Organic Rankine Cycle

The organic Rankine cycle, or ORC, is a power-generation system built around a simple idea: use a fluid that boils at a far lower temperature than water, so even low-grade heat can spin a turbine. It is the technology that turns waste heat, the energy released by an industrial process that is too cool for a conventional steam plant, into electricity.

How the Cycle Works

An ORC runs a working fluid through a closed loop. Heat from a low-to-medium temperature source vaporises the fluid, the pressurised vapour expands through a turbine to drive a generator, and the fluid is then condensed and pumped back to begin again. The entire cycle mirrors a steam plant, but the organic working fluid lets it operate on heat steam could never use.

Where ORC Is Used

ORC systems generate power from waste heat recovery, biomass combustion, geothermal heat and solar thermal, anywhere a reliable source of low-to-medium temperature heat exists. In the waste-to-value space, they recover the heat from pyrolysis, gasification and combustion, turning a plant’s own waste heat into the electricity it needs to run.

Learn More:

• Waste to Energy Facility
• Feasibility Studies

Turn Low-Temperature Heat Into Power

Klean Industries applies ORC power recovery across its waste-to-value systems, converting process heat into electricity.

Contact Klean Industries about ORC systems » GO.