Energy and Economic Optimization of Regenerative Organic Rankine Cycle With in the Energy Recovery System of a Steel Plant

Subject Areas : Optimization

Davod Atashbozorg ¹ , Afshin Mohseni Arasteh ² , gholamreza salehi ³ , Masoud Torabi Azad ⁴

1 -
2 - Department of Physical Oceanography ,NT.C.,Islamic Azad University,Tehran,Iran
3 - Department of Mchanical Engineering,CT.B.,Islamic Azad Unversity,Tehran,Iran
4 - Department of Physical Oceanography,NT.C.,Islamic Azad University,Tehran,Iran

Received: 2025-05-15 Accepted : 2025-06-09 Published : 2025-07-14

Keywords: Energy recovery, Organic Rankine Cycle, Regenerative, Steel Plant, Optimization, NSGAII,

Abstract :

The use of energy recovery is increasing in various industries. One type of these cycles that converts waste heat into electricity at low temperatures is the organic Rankine cycle. this paper provided the design, analysis, and optimization of regenerative ORC for waste heat recovery in a steelworks facility. A feedwater heater was installed in the system to further increase thermal efficiency. The system was examined by energy, exergy, and thermoeconomic approaches. To achieve the highest performances, the selection of various parameters was carried out using NSGA-II optimizing both exergy efficiency and total annual cost at the same time. The software MATLAB interfaced with the REFPROP library was used for modeling, and design variables included turbine inlet pressure, superheat temperature difference, condenser pressure, and the isentropic efficiencies of the rotating components. Thus, it has been shown that a proper tuning of some of these parameters may bring a satisfactory compromise between thermodynamic and economic performance. The optimum design gave a maximum exergy efficiency of 64.88%, an energy efficiency of 38.23%, a net power output of 1756.2 kW, and an estimated annual cost of $14.88 million. These results suggest that optimization of ORC systems could be a viable and practical solution for better energy utilization in heavy industries.

References:

Lan, Y., Wang, S., Lu, J., Zhai, H., & Mu, L. (2022). Comparative analysis of Organic Rankine Cycle, Kalina Cycle and Thermoelectric Generator to recover waste heat based on energy, economic and environmental analysis method. Energy, 254, 124158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2022.124158
Elahi, A. E., Mahmud, T., Alam, M., & Biswas, B. N. (2022). Exergy Analysis of Organic Rankine Cycle for Waste Heat Recovery Using Low GWP Refrigerants. Energy Reports, 8, 2976–2985. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2022.01.034
Atashbozorg, D., Arasteh, A. M., Salehi, G., & Azad, M. T. (2022). Analysis of Different Organic Rankine and Kalina Cycles for Waste Heat Recovery in the Iron and Steel Industry. ACS Omega, 7(50), 46099–46109. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.2c03922
Lan, S., et al. (2023). Fuel saving potential analysis of bifunctional vehicular waste heat recovery system using thermoelectric generator and organic Rankine cycle. Heliyon, 9(4), e05118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e05118
Kaşka, Ö. (2013). Energy and exergy analysis of an organic Rankine for power generation from waste heat recovery in steel industry. Energy Conversion and Management, 77, 108–117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2013.09.019
Chen, H., et al. (2022). Energy, exergy, sustainability, and economic analysis of a waste heat recovery system using organic Rankine cycle and Kalina cycle. Energy Conversion and Management, 254, 115245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2022.115245
Fergani, Z., & Morosuk, T. (2023). Advanced exergy-based analysis of an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) for waste heat recovery. Entropy, 25(10), 1345. https://doi.org/10.3390/e25101345
Sohrabi, M., et al. (2023). A comparative thermodynamic analysis of ORC and Kalina cycles for waste heat recovery: A case study for CGAM cogeneration system. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering, 38, 102347. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csite.2023.102347
Behzadi, A., & Behbahaninia, A. (2021). Multi-objective optimization and exergoeconomic analysis of waste heat recovery from Tehran’s waste-to-energy plant integrated with an ORC unit. Energy, 160, 1055–1068. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2018.10.190
Nemati, A., et al. (2017). Comparative exergy analysis of organic Rankine and Kalina cycles in a CGAM system. Energy Procedia, 129, 292–298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2017.09.151
Lawan, S.M. and W.A.W.Z. Abidin, A review of hybrid renewable energy systems based on wind and solar energy: modeling, design and optimization. Wind Solar Hybrid Renewable Energy System, 2020.
Sivanandam, S., et al., Genetic algorithms. 2008: Springer.
Hajabdollahi, H., A. Saleh, and M. Shafiey Dehaj, A multi-generation system based on geothermal driven: energy, exergy, economic and exergoenvironmental (4E) analysis for combined power, freshwater, hydrogen, oxygen, and heating production. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 2023: p. 1-33.