Thermodynamic Analysis of a Ship Power Plant Operating with Waste Heat Recovery through Combined Heat and Power Production

The goal of this research is to study a cogeneration plant for combined heat & power (CHIP) production that utilises the low-temperature waste energy in the power plant of a Suezmax-size oil tanker for all heating and electricity requirements during navigation. After considering various configurations, a standard propulsion engine operating at maximum efficiency and a CHP Plant with R245fa fluid using a supercritical organic Rankine cycle (ORC) is selected. All the ship heat requirements can be covered by energy of organic fluid after expansion in the turbine, except feeder-booster heating. Hence, an additional quantity of working fluid may be heated using an after Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG) directed to the feeder-booster module. An analysis of the obtained results shows that the steam turbine plant does not yield significant fuel savings. However, a CHIP plant with R245fa fluid using supercritical ORC meets all of the demands for electrical energy and heat while burning only a small amount of additional fuel in HRSG at the main engine off-design operation.