A team from Korea Maritime & Ocean University developed new heat recovery systems for better energy efficiency.
More specifically, using LNG can help ships reduce their emissions, but these ships experience massive heat losses.
In fact, LNG ships lose up to 25% of their input heat in the form of exhaust gas, thus consitutin recovering this heat as key to energy efficiency.
In a recent study, a team from Korea Maritime & Ocean University, led by Dr. Yeong-Seok Choi, managed to develop these new systems for LNG ships
By increasing the energy efficiency of LNG systems, we are directly contributing to environmental protection
Dr. Choi explained.
The research is based on wthe ‘organic ranking cycle (ORC), which is an organic fluid, used to turn a turbine to generate electricity, during which it loses heat.
The fluid is then condensed and reheated, and in LNG ships, ORC also allows the preheating of cold fuel before burning.
The first of the systems developed is the double stage ORC system (DSO), that uses the heat from the engine exhaust gas to run two ORCs with connections to two generators.
The second is the added double stage ORC system (ADSO), which also features a third ORC.
The team examined the workings of DSO and ADSO with combinations of different organic fluids. They found that the DSO had better overall energy efficiency, while ADSO was more suitable for cramped engine spaces.
Although our research is focused on shipping, this work can be applied to several other industries and cryogenic hydrogen research as well
Dr. Choi concluded.
