Binary cycle

Electricity generation in a vapor-dominated

hydrothermal system
Key: 1 Wellheads 2 Ground surface 3 Generator 4
Turbine 5 Condenser 6 Heat exchanger 7 Pump
    Hot water
   Cold water
   Isobutane vapor
   Isobutane liquid

A binary cycle power plant is a type of

geothermal power plant that allows cooler
geothermal reservoirs to be used than is
necessary for dry steam and flash steam
plants. As of 2010, flash steam plants are
the most common type of geothermal
power generation plants in operation
today, which use water at temperatures
greater than 182 °C (455 K; 360 °F) that is
pumped under high pressure to the
generation equipment at the surface.[1]
With binary cycle geothermal power
plants, pumps are used to pump hot water
from a geothermal well, through a heat
exchanger, and the cooled water is
returned to the underground reservoir. A
second "working" or "binary" fluid with a
low boiling point, typically a butane or
pentane hydrocarbon, is pumped at fairly
high pressure (500 psi (3.4 MPa)) through
the heat exchanger, where it is vaporized
and then directed through a turbine. The
vapor exiting the turbine is then
condensed by cold air radiators or cold
water and cycled back through the heat
exchanger.[2]
A binary vapor cycle is defined in
thermodynamics as a power cycle that is a
combination of two cycles, one in a high
temperature region and the other in a
lower temperature region.[3]

Introduction to binary cycles

The use of mercury-water cycles in the
United States can be dated back to the
late 1920s. A small mercury-water plant
which produced about 40 megawatts
(MW) was in use in New Hampshire in the
1950s, with a higher thermal efficiency
than most of the power plants in use
during the 1950s. Unfortunately, binary
vapor cycles have a high initial cost and so
they are not as economically attractive.[4]

Water is the optimal working fluid to use in

vapor cycles because it is the closest to
an ideal working fluid that is currently
available. The binary cycle is a process
designed to overcome the imperfections
of water as a working fluid. The cycle uses
two fluids in an attempt to approach an
ideal working fluid.[4]

Characteristics of optimal
working fluids[4]
selecting the optimal working fluid has
pivotal importance, since they make a
significant impact on the performance of
binary cycles.

1. A high critical temperature and

maximum pressure
2. Low triple-point temperature
3. A condenser pressure that is not too
low (a substance with a saturation
pressure at the ambient temperature
is too low)
4. A high enthalpy of vaporization (hfg)
5. A saturation dome that resembles an
inverted U
6. High thermal conductivity (good heat
transfer characteristics)
 7. Other properties: nontoxic, inert,
inexpensive, and readily available

Systems
Rankine vapor cycle

The Rankine cycle is the ideal form of a

vapor power cycle. The ideal conditions
can be reached by superheating the steam
in the boiler and condensing it completely
in the condenser. The ideal Rankine cycle
does not involve any internal
irreversibilities and consists of four
processes; isentropic compression in a
pump, constant pressure heat addition in a
boiler, isentropic expansion in a turbine,
and constant pressure heat rejection in a
condenser.[4]

Dual pressure

This process is designed to reduce the

thermodynamic losses incurred in the
brine heat exchangers of the basic cycle.
The losses occur through the process of
transferring heat across a large
temperature difference between the high
temperature brine and the lower
temperature of the working fluid. Losses
are reduced by maintaining a closer match
between the brine cooling curve and the
working fluid heating curve.[5]
Dual fluid

“Power is extracted from a stream of hot

fluid, such as geothermal water, by
passing the stream in heat exchange
relationship with a working fluid to
vaporize the latter, expanding the vapor
through a turbine, and condensing the
vapor in a conventional Rankine cycle.
Additional power is obtained in a second
Rankine cycle by employing a portion of
the hot fluid after heat exchange with the
working fluid to vaporize a second working
fluid having a lower boiling point and
higher vapor density than the first fluid.”[6]
Power plants

There are numerous binary cycle power

stations in commercial production:

Olkaria III, Kenya

Mammoth Lakes, California, United
States[7]
Steamboat Springs (Nevada), United
States[8]
Te Huka Power Station, New Zealand [9]

Binary cycle power plants have a thermal

efficiency of 10-13%.[10]

See also
 Geothermal electricity
Working fluid

References
1. "Geothermal Technologies Program:
Hydrothermal Power Systems" .
Geothermal Technologies Program:
Technologies. U.S. DOE Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy
(EERE). 2010-07-06. Retrieved
2010-11-02.
2. Scott, Willie (15 November 2010).
"Geothermal Energy Power Plants and
How They Produce Green Electricity" .
Bright Hub.
3. Çengel, Yunus A. & Michael A. Boles
(2002). Thermodynamics: An
Engineering Approach, Seventh
Edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
pp. Chapter 10.
4. [Çengel, Yunus A., and Michael A.
Boles. "Chapter 10: Vapor and
Combined Power Cycles".
Thermodynamics: An Engineering
Approach. 7th ed. Boston: McGraw-
Hill, 2002. 557-89. Print.], additional
text.
5. Ronald DiPippo (2008). Geothermal
Power Plants: Principles, Applications,
Case Studies and Environmental
 Impact. Amsterdam: Butterworth-
Heinemann.
6. "DUAL FLUID CYCLE" . United States,
Patent No.3795103. 1974.
7. "Mammoth Pacific Geothermal Power
Plant Honored with Environmental
Award from State of California" .
Ormat. 20 August 2009.
8. "Steamboat Springs" .
9. "Te Huka Geothermal Power Plant" .
Global Energy Observatory.
10. Ronald DiPippo (2007). Geothermal
Power Plants, Second Edition:
Principles, Applications, Case Studies
and Environmental Impact. Oxford:
 Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 159.
ISBN 0-7506-8620-0.

External links
Development of Downhole Pump for
Binary Cycle Power Generation using
Geothermal Water

Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Binary_cycle&oldid=900218753"

Last edited 2 months ago by A876

Content is available under CC BY-SA 3.0 unless

otherwise noted.