Organic rankine cycle system for effective energy recovery in offshore applications: A parametric investigation with different power rating gas turbines

A comprehensive and systematic evaluation of the bottoming Organic Rankine Cycle based energy recovery system, considering a wide spectrum of gas turbines with power ratings commonly used in the offshore applications, has been conducted in this paper to demonstrate the potential benefits of this technology. In this study, emphasis is given on the thermodynamic performance of the energy system by evaluating incremental electric power recovery, thermal energy recovery and carbon emissions savings. Effects of an intermediate heat transfer fluid and the utilization of a recuperator for waste energy recovery in the Organic Rankine Cycle on the key performance indicators of the energy system are evaluated. In addition to discussing advantages and limitations of the considered configurations of the bottoming Organic Rankine cycle, it is shown that by using the proposed configurations, a significant amount of additional electric power can be produced which could be used to prevent partload operations of gas turbines resulting in fuel savings, increased gas turbine's components life, reduced maintenance cost, and reduced CO2 emissions - A win-win proposition for the offshore projects.