A review of working fluid and expander selections for organic Rankine cycle

How to effectively utilize low and medium temperature energy is one of the solutions to alleviate the energy shortage and environmental pollution problems. In the past twenty years, because of its feasibility and reliability, organic Rankine cycle has received widespread attentions and researches. In this paper, it reviews the selections of working fluids and expanders for organic Rankine cycle, including an analysis of the influence of working fluids' category and their thermodynamic and physical properties on the organic Rankine cycle's performance, a summary of pure and mixed working fluids' screening researches for organic Rankine cycle, a comparison of pure and mixture working fluids' applications and a discussion of all types of expansion machines' operating characteristics, which would be beneficial to select the optimal working fluid and suitable expansion machine for an effective organic Rankine cycle system. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.