Thermodynamic Modelling of Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) for Waste Heat Recovery of a Gas Turbine Engine

This paper presents a study on optimization and parametrization of thermodynamic modelling of Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) for waste heat recovery (WHR) of a gas turbine engine. Besides, this study will compare the thermal efficiency and net work out of Organic Rankine Cycle with that of Steam Rankine Cycle. Simulation is carried out in software Engineering Equation Solver (EES) by using iteration methods comprised of energy and exergy balance equations, pump and turbine equations and heat transfer. Results and conclusions from previous studies that have been done are taken in order to further the understanding of factors and limitations of the optimization of ORC for WHR.
The fluid selection process is a trade-off between thermodynamic, environmental and safety properties. However, due to limitation of time, this study only focuses on one type of organic fluid and it is used to compare with Steam. From this study, it has shown that organic fluid gives better value when it comes to thermal efficiency and net work out compared to steam. Thermal efficiency of Organic Rankine Cycle has shown an increment of 1-12% from thermal efficiency of Steam Rankine Cycle. As for net work out, Steam Rankine Cycle produced 40% higher value than that of Organic Rankine Cycle.