HEAT RECOVERY FOR ELECTRICITY GENERATION IN LOW TEMPERATURE POWER CYCLES

• Published in: Analele Universităţii "Constantin Brâncuşi" din Târgu Jiu: Seria Inginerie Vol. 2019; no. 3; pp. 59 - 65
• Main Author: Mihai Cruceru
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Editura Academica Brâncuşi 01.11.2019
• Subjects: efficiency; organic rankine cycle
• ISSN: 1842-4856; 2537-530X

In order to remain within the 1.5 ° C limit of the Paris Agreement, countries that operate coal-fired power plants should replace some of them with renewable energy capacities, and reduce the activity of the operational ones. Another possibility to diminish emissions is the saving of primary energy and, in this context, the recovery of energy from industrial processes should be a priority. For most companies in Romania, the continuous increase of the cost of utilities, and especially of the cost of energy in different forms, has a significant influence on the production and the profit. Increasing the energy efficiency of the processes and the decentralized generation of energy represent opportunities to decrease the dependence of companies on an energy market that is, most of the times, inflexible. At the same time, costs would be reduced and corporate social responsibility would increase. The paper analyzes the possibility of covering the energy requirement for a wood processing company, through decentralized generation of electricity and heat. Considering that the sawdust resulting from the technological process is burned in heating boilers, an ORC can be installed to recover the heat of the flue gases discharged from the boiler to produce electricity.