The aim of this thesis is to evaluate ORC systems and technologies from an energy and economic perspective. ORC systems are a growing renewable electricity generation technology, but New Zealand has limited local skills and expertise for identifying ORC resource opportunities and subsequently developing suitable technologies at low cost. For this reason, this thesis researches ORC technology, resource types, and international development, with the aim to determine guidelines for how to cost-effectively develop ORC systems, and to make recommendations applicable to furthering their development within a New Zealand context. This thesis first uses two surveys, one of commercial ORC installations, and a second of economic evaluations of ORC systems in literature, to determine what resources and economic scenarios are supportive of commercial development. It is found that geothermal resources provide the largest share of ORC capacity, with biomass and waste-heat recovery (WHR) being developed more recently. The surveys also found that countries with high electricity prices or policy interventions have developed a wider range of resources using ORC systems. This thesis then undertakes an EROI evaluation of ORC electricity generation systems using a combination of top-down and process based methodologies. Various heat sources; geothermal, biomass, solar, and waste heat are evaluated in order to determine how the utilised resource can affect energy profitability. A wide range of EROIstnd values, from 3.4 – 22.7 are found, with solar resources offering the lowest EROIs, and geothermal systems the highest. Higher still EROI values are found to be obtainable with longer system lifetimes, especially for WHR systems. Specific engineering aspects of ORC design and technology such as high-side pressure, heat storage, modularity, superheating, pinch-point temperature difference, and turbine efficiency are evaluated in terms of economic performance, and a variety of general conclusions are made about each. It is found that total system thermo-economic optimisation may not lead to the highest possible EROI, depending on the objective function. Lastly, the effects of past and potential future changes to the markets and economies surrounding ORCs are explored, including the New Zealand electricity spot price, steel and aluminium prices, subsidies, and climate policy. Of the subsidy types explored, it is found that directly subsidising ORC system capital has the greatest effect on the economic performance of ORC systems, as measured by common metrics. In conclusion, this thesis finds that ORC systems have a limited applicability to New Zealand’s electricity market under current economic conditions outside of geothermal and off-grid generation, but changes to these conditions could potentially make their development more viable. The author recommends that favourable resources should be developed using systems that provide high efficiencies, beyond what might provide the best economic performance, in order to increase EROI, and reduce the future need for costly investments into increasingly less favourable resources.

The aim of this thesis is to evaluate ORC systems and technologies from an energy and economic perspective. ORC systems are a growing renewable electricity generation technology, but New Zealand has limited local skills and expertise for identifying ORC resource opportunities and subsequently developing suitable technologies at low cost. For this reason, this thesis researches ORC technology, resource types, and international development, with the aim to determine guidelines for how to cost-effectively develop ORC systems, and to make recommendations applicable to furthering their development within a New Zealand context. This thesis first uses two surveys, one of commercial ORC installations, and a second of economic evaluations of ORC systems in literature, to determine what resources and economic scenarios are supportive of commercial development. It is found that geothermal resources provide the largest share of ORC capacity, with biomass and waste-heat recovery (WHR) being developed more recently. The surveys also found that countries with high electricity prices or policy interventions have developed a wider range of resources using ORC systems. This thesis then undertakes an EROI evaluation of ORC electricity generation systems using a combination of top-down and process based methodologies. Various heat sources; geothermal, biomass, solar, and waste heat are evaluated in order to determine how the utilised resource can affect energy profitability. A wide range of EROIstnd values, from 3.4 – 22.7 are found, with solar resources offering the lowest EROIs, and geothermal systems the highest. Higher still EROI values are found to be obtainable with longer system lifetimes, especially for WHR systems. Specific engineering aspects of ORC design and technology such as high-side pressure, heat storage, modularity, superheating, pinch-point temperature difference, and turbine efficiency are evaluated in terms of economic performance, and a variety of general conclusions are made about each. It is found that total system thermo-economic optimisation may not lead to the highest possible EROI, depending on the objective function. Lastly, the effects of past and potential future changes to the markets and economies surrounding ORCs are explored, including the New Zealand electricity spot price, steel and aluminium prices, subsidies, and climate policy. Of the subsidy types explored, it is found that directly subsidising ORC system capital has the greatest effect on the economic performance of ORC systems, as measured by common metrics. In conclusion, this thesis finds that ORC systems have a limited applicability to New Zealand’s electricity market under current economic conditions outside of geothermal and off-grid generation, but changes to these conditions could potentially make their development more viable. The author recommends that favourable resources should be developed using systems that provide high efficiencies, beyond what might provide the best economic performance, in order to increase EROI, and reduce the future need for costly investments into increasingly less favourable resources.

Organic Rankine cycles can be integrated with district heating systems and in applications of biogas digestion. Evaluating the performance of the installations by Againity AB in Ronneby and Norrköping, Sweden, is a unique opportunity which can support the establishment of ORC technology in the waste heat recovery market, unveiling its feasibilities and limitations. Operational data gathered from October 2017 until April 2018, provides this thesis with information about the ORC-systems. A method using Coolprop and Matlab has been used to detect steady-state series in the Ronneby installation using moving standard deviation and inclination criteria. By screening the data and selecting these series, analytical equations can be used to determine the performance of the installations and map the linear relationship between variables like pressure and generator power. The largest impact on the system in Ronneby is developed in the condenser. Large coolant volume flow creates large heat sink capacity and higher generator efficiency and power. However, with increasing generator power the condenser pressure decrease. Lower condenser pressure results in a decreased evaporation pressure, which could be maintained if the pump was able to run at higher frequencies. The Plant in Norrköping needs further studies and a review of its sensors. The code in Matlab is a resource to Againity and Linköpings university for future work in performance evaluation. It can be used to detect errors in energy balance, local readings, and picture the machines' performance graphically.

Exploitation of waste heat could achieve economic and environmental benefits, while at the same time increase energy efficiency in process sites. Diverse commercialised technologies exist to recover useful energy from waste heat. In addition, there are multiple on-site and offsite end-uses of recovered energy. The challenge is to find the optimal mix of technologies and end-uses of recovered energy taking into account the quantity and quality of waste heat sources, interactions with interconnected systems and constraints on capital investment. Explicit models for waste heat recovery technologies that are easily embedded within appropriate process synthesis frameworks are proposed in this work. A novel screening tool is also proposed to guide selection of technology options. The screening tool considers the deviation of the actual performance from the ideal performance of technologies, where the actual performance takes into account irreversibilities due to finite temperature heat transfer. Results from applying the screening tool show that better temperature matching between heat sources and technologies reduces the energy quality degradation during the conversion process. A ranking criterion is also proposed to evaluate end-uses of recovered energy. Applying the ranking criterion shows the use to which energy recovered from waste heat is put determines the economics and potential to reduce CO2 emissions when waste heat recovery is integrated in process sites. This thesis also proposes a novel methodological framework based on graphical and optimization techniques to integrate waste heat recovery into existing process sites. The graphical techniques are shown to provide useful insights into the features of a good solution and assess the potential in industrial waste heat prior to detailed design. The optimization model allows systematic selection and combination of waste heat source streams, selection of technology options, technology working fluids, and exploitation of interactions with interconnected systems. The optimization problem is formulated as a Mixed Integer Linear Program, solved using the branch-and-bound algorithm. The objective is to maximize the economic potential considering capital investment, maintenance costs and operating costs of the selected waste heat recovery technologies. The methodology is applied to industrial case studies. Results indicate that combining waste heat recovery options yield additional increases in efficiency, reductions in CO2 emissions and costs. The case study also demonstrates that significant benefits from waste heat utilization can be achieved when interactions with interconnected systems are considered simultaneously. The thesis shows that the methodology has potential to identify, screen, select and combine waste heat recovery options for process sites. Results suggest that recovery of waste heat can improve the energy security of process sites and global energy security through the conservation of fuel and reduction in CO2 emissions and costs. The methodological framework can inform integration of waste heat recovery in the process industries and formulation of public policies on industrial waste heat utilization.

Master thesis discusses the growing need of electric energy storage and its effectivity and capacity. It describes an overview of possible technologies with their advantages and disadvantages. Greater attention is paid to the storage of energy in gas, so-called Power to Gas, which combines the electrolytic production of hydrogen from water and the Sabatier reaction to produce synthetic methane. This technology is introduced in the so-called SIT Brno cycle of Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery company. The main part of the thesis is focused on the description of this cycle and on the calculation of the steam-gas turbine (high-pressure and low pressure module). This thesis describes the methodology of turbine calculation and the composition of the steam gas mixture after combustion of methane. The carbon dioxide formed by combustion in the steam-gas mixture generator was replaced by steam. Part of the diploma thesis are drawings of cross-section of individual turbine modules.

This diploma thesis deals with the problematics of fan cooling towers. The very first part of the text is research, focusing mainly on the theory of cooling and the function of fan cooling towers in general. The following chapter deals with the water resource management of the Dukovany nuclear power plant and the specification of its objects of forced draft cooling towers. The second part describes a computational model created to determine the cooling performance of these towers under the given input conditions. In the following chapters, the results from the computational model are compared with the available data from warranty measurements and with the provided characteristics. The final pages deal with the study of the influence of changes in input parameters on the cooling performance and the research of the behavior of the cooling towers under extreme weather conditions.

In dieser Arbeit wird der Wärmeübergang bei der Tropfenkondensation aus feuchter, turbulent strömender Luft experimentell untersucht. Die Versuchsstrecke besteht aus einem horizontalen Kanal in den Abmessungen (12 × 32 × 750) mm . Die Kondensation findet auf einem mit Kunststoff beschichteten Wärmestromsensor statt, der in einer der vertikalen Kanalwände bündig eingelassen ist. Experimentell erfasst werden der Wärmedurchgangswiderstand der Kondensatschicht durch Anwendung eines theromografischen Verfahrens sowie der in den Sensor eindringende Wärmestrom. Messergebnisse werden für verschiedene Strömungsgeschwindigkeiten, Luftfeuchten und -temperaturen, sowie für variierende Temperaturen der Sensoroberfläche gewonnen. Die Messergebnisse werden mit den Vorhersagen eines aus dem Kontext der Filmkondensation entlehnten Modells verglichen. Systematische Abweichungen konnten mit der Größe der Tropfen auf der Oberfläche korreliert werden. Die ermittelten Korrelationsgleichungen werden angegeben. Die Übertragbarkeit des hier entwickelten Ansatzes auf andere Geometrien und Randbedingungen konnte durch seine Anwendung auf externe Messdaten gezeigt werden.

World resources are becoming more and more scarce due to the increasing demand. Hence, the industry is moving towards sustainable development in order to suffice the needs of the future generations. Electricity is one such resources that account for 90% of the daily utility. In Sweden alone 378 TWh of electricity is consumed over a year. The major source of production of electricity is the fossil fuels, but due to development in the renewable resource's the electricity is also produced using solar, wind and geothermal energy. However, no production process is 100% efficient and hence, there is loss of energy in the form of waste. Organic Rankine Cycle Turbine (ORC) is a technology which is under the focus of the researcher and the industry to convert this wasteful energy into useful energy. Designing of these machines is a challenging task which requires careful consideration of every design parameter, i.e. with the change in every parameter the losses in the turbine either increase or decrease. In this study, effect of the parameters such as inlet mach number, stagger angle, inlet angle and pitch to chord is studied to see the effect on the profile loss. Since ANSYS Fluent works with 2D unlike ANSYS CFX which work with pseudo 2D geometry, ANSYS Fluent was used for investigating profile loss. Furthermore, a methodology is defined to investigate the tip leakage loss based on the geometry provided by the Againity AB for future studies. Tip leakage loss simulations were carried out in ANSYS CFX turbo mode due to its user friendly interface for simulating turbo machinery flows. The results of the profile loss investigation suggested a range for parameters where the profile loss is observed to be comparatively lower than elsewhere. The methodology proposed for tip leakage loss investigation paved a pathway for the further improvement with respect to the future studies.

Utsläppen av växthusgaser måste minska snabbt under de kommande åren. Sveriges mål är att uppnå nettonollutsläpp till år 2045. Industrisektorn spelar en avgörande roll i omställningsarbetet genom att minska sitt energibehov och fasa ut sin användning av fossila bränslen, teknikutvecklingen måste gå mot mer klimatsmarta och hållbara produkter och produktionsmetoder. Omställningen kommer att kräva ett mer robust och tillförlitligt energisystem där dagens centraliserade system kompletteras med mindre decentraliserade produktionsanläggningar så att effekt- och energibehov kan tillgodoses i alla lägen. Att producera el och värme närmare användaren bidrar till minskade överföringsförluster. Småskalig kraftvärmeproduktion (CHP) baserad på biobränslen eller restvärmeresurser kan vara en del av lösningen för att minska utsläppen av växthusgaser. Syftet med det här examensarbetet är att undersöka möjligheten för ett medelstort svenskt industriföretag att producera sitt eget basbehov av värme och el med hjälp av den konventionella Rankinecykeln. Samt att undersöka hur produktionskostnaderna av el och värme förändras beroende på anläggningens storlek. Arbetet har bestått av datainsamling från olika tillverkare av turbiner och pannor, en beräkningsmodell skapades i Excel där anläggningar av olika storlek har jämförts vid olika driftscenarion. Ekonomiska kalkyler har gjorts med hjälp av Pay-off metoden och Nuvärdesmetoden. Resultatet visar att produktionskostnaderna för anläggningar med turbiner i storleksordningen 10 – 100 kWel ligger på en relativt jämn nivå och betydligt lägre än priserna på köpt el och fjärrvärme. Den ekonomiska bedömningen visar generellt på positiva resultat med korta pay-offtider och positiva nuvärden. En jämförelse av anläggningarna visar att elverkningsgraden är låg och att totalverkningsgraden i vissa fall blir lägre än för företagets befintliga värmeleverantör. Detta visar att trots att det ur ett ekonomiskt perspektiv kan vara en lönsam investering kan det ur ett systemperspektiv vara ett sämre alternativ då en lägre verkningsgrad leder till en ökad primärenergianvändning. Det är många parametrar som påverkar en CHP-anläggnings prestanda och ekonomiska lönsamhet, men en av de viktigaste är drifttiden. Att ha en kontinuerlig drift under större delen av året har stor påverkan på anläggningens ekonomiska prestanda. Anläggningens låga elverkningsgrad gör också att största besparingen hamnar på värmeproduktionen vilket gör att anläggningen bör dimensioneras så att den ersätter så stor del som möjligt av företagets värmebehov. / The emissions of greenhouse gases need to decrease rapidly over the coming decades. Sweden has set the target to achieve net zero emissions by 2045. The industrial sector plays a crucial role in that conversion by reducing its energy needs and to convert from fossil fuels to renewables. This conversion will require a more robust and reliable energy system were todays centralized system has been supplemented by small decentralized production facilities. To produce heat and power closer to the consumers means less transmission losses. Small scale combined heat and power (CHP) production based on biofuels or excess heat could be a solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the possibility for a mid-size Swedish industrial company to produce its own base load of heat and power with a conventional Rankine cycle. Also to evaluate the production costs depending on the size of the plant. The work has consisted of data collection from different manufacturers of steam turbines and steam boilers, a calculation model has been made in Excel to compare different plant sizes and in different operating scenarios. Economical evaluations has been made with the Pay-off method and the net present value method (NPV). The result shows that production costs for facilities with steam turbines in the size range of 10 – 100 kWel is well below the price of bought electricity and district heating. The economical evaluation generally shows on short pay-off times and positive NPV. A comparison of the CHP plants shows that the electric efficiency is low and the total efficiency sometimes can be lower than for the existing heat supplier of the company. This means that a switch to local CHP will have a negative impact from a system perspective, because of the increased use of primary energy resources. There is many parameters that affects the performance of a CHP plant but the most crucial is the operation time. To have a continuous operation over a major part of the year has a great impact on the economic performance. The low electric efficiency means that the major part of the savings gets on the heat production. This means that the CHP plant should be dimensioned to replace primarily the heat requirement.

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