Performance Analysis of Supercritical Binary Geothermal Power Plants

Abstract

It is possible to generate electricity by utilizing medium-temperature geothermal sources in various closed cycles. These geothermal power plants are very important and valuable as they utilize the sources which have low exergy. In recent years, medium-temperature sources that are around 150°C are used widely for electricity generation. In this study, performance of a supercritical binary power plant, that uses such a geothermal source, is analyzed to find the optimum turbine inlet pressure that maximizes power generation. In this power plant different working fluids are analyzed to find the appropriate fluid that maximizes power generation and efficiency. The observed working fluids are R134a, isobutane, R404a, n-Butane, and R152a. The performance of the plant is calculated with these fluids separately and it is found that the best fluid for performance is R152a for pure fluid and R404a for mixture fluid.