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CALCULATION OF POWER PUMPS ON OTEC POWER PLANT OCEAN (OCEAN

THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION)

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CALCULATION OF POWER PUMPS ON OTEC POWER PLANT

OCEAN (OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION)

Andi Hendrawan

Akademi Maritim Nusantara Cilacap

Mahasiswa Program Doktor Universitas Jendral Soedirman Purwokerto

Emil. Andi_hendrawan@amn.ac.id

Abtracts
In recent years, marine renewable energy has received more and more attention due to
concerns regarding energy shortage, global warming and environmental pollution
Marine renewable energy includes tidal energy, current energy, wave energy, osmotic
energy and ocean thermal energy et Recent study predict a global growth of the share for
renewable energy to respond to increasing world energy demand. The OTEC (ocean
thermal energy conversion) power plant is one candidate. OTEC transforms the heat
stored in surface water of tropical oceans into mechanical work to produce useful
energy. The purpose of this study is to make numerical equations about the calculation of
pump energy required in OTEC power generation systems. The results show that the
energy and power of the pump is greatly influenced by OTEC power, pipe type, cold
water discharge, and cold water depth,

Keyword; OTEC, energy, pump

INTRODUCTION
The study of OTEC (Oceans Thermal Energy Conversion) [1]–[5] has been
widely practiced by researchers a positive response from various world researchers due to
OTEC energy and technology needs that are not yet well established economically.
In recent years, marine renewable energy has received more and more attention
due to concerns regarding energy shortage, global warming and environmental pollution .
Marine renewable energy includes tidal energy, current energy, wave energy, osmotic
energy and ocean thermal energy etc. In these kinds of resources, ocean thermal energy
has the largest reserve and lowest power fluctuation, thus using ocean thermal energy has
enormous potential[6]
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Increased regulation and societal concern about the use of fossil fuels and the
harmful by-products from using them for power generation have created an abundant
need for alternative energy sources. Three engineering students at West Virginia Institute
of Technology (WVUIT) have chosen to model OTEC systems using Aspen Plus
software to determine how the systems efficiency and power output changes with the rise
and fall of ocean surface water temperature. [7]
The growing demand for energy [8]–[10] demands more energy availability, on
the other hand the mineral energy resources of its existence are increasingly depleted.
Energy savings are necessary but the search for alternative energy is no less important.
OTEC power plant (ocean thermal energy conversion) is one of the alternative energy
providers of the future, let alone Indonesia maritime country so the potential of OTEC is
very large.
Due to the close relationship of economic activities with energy, [11]–[25], the
increase in economic activity is usually followed by increased energy consumption. In
Indonesia, this is reflected in the increase in economic growth by an average of 7% per
year resulting in the growth of energy consumption is quite high at an average of about
10% per year within 30 years. The OTEC power plant is well-suited as a provider of
electric power to the archipelago. The archipelagic country does have many obstacles in
terms of energy distribution. The long distance between islands adds to the burden of
energy transportation financing.

INSTALLATION OF OTEC POWER PLANT

In essence, the system of thermal power plant [26]–[32] with conventional
generating systems that use similar fossil fuels, which distinguish is the steam generator
system and working fluid. On the OTEC Power System (Ocean Thermal Energy
Conversion). Steam generators use fuels or a medium of warm sea water and work fluids
in the form of volatile substances such as ammonia. In Figure 1 is shown OTEC Scheme

Figure 1. closed cycle OTEC scheme

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In a closed cycle system, ammonia is used as a work zalir. On the system use the
principle of Rankine sklus. Figure 1 shows the closed-loop OTEC scheme. The energy
surge in the spaced cycle system is as follows:

1. Addition of heat (J / kg) q A  h1  h4

2. turbine work wT  h1  h2
3. heat leftovers q R  h3  h2
4. pump work wP  h4  h3
5. Net cycle work wnet  h1  h2   h4  h3 
wnet h1  h2   h4  h3 
6. Heat Efficiency  
qA h1  h4 
In closed-loop systems to evaporate ammonia, warm sea-water surfaces are used,
and steam flows through pipes to drive turbines and generate power through electrical
generators. The vapor from the turbine exhaust is evaporated by a condenser using a
water foam at a temperature of about 5 oC. then the liquid ammonia is pumped back into
the evaporator to be evaporated again using warm ocean surface water, and so on[26]–
[28]
The vapor ammonia then expands by traveling through a turbine. This turns the
turbine making electricity. The ammonia vapor pressure at the outlet of the turbine is 7oC
higher than the cold seawater temperature. The cold seawater is therefore brought up
from the depths where heat exchange occurs and ammonia vapor is changed back into a
liquid. The liquid ammonia is then pressurized by a pump started the cycle once more.
Rankine cycles, in theory, are able to produce non-zero net power due to the fact that less
energy is required to increase the pressure of a liquid then is able to be recovered when
the same fluid expands as a vapor. It is for this reason that phase changes are essential
when producing energy this way. The advantages of using a closed-cycle system are that
it is more compact then an open-cycle system and can be designed to produce the same
amount of power. The closed-cycle can also be designed using already existing
turbo[33]–[35].
In 1930 Claude devised a mini OTEC with 23 kWe output power and was put in
Cuba. In general, OTEC is designed based on the Rankine cycle as well as Claude,
Claude's design uses a boiler that can produce a pressure of 8.7 atm with an input
temperature of 21oC (70 oF), ammonia condensation using depth water of 5 oC
temperatures pumped from a sea depth of 700 to 900 m under sea level. The thermal
efficiency resulting from the Claude design is 2.5 to 3.3%. Figure 2 shows the
temperature profile at each ocean depth.
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Figure 2 Temperature profiles at each ocean depth

NUMERICAL CALCULATION VERIFICATION

As previously stated, the OTEC closed system power cycle is very similar to that
of the steam power plant cycle. With this in mind, the first verification test was
performed by making hand calculations based on an ideal Rankine OTEC cycle with
ammonia as the working fluid. In the ideal Rankine cycle the processes occur as follows,
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along with the T-s diagram of the cycle, Figure 3: 1-2: Isentropic compression of
working fluid to compressed liquid. 2-3: Heat transfer to the working fluid at a constant
pressure as the fluid moves from compressed liquid to saturated vapor. 3-4: Isentropic
expansion of the working fluid to a liquid-vapor mixture. 4-1: Heat transfer from the
fluid at a constant pressure as the fluid moves from a liquied-vapor mixture to saturated
liquid.

Figure 3 rankine Cycle

PUMP CONFIGURATION
One of the most important design issues for OTEC seawater systems is
configuration of the pump. Pump configuration refers to the location of the pumps in the
system as well as the type of pump (e.g., submersible, vertical wet pit). The pump
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configuration is closely coupled with other design parameters. such as the head losses in
the supply and discharge pipes and the elevations of the heat exchangers. These are
discussed in Sections 4.4 and 4.5. Several configurations for supply and discharge pumps
were identified and their relative merits evaluated. Some were less attractive and were set
aside.
A key decision reached during the first working group meeting was to use both
supply and discharge pumps in the design of systems for both warm and cold seawater.
This has the important advantage of allowing the heat exchangers to be located relatively
close to grade, thus reducing overall height of the structure and keeping costs down.
Another advantage is that net power production will be substantially disconnected from
the tide and from variations in barometric pressure. For instance, the increase in pumping
power of the seawater supply at low tide will be accompanied by a decrease in discharge
pumping power. At high tide, just the opposite will occur. In either case, little change in
net power will occur. (Observations at the pump station indicate that the cold-seawater
sump is subject to tidal fluctuations just as is the warm-seawater sump. The disposal
trench is also expected to respond to the tides.)[33]

NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF PUMP

Zener has developed the use of ammonia as a working fluid on OTEC generating
systems. At the boiler, the boiler pressure planned is Pboiler and is at depth Xbolier
below sea level. Then the work of the cycle pump is:
wp   hE  hD    X boiler  X kond  
1 32.2 ft / sec
 ….(1)
778lbf / BTU 32.2lbm / lbf .sec
With:
wp = work cycle pump (BTU/lbm)
hE = enthalpy enter the boiler (BTU/lbm)
hD = enthalpy exit condenser (BTU/lbm)
Xboiler = the depth of the boiler below sea level (ft)
Xboiler = depth of condenser below sea level (ft)
For fixed (isentropic) volumetric processing along the DE pump pressure then:
E

hE  hD   vdP  v PE  PD  ……..(2)
D

With:
v = volume type (ft3/lbm)
PE = pressure boiler (lbf/in2)
PD = pressure condenser (lbf/in2)
by using equation (2) and the table can be specified hD.
The heat required throughout the EB process can be calculated by the following equation:
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q2   hB  hA    hA  hE  ……..(3)
with (hA – hE) losing enthalpy to the boiler. If it is assumed that turbine expansion is an
isentropic process then turbine work becomes:
wt  hB  hC ………..(4)
to determine hB and hC using the fraction ratio that condensed the following equation:
SgB  SlB  SgC  SlC

…………(5)
SgB  1  x SgC  xSlC
After x is known then determine hC with the following equation:
hC  1  x hgC  xhlC …………..(6)
hgC and hlC determined by reading the attached table determined by the temperature and
pressure of the system. The heat released by the condenser is determined by the equation
:
q1  hC  hD ………….(7)
then the effectiveness of the rankine cycle becomes:
q q
R  2 1 ………..(8)
q2

Based on the black principle, the process of the boiler can be written as follows:
mal  t boiler  c pal  mNH 3 hB  hE  ………..(9)
With:
mal = warm seawater mass
tboiler = decrease in temperature on the boiler
cp_al = heat capacity of sea water
mNH 3 = the ammonia mass
The power required to run the OTEC is determined by the velocity of the flow of warm
ocean water that flows through the heat transfer unit. The need for warm water can be
determined by using the following relations:

output power = incoming heat from warm water X conversion of energy efficiency to
electrics)

When considered the density of sea water 64 lb / ft3 and the heat capacity of 1 BTU /
lb.oF, the decrease in warm sea water temperature as it passes through the boiler unit
tboiler. Q is the required warm water flow discharge (ft3 / dt) for output power of P.
Then the equation becomes:
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Pout ( kWe)  64(lb / ft 3 )  1( BTU / lb.o F )  Q( ft 3 / dt )  tboiler ( OF )

…(10)
2,7810
.  7 kWh 3600dt kWe
  
0,949.10 3 h kW
Then
0,0148 P
Qalh  ……………….(11)
tboiler
With :
Qalh = warm water discharge required (ft3/dt)
P = the desired output power (kWe)
tboiler = decrease in temperature on the boiler (oF)

when equation 7 is changed to:

m NH 3 hB  hE 
mal 
t boiler
And;
Qalh Q NH 3 hB  hE  1
 
v al t boiler v gas _ NH 3

Qalh  t boiler  v gas _ NH 3

Q gas _ NH 3 
v al  (hB  hE )

Because val = 1/64 then the NH3 gas discharge is needed:

0,0148 P  v gas _ NH 3  64
Q gas _ NH 3 
hB  hE
…….(12)
0,9472 P  v gas _ NH 3
Q gas _ NH 3 
hB  hE
with:
Qgas _ NH3 = NH3 gas discharge (ft3/dt)
vgas _ NH3 = volume of gas type NH3 (ft3/lbm)
in order to calculate the turbine power using the following equation:
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1
Pturbin  wt  Qgas _ NH 3  ……(13)
vgas _ NH 3
with:
Pturbin = Turbine power (kW)
Using equation 8 can be determined also the NH3 fluid discharge is formed or
required:
0,9472 P  vcairan _ NH 3
Qcairan _ NH 3  ……(14)
hB  hE
with: vcairan _ NH3 = volume of fluid type NH3
because the formed NH3 fluid is channeled back to the boiler through the condenser so
that the pumping power becomes:
1
Ppompa  wp  Qcairan _ NH3  ……(15)
vcairan _ NH3
Based on the black principle then the process in condenser can be written as equation as :
heat given = heat received
mald  t kond  c p  mNH3 hC  hD  ……..(16)
with:
malg = cold sea water mass
t kond = the temperature difference on the condenser
If cp = 1 then :
mNH3 hC  hD 
mald  …………..(17)
t kond
With;
0,0148 P
m NH 3  ……………(18)
hB  hE
the substitution of equation (16) to equation (15) becomes:
0,0148 PhC  hD 
mald  …………(19)
t kond (hB  hE )
with mald = mass speed (lbm/det)
cool sea water discharge is required:
0,0148 PhC  hD vald
Qald  ……(20)
t kond (hB  hC )
With ; Qald = cool sea water discharge.
To calculate the diameter of cold sea water pipe, warm sea water, NH3 gas or liquid it is
necessary new variables that is the determination of speed. This means that the flow rate
own set. Suppose Vgas = gas speed. Vcair = fluid velocity. Then Diamater pipe becomes:
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0 ,5
 2Q 
D  …………(21)
 V 

in the same way can be calculated diameter for cold, hot and NH3 seawater pipes.
To determine the pump power required to pump warm sea water from the surface or cold
ocean waters in depth the following steps are required:
1. Determination of reynold numbers for warm or cold sea water

V  D
Re 

dengan:
Re = renold number
V = speed (ft/dt)
D = diameter (ft)
 = density (lbm/ft3)
 = viscosity (lbm/ft.dt)

2. Using the graph specify the friction factor by matching the corresponding renold
number
3. Determination of upstream loss (upstream lost = lost head) by using Darcy-Weisbach
formula.
2
L V
HL  f  
D 2g
With;
HL = upstream lost
f = friction factor (faktor gesekan)

4. Determination of the head using the principle of giving:

Energy at point A + pump energy - lost energy = energy at point B

 P V2  P V2
 Z A  A  A   HP  HL   ZB  B  B 
 A 2g   B 2g 
Changed become::
 P V2  P V2
H p  HL   ZB  B  B    Z A  A  A 
 B 2g   A 2g 

5. Determination of pump energy by using the equation as follows:

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Ep = w x Q x Hp

Conclution

Power pump developed the use of ammonia as a working fluid on OTEC generating
systems. At the boiler, the boiler pressure planned is Pboiler and is at depth Xbolier below
sea level. Then the work of the cycle pump is:
wp   hE  hD    X boiler  X kond  
1 32.2 ft / sec

778lbf / BTU 32.2lbm / lbf .sec
The results show that the energy and power of the pump is greatly influenced by OTEC
power, pipe type, cold water discharge, and cold water depth,

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