cooling water (K)
Ambient temperature (K)

Tcon

358.15
Above 308.15
656.33
Ranging from
308.15 to 358.15
308.15
0.75 [15]
0.75 [4]
298.15
303.15
298.15

hp,is
he,is

Tcw,in
Tcw,out
To

4.0

100

Heat available [MW]

Parameters

110

R245fa

3.5

90
3.0

80
70

2.5

60

2.0

50
40

1.5

30

Heat available
Net power output

20
320

325

330

335

1.0
340

345

Net power output [MW]

Table 2
Input parameters of the proposed ORC in this study.

67

0.5
350

Outlet temperature of heat source [K]

Fig. 5. Net power output and heat available with respect to the outlet temperature of
heat source with PPTD 5 K.

Table 3, it is indicated that for a given heat source and PPTD, the
optimal evaporating temperature for all the working uids is xed,
the xed temperature is 330.15 K in this study, the working uids
have no inuence on the optimal evaporating temperature. Acetone
and pentane are not appropriate due to the condensing pressure
less than the ambient pressure which may lead to problems of
sealing against inltration of the atmospheric air into the system. It
can be seen obviously, to some performances, such as net power
output, thermal efciency, cycle irreversibility or exergy efciency,
the difference between each working uid is rather small. Consequently, it can be concluded that for waste heat recovery from
a xed low temperature heat source, the optimal operation
conditions of the ORC with a given PPTD in this study should be
mainly determined by the heat carrier of the heat source, in other
word, the working uids have limited inuence on the optimal
operation conditions at the low temperature heat source.
Fig. 4. Schematic representation of T-s diagram illustrating the operation conditions of
the proposed ORC.

4.1. Net power output and heat available

is kept constant at 298.15 K. The evaporating temperature ranges
from the condensing temperature to the temperature of heat
source. In order to heat transfer, the outlet temperature of heat
source must above the evaporating temperature. The heat source,
heat sink and evaporating conditions of the ORC for waste heat
recovery from ushing cinder water are illustrated in Fig. 4. A
procedure, employing MATLAB and REFPROP [25] developed by the
National Institute of Standards and Technology of the United States,
was developed to simulate the thermodynamic properties and
cycle performances of the proposed ORC of different working uids
under various working conditions.
Table 3 shows the various parameters of different working uids
at the optimal operation conditions with PPTD 5 K. As shown in

Fig. 5 shows the effect of outlet temperature of heat source on

net power output and heat available with PPTD 5 K. It can be seen
clearly that not does higher heat available result in greater net
power output. As the descending of heat available, there exists
a maximal net power output.
Fig. 6 indicates the variation of the net power output of ORC for
different working uids with PPTD 5 K. As shown in Fig. 6,
a parabola relationship existed between the net power output and
outlet temperature of heat source for each working uid. When the
maximum net power output of each working uid achieves, the
optimal outlet temperatures of heat source for the different
working uids selected in this study may be 332.15 K or 333.15 K
(see Table 3). CF3I has the maximum net power output while R141b

Table 3
Parameters of different working uids at the optimal operation condition with PPTD 5 K.
Substance

Ths,out (K)

Q_ hs (MW)

T4 (K)

P4 (Mpa)

T5a (K)

Pcon (MPa)

Lha (kJ/kg)

_ wf (kg/s)
m

_ p;act (KW)
W

_ e;act (MW)
W

hth (%) I_cycle (MW) hex (%) x

Acetone
Butane
Isopentane
Pentane
R245fa
CF3I
R141b
R21

333.15
332.15
332.15
332.15
332.15
332.15
333.15
333.15

68.49
71.23
71.23
71.23
71.23
71.23
68.49
68.49

330.15
330.15
330.15
330.15
330.15
330.15
330.15
330.15

0.105
0.593
0.251
0.197
0.424
1.103
0.226
0.481

308.15
315.00
317.57
317.35
314.69
308.15
312.72
308.15

0.047
0.328
0.128
0.098
0.211
0.645
0.121
0.253

500.40
325.14
319.12
339.90
169.86
78.50
210.14
210.16

124.82
186.84
191.73
181.26
356.32
780.32
290.06
292.88

12.49
117.33
51.70
39.13
77.01
240.16
36.12
66.34

3.284
3.369
3.331
3.337
3.340
3.460
3.261
3.293

4.776
4.565
4.604
4.630
4.582
4.521
4.708
4.711

Latent heat.

5.253
5.665
5.624
5.592
5.661
5.680
5.345
5.325

37.98
36.08
36.45
36.71
36.18
35.79
37.24
37.34

0.997
1
1
1
1
0.996
1
0.993

68

D. Wang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 48 (2012) 63e71

320

3.4

Acetone
Butane
Isopentane

Power consumption [kW]

Net power output [MW]

280

3.2
3.0
2.8
2.6

Acetone
Butane

R245fa
CF3 I

Isopentane
Pentane

R141b
R21

2.4

240

CF3I

Pentane
R245fa

R141b
R21

200
160
120
80
40
0

320

325

330

335

340

345

320

325

Outlet temperature of heat source [K]

has the minimum. However, the difference is approximately

0.199 MW which is rather small. It is observed that the lower outlet
temperature of heat source does not always result in greater net
power outlet.
4.2. Thermal efciency
As shown in Fig. 7, the thermal efciency increases almost
linearly with the increasing of the outlet temperature of heat
source. This is basically due to the increasing evaporating
temperature. Due to the fact that the heat source and heat sink
of the cycle are limited, the smaller the heat source temperature
will change with the increasing of evaporating temperature, the
higher the thermal efciency will be thermodynamically. At the
optimal operation condition, the thermal efciency difference
between each working uid is less than 0.255% (see Table. 3).
It can be seen from Figs. 6and 7 that higher thermal efciency
not always means more net power output due to the fact that the
heat available is always descending as shown in Fig. 5.

340

345

350

Fig. 8. Power consumption with respect to the outlet temperature of heat source with
PPTD 5 K.

4.3. Power consumption of pump

As shown in Fig. 8, the power consumption of pump for CF3I is
rather high than that of the others. To pentane and acetone, the
power consumptions of pump hold constant almost with the
increasing of outlet temperature of heat source, however, each of
the remainders exhibits a peak power consumption. This basically
due to the fact that higher mass ow rate and evaporating pressure
contribute to greater power consumption.
4.4. Mass ow rate
With the same heat input, the mass ow rate of CF3I is superior
to all the others, while acetone shows minimal (see Fig. 9). At the
optimal operation condition, the mass ow rate of CF3I is as much
as 780.32 kg/s (see Table 3), which is 2.19 times as much as R245fa
that is only 356.32 kg/s, even 6.25 times as much as acetone.
Meanwhile, butane, isopentane and pentane, R21 and R141b show

1200

Acetone
Butane
Isopentane
Pentane
R245fa
CF3I
R141b
R21

1000
Mass flow rate [kg/s]

Thermal efficiency [%]

335

Outlet temperature of heat source [K]

Fig. 6. Net power output with respect to the outlet temperature of heat source with
PPTD 5 K.

7.5
7.0
6.5
6.0
5.5
5.0
4.5
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
320

330

800
600
400
200

325

330

335

340

345

350

Outlet temperature of heat source [K]

Fig. 7. Thermal efciency with respect to the outlet temperature of heat source with
PPTD 5 K.

320

325

330

335

340

345

350

Outlet temperature of heat source [K]

Fig. 9. Mass ow rate of working uid with respect to the outlet temperature of heat
source with PPTD 5 K.

D. Wang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 48 (2012) 63e71

Expander outlet temperature [K]

325

R245fa
CF3I

Acetone
Butane
Isopentane
Pentane

320

R141b
R21

315

310

305
320

325

330

335

340

345

350

Outlet temperature of heat source [K]

condenser. In other word, the two working uids have higher

positive slope of saturated vapor lines, the expanded vapor
leaves substantial superheat, which not only wastes heat but
also adds cooling load of the condenser. For that, some
researchers [4,5,8,17,24] suggested that it is necessary to add an
internal heat exchanger or preheater to utilize the superheat
vapor in heating the working uid before entering the pump.
However, for the low temperature heat source investigated in
this study, although the mean transferring heat temperature
difference between the waste heat and the working uid is
smaller due to the internal heat exchanger or preheater, resulting in less cycle irreversibility, the outlet temperature of waste
heat increases contributing to an increase of the exergy loss,
meanwhile, additional initial cost due to the internal heat
exchanger or preheater is necessary. As a consequence, the
internal heat exchanger or preheater has no benecial effect on
the performance of the proposed ORC.
4.6. Cycle irreversibility

Fig. 10. Expander outlet temperature with respect to the outlet temperature of heat
source with PPTD 5 K.

similar behavior, respectively. This is mainly determined by the

latent heat of working uid, the latent heat of CF3I at the temperature of 332.15 K is 78.50 kJ/kg, while acetone achieves 501.50 kJ/kg
at the same temperature which is rather higher than CF3I. It is
obviously indicated that the mass ow rate of working uid
declines linearly with the increasing of the outlet temperature of
heat source. Meanwhile, the mass ow rate difference between
each working uid is ever coming nearer. The reason is not far to
seek, rstly, the heat input nearly descends linearly (see Fig. 5).
Secondly, the descent rate of latent heat of different working uids
differs greatly.
4.5. Expander outlet temperature
Fig. 10 shows the variation of the expander outlet temperature of different working uid with the outlet temperature of
heat source. For isopentane and pentane, compared with the
reminder of working uid, more heat will reject in the

Fig. 11 exhibits the variation of the cycle irreversibility of

different working uids with the outlet temperature of heat source
with PPTD 5 K. It can be observed apparently that the cycle
irreversibility decreases linearly with the increasing of outlet
temperature of heat source, all the working uids have similar cycle
irreversibility performance at the same outlet temperature of heat
source. At the optimal operation condition, the cycle irreversibility
of CF3I shows maximal and acetone minimal, the cycle irreversibility difference between each working uid is less than 0.427 MW
(see Table 3). This is basically due to the fact that the evaporating
temperature increases if the outlet temperature of heat source
ascents.
From Eq. (11), the heat transfer rates in the vapor generator and
condenser associated with the ambient temperature play key roles
in affecting the cycle irreversibility. The smaller temperature
difference between two streams in the heat exchanger contributes
to lower cycle irreversibility. The results presented in Fig. 12 agree
well with the results presented in Fig. 11, since a deduction in the
cycle irreversibility represents an increment in exergy efciency.
However, the ascent rate of exergy efciency slowly declines as the
increasing of outlet temperature of heat source.

55

9
Acetone
Butane
Isopentane
Pentane
R245fa
CF3I

7
6

50
Exergy efficiency [%]

8
Cycle irreversibility [MW]

69

R141b
R21

5
4

45
40
35
30

25
2
1

20
320

325

330

335

340

345

350

Outlet temperature of heat source [K]

Fig. 11. Cycle irreversibility with respect to the outlet temperature of heat source with
PPTD 5 K.

320

325

330

335

340

345

350

Outlet temperature of heat source [K]

Fig. 12. Exergy efciency with respect to the outlet temperature of heat source with
PPTD 5 K.

D. Wang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 48 (2012) 63e71

Acetone
Butane
Isopentane
Pentane
R245fa
CF3I

3.5

Net power output [MW]

3.4
3.3
3.2

R141b
R21

3.1
3.0
2.9

5.9

5.7
5.6

5.4
5.3
5.2

5.0

5.5

6.0

6.5

7.0

7.5

8.0

8.5

9.0

R141b
R21

5.5

2.8
4.5

Acetone
Butane
Isopentane
Pentane
R245fa
CF3I

5.8
Cycle irreversibility [MW]

70

9.5

5.0

5.5

6.0

7.0

7.5

8.0

8.5

9.0

9.5

PPTD [K]

PPTD [K]
Fig. 13. Net power output with respect to the PPTD at Ths,out 313.15 K.

6.5

Fig. 15. Cycle irreversibility with respect to the PPTD at Ths,out 313.15 K.

In the following section, the effect of the pinch point temperature difference (PPTD) on the net power output, thermal efciency,
cycle irreversibility and exergy efciency at a xed outlet temperature of heat source will be discussed.

output. Wet uid, such as acetone, CF3I, R21, exhibits lower thermal
efciency than the others with the increasing of PPTD. For a given
PPTD, R245fa has the best thermal efciency, and the difference
between each working uid is rather small, approximate 0.1%.

4.7. Effect of PPTD on net power output

4.9. Effect of PPTD on cycle irreversibility and exergy efciency

As shown in Fig. 13, the net power output descends with the
increasing of PPTD at the outlet temperature of heat source of
313.15 K. The increasing of PPTD will result in poor utilization of the
waste heat. Meanwhile, the evaporating temperature decreases if
the PPTD increases, the net power output, in other word, the area
formed by the process of the ORC, decreases accordingly. For
a given PPTD, the net power output of CF3I shows maximal while
acetone minimal, the difference is probable 0.2 MW which is rather
small. However, a contradictory conclusion will be obtained for
a given net power output.

Figs. 15and 16 display the effect of PPTD on the cycle irreversibility and exergy efciency, respectively. PPTD, the difference
between the temperature of ushing slag water in the vapor
generator and the temperature of the organic uid rst beginning
to vaporize (see Fig. 3), limits the performance of heat exchanger,
especially the vapor generator. The exergy efciency of heat
transfer across a smaller temperature difference is much higher
(see Fig. 16), the reason is that a smaller temperature difference
leads to lower cycle irreversibility (see Fig. 15). As shown in Fig. 15,
CF3I exhibits the most exergy destruction at a given PPTD and
acetone least. Fig. 16 illustrates the exergy efciency versus PPTD at
a constant outlet temperature of heat source. This gure indicates
that the exergy efciency decreases with the increasing of PPTD,
CF3I has the minimal exergy efciency at a given PPTD due to the
most exergy destruction mentioned above. However, the working

4.8. Effect of PPTD on thermal efciency

The variation of thermal efciency with PPTD is depicted in
Fig. 14, which the variation trend is similar to that of the net power

5.0

Thermal efficiency [%]

4.8
4.7
4.6
4.5

R141b
R21

4.4
4.3
4.2

Acetone
Butane
Isopentane
Pentane
R245fa
CF3I

38
37
Exergy efficiency [%]

Acetone
Butane
Isopentane
Pentane
R245fa
CF3 I

4.9

36
35

R141b
R21

34
33

4.1
4.0

32

3.9
4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5 8.0 8.5 9.0 9.5

31

PPTD [K]
Fig. 14. Thermal efciency with respect to the PPTD at Ths,out 313.15 K.

5.0

5.5

6.0

6.5

7.0

7.5

8.0

8.5

9.0

9.5

PPTD [K]
Fig. 16. Exergy efciency with respect to the PPTD at Ths,out 313.15 K.

D. Wang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 48 (2012) 63e71

uid with the maximal exergy efciency at a given PPTD is not

acetone but R245fa.

71

Education (RFDP) (Grant No. 20103221110005) and Jiangsu Key

Laboratory of Process Enhancement and New Energy Equipment
Technology.

4.10. Overall analysis

On basis of the performance analysis of cycle (a) mentioned
above, the optimal operation condition and the most appropriate
working uid for waste heat recovery from the ushing slag water
at the temperature of 358.15 K have been obtained. Due to the fact
that the processes of two cycles are similar, the design parameters
of cycle (b) are clear and denite completely accordingly, or rather,
the design parameters of the heat storage tank in cycle (b). So long
as the evaporating temperature reaches 330.15 K, cycle (b) will
operate at the optimal operation condition while it begins to work.
Beside, the design of the appropriate heat storage tank is not
a major concern now.
5. Conclusion
A double organic Rankine cycle for the waste heat recovery from
discontinuous low temperature waste heat has been proposed. Eight
working uids have been comparatively analyzed. It is observed that
for a xed heat source, lower outlet temperature of heat source does
not always mean more efcient energy use. The optimal evaporating
temperature is 330.15 K for the working uids selected in this study,
and of all the working uids investigated, the difference of some
performances between each working uid is rather small. It can be
concluded that the optimal operation conditions of the ORC with
a given PPTD should be mainly determined by the heat carrier of the
heat source, in other words, the working uids have limited inuence on the optimal operation conditions at the low temperature
heat source. Although the net power output of CF3I is maximum, the
mass ow rate is rather high among all the working uids due to the
lowest latent heat, and the exergy efciency is the lowest. Accordingly, it is not suggested in this study. Due to the problems of sealing
against inltration of the atmospheric air into the system, acetone
and pentane are excluded. In addition, the expander outlet
temperature of isopentane and pentane is relatively high which not
only wastes heat but also adds cooling load of the condenser, and
they are also not appropriate for the low temperature waste heat
recovery. Wet uids, such as acetone, CF3I, R21, exhibit lower
thermal efciency than the others with the increasing of PPTD at
a xed outlet temperature of heat source. Acetone exhibits the least
exergy destruction at a given PPTD. However, the working uid with
the maximal exergy efciency at a given PPTD is not acetone but
R245fa. Consequently, dry and isentropic uids, such as butane,
R245fa and R141b, exhibit attractive performance for the low
temperature waste heat recovery.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the nancial support
provided by the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher

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