Investigation of Separator Parameters in Kalina Cycle Systems

Abstract

Kalina cycle is useful for generating power from the waste heat or low temperature geothermal resources. The Kalina cycle systems use ammonia and water mixture as working fluid. The basic arrangement of an ammonia-water based power generating system consists of heat recovery vapor generator, separator, turbine, condenser, pump, heat exchanger, mixer and throttling device. Due to the non-isothermal nature of boiling of ammonia and water mixture, the evaluation of performance of such systems becomes tedious. The functional forms for obtaining the properties of ammonia-water mixture at different pressure, temperature and concentration are presented. Since the separator parameters are considered as the key parameters which influence the performance of the power plant, the behavior of two-phase ammonia and water mixture in the separator is investigated at different process conditions. The results are presented in the form of graphs and can be used for the development of new configurations of Kalina cycle system.