Performance analysis of low temperature heat source of organic Rankine cycle for geothermal application

Indonesia has a high potential energy resources from geothermal activities. Base on the report of Asian Development Bank and World Bank, the estimated of Indonesian hydrothermal geothermal resource considered to be the largest among the world. If it's can be utilized to produce the electric power, it's can contribute to increasing the electrification rates in Indonesia. In this study, an experimental studied of electric power generation, utilizing the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system to convert the low level heat of hydrothermal as an energy source. The temperature of hydrothermal was modelled as hot water from water boiler which has a temperature range from 60 °C – 100 °C to heat up the organic working fluid of ORC system. The system can generated 1,337.7 watts of electricity when operated using R134A with hot water inlet temperature of 100 °C. Changing system working fluid to R245fa, the net power obtained increase to 1,908.9 watts with the same heat source condition. This study showed that the ORC system can be implemented to utilize low temperature heat source of hydrothermal in Indonesia. (paper)