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Technical Paper

Guidelines for Effectively Applying an ORC System to Rural Alaska Diesel Power Industry Based on Experimental Data

2015-04-14
2015-01-1607
This paper presents test results of a 50 kW Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system and proposed guidelines for how to effectively apply this system to the rural Alaska power industry. In rural Alaska, approximately 180 villages rely on off-grid diesel generators for power. Most of the generators have capacities of about 1 MW or less. In general, the average operation efficiencies are noticeably less than 40%, with the rest of the fuel energy becoming heat. If the heat is not applied for useful application, it is called waste heat. Most of the wasted heat is contained in engine exhaust and jacket fluid and eventually dissipates into the environment. For rural Alaska, waste heat for heating is most effective; in many cases, waste heat for power may be needed due to a variety of reasons. Many rural Alaskan villages are reluctant to apply exhaust heat recovery due to concerns about corrosion and soot accumulation in the exhaust system and their effect on emissions.
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