5th International Seminar on ORC power Systems

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11:10
20 mins

Economic Optimization of Heat Exchanger Design for Geothermal Applications
Willem Faes, Steven Lecompte, Johan Van Bael, Robbe Salenbien, Kim Verbeken, Michel De Paepe

Session: Session 7C: Heat Exchangers (2)
Session starts: Wednesday 11 September, 11:10
Presentation starts: 11:10
Room: Templar's

Willem Faes (Ghent University)
Steven Lecompte (Ghent University)
Johan Van Bael (VITO)
Robbe Salenbien (VITO)
Kim Verbeken (Ghent University)
Michel De Paepe (Ghent University)

Abstract:
Geothermal power plants are a promising alternative to polluting fossil fuels. In Belgium, geothermal brines can have production temperatures up to 130°C. This makes them interesting to be used with an Organic Rankine Cycle. The brines have however a high salinity and contain a high amount of carbon dioxide. Most common metallic construction materials will suffer corrosion when in contact with the brine, requiring a high material thickness. This is problematic for heat exchangers, since they are typically designed with an as small as possible wall thickness. Therefore, a heat exchanger model is combined with a corrosion model and an optimal solution is determined with a genetic optimization algorithm. This solution will have the lowest possible total cost of ownership, taking into account not only the investment cost, but also the operational costs.