Analysis of 100 kW ocean thermal power plant with butene as working fluid

Abstract

As one of longest coastlines countries in the world where located in the tropical region, Indonesia has a prestigious potency of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC). In this paper, a study on working fluid of power plant generation based OTEC concept will be presented. Currently, ammonia is well known working fluid for OTEC applications. However, in this study it will be verified that the thermal efficiency of the OTEC can be improved significantly by adopting the Butene as the working fluid. Moreover, in term of mass flow rate, it needs only 4.21 kg/s of Butene to generate 100 kW output power.

Working Fluid Candidates Selection for 100kW Ocean Thermal Power Generation Based on Environmental, Safety, and Thermodynamic Constrains

“…As illustrated in Figure 3, an OTEC power cycle is basically a Rankine power cycle. The input thermal power can be calculated as follows [8], [9] =̇( − − − ),…”

“…The basic principle of an ocean thermal power generation or OTEC is based on the natural characteristic of seawater which has a thermal difference between seabed and surface one. The surface seawater's temperature is quite warmer than the seabed's one as illustrated in Figure 2 [8], [9]. This phenomenon is dominantly influenced by the solar radiation.…”