Flexible Kalina Cycle Systems

Tangellapalli Srinivas, N. Shankar Ganesh, R. Shankar

• Publisher: Apple Academic Press
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780429946936
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Science General
• Index: Biological Sciences

This volume provides a good understanding of the binary fluid system, highlighting new dimensions of the existing Kalina cycle system, a thermodynamic process for converting thermal energy into usable mechanical power. The book illustrates that providing new flexibility leads to new research outcomes and possible new projects in this field.

The information provided in the book simplifies the application of the Kalina cycle system with an easy-to-understand and thorough explanation of properties development, processes solutions, sub-system work, and total system work. There are currently no books available in the area of binary fluid system in the field of KCS with added fallibility in the operation and process design. Currently decentralized power systems are gaining more attention due to shortages in power, and cooling demands are competing with other electrical loads. This book fills a valuable information gap, providing insight into a new dimension for designers, practicing engineers, and academicians in this area.

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

ABSTRACT

Kalina cycle system (KCS) is a binary fluid power generation cycle suitable to operate at low-temperature source or heat recovery. Similarly, vapor absorption refrigeration (VAR) is also a binary fluid refrigeration cycle operating on low-temperature thermal source instead of mechanical energy supply. VAR seems to be a reverse KCS in operation. Therefore, cooling cogeneration or combined power and cooling cycles are developed and studied from the conceptual operation of KCS and VAR. This chapter gives the introduction of KCS, VAR, and its derived cooling cogenerations. The need of diluting the binary fluid at the entry of absorber for condensation is illustrated for easy understanding. The conventional power plant and KCS are differentiated with the air of property charts drawn to scale.

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Once upon a time, the telephonic talk was a costly process. Nowadays, it is very cheap and everyone is using mobile phones as a common practice. Energy is more expensive and its cost is continuously increasing from a long period. For example, the cost of electricity, petrol, diesel, cooking, natural gas, etc. is rising, so they are expensive. Therefore, two possible solutions are discussed to address these problems. To solve these issues, innovative ideas and updating old technologies are required such as 4G (fourth generation) and/or increasing the nonconventional energy sharing. Development of new solutions and systems operated by waste heat recovery is aimed in this chapter. These needs can be fulfilled by taping natural resources. To develop the energy conversion devices, initially thermodynamic evaluation is a preliminary step. According to Sadi Carnot, father of thermodynamic science, man controls the entire universe even though he is weak compared to animals because of electricity. He suggested doing thermodynamic analysis before starting the experimentation on thermal systems. The best thermodynamic cycle is a circle. Minimum four basic thermodynamic processes are required to complete a thermodynamic cycle. Carnot also recommended high-source and low-sink temperature to achieve the high thermal efficiency. Vapor absorption cycles can be categorized into power cycles and cooling cycles. Unlike other cycles, vapor absorption cycles have special features of merging these two cycles into a single plant, which is called combined power and cooling. Apart from the power, the vapor absorption system can be designed for multioutput generation.

1.2 CURRENT ENERGY SCENARIO

We need energy for cooling, lighting, air-conditioning, transportation, farming, industry, entertainment, etc. We cannot imagine our life without the use of energy. Otherwise, it looks like living in a forest or remote area. As reported in International Energy Outlook 2013 (IEO, 2013), the world’s energy demand is increasing drastically by 56% in 2040. It is, respectively, 524, 630, and 820 quadrillion British Thermal Units in 2010, 2020, and 2040. To support and improve the status of the world’s energy scenario, a committee is formed by the developed countries, which is called Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The countries other than the OECD countries are called non-OECD countries. The per-capita energy consumption and growth in OECD countries are much higher than the non-OECD countries. The energy growth in non-OECD and OECD countries are, respectively, 17% and 90%. The power generation in the world is 20.2 trillion units and it is expected to reach to 40 trillion units by 2040. Now also, many villages in non-OECD countries are suffering from lack of electricity. The strategy and supply of power in OECD countries are well established.

Presently, majority of the electricity generation is coming from the fissile fuels. More than 50% of power is generated from coal at national and international level. On the other side, the renewable energy sharing in power generation also increases due to increased awareness on global warming. In addition to fossil fuels in power plants, its role in transportation is also one of the reasons for global warming. The sharing of renewable and nuclear energy in power production is increasing by 2.5% per year. The use of natural gas is increasing tremendously (1.7% per year) compared to others. In future, the use of coal will increase compared to petroleum and liquid fuels. In 1990–2010, the Indian economy rate increased with an average of 6.4% per year. In future, coal occupies a second rank in the energy sharing. Its use is increasing 1.3% per year. But the use of coal involves lot of issues such as thermal pollution, ash, dust, carbon dioxide, etc. Therefore, there is a need to suppress the coal use in the energy field. The alternative solution is the waste heat recovery and renewable energy development. In some countries such as China, the use of coal is discouraged by developing the gas resources. Many countries also framed the policies and regulations to minimize the use of fossil fuels and encourage using the natural resources.

The power section involves generation, transmission, and distribution. Few state administrates are called electricity boards and others are called corporations. New trends with a focus on energy efficiency and environmental protection in the lines of generation, transmission, and distribution will change the shape of this sector. As mentioned in the earlier section, many villages are not connected with electricity. Farmers will stay at villages. To secure our farmers, focus must be given on rural electrifications. Decentralized power and smart-gird systems are fabulous solutions for rural electrification. Apart from the focus on power production, awareness on energy conservation avoids the wastage of electricity. Citizens also should support the government by eliminating the power robbers. New technologies and encouragement on research and development in energy field should be developed meeting the current challenges. The cogeneration, trigeneration, and polygeneration make a nation independent and practice the sustainability. In summer, the power failures and interruptions are more compared to winter. There is more solar energy intensity in summer. So, people may not feel the seasonal scarcity by involving the sun in energy conversion.

Energy is a part of human life, which involves in the daily activities such as lighting, transportation, electricity, etc. Energy meets the requirements of all the functions and is the main part of industries, domestic, commercial forms, agricultural, etc. Most of the energy needs are fulfilled by fossil fuels; its reservoirs are diminishing. The fossil fuels are exhaustive in nature and so alternative energy sources are natural resources (Sustainable Urban Energy, 2012). The irresponsible tapping of these fossil fuels causes harmful gases and damages the wealthy surroundings. The urban area in the world is less than 3% and it causes 67% of emission by consuming 75% of resources.

The renewable energy sharing is increasing every year with the fear of environmental damage. During 2011–2013, the nonconventional energy sources’ sharing is 3.8% in India. Currently, its sharing is nearly 15% and in future will shoot up as per the expectations. Burning fossil fuels causes the generation of more carbon dioxide, but the burning of biomass neutralizes the carbon dioxide production by generation and by absorbing through trees. The increase in thermal energy conversion efficiency suppresses the fuel use and so indirectly is held in the emission control. New regulations are framing to encourage the renewable energy conversion, reducing the carbon dioxide emissions. A single-energy output plant has lower conversion efficiency compared to the multioutput plant. The efficiency of a thermal power plant is considerably low compared to integration with process heat. Therefore, polygeneration (production of double or more than double) systems are gaining more attention recently to meet the multiple needs from the single resource or hybridized sources.

Figure 1.1 differentiates the energy conversion for single output and multibenefits. In the multigeneration plant such as cogeneration, trigeneration, polygeneration, etc., the efficiency is increasing drastically by minimizing the energy losses. Nearly 9% of energy demand is met by cogeneration in 2011. Out of this cogeneration, 26% of plants are operating by industrial waste heat. Fuel saving, compact, high-energy conversion, etc. are the driving elements to promote the cogeneration plants.

FIGURE 1.1 Comparison of noncogeneration and cogeneration systems: (a) thermal efficiency of nonintegrated plant and (b) thermal efficiency of integrated plant.

The majority of power in Denmark and Latvia is supplied by cogeneration plants. Similarly, Japan is also encouraging significantly to increase the cogeneration plants to meet the power and process heat demands. India has a great potential for cogeneration as it is an agricultural-based country. The population is increasing drastically to 1.3 billion and now it occupies 17% of the global population. It ranks seventh in the world and is now trying to develop enough energy through the cogeneration mode.

The coal reserves are depleting very fast. It may be available only for a few decades. The coal is used not only in thermal power plants but also in steel plants, cement factories, and other industries. On the other hand, the majority of the liquid fuels are used in transport sector and little is used in power sector. So, there is a serious need to address the scarcity of energy and the emission. The gaseous fuels are used in cooling, industries, power, and transport sector due to clear in nature. Still, the natural gas sources are also exhaustive and need alternative solutions such as hydrogen generation, producer gas, etc.

The sharing of renewable energy sources is increasing with government encouragement and support with the subsidies. High cost, nonavailability of biomass, challenges in hydrogen storage and transportation, dilute nature of solar energy, and many challenges are involved in the collection, storage, and utilization of natural resources. The conventional energy sources are rich, even though they are exhaustive in nature. The mix of conventional and nonconventional energies solves the issues in the renewable energies to some extent. The mixing of different renewable energies also solves the above-listed challenges. For example, the solar energy is nonuniform and dilutes in supply. The nonavailability of biomass suppresses its commercialization. The hybrid use of solar and biomass subsidizes these setbacks.

To solve the climatic problems caused by emissions from engines, power plants, industries, etc., a lot of innovations and research is required. Carbon dioxide may be used as a raw material to create a new fuel. For every problem, there might be many solutions, but they are hidden. The researchers have to contribute to find these unknown or hidden solutions. Earlier, our forefathers followed many environmental friendly practices such as green buildings, natural lightings, hydro-energy in agriculture, etc. The new generation also needs to relook into these passive practices to avoid the use of electricity for every need. The major thermal power plants in India are operating at lower efficiency as they have thermal losses. By properly utilizing this thermal waste such as in cogeneration, the overall energy conversion rate will increase. It also saves the environment by increasing the fuel conversion efficiency and minimizing the thermal pollution. Due to the lack of technology development for the Indian climatic conditions, installation of cogeneration installation capacity is limited in India. From the report of global cold-storage capacity 2012, the United States stands first in the cold-storage industries, India occupies the second position, and China the third position. In the year 2008–2012, the capacity of the cold storage increased globally, especially India showed the highest increase in cold-storage capacity of 25% from the last 14 years (1998–2012).

According to the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR) in Paris, 15% of electricity produced in the world is used only for refrigeration and air-conditioning. The increase of the cold-storage area again increases the energy demand because most of the refrigeration and air-conditioning works by using electricity. According to the report of IIR, the global temperature will increase to 3.6°C in 2017 due to more emission of CO₂ if we fail to limit the present temperature which is 2°C. To limit global warming, the halo-genated refrigerants are banned all over the world. To avoid the electricity use in the compressor, the vapor absorption refrigeration (VAR) systems are developed which is run by the use of heat. There must be a concept to meet the energy demand and electricity use for the refrigeration to run a successful day-to-day human life.

1.3 THERMAL POWER PLANTS

In thermal power plant, heat is used as a source of energy and this heat (low-grade energy) is converted into electricity (high-grade energy). Thermal power can be operated using renewable energy sources or conventional energy sources. Since many challenges are involved in the tapping of renewable energy sources, conventional energy sources can be complemented with nonconventional sources such as cofiring of coal with biomass, solar water heating before coal firing, etc. In conventional thermal power plants, coal, natural gas, diesel, etc. are used to operate the heat engine such as steam turbine, gas turbine, diesel engine, and similar. Most of the thermal power plants work on the basic principle of fuel energy (chemical energy) conversion into thermal, thermal into mechanical, and finally mechanical into electrical energy conversions. In a solar thermal power plant, sunbeams are focused on a line or point to convert the water into steam and further the steam expands in turbine to generate electricity. In a solar Stirling engine, which is an external combustion engine, sunbeams are focused, the working fluid expands and rejects heat at the condenser where it contracts. In some power plants, the thermal energy is directly converted into electricity without any mechanical root. They would not obey the heat engine principles. These direct energy conversion plants are solar photovoltaic (PV) plants, thermo-ionic generator, magneto-hydrodynamic power plants, etc. But in fuel cells, the chemical energy of fuel is directly converted into electricity without any thermal or mechanical shades.

Thermal power plant obeys the law of thermodynamics and the Carnot principles and works with the Carnot limitation. In the thermal power plant, the source and sink are the mandatory items. Without sink, it violates the second law of thermodynamics and becomes the perpetual motion machine which is impossible. The thermal efficiency of a heat engine can be increased by increasing the source temperature and/or decreasing the sink temperature. It has been found from the thermodynami...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Abbreviations
• Nomenclature
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Introduction
• 2. History of Developments
• 3. Basic Thermodynamics
• 4. Thermodynamic Properties of Ammonia–Water Mixture
• 5. Binary Mixture Thermodynamic Processes
• 6. Kalina Cycle System with Low-Temperature Heat Recovery
• 7. Kalina Cycle System with Intermediate-Temperature Heat Recovery
• 8. Kalina Cycle System with High-Temperature Heat Recovery
• 9. Cooling Cogeneration
• Appendix: Ammonia–Water Mixture Properties—Tables and Graphs
• References
• Index