Performance improvement of an ammonia-water mixture turbine cycle with ejector

This paper presents the results of a preliminary investigation into the effect of installing an ejector in an ammonia-water mixture turbine cycle, also called a Kalina cycle. To enhance the availability of the cycle, we focus on the pressure difference in the cycle. The temperature difference between the heat source and sink enhances the efficiency of the thermodynamic cycle, as does the pressure difference in the cycle. To improve the heat recovery in the cycle, other heat exchangers are required, and to utilize the pressure difference in the cycle, an ejector is a reasonable choice. From the viewpoint of the impact on the initial cost of the plant, the heat exchanger option is more costly than the ejector option. The authors investigated a simple AWM turbine cycle with an ejector driven by the high-pressure solution stream to vacuum the turbine exhaust. Simulations of several AWM turbine cycle configurations, with or without heat recovery exchangers and ejectors were performed. The specific power, which is the output power per unit mass flow rate of the heat source, of the proposed cycle EJT34 was 103% that of the WMTS. The thermal conductance is only about 24% of that of the WMTS, which is almost the same as the value of the KCS34. The results shows that the EJT34 produced as much power as that from the WMTS with 24% of the heat transfer area.