ORC: How it works In a typical ORC design, a thermal energy source feeds an evaporator to drive an expander or “reverse compressor”, which in turn generates the electricity. The provider of the heat can be natural, such as in the case of geothermal energy, or waste heat from any number of industrial waste heat sources.

It is shown that by utilizing the full potential of screw expanders instead of turbines, it is possible to produce Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) systems at these outputs, which can be installed for a cost in the range of $1500 to $2000 /kWe of net output.

The working principle of the organic Rankine cycle is the same as that of the Rankine cycle: the working fluid is pumped to a boiler where it is evaporated, passed through an expansion device (turbine, screw, scroll, or other expander), and then through a condenser heat exchanger where it is finally re-condensed.

The low speed ORC process has an electricity output of 400–1100 kW and electricity to heat ratio of 0.18–0.22. The ORC-concept has two circuits, one for thermal oil and another for organic fluid.