Energetic and Exergetic analysis of waste heat recovery system in sulphur acid using organic Rankine cycle.

The continuous search for sustainable alternative energy to non renewable energy to mitigate

environmental pollution has made waste heat recovery from industries process, material and

energy streams frontier. Power plant technologies like steam and Organic Rankine cycle are

been research by researchers to improve waste heat recovery efficiency and energy

utilization. In this study Hexane and Toluene are the organic fluid used .Their performance in

waste heat recovery in the melting furnace of a Sulphuric Acid plant was compared with

conventional Steam Rankine cycle. Energetic and Exergetic analysis was carried out to

investigate the performance of Steam and Organic Rankine cycle for waste heat recovery

temperature less than 200oC. In the ORC ,Hexane and Toluene has over all system efficiency

90.7% and 82% respectively while SRC has 81% .The energy efficiency result was supported

by Exergetic efficiency where SRC has the lowest Exergy Efficiency of 74% while those of

Hexane and Toluene were 88%, 84% respectively. The energy efficiency revealed that ORC

has a better waste heat energy utilization performance at low temperature when compared

with SRC. Furthermore, Hexane has the highest power generation of 4.74 MW from low

grade heat source of 200oC.

It is therefore recommended that Hexane should be considered as a working fluid in

harnessing waste heat energy using Organic Rankine Cycle.

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