Ocean Thermal
Energy Conversion
Me 360 - Powerplant Engineering
Assignment 2
Submitted By :-
Vidushi Vinod
160100082
Introduction :-
Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) is a process or technology
for producing energy by harnessing the temperature differences
(thermal gradients) between ocean surface waters and deep ocean
waters. Energy from the sun heats the surface water of the ocean. In
tropical regions, surface water can be much warmer than deep water.
This temperature difference can be used to produce electricity and to
desalinate ocean water.
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) systems use a temperature
difference (of at least 77° Fahrenheit) to power a turbine to produce
electricity. Warm surface water is pumped through an evaporator
containing a working fluid. The vaporized fluid drives a turbine/
generator. The vaporized fluid is turned back to a liquid in a condenser
cooled with cold ocean water pumped from deeper in the ocean.
OTEC systems using seawater as the working fluid can use the
condensed water to produce desalinated water.
Among ocean energy sources, OTEC is one of the continuously
available renewable energy resources that could contribute to base-
load power supply.
The resource potential for OTEC is considered to be much larger than
for other ocean energy forms. Up to 88,000 TWh/yr of power could be
generated from OTEC without affecting the ocean’s thermal structure.
Systems may be either closed-cycle or open-cycle. Closed-cycle OTEC
uses working fluids that are typically thought of as refrigerants such as
ammonia or R-134a. These fluids have low boiling points, and are
therefore suitable for powering the system’s generator to generate
electricity. The most commonly used heat cycle for OTEC to date is the
Rankine cycle, using a low-pressure turbine. Open-cycle engines use
vapor from the seawater itself as the working fluid.
OTEC can also supply quantities of cold water as a by-product. This can
be used for air conditioning and refrigeration and the nutrient-rich
deep ocean water can feed biological technologies. Another by-
product is fresh water distilled from the sea.
The OTEC concept was first proposed in the early 1880s by the French
engineer Jacques-Arsène d’Arsonval. His idea called for a closed-cycle
system, a design that has been adapted for most present-day OTEC
pilot plants. Such a system employs a secondary working fluid (a
refrigerant) such as ammonia.
Heat transferred from the warm surface ocean water causes the
working fluid to vaporize through a heat exchanger. The vapour then
expands under moderate pressures, turning a turbine connected to a
generator and thereby producing electricity. Cold seawater pumped
up from the ocean depths to a second heat exchanger provides a
surface cool enough to cause the vapour to condense. The working
fluid remains within the closed system, vaporizing and reliquefying
continuously.
Variation of ocean temperature with depth :-
The total insolation received by the oceans
(covering 70% of the earth's surface, with clearness
index of 0.5 and average energy retention of 15%) is
5.45×10 18 MJ/yr × 0.7 × 0.5 × 0.15 = 2.87×10 17 MJ/yr
We can use Beer–Lambert–Bouguer's law to quantify the solar energy
absorption by water,
where, y is the depth of water, I is intensity and μ is the absorption
coefficient. Solving the above differential equation,
The absorption coefficient μ may range from 0.05 m −1 for very clear
fresh water to 0.5 m −1 for very salty water. Since the intensity falls
exponentially with depth y , heat absorption is concentrated at the top
layers.
Uses of an OTEC powerplant
What an OTEC
power plant
looks like in
real life
Typically in the tropics, surface temperature values are in excess of 25
°C (77 °F), while at 1 kilometre (0.62 mi), the temperature is about 5–10
°C (41–50 °F). The warmer (and hence lighter) waters at the surface
means there are no thermal convection currents. Due to the small
temperature gradients, heat transfer by conduction is too low to
equalize the temperatures.
The ocean is thus both a practically infinite heat source and a practically
infinite heat sink. This temperature difference varies with latitude and
season, with the maximum in tropical, subtropical and equatorial
waters. Hence the tropics are generally the best OTEC locations.
Open Claude Cycle :-
In this scheme, warm surface water at around 27 °C (81 °F) enters an
evaporator at pressure slightly below the saturation pressures causing
it to vaporize.
Where Hf is enthalpy of liquid water at the inlet temperature, T1 .
This temporarily superheated water
undergoes volume boiling as opposed to
pool boiling in conventional boilers where
the heating surface is in contact. Thus the
water partially flashes to steam with two-
phase equilibrium prevailing. Suppose that
the pressure inside the evaporator is
maintained at the saturation pressure, T2 .
Here, x2 is the fraction of water by mass that vaporizes. The warm
water mass flow rate per unit turbine mass flow rate is 1/ x2 . The low
pressure in the evaporator is maintained by a vacuum pump that also
removes the dissolved non-condensable gases from the evaporator.
The evaporator now contains a mixture of water and steam of very low
vapor quality (steam content). The steam is separated from the
water as saturated vapor. The remaining water is saturated and is
discharged to the ocean in the open cycle. The steam is a low
pressure/ high specific volume working fluid. It expands in a special low
pressure turbine.
Here, Hg corresponds to T2 . For an ideal isentropic (reversible
adiabatic) turbine,
The above equation corresponds to the temperature at the exhaust of
the turbine, T5 . x5, s is the mass fraction of vapor at state 5.
The enthalpy at T5 is,
This enthalpy is lower.
The adiabatic reversible turbine work = H3 - H5, s .
Actual turbine work WT = ( H3 - H5, s ) x polytropic efficiency
The condenser temperature and pressure are lower. Since the turbine
exhaust is to be discharged back into the ocean, a direct contact
condenser is used to mix the exhaust with cold water, which results in
a near-saturated water. That water is now discharged back to the
ocean.
H6 = Hf , at T5 . T7 is the temperature of the exhaust mixed with cold
sea water, as the vapor content now is negligible,
The temperature differences between stages include that between
warm surface water and working steam, that between exhaust steam
and cooling water, and that between cooling water reaching the
condenser and deep water. These represent external irreversibilities
that reduce the overall temperature difference.
The cold water flow rate per unit turbine mass flow rate,
Open cycle OTEC powerplant
Closed Anderson cycle :-
As developed starting in the 1960s by J. Hilbert Anderson of Sea Solar
Power, Inc., in this cycle, QH is the heat transferred in the evaporator
from the warm sea water to the working fluid. The working fluid exits
the evaporator as a gas near its dew point.
The high-pressure, high-temperature gas then is expanded in the
turbine to yield turbine work, WT . The working fluid is slightly
superheated at the turbine exit and the turbine typically has an
efficiency of 90% based on reversible, adiabatic expansion.
From the turbine exit, the working fluid enters the condenser where it
rejects heat, -QC , to the cold sea water. The condensate is then
compressed to the highest pressure in the cycle, requiring condensate
pump work, WC . Thus, the Anderson closed cycle is a Rankine-type
cycle similar to the conventional power plant steam cycle except that in
the Anderson cycle the working fluid is never superheated more than a
few degrees Fahrenheit. Owing to viscosity effects, working fluid
pressure drops in both the evaporator and the condenser. This
pressure drop, which depends on the types of heat exchangers used,
must be considered in final design calculations but is ignored here to
simplify the analysis. Thus, the parasitic condensate pump work, WC ,
computed here will be lower than if the heat exchanger pressure drop
was included. The major additional parasitic energy requirements in the
OTEC plant are the cold water pump work, WCT , and the warm water
pump work, WHT . Denoting all other parasitic energy requirements by
WA , the net work from the OTEC plant, WNP is
The thermodynamic cycle undergone by the working fluid can be
analysed without detailed consideration of the parasitic energy
requirements. From the first law of thermodynamics, the energy
balance for the working fluid as the system is,
where WN = WT + WC is the net work for the thermodynamic cycle.
For the idealized case in which there is no working fluid pressure drop
in the heat exchangers,
and
so the net thermodynamic cycle work becomes,
Subcooled liquid enters the evaporator. Due to the heat exchange
with warm sea water, evaporation takes place and usually superheated
vapor leaves the evaporator. This vapor drives the turbine and the 2-
phase mixture enters the condenser. Usually, the subcooled liquid
leaves the condenser and finally, this liquid is pumped to the
evaporator completing a cycle.
Closed cycle OTEC powerplant
Cost considerations :-
Heat exchangers make up about 1/3 of the cost of a 100MW OTEC
plant. Therefore, the primary focus of the 100-kilowatt facility is heat
exchanger design, testing, and evaluation. Any slight reduction in cost,
improvement in efficiency, reduction in size, or extension of life will go
a long way towards improving the economics of OTEC.
In the NEDO "Ocean Energy Power Generation System Demonstration
Research (Ocean Temperature Difference Power Generation)” (2014-
2017), Japan Marine United Co., Ltd. scrutinized costs through review
of the layout within floating structures, etc. for 10MW-class, and the
calculated power generation cost of the 10MW-class was revised to
20.7 to 26.3yen/kWh.
Based on the five-year operating results of FY2013-2017 within the
Okinawa Prefecture Demonstration Project, the operation and
management costs of the 1MW-class OTEC plant were calculated. As a
result, operating management costs are estimated to be around 4.2
yen/kWh, and the cost of generating electricity is 29.7 yen/kWh,
indicating that the cost may be reduced by approximately 25%
compared to the calculations in the above NEDO projects.
1 Yen ≈ 0.009 USD
Size Considerations :-
For a large, 100-megawatt OTEC power plant (enough for about
120,000 Hawaii homes), the heat exchanger units would be
comparable to a 20-foot tall, 10,000 square foot building. The cold
water intake pipeline for the current 100 kW OTEC plant is 40 inches in
diameter, bringing water from a depth of about 2,200 feet. For an
offshore 10 MW OTEC plant, the vertical cold water intake pipes would
be about 13 feet in diameter, bringing water from a depth of about
3,300 feet. For an offshore 100 MW OTEC plant, the vertical cold water
intake pipes would be about 33 feet in diameter, bringing water from a
depth of about 3,300 feet.
Placement considerations :-
OTEC Powerplants can be both offshore and onshore. Larger plants
would be offshore because at large sizes it is more cost effective to
have an offshore plant with a vertical cold seawater intake pipeline
hanging below it, rather than having to trench and bury or tunnel it
across the shoreline for an onshore plant.
Off shore OTEC powerplant
On shore OTEC powerplant
References :-
1. M.M. El-Wakil,Power Plant Technology, McGraw Hill Education
(India) Edition, 2010.
2. [Link]
3. [Link]
4. [Link]
5. [Link]
6. [Link]
[Link]
