A majority of industrial facilities in California generate waste heat as part of their manufacturing processes. Much of this heat is rejected into the environment at varying temperatures above ambient levels. Currently, much of the heat is considered “low grade” which is difficult to capture and convert into other forms of useful energy. Organic Rankine Cycle technology is able to convert low temperature waste heat into electricity that increases overall plant efficiency and lowers operating costs with no net increase in criteria pollutants. However, the proposed Organic Rankine Cycle technology has not yet been proven to be viable with industrial applications (e.g., performance, financial return on investment, etc.). The purpose of this project was to demonstrate the feasibility of integrating an Organic Rankine Cycle system at an industrial facility, enabling the capture of low-temperature waste heat to produce electricity. If successful, the technology could be adopted by other industrial customers with low-temperature waste heat that is otherwise lost to the atmosphere.
Author(s)
David Berokoff, Berokoff Energy Solutions, Inc.; A.Y. Ahmed, Occidental Analytical Group; Andra Rogers, Electric Power Research Institute
