Thermal efficiency simulation of working fluids performance on small scale organic rankine cycle (ORC) with biomass energy

Abstract

This paper presents the comparative analysis of working fluids R-134a, R-414B, R-404A, and R-407C on small scale Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) with biomass of coconut shell as heat energy. Simulation of the close system using Cycle Tempo software and compared with mathematical calculation models using Engineering Equation Solver (EES) software. The property of working fluids is obtained by using Reference Fluid Properties (REFPROP). The best result performance of ORC was shown by working fluid R-404A with thermal efficiency ranges between 7.48-7.53% and electric power output range between 0.074-0.091 kW. This condition operated on the turbine inlet temperature at 60 °C, difference turbine working temperature of 15 °C, condensing temperature of 25 °C, and water boiler mass flow rate of 3 lpm. A comparison of thermal efficiency simulated by Cycles Tempo and EES has an average coefficient of determination (R2) is 99.20%.