The fuel cell produces a power output of 1198 W at a current of 24A. It has 50% efficiency and hence produces an equal amount of waste heat. That waste heat is used to drive an organic Rankine cycle (ORC), which in turn produces an additional 428 W of power at 35% efficiency.

An organic Rankine cycle (ORC), is fundamentally the same as a steam Rankine cycle; however, it uses a lower boiling point organic fluid to better match its operation to lower temperature heat sources. ORC systems can achieve better efficiencies than steam turbines for smaller systems (less than a few MW_e).

The electrical efficiency is around 17% of the total energy input – about 3% higher than traditional steam turbines. The advantages of the ORC system are that it performs well under partial load and, because of the low working pressures and temperatures, it is not subject to the regulations of steam equipment.

ORC systems can provide significant environmental benefit by capturing waste heat for electrical or mechanical power thus reducing fossil fuel dependency or improving overall energy efficiency.