Thermal systems and thermal efficiency index deficiency - A thermodynamic case study of regenerative and CSP plants

Abstract

As the determination of the power generation returns for a thermal plant system in conditions of optimality is of profitable, economic concern to a plant operator (that is, the income generated by the plant in converting a kilojoule (KJ) of fuel into useful power), the current study investigates the influence of thermodynamic variables on thermal efficiency, power production and prediction in regenerative and concentrated solar power (CSP) plants with a novel optimization technique. The thermal efficiency index shows significant variances in profiling the optimal power production state; however, when the index is combined with the PQR, the optimal value of the objective variable is construedly obtained. Beyond the optimal value of the objective variable, the operating upstream pressure, the difference in power generation output is obvious with potential losses. As a consequence, optimizing the process operations can lead to significant economic savings using the procedure. Keywords: CSP, Regenerative, Rankine, Optimization, PQR, Thermal efficiency, Thermodynamics