propane instead of water
propane instead of water
(OP)
Has anybody got any experience or thoughts of using LP as a replacement for steam in power generation?
I have been looking for info online and I am having a hard time getting a reasonably unbiased opinion. People selling it say its genius others seem much more hesitant.
Parts of the arguments I read seam reasonable, such as the lower vaporization temp and energy mean that it could be used to produce power at lower temperatures (such as waste heat). What about lower enthalphy though? I would think that propane would produce significantly less power at the same mass flow.
Any comments or experiences would be appreciated.
I have been looking for info online and I am having a hard time getting a reasonably unbiased opinion. People selling it say its genius others seem much more hesitant.
Parts of the arguments I read seam reasonable, such as the lower vaporization temp and energy mean that it could be used to produce power at lower temperatures (such as waste heat). What about lower enthalphy though? I would think that propane would produce significantly less power at the same mass flow.
Any comments or experiences would be appreciated.





RE: propane instead of water
Hope that helps.
RE: propane instead of water
A million is 1X10^6
A billion is 1X10^9 (in the US)
A trillion is 1X10^12
so is a quadrillion 1X10^15? I'm just trying to get a feel for the prize. The chemical energy in 1,000 ft^3 (MCF, at "standard" conditions, whatever they are) of methane is 1 million BTU. That would say that we have about 29X10^9 ft^3 of "methane equivilant" in the low-grade heat. That is 29 BCF of Methane. At $10/MCF that is $10 million per year. Sounds like a big number, but in the scale of power generation it is not even in the round off error.
David Simpson, PE
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RE: propane instead of water
TTFN
RE: propane instead of water
29E15BTU = 8.5E12kWh
Assuming 12000 kWh/yr per home, that's enough energy for 700 million homes?
TTFN
RE: propane instead of water
as we write, LP is actually being used instead of steam in power generation.
genb
RE: propane instead of water
These thermal losses in the conversion of fuel to electric power exceed the amount of energy annually consumed by the U.S. transportation sector alone or by the entire Japanese economy. Based on these statistics, fully thirty percent of the energy produced by the U.S. is lost as wasted heat. This translates into approximately 210 billion dollars (US) that is lost each year, or an amount of energy lost that is equivalent to the entire consumption of natural gas (2.2 x 1013 ft3) by the U.S. annually.
RE: propane instead of water
TTFN
RE: propane instead of water
I have seen a few companies offering systems using lp, but I only seem to find these companies perspectives of the systems. I'm wondering if there are any problems associated with LP that are not seen with steam systems.
Eltron mentioned "flammable, toxic or environmentally harmful" which I expected.
There might not be, but I'd like a more neutral opinion as opposed to someone trying to sell us a system.
RE: propane instead of water
I think one of the attractive options to this type of system is that it potentially could be operated remotely/unmanned. If steam were used (at least in my jurisdiction) you would need a steam engineer on-site 24/7.
RE: propane instead of water
RE: propane instead of water
as we write, LP is actually being used instead of steam in power generation.
genb
RE: propane instead of water
One quadrillion = 10^15, or one thousand trillion.
Sorry for the typo, guys.
RE: propane instead of water
TTFN