International Journal of Computer and Electrical Engineering, Vol. 5, No.

2, April 2013

Energy-Economic Analysis and Configuration Design of

the Kalina Solar-OTEC System
Faming Sun, Weisheng Zhou, Kenichi Nakagami, and Xuanming Su

performance to reduce the electricity cost. Kalina use an

ammonia-water mixture as the working fluid in their cycle,
which have been developed and reported to have better
performance than the Rankine cycle at same temperature
difference [5]. Thus, Kalina cycle is considered as one
promising way to be used in OTEC. In addition, since the
solar energy is also abundant in the districts with rich ocean
thermal energy [6]. Therefore, the solar energy should be
taken into consideration as the additional heating source to
improve the efficiency of the OTEC. Thus, recently, many
researchers devote themselves to study the Solar-OTEC
[7]-[11]. All their results suggested that Solar-OTEC may be
an effective way to improve feasibility of the power
generation system.
In summary, although many studies described that the
combination of OTEC with solar energy could be a possible
way to improve the availability of the cycle, however the
high-efficiency utilization of solar energy in OTEC system is
scarcely considered even though it is significant for
designing high performance Solar-OTEC system in
engineering practice. It prompts us to carry out the present
study. In this study, the Kalina Solar-OTEC is firstly
proposed. And then, by exerting solar energy to different part
of Solar-OTEC system, three kinds of configuration cases are
analyzed and compared from the point of view of
thermodynamic and economic analysis. Finally, the way of
designing high performance hybrid configuration of the
Kalina Solar-OTEC system will be clarified.

AbstractBased on one of the typical low-grade thermal

power cycles, Kalina cycle, the solar auxiliary boosted ocean
thermal energy conversion (Kalina Solar-OTEC) system is
proposed in the paper. To utilize solar energy in the
Solar-OTEC system with high performance and low cost, three
kinds of configurations by acting same solar heat transfer rate
on different part of the Solar-OTEC system are designed and
discussed here. Meanwhile, the corresponding calculation
model is built to compare their performance. Results show that
Kalina Solar-OTEC in case 1 has better thermodynamics and
economic performance than other cases.
Index TermsEnergy-Economic analysis, kalina cycle,
solar-otec, thermal power generation.

I. INTRODUCTION
Energy shortage and environmental pollution are two
critical issues in this century that must be appropriately
solved to produce new energy and at the same time to reduce
emissions. Renewable energy is being considered as a more
promising way for it, and offering an excellent opportunity to
supply clean electricity with a non-CO2 emitting technology.
Especially after the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan,
renewable energy is got a growing respect in the world. It is
the energy which comes from natural resources such as
sunlight, ocean thermal gradients, wind, rain, tides, and
geothermal heat, etc. Recently, under the government policy
guidance, ocean thermal energy has attracted more and more
attentions. Numerous efforts have been paid to try to use it to
generate electricity, or ocean thermal energy conversion
(OTEC).
OTEC is a power system which generates electricity using
the temperature difference between sea surface and deep-sea
[1]. In the past few decades, research attentions have focused
on the development of OTEC. And ammonia is reported as
one of the suitable working fluids for a closed Rankine cycle
OTEC plant from the view point of the net power output
[2]-[4]. However, its performance is limited since the
available temperature difference is small for OTEC, which
leads to a high cost of the electricity. Therefore, many
researchers devote themselves to improving the cycle

II. BASIC PARAMETERS AND GENERAL ASSUMPTION

Manuscript received October 16, 2012; revised November 24, 2012. This
work was financial supported by the AY2012 Research Promotion Program
(Young Scientist) (Ritsumeikan University).
F. M. Sun is with the R-GIRO, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan
(e-mail: sunfamingjia@gmail.com or sunfmjia@fc.ritsumei.ac.jp).
W. S. Zhou and K. Nakagami are with College of Policy Science,
Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan (e-mail: zhou@sps.ritsumei.ac.jp,
nakagami@sps.ritsumei.ac.jp).
X. M. Su is with the R-GIRO, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan
(e-mail: xuanming@fc.ritsumei.ac.jp).

DOI: 10.7763/IJCEE.2013.V5.692

Fig. 1. Sketch of the Kalina Solar-OTEC system

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International Journal of Computer and Electrical Engineering, Vol. 5, No. 2, April 2013

wf he . Heat rate rejected from the cycle (condenser)

Q ewf m
is mass flow rate of
is given as Q m h , where, m

A. Kalina Solar-OTEC System Description

As shown in Fig. 1, based on the KCS-11, which is
commonly used in recovering energy from the
low-temperature heat resources, the Kalina Solar-OTEC
system is proposed here. It is mainly including power
generation subcycle, solar collector subcycle and cold
seawater subcycle. And its working fluid is ammonia-water
mixture, whose thermodynamic properties are simulated by
using Ibrahims data [12]. Therefore, main devices of the
system are listed and described as follows.
A working fluid pump
A warm seawater pump
A cold seawater pump
A regenerator
An evaporator
Three solar-evaporators
A solar collector
A separator
A turbine
A generator
A diffuser
An absorber
A condenser
The turbine exhaust wet vapor (12) is mixed with saturated
liquid (10) in the absorber. And the wet vapor (1) leaving the
absorber is cooled in the condenser to become the saturated
liquid (2). Then it is compressed to the compressed liquid (3)
by the working fluid pump. Meanwhile, the working fluid
wet vapor is separated into rich ammoniawater mixture
saturated vapor (7) and the poor ammonia-water mixture
saturated liquid (8). And then the vapor is expanded in the
turbine to generate electricity by using a generator.
Moreover, the compressed liquid (9) leaving the regenerator
releases pressure in the diffuser to become saturated liquid.
And the compressed liquid (4) reheated by the regenerator is
sent to the evaporator, where it is heated to saturated liquid
(5) and then boiled to wet vapor (5) by the ocean thermal
energy.
Furthermore, the corresponding solar collector subcycle
can be designed by adjusting its solar collector area and mass
flow rate. And the comparative performance analysis with
same solar heat transfer rate acted on different part of the
system can be carried out in the following cases.
Case 1 (solar collector subcycle is a-b-c-h-i-j-a), in this
case, the saturated vapor (7) will be superheated to the
superheated vapor (11) in the Solar-Evaporator 1.
Case 2 (solar collector subcycle is a-d-e-h-i-j-a), in this
case, the wet vapor (5) will be further heated to wet vapor (6)
in the Solar-Evaporator 2.
Case 3 (solar collector subcycle is a-f-g-h-i-j-a), in this
case, the warm seawater will be firstly heated in the
Solar-Evaporator 3 before it enters the evaporator.
In addition, in the Solar-OTEC system, heat rate absorbed
is
from the heat exchanger is Q m c p t , in which, m

cwf

wf

wf

the working fluid. In addition, heat conduction in the

exchanger is assumed as Q UA Tm , where Q is the rate
of heat transfer; U is the overall heat-transfer coefficient; A
is the cross-section area normal to the direction of heat
transfer; Tm is called the logarithmic mean temperature
difference
(LMTD)
and
gives
Tm ( ti to ) / ln( ti / to ) .
B. Comparative Economic Analysis of the Kalina
Solar-OTEC Configurations
In order to have an economic analysis and cost comparison
of the proposed Kalina solar-OTEC hybrid configurations,
simple comparative analysis of the generating cost is
introduced here. Reference [13], it is assumed that AN , K
represents annuity of payments linked to capital, which is
calculated as product of the investment A0 and the annuity
factor a determined by the interest rate i and the economic
life time , that is AN , K A0 a A0 (1 i ) i / ((1 i ) 1) .
In addition, f K shows the factor for repairs, maintenance
and insurance and hfull load stands for full load hours. As a
result, the system electricity production costs Cepc can be
expressed as Cepc [ AN ,K A0 ( f K /100)] / (Wnet hfull load ) .
Let

((1 i ) i / ((1 i ) 1) f K /100) / hfull load

then Cepc A0 / Wnet . In addition, dimensionless parameters

are introduced as follows for comparative economic analysis
of the Solar-OTEC cases: case 1 Cepc, case 1 / Cepc, case 1 1 ,

case 2 Cepc, case 2 / Cepc, case 1 , case 3 Cepc, case 3 / Cepc, case 1 . It
should be noted that the smaller case , the lower generating
cost. And case II 1 means that the cost performance in case
II is better than that of case 1. Conversely, 0 case II 1
means that the cost performance in case 1 is better than that of
case II, where II represents the number of the case.
Moreover, the following assumptions are applied to the
Solar-OTEC.
1) The rate of heat transfer from solar collector is constant
in all cases.
2) The thermodynamic cycle of the Solar-OTEC is an ideal
cycle. Turbine efficiency and pump efficiency are given
100%.
3) The piping and other auxiliary are considered to be ideal
and no heat losses.
Based on aforementioned assumptions and the temperature
condition in Solar-OTEC, the initial condition for Kalina
Solar-OTEC is given in Table I.
TABLE I: INITIAL CONDITION FOR CALCULATION

mass flow rate of the heat or cold sources, c p represents the

specific heat at constant pressure, t means the temperature
difference of the heat exchanger. Meanwhile, heat rate
supplied to the cycle (evaporator) is shown as

twsi 28.0 [C]

wf 0.1: 0.1: 2.1[kg/s]

m

ws 60 [kg/s]
m

cs 40 [kg/s]
m

(UA / Q )e, c 0.4 [1/C]

tcsi 4.0 [C]

y5 0.95[kg/kg]

Q s 50 [kW]

swf 0.25[kg/s]
m

(UA / Q ) rg 0.25 [1/C]

188

(UA / Q )se1 , se2 , se3 0.3[1/C]

International Journal of Computer and Electrical Engineering, Vol. 5, No. 2, April 2013

combined with y11 y7 and P11 P7 in this case, the state of

point 11 will be solved here. And through the heat balance in
Solar-Evaporator 1, the temperature t c is solved as following

III. CALCULATION MODEL OF THE SOLAR-OTEC SYSTEM

As mentioned above, three configuration cases are chosen
to be calculated. And the corresponding flow chart is given
here as shown in Fig. 2.

Q se

UA

1
t t

Q se
swf c p 11 7
Q se m

1
tc t11 t7 e

swf c p

(1)

Q se

UA

1
t11 t7

c
Q

swf
p

se

1
/ 1 e

swf c p ) tc and Q se Q s .
Meanwhile, tb ta Q se / (m
1

Hereby, t wso , tcso , P6 and P2 are assumed as iteration

variables in this case (Fig. 2). And the corresponding
constraint functions are Q e Q ewf , Q c Q cwf ,
(UA / Q ) given and (UA / Q ) given , respectively.
rg

Thus according to the given initial condition, the state of the

system points could be found by iterative calculation. And
the thermal efficiency of the Kalina Solar-OTEC in this case
can be given as ksotec, case1 Wnet , case1 / Qe, case1 , in which,

wf (1 (h11 h12 ) (h3 h2 ))

Wnet , case1 m

wf (h5 h4 ) m
wf 1 (h11 h7 ) .
Qe, case1 m
B. Kalina Solar-OTEC Case 2
For case 2, Solar-Evaporator 2 is effective, which means
that the solar collector subcycle is a-d-e-h-i-j-a. In this case,
the calculation approach for most points is same with that of
case 1 except some special points, such as point 11, which
has same properties as point 7 since there is no
Solar-Evaporator 1 here. In addition, there is also no
Solar-Evaporator 3 here, so twss twsi . Meanwhile, by using
the heat balance in the Solar-Evaporator 2, the enthalpy of
wf . And combined
point 6 can be given as h6 h5 Q se / m

Fig. 2. Flow chart of Kalina Solar-OTEC calculation procedure

A. Kalina Solar-OTEC Case 1

In this case, Solar-Evaporator 1 is effective. That is to say,
the Solar-Evaporator 1 is directly connected with the solar
collector pump and solar collector, or, the solar collector
subcycle is a-b-c-h-i-j-a, as shown in Fig. 1. By using the heat
balance of the evaporator, that is, the heat transfer rate
ws cP (twsi twso ) is equal to
absorbed from seawater Q e m
(h h ) , the warm
that supplied to the cycle Q m
ewf

wf

with the given y6 and P6 in this case, the state of point 6

will be obtained. And through heat balance in
Solar-Evaporator 2, the temperature t e can be solved as
following

se
UA

t t

Q
swf c p 6 5
se 2
Q se m

2
te t6 t5 e

mswf c p

seawater temperature at the outlet of the heat exchanger

( t wso ) can be calculated with iterative solution as shown in
Fig. 2. In a similar way, the cold seawater temperature at the
outlet of the heat exchanger ( tcso ) can also be solved here.
Furthermore, in this case, leave the influence of solar
collector pump to temperature out of consideration, which
means that tc th ti t j . In addition, by using the heat

swf c p ) te and Q se Q s .
Meanwhile, td ta Q se / (m

balance in the Solar-Evaporator 1, the enthalpy of point 11

wf ) , 1 m 7 / m 5 . And
can be given as h11 h7 Q se / (1 m

Thus, the thermal efficiency of the Kalina Solar-OTEC in

this case can be given as ksotec, case2 Wnet , case2 / Qe, case2 , in

se
UA

t t

swf c p 6 5
Q se m

2
/ 1 e

189

(2)

International Journal of Computer and Electrical Engineering, Vol. 5, No. 2, April 2013

wf (1 (h7 h12 ) (h3 h2 ))

Wnet , case2 m

which,

However, it should be noted that the net power output of

Solar-OTEC system in case 1 is evidently higher than other
cases at a certain solar heat transfer rate. It means that the
solar energy directly heats the saturated ammonia vapor to
superheat vapor and then drive it to do work in the turbine of
the Solar-OTEC system for power generation, which can
enhance the net power output of the Solar-OTEC systems.
In addition, simple economic comparative analysis is also
introduced here to highlight the interest of the proposed
Kalina Solar-OTEC hybrid configurations. Firstly, it should
be noted that case 1 , case 2 and case 3 are assumed to be

1 m 7 / m 6 , Qe, case2 m wf (h6 h4 ) .

C. Kalina Solar-OTEC Case 3
About case 3, Solar-Evaporator 3 is effective, that means
the Solar-Evaporator 3 is connect with the solar collector
pump and solar collector directly. In this case, the approach
of calculation for most points is same with that of case 1 or 2
except some special points (point 11 and 6), which has same
properties as point 7 and 5 respectively since there are no
Solar-Evaporator 1 and 2 here. Meanwhile, by using the heat
balance in the Solar-Evaporator 3, we know that
ws c p ) . And through heat balance in
twss twsi Q se / (m

approximately equal. And A0, case 1 , A0, case 2 and A0, case 3 are
also considered approximately equal since the solar heat
transfer rate is discussed as a constant.
Thus, from the abovementioned analysis, it is known that
the case 2 and case 3 can be written in the following forms:

Solar-Evaporator 3, the temperature tg is solved as

following
Q se

UA

3
twss twsi

Q se

c
Q

se swf p

3
t g twss twsi e

swf c p

/ 1 e

Q se

UA
3
twss twsi

c
Q

se swf p

case 2 Wnet , case 1 / Wnet , case 2

case 3 Wnet , case 1 / Wnet , case 3 . And then, from the Fig. 4 it is
observed that case 1 is always less than case 2 and case 3 in
(3)

the condition of Q s 0 . This means that the system electricity

production costs Cepc in case 1 is lower than that of case 2
and 3 for Kalina Solar-OTEC system. Meanwhile, it is also
noticed that the gap between case 1 and the other cases of
Kalina Solar-OTEC system is becoming larger and larger
with increasing Q s . This means that the larger system size,
the better economic superiority of case 1. Overall, the Kalina
Solar-OTEC system in case 1 is the best choice for
Solar-OTEC system.

swf c p ) tg and Q se Q s .
Meanwhile, t f ta Q se / (m
3

and

Therefore, the thermal efficiency of the Kalina

Solar-OTEC in this case can be given as
ksotec, case3 Wnet , case3 / Qe, case3 , in which,

wf (1 (h7 h12 ) (h3 h2 )) , 1 m 7 / m 5 ,

Wnet , case3 m

wf (h5 h4 ) .
Qe, case3 m
Finally, the rationality of the designed calculation program
is checked successfully based on the characteristics of the
Kalina Solar-OTEC system.

IV. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

As the first step of studying on Solar-OTEC in Kalina
cycle, the optimized mass flow rate of working fluid to
maximize net power output in Kalina cycle is carried out
under the given condition of Table I with Q s 0 [kW] . It
shows that the optimized mass flow rate of working fluid in
k ,wf )opt 1.8 [kg / s] , which corresponding
Kalina cycle is (m

Fig. 3. Relationship between solar heat transfer rate and net power output

to the maximum net power output of the Kalina cycle

( (Wk ,net )max 44.6 [kW] ), and its thermal efficiency is 3.56%.
Therefore, the optimized mass flow rate of working fluid is
chosen as the further initial condition for performance
comparison analysis of the Kalina Solar-OTEC
configurations.
To clarify the performance of the Solar-OTEC in Kalina
cycle, the relationship between solar heat transfer rate and net
power output in three configuration cases are shown in Fig. 3.
It is obvious that the net power outputs of Solar-OTEC in all
cases are increased with increasing the solar heat transfer rate
since it is known that the more solar energy is utilized in
Solar-OTEC system, the more net power output is obtained.

Fig. 4. Relationship between solar heat transfer rate and net power output

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International Journal of Computer and Electrical Engineering, Vol. 5, No. 2, April 2013
Faming Sun received his Ph.D. in Fluid Mechanics at
Dalian University of Technology on July, 2009. Now
he works as a postdoctoral fellow in Ritsumeikan
Global Innovation Research Organization (R-GIRO),
Japan. Before coming to R-GIRO, he worked as a
postdoctoral fellow in Institute of Ocean Energy, Saga
University (IOES) in Japan. His research interests
focus on energy, exergy and economic analysis and
numerical simulation of the low grade thermal power
generation system, such as the energy and exergy analysis of the Solar-OTEC
System in Organic Rankine cycle (ORC), Kalina cycle, Uehara cycle, etc.

V. CONCLUSIONS
Three kinds of Kalina Solar-OTEC configurations are
studied by exerting same solar heat transfer rate to different
part of the system in the paper. And the comparative
performance analysis between them is carried out for
high-efficiency utilization of solar energy in Solar-OTEC
system. Results show that Kalina Solar-OTEC in case 1 has
better thermodynamics and economic performance than other
cases. This means that the solar superheater is essential in
Kalina Solar-OTEC system for power generation if the initial
conditions are same. In this case, it can enhance the net power
output of the system.

Weisheng Zhou received his bachelor degree from

Zhejiang University, master degree from Dalian
University of Technology, doctor degree from Kyoto
University. Now he is Professor of College of Policy
Science at Ritsumeikan University, the founding
director of Ritsumeikan Research Center for
Sustainability Science (RCS). Before coming to
Ritsumeikan University, he worked as research fellow
in New Energy and Industrial Technology
Development Organization (NEDO) and director in Research Institute of
Innovative Technology for the Earth. Currently, his work is focused on
environmental economics and policy, especially on energy policy.

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Ken'ichi Nakagami received his Dr. Eng. in

Environmental Engineering 1981 from Osaka
University, Japan. He is working as a Professor of
Environmental Economics & Policy, School of Policy
Science, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan. He is
also the Adviser, Ritsumeikan Center for
Sustainability Science and Honorable Executive
Trustee for Financial Affairs, The Ritsumeikan Trust
(since 2008). His Research and Professional Interest in
Environmental Economics & Policy, Water Resources & Environmental
Policy, Urban & Regional Environmental Policy, River Basin Resources /
Environment Management & Planning, Integrated Water Management and
Water Security.
Xuanming Su received his Ph.D. degree of policy
science from Ritsumeikan University, Japan. At
present he works as a postdoctoral fellow in
Ritsumeikan
Global
Innovation
Research
Organization (R-GIRO), Japan and his research
interests focus on energy environmental policy, energy
model, energy economic, CO2 emissions, climate
change mitigation, etc.

191