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).

Financial analysis shows that the ORC system, including the cost of the unit plus the costs of installation and integration into the process, will cost approximately 4.8 Million USD.

* The efficiency of the ORC system is always optimized: on average at 50% load, electrical efficiency is still 90% of the nominal electrical efficiency.

This process was developed in 1859 by Scottish engineer William J.M. Rankine. This is a thermodynamic cycle which converts heat into mechanical energy—which usually gets transformed into electricity by electrical generation. Figure 1. A simple schematic with components for the Rankine Cycle.