Thermodynamic optimization of organic Rankine cycle using two-stage evaporation

Organic Rankine cycle (ORC) is a promising technology to recover low-grade heat, but it leads to a low efficiency due to the highest irreversible loss caused by the single-stage evaporation. The present work concerns the performance enhancement of a two-stage serial organic Rankine cycle (TSORC) for geothermal power generation. The heat source is divided into two separate temperature ranges. The main goal of the current simulation is to evaluate system performance of TSORC, as well as, to calculate the influence of two-stage evaporation on system performance. The ratio of the net power output to the total thermal conductance was chosen as the objective function. Results show that the system performance is coupled with geothermal water inlet temperature (GWIT), intermediate geothermal water temperature (IGWT), and evaporating temperatures. The two-stage evaporation significantly reduces the irreversible loss, thereby enhancing the net power output. The TSORC presents excellent systematic performances and deserves to be popularized in engineering applications. •The heat source is segmented into two temperature ranges.•We propose series two-stage organic Rankine cycle (STORC).•The objective function is the ratio of net power output to thermal conductance.•The STORC evidently exceeds the ORC.