Received: 16 March 2020 Revised: 15 April 2020 Accepted: 2 May 2020

DOI: 10.1002/er.5570

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Application of modified Kalina cycle in biomass chp plants

Branislav Ja
cimovi
c1 | Srbislav Geni
c1 | Nikola Ja
cimovi
c2

1
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
2
DPE Conceptual Design Division,
Danieli & C. Officine Meccaniche S.p.A,
Buttrio, Italy
Correspondence
Nikola Ja
cimovi
c, DPE Conceptual Design
Division, Danieli & C. Officine
Meccaniche S.p.A., Via Nazionale
41, 33042 Buttrio (UD), Italy.
Email: n.jacimovic@danieli.it
Summary
This paper presents alternatives to Kalina cycles typically used in place of the
organic Rankine cycle in biomass power plants. Overviews of both Rankine
and Kalina cycles are given alongside the possibilities of using biomass as a
viable energy source and recommended guidelines from the engineering prac-
tice for selection and management of these cycles. Benefits of Kalina novel bot-
toming cycle (and the alternative cycles presented herewith) over the Rankine
cycle are the higher thermodynamic cycle efficiency and lower capital expendi-
tures combined with the possibility of using low-grade heat sources, such as
biomass or waste heat from exhaust gases. Analysis of ammonia-water binary
system under various operating conditions has been performed for all the pro-
posed cycles based on the published references and it has been shown that the
proposed alternative models prove to be simpler and to have similar or even
greater thermodynamic efficiency compared with the Kalina novel bottoming
cycle.

KEYWORDS
biomass, Kalina cycle, power plant, Rankine cycle

1 | INTRODUCTION practice in terms of suggested process parameters for

Kalina cycle is one of the cycles typically used in power
plants for converting thermal into mechanical energy.
Although there are sources that indicate various case
studies, process parameter optimizations and
comparisons,1-6 there are not so many sources that deal
with process improvement (eg, References 7 and 8). Con-
sidering the potential for process improvement,9 the
study presented in this paper aims not to optimize pro-
cess parameters, but the process itself; thus resulting in
simpler and more efficient cycle. Optimization of the pro-
cess in the presented form is not discussed or presented
in the open literature, and, therefore, presents an impor-
tant contribution to the pool of knowledge dealing with
this particular topic.
Introductory sections of the paper present a brief
overview of Rankine and organic Rankine cycles (ORC in
further text). Recommendations from the engineering
each of these cycles are given alongside with the potential
issues and hazards of using organic fluids in ORC
(including an example from engineering practice).
Next, an overview of the original novel bottoming
cycle presented by Kalina (NBC in further text) is given
and the potential benefits and issues related to biomass
heat sources are presented. Furthermore, a discussion is
presented on correct and economically viable selection of
cycle operating parameters substantiated with examples
from everyday engineering practice.
In the second part of the paper three novel alternative
processes or cycles are considered, each having its own
benefit over the basic original cycle—NBC orKCS 11 (ie,
Kalina cycle system 11, from Reference 10). These are:
1 Modified NBC (MNBC)
2 Modified Kalina cycle with distillation column and
superheater (KCDCS)

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