Nuclear energy-driven Kalina cycle system suitable for Indian climatic conditions

Kalina cycle (KC) has been contemplated as one of the energy-efficient power generation cycles. It is suitable for various waste heat recovery applications. It is one of the competitors to Organic Rankine Cycle, Transcritical Cycle, Supercritical Cycle, and Rankine cycle. Kalina cycle system (KCS) is a binary mixture system that utilizes ammonia-water as working fluid. In this work, a parametric study has been made with a low-temperature Kalina cycle system (LTKCS) and a high-temperature Kalina cycle system (HTKCS). The LTKCS utilized the hot source energy from solar energy, whereas for HTKCS the hot stream of energy was received from a pressurized water nuclear reactor. The output and efficiencies (energy, exergy, and relative) were noted for a range of limits for the parameters considered. Separator temperature and turbine concentration have been considered as common parameters for the two KCSs. For LTKCS and HTKCS, the optimum working conditions for separator temperature and turbine concentration exist in the range 110?150°C, 60?100°C and 0.85–0.97, 0.50–0.80, respectively. The optimized values for LTKCS and HTKCS have been derived. Among the two KCSs, HTKCS produces high specific power (675 KW). The optimum value of exergy efficiency results for LTKCS (74%) pertaining to low exergy losses. Energy is recovered more efficiently in LTKCS. This study suggests that KCS is well suited for low-temperature applications.