Waste heat recovery systems : Fuel energy utilisation for a marine defence platform

Abstract: This report is a thesis for BTH in collaboration with the company Saab Kockums AB. In order to meet future environmental and economical demands, a vessel must reduce its fuel consumption to have a smaller climate impact and save money. Waste heat recovery systems (WHRS) captures the thermal energy generated from a process that is not used but dumped into the environment and transfers it back to the system. Thermal energy storage (TES) is the method of storing thermal energy which allows heat to be used whenever necessary. Some applications of TES are seasonal storage, where summer heat is stored for use in the winter or when ice is produced during off-peak periods and used for cooling later. The purpose of this study is to investigate the possibilities of utilising a vessel’s waste heat by converting thermal energy into electrical energy. This thesis also aims to investigate conditions for SaltX Technology’s nano-coated salt as a potential solution for thermal energy storage. Initially, the expectations and requirements a future WHRS were investigated in a function analysis. Continuously, the method consisted of a combination of a literature review and dialogue with stakeholders. The literature review was used as a tool to identify, select and study concepts of interest built on scientifically proven facts. Dialogues with stake holders were held as a complement to the literature study to find information. The study showed that an organic Rankine cycle has the highest efficiency for low-medium temperature heat and is therefore most suitable to recover thermal energy from the cooling water. The concept of a steam Rankine cycle is most suitable for recovering thermal energy from the exhaust gases for direct use.The study obtained conditions and important properties for storing thermal energy in salt for later use. Finally, the result showed that a Stirling engine is the most efficient concept for conversion of stored energy into electrical energy. The conclusions are that there are great possibilities for waste heat recovery on marine defence platforms. A Stirling engine for energy conversion in combinations with thermal energy storage shows most promise as a future waste heat recovery system on this type of marine platform.