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The environmental impact of organic Rankine cycle for waste heat recovery through life-cycle assessment

2013; Elsevier BV; Volume: 56; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.energy.2013.04.045

1873-6785

Chao Liu, Chao He, Hong Gao, Hui Xie, You‐Rong Li, Shuang‐Ying Wu, Jinliang Xu,

Integrated Energy Systems Optimization

The LCA (life-cycle assessment) was applied to evaluate EI (the environmental impact) of ORCPW (organic Rankine cycle power-plant for waste-heat-recovery) in this paper. The model of LCA on the ORCPW was established. The life-cycle of ORCPW was divided into construction, operation and decommissioning phases. The inventory of environmental emissions was listed for the ORCPW with 7 different working fluids. The GWP (global warming potential), AP (acidification potential), EP (eutrophication potential), HTP (human toxicity potential), SWP (solid waste potential) and SAP (soot and dust potential) were investigated. Some EIs of ORCPW were compared with the EIs of other power generation modes. The results show that the construction phase of ORCPW contributes mostly to the GWP and EP. GWP is the most serious EI followed by HTP among all the environmental impacts. The average pay back times of greenhouse gas discharged from ORCPW is calculated on the basis of five other power generation modes. For 7 different working fluids, it is 3–5 years for CO2, about one year for CH4 and 3–6 years for NOx. But CO cannot be paid back during the life-cycle of ORCPW according to the average pay back time.