Economic Design of OTEC Power Plant with Concurrent Production of Desalinated Water – A Case Study | Chapter 3 | Theory and Applications of Chemistry Vol. 2
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) power plants offer a green source of renewable energy. Since India is a tropical country and a peninsula, the prospects of OTEC power generation are extremely bright in India. Among the three modes of operation (open cycle, closed cycle and hybrid cycle) of OTEC system, the hybrid mode is most promising. However, one of the chief technical obstacles in OTEC power plant design is that since the temperature difference driving force available is of the order of 10-15ºC only, the size of the heat exchanger (evaporator / condenser) required becomes exorbitantly large. The use of variable area design, developed by the author and his co-workers, has been recommended in this connection. Such a design provides substantial increase in heat transfer coefficient (350 to 450% increase) with insignificant ...