Multi-criteria exergy based optimization of an Organic Rankine Cycle for waste heat recovery in the cement industry

• The application of ORC for the waste heat recovery in the cement industry is presented.
• Cyclohexane, benzene and toluene as working fluids for ORC are considered.
• Exergy, exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental analyses are conducted.
• The multi-objective optimization is performed.
• Simulation, evaluation and optimization results are reported.

In this study, an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) with three different working fluids (cyclohexane, benzene and toluene) is proposed for a cogeneration system used in cement industry. A parametric study is conducted to evaluate the effects of some key parameters on the system performance. The exergy, exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental analyses of the ORC cycle with considered working fluids are carried out. The multi-objective optimization is performed to achieve the system optimal operating conditions. The optimization considers the exergy efficiency, the cost and the environmental impact per exergy unit of the net produced power as the objective functions.