A

SEMINAR REPORT ON

OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of

Bachelor of Technology

In

Mechanical Engineering

Submitted By

SHREYA KANWAR

(16EEMME023)

Session 2019-20

HEAD OF DEPARTMENT, MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

GOVERNMENT MAHILA ENGINEERING COLLEGE, AJMER

NASIRABAD ROAD, MAKHUPURA AJMER-305002

1
 TITLE: OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION

ABSTRACT:

Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) is a technology that converts solar radiation into
electrical energy. The OTEC system also generates fresh water as a primary product and
generates only enough electricity, as a secondary product, to operate the OTEC system itself.
The oceans, being a vast renewable resource, it has the potential to produce billions of watts of
electric power. According to some experts this potential is estimated to be about 10^10KW
power generation. The significance of discussing this topic lies in the production of significant
amount of power with a little impact on the surrounding environment. Considering the
economics of OTEC, it is appropriate to determine multiple product systems e.g., electricity,
desalinated water, Mari culture, and air conditioning systems. The present paper also covers the
basic types of an OTEC power plants cycle that are to be utilized.

INTRODUCTION:

OTEC is a technology that converts the solar radiation into useful electric energy. It uses ocean’s
temperature gradient (the ocean’s layers of water have different temperatures) to generate the
power based on 2nd law of thermodynamics. As long as the temperature between the warm
surface water and the cold deep water differs by 20 deg C, an OTEC system can produce a
significant amount of power, with little impact on surrounding environment. The oceans are thus
a vast renewable resource, with the potential to produce 10^10 KW power generation. For OTEC
a temperature difference of 20 deg C exists between the surface and deep seawater throughout
the tropical area of world. The cold, deep seawater used in the OTEC processes is also rich in
nutrients, and it can be used to culture both marine organisms and plant life near the shore or on
land. The use of solar energy collected by oceans has attracted man for its conversion into
electric energy; however the theoretical efficiency of conversion is nearly 2-3% only.

OCEAN TEMPERATURE:

The concept of OTEC uses the difference of water temperature that exists between warm tropical
surface waters and those at depth. The ocean water gets warm because of absorbed solar
radiation. This variation in temperature is different at different layers of ocean water and highest
temperature is achieved and as shown in the figure for different depth of ocean.

2
The water at surface become lighter than at depth and this retards the heat transfer by thermal
conduction between them, keeping warm water at top. The temperature gradient inside the ocean
water is non-uniform and varies approximately. Since the ocean temperature changes little from
night to day or in the tropics with the seasons, an OTEC power plant is able to generate
electricity continuously, unlike much other renewable energy sources.

WORKING PRINCIPLE OF AN OTEC PLANT:

The main objective of OTEC is to utilize the solar energy trapped by the ocean into usable
energy. This kind of energy is found in Tropical Ocean where 20 deg C difference between top
surface and at the depth is sufficient to provide thermal energy continuously, to be utilized for
useful work. The principle of OTEC is that there is a temperature difference between the water at
the bottom and at the top of the sea. This temperature difference can be used to operate a Heat
Engine. Most of the radiation is being absorbed at the surface layer of water and become lighter.
The mixing b/w hot and cold water is prevented because no thermal convection occurs b/w hot
and cold water layers. This means that the surface layer will act as a source and cold layer act as
a sink. Therefore it is essential to connect the reversible heat engine between source and cold
sink to produce work that can be converted into required applications. The absorption of solar
radiation in the water varies with and can be expressed by Lambert’s law as follows-

3
The Carnot efficiency of the reversed heat engine operating at surface temperature T(S) (hot
surface) and at deep temperature, T(B) (cold sink) is given as-

The efficiency of the real engine is less than the ideal in Carnot cycle as it operates on the
Rankine cycle. As the warm water temperature is not sufficient for utilizing it directly for power
generation, it needs the secondary fluids like Ammonia, Propane etc., which can evaporate at this
low temperature and get condensed in the condenser after expanding in the turbine. The
following figure shows the working cycle of heat engine operating at surface temperature T(S)
and at deep temperature T(B) using secondary fluids.

The thermal efficiency of OTEC plant is 2-3% after considering all losses and pump work.

OTEC SYSTEM:

The 3 basic types of OTEC power plants cycle are discussed below:

(1) Open-cycle
(2) Closed-cycle

(3) Hybrid cycle

(1) OPEN/CLAUDE CYCLE: Open cycle OTEC is very similar to the closed cycle one. The
only difference is that the open cycle system doesn’t use any intermediate working fluid.
The warm seawater on the ocean surface is turned into low-pressure vapor in the vacuum
flashed evaporator under a partly vacuum environment. The massive vacuum pump is

4
 needed to create the vacuum. These turbines have a large diameter of about 12m/MW
steam plant. The figure shows a schematic diagram of Open cycle.

The warm water from surface is pumped in the flash evaporator kept at low pressure where vapor
is formed by flashing. The depressurization will vaporize seawater and produces steam, taken to
the low pressure turbine to drive it to generate power through generator. The separated warm
water from the evaporator is discharged to the sea at bottom. The steam after leaving the turbine
is condensed back in contact type condensed by using cold water, pumped from depth of the sea.
The condensed water is desalinated water and can be utilized for various purposes. The cold deep
water after discharging will meet the seawater at low temperature. The open cycle plant needs
very large size turbine because of large volume of steam at low pressure approximately at 0.02
bar. The large pump work is required in open cycle as the plant has to handle very large quantity
of warm and cold water because of low water temperature difference.

5
The line 1-2 shows the warm ocean water and the line 6-7 indicates deep cold water.

(2) CLOSED/ANDERSON CYCLE: The warm surface water vaporizes the intermediate
working fluid, having low boiling point, in a heat exchanger (evaporator). The schematic
of closed cycle is shown in the following figure.

The warm seawater enters in the evaporator and after discharging heat to the secondary working
fluid ammonia or Freon’s returns to bottom layer of sea. The intermediate working fluid then
drives the turbine to generate the power and then this low pressure ammonia is condensed back
to liquid in condenser by using deep sea cold water. At all times, the working fluid remains in the
closed system and is continuously circulated by means of pump. The ammonia vaporizes and
condenses near atmospheric pressure at the available seawater temperatures. It provides a
sufficient pressure drop across the turbine so that it can achieve relatively high efficiency
compared to open cycle system. The size of turbine is reduced by 1/10 th of size used in the open
circuit; however cost is increased because of expensive working fluids and heat exchanger.

Advantages of Closed cycle over Open cycle:

(1) The size of the plant is lowered in closed cycle compared with open cycle because of
high running pressure 9-16 bar.
(2) Cost of energy generation is reduced in closed cycle.

(3) Higher efficiency.

(4) Corrosion on turbine and other parts is avoided.

6
 (5) As the secondary fluid boils at temperature available in hot water and doesn’t require
vacuum pump.

(6) Fabrication of steam turbine is easier than a large turbine used in open cycle.

(3)HYBRID CYCLE: The hybrid OTEC is a theoretical method of maximizing the use of ocean
thermal energy. This cycle is a combination of open and closed cycle as shown in the figure. The
overall thermal efficiency of hybrid system is higher than the other two systems. The hybrid
systems are used to produce electricity as well as desalinated water. There are 2 concepts of
hybrid system.

The 1st one is to use a closed cycle OTEC to generate electricity and to produce desalinated
water. The necessary low-pressure environment for the open cycle OTEC is produced in
flash evaporator to flash the water vapor as shown in the fig. The water gets evaporated in
vacuum chamber and is condensed back in the 2nd ammonia evaporator to produce
desalinated water as in open cycle. The intermediate secondary fluid (ammonia) gets
evaporated in this chamber and enters in the turbine as in closed cycle to produce turbine
work to generate electricity. The non-condensable gases are removed from the ammonia
evaporator and are discharged to atmosphere.

The 2nd concept is to integrate two open cycles OTEC. One cycle is used to run the turbine.
This work is utilized to create the vacuum environment in heat exchanger. In this cycle, there
will be twice the amount of desalinated water produced.

ADVANTAGES, DISADVANTAGES & LIMITATIONS OF AN OTEC SYSTEM:

ADAVANTAGES:

(1) It is environmentally friendly.

(2) It can provide useful environment in areas bordering on tropical seas.
7
 (3) It can produce electricity without giving off any CO2, and do it for a long period.

(4) The additional products i.e., food, potable water; air conditioning; etc. which can readily
be provided.

(5) Potable water production alone can reduce electrical generating costs by up to one third,
and is itself in very considerable demand in most areas where OTEC can operate.

(6) The cold seawater is rich in nutrients and can be utilized for water plants or for
aquaculture used to increase the production.

(7) The thermal resource of the ocean ensures that the power source is available day or night,
and with only modest variation from summer to winter.

DISADVANTAGES:

(1) The power cost is more.

(2) The construction and pipe length affects the marine ecosystem.

(3) The closed cycle OTEC can cause the pollution, if intermediate chemicals leak into the
ocean.

(4) Heat exchangers (Evaporator & Condenser) must be made of highly conductive
materials, which increase their capital cost.

LIMITATIONS:

(1) Difficult maintenance.

(2) The capital cost is more.

(3) Large size pump is required to handle large volume of water.

(4) Low thermal efficiency (2-3%) because of low temperature difference of water available.

(5) Construction of floating plant is difficult.

(6) Plant should be capable of withstanding severe ocean storms & seasons.

APPLICATIONS OF AN OTEC SYSTEM:

(1) A closed cycle OTEC plant can also act as chemical treatment plant.
(2) The enclosing area can be used for aquaculture and maricultue.

(3) The deep sea coldwater is rich in nutrient and can be used for various applications.

(4) Desalinated water, which can be used for irrigation and human consumption.

8
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT:

(1) The marine environment gets affected by these plants through water heating.
(2) The release of toxic chemical and entrapment of small sea organism in intake pipes is
common.

(3) Thermal layer of seawater near the plants get disturbed because of the discharge of low
and high water at intermediate level.

(4) The marine life gets affected because of change in pH and dissolved Oxygen.

REFERENCES:

(1) NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY RESOURCES by S.K.DUBEY

DR.S.K.BHARGAVA.
(2) POWER FROM THE TROPICAL SEAS in MECHANICAL ENGINEERING by
CLAUDE.G.

(3) www.google.com

(4) www.matlabcodes.com

(5) microcontroller-project-codes.blogspot.com

(6) microcontroller-library.blogspot.com

(7) researchgate.net