The Rankine Cycle is a thermodynamic cycle that converts heat into work. The heat is supplied to a closed loop, which typically uses water as working fluid. The Organic Rankine Cycle's principle is based on a turbogenerator working as a conventional steam turbine to transform thermal energy into mechanical energy and finally into electric energy through an electrical generator. Instead of generating steam from water, the ORC-system vaporizes an organic fluid, characterized by a molecular mass higher than that of water, which leads to a slower rotation of the turbine, lower pressures and no erosion of the metal parts and blades.
“In the years ahead” states Paolo Bertuzzi, Managing Director and CEO at Turboden, S.p.A., “we have the ambition not only to maintain but also to increase our leadership in this Biomass CHP market, emphasizing the advantages of ORC solutions versus steam: no need of water for the cooling system and for the process, automatic operations, high efficiency also at partial load, and many others.”
Turboden states its success mainly to its customers’ loyalty: 90 percent of them maintain an after-sales contract in place and many of them are “returning clients”. For example, Germany’s Ziegler recently inaugurated its third Turboden unit (3 MWe).
