Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ON
of BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
IN
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Submitted by
G.DINESH BABU
(184M1A0330)
BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the Technical Seminar report entitled “OCEAN THERMAL
ENERGY CONVERSION” is being submitted by G DINESH BABU (184M1A0330) in partial
fulfilment for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Technology in MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING, affiliated to the JNTUA, Anantapuramu. This record is a bonafide work carried
out by her under my guidance and supervision during the academic year 2021-2022.
I wish to express my heart full thanks and deep sense of gratitude to the honorable
Chairman Prof. K. CHANDRASEKHAR NAIDU sir, for his encouragement and
inspiration throughout the process.
My special thanks to my principal Dr. NAVEEN KILARI sir, who has provided
all the required facilities and helped in accomplishing the seminar report within time.
I am thankful to HOD Dr. K. V. N. V. N RAO M. Tech, Ph.D., sir, for his valuable
guidance and efforts throughout the seminar report.
I am thankful to my guide Dr. E. ANAND KUMAR, M.Tech., P.h.D Professor for his
valuable guidance and efforts throughout the seminar report.
Finally, I would like to extend my deep sense of gratitude to all the staff members,
friends and last but not greatly indebted to my parents who inspired me at all
circumstances.
G DINESH BABU
(184M1A0330)
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that technical seminar report entitled “OCEAN
THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION’’ has been done by me under the
guidance of Prof., E. ANANDA KUMAR,M.Tech,P.h.D, faculty member, VEMU
INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, P.KOTHAKOTA. This seminar work has
been submitted to VEMU INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, P.
KOTHAKOTA, as a part of partial fulfilment for the degree of Graduate in
Bachelor of Technology.
I also hereby declare that this seminar report has not been
submitted at any time to any other institute or university for the award of
any degree.
1 Chapter-1 1
1.1 Introduction 2
2 Chapter-2 5
2.1 Construction 6
3 Chapter-3 9
4 Chapter-4 16
4.1 Working 17
5 Chapter-5 19
References 22
LIST OF FIAGURES
SI.NO TITLE PAGE NO
2.1 Construction 8
CHAPTER-1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 INTRODUCTION
The concept of OTEC(Ocean thermal energy conversion) was originally
introduced in 1881 by a French Scientist Arsene D’Arsonval in Paris. According
to D’Arsonval, if you take a liquid with low boiling point such as liquid
ammonia and use the warm tropical sea surface water (24˚+C) to boil the
ammonia, the change from a liquid to gas would involve a significant volumetric
increase of at least 600:1. This great increase in volume in a confined chamber
will create pressurized flow that turns a turbine to generate electric power. When
you then take the deep cold water from the ocean at about 1,000 m depth at 4˚C
to cool the vaporized ammonia, it will return the ammonia gas back to its
original liquid form. The cycle is then repeated again with the warm sea surface
water boiling and evaporating ammonia to generate more power, etc. This can
go on 24 hours a day, year after year, with virtually no workers in attendance or
fuel required and involves very little maintenance.
In 1979, our company structurally modified a steel barge on loan from the U.S.
Navy to serve as a floating platform to support OTEC facilities off the southern
coast of the island of Hawaii. This facility known as MINI OTEC performed a
major breakthrough in proving the D’Arsonval Theory by generating 50 KW of
electric power while using 40 of the 50 KW generated to operate the system
resulting in a net 10 KW output. Dr. Hans Krock, a retired Professor of Ocean
Engineering at the University of Hawaii, played a scientific role in these and
subsequent studies, and, together with Yee Precast Design Group Ltd. (YPDG),
have entered into a strategic relationship to jointly pursue ocean thermal
engineering projects. YPDG’s role is to design and supervise the construction of
ocean platforms required to support the OTEC facility.
The areas of the equatorial belt that are deep and cold enough (1,000 m)
generally involve a minimum of 20ºC+ temperature differential between sea
surface and sea bottom and provide a sufficient environment to operate an
OTEC facility. The warm sea surface and deep cold water has been there for
millions of years and all of this potential energy has remained virtually
untapped.
With the OTEC process, fresh water can be produced from the seawater by
using the generated electric power. The electric power can be used to operate the
reverse osmosis desalination process. If we were to substitute seawater for liquid
ammonia in the OTEC process (open cycle method) we can vaporize the
seawater by simply inducing a vacuum in an enclosed chamber so that the
seawater can boil at a lower temperature when activated by the warm surface
seawater. When water is vaporized in this manner, there will also be a large
change in volume that creates a draft to activate the turbine, generating power
and the subsequent condensation of the water vapor by the cooling effect of
deep ocean cold water will become distilled fresh drinking water.
There are many other alternative energy solutions being used such as windmills,
wave machines, solar panels, etc., but none have the potential magnitude and
capacity to entirely replace fossil fuels to generate sufficient power required by
our growing world-wide population and civilization
CHAPTER-2
CONSTRUCTION
2.1 CONSTRUCTION:
(1) The working fluid of the binary mixture of water and ammonia is sent to the
evaporator, and the vapor is generated by heat exchange with the warm seawater
in the evaporator.
(2) The two-phase flow of the working fluid generated in the evaporator is
separated into vapor and liquid in the separator. Then, the vapor is sent to the
turbines and the liquid is sent to the regenerator.
(3) The vapor that is sent to the turbines generates electric power in a rotating
generator connected to the two turbines.
(4) Part of the vapor from the first turbine is extracted, and the extracted vapor is
sent to the heater and the remaining vapor is sent to the second turbine.
(5) The working vapor in the second turbine is sent to the absorber and is
absorbed into the liquid working fluid from the diffuser, and the working fluid is
sent to the condenser.
(6) The working fluid returns to the liquid through the condenser, engaging in
heat exchange with the cold seawater in the condenser.
(7) The vapor which cannot be condensed in the condenser is sent to the after-
condenser, and is completely condensed.
(8) The condensed working fluid in the condenser and that in the after condenser
are stored in tank 1 and then sent to the heater by working fluid pump 1.
VEMU IT, Department of Mechanical Page 6
OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION
(9) The working fluid sent by working fluid pump 1 and the working fluid
extracted in turbine 1 undergo heat exchange and are stored in tank 2, then sent
to the regenerator.
(10) The working fluid from the condenser is propelled by working fluid pump 1
through the heater, and joins the working fluid sent by working fluid pump 2 at
the inlet of the regenerator.
(11) The heat of the working fluid at the inlet of the regenerator is exchanged
with that of the working fluid from the separator in the regenerator.
(12) The working fluid from the heater is sent to the evaporator and that from
the separator is sent to the diffuser.
(13) The diffuser adjusts the pressure difference between the evaporator and the
condenser.
CHAPTER-3
TYPES OF OTEC PLANTS
The ammonia vapor Sows through a simple closed-cycle power loop and
is condensed using cold sea water. The uncondensed steam and other gases
exiting the ammonia evaporator may be further cooled by heat transfer to either
the liquid ammonia leaving the ammonia condenser or cold sea water. The non
con then compressed and discharged to the atmosphere. Steam is used as an
intermediary heat transfer medium between the warm sea water and the
ammonia; consequently, the potential for biofouling in the ammonia evaporator
is reduced significantly. Another advantage of the hybrid cycle related to
freshwater production is that condensation occurs at significantly. higher
pressures than in an open cycle OTEC condenser, due to the elimination of the
turbine from the steam Sow path. Economics of OTEC Studies conducted to
date on the economic feasibility of OTEC systems suffer from the lack of
reliable cost data.
Energy Carriers Although the most common scenario is for OTEC energy
to be converted into electricity and delivered directly to consumers, energy
storage has been considered as an alternative, particularly in applications
involving soating plants moored far offshore. Storage would also allow the
export of OTEC energy to industrialized regions outside of the tropics. Long
term proposals have included the production of hydrogen gas via electrolysis,
ammonia synthesis, and the development of shore based mariculture FACULTY
OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY Introduction A power station is
required to deliver power to a large number of consumers to meet their
requirements. While designing and building a power station, efforts should be
made to achieve overall economy so that the per unit cost of production is as
low as possible. This will enable the electric supply company to sell electrical
energy at a profit and ensure reliable service.
Even if company has spent out of its reserve funds, the interest must be still
allowed for, since this amount could have earned interest if deposited in a bank.
Therefore, while calculating the cost of production of electrical energy, the
interest payable on the capital investment must be included. The rate of interest
depends upon market position and other factors, and may vary from 4% to 8%
per annum. (ii) Depreciation. The decrease in the value of the power plant
equipment and building due to constant use is known as depreciation. If the
power station equipment were to last forever, then interest on the capital
investment would have been the only charge to be made.
Open cycle OTEC directly uses the warm water from the surface to make
electricity. The warm seawater is first pumped in a low-pressure chamber where
due to the drop in pressure, it undergoes a drop in boiling point as well. This
causes the water to boil. This steam drives a low-pressure turbine which is
attached to an electrical generator. The advantage this system has over a closed
system is that, in the open cycle, desalinated water in the form of steam is
obtained. Since it is steam, it is free from all impurities. This water can be used
for domestic, industrial, or agricultural purposes.
CHAPTER 4
WORKING OF OTEC
4.1 WORKING: To know about the principle of OTEC plant operation first of
all we will know about OTEC plant, and ocean temperature difference.
OTEC:
OTEC or ocean thermal energy thermal conversion is a technology which
converts solar radiation absorbed by the oceans to electric energy. The ocean’s
can be considered as the world’s largest solar energy collector as it covers two
third of the earth surface.
OCEAN TEMPRATURE DIFFRENCE:
There is different temperature in the different layers of the oceans. This is
because of the heat input from the sun at the surface of ocean. The surface at the
top of the oceans is warmest and gradually the temperature decreases with in
depth. But in the polar regions the temperature at the surface of ocean is low so
there is no gradual change in temperature.
PRINCIPLES OF OTEC PLANT OPERATION:
The working principle of an OTEC plant is that it uses the warm water to heat
and vaporize a liquid (working fluid). And this working fluid develops pressure
which forces it to evaporator and the expanding vapour runs through a heat
engine like turbine, generator, and it is condensed back into a liquid by cold
water brought up from depth and the cycle is repeated.
As we know that water is not perfectly transparent nearly all sunlight is
absorbed in the surface layer which heats up. As warm water raises and cold
water sinks so this warm water stays near the ocean’s surface. Now Wind and
waves circulate the water in the surface layer distributing the heat within it to
some extent, and the temperature may remain quite uniform for the first hundred
metres, but below the mixed layer the temperature drops very rapidly, perhaps
20 degrees Celsius with an additional of 150 m depth. This area of rapid
transition is called thermocline and below it the temperature continues to drop
with depth but very gradually.
Generally thermocline varies with latitude and season but it is permanent in the
tropics, variable in the temperate climates is strongest during the summer and is
weak to non-existent in the polar regions where the water is cold from the
surface to the bottom.
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION
6. Ocean thermal energy power plant product electrical power and also
generate hydrogen this is also benefit of ocean thermal energy power
plant.
3. In this plant required experience working fluid for working (in closed
OTEC plant )
4. OTEC plant Cost of electric power generation per KWh is very high.
REFERENCES:
https://byjus.com/physics/non-conventional-sources-of-energy-ocean
https://www.engineeringenotes.com/power-plants-2/otec-power-plants/.
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8859969
https://blog.oureducation.in/principles-of-otec-plant-operation