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Rhea Borah
Independent Researcher
India
Abstract
This study presents a comprehensive thermodynamic model of Organic Rankine Cycles (ORCs) tailored for low-temperature heat recovery applications prevalent up to 2014. A steady-state, non-isentropic model incorporating real fluid properties was developed to assess cycle performance under varying heat source temperatures between 80 °C and 150 °C. Key performance indicators—thermal efficiency, net power output, and exergy destruction—were evaluated for five common working fluids (R245fa, R123, R134a, n-pentane, toluene). A statistical analysis was conducted to quantify the influence of heat source temperature and expander isentropic efficiency on cycle efficiency. Results indicate that R245fa and n-pentane achieve peak efficiencies of 12.3% and 11.8%, respectively, at 130 °C, with exergy destructions dominated by the expander and condenser. Identified research gaps include dynamic modeling under transient loads, economic optimization, and assessment of novel zeotropic mixtures. This work provides a foundation for engineering design and guides future research on ORC deployment in industrial waste-heat recovery.
Keywords
Organic Rankine Cycle, low-temperature heat recovery, thermodynamic modeling, exergy analysis, working fluids
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