Performance assessment of shell and tube heat exchanger based subcritical and supercritical organic Rankine cycles

In this study, thermal models for subcritical and supercritical geothermal powered organic Rankine cycles are developed to compare the performance of these cycle configurations. Both of these models consist of a detailed model for the shell and tube heat exchanger integrating the geothermal and organic Rankine cycles sides and basic thermodynamic models for the rest of the components of the cycle. In the modeling of the heat exchanger, this component was divided into several zones and the outlet conditions of each zone were found applying logarithmic mean temperature difference method. Different Nusselt correlations according to the relevant phase (single, two-phase, and supercritical) were also included in this model. Using the system-level model, the effect of the source temperature on the performances of the heat exchanger and the organic Rankine cycle was assessed. These performance parameters are heat transfer surface area and pressure drop of tube side fluid for the heat exchanger, and electrical and exergetic efficiencies of the integrated organic Rankine cycles system. It was found that 44.12% more net power is generated when the supercritical organic Rankine cycle is used compared to subcritical organic Rankine cycle.