2.2.3 Rankine Engine Existing commercial technology for the Rankine central plant is considered for use in the central generation system. The turbine inlet conditions vary from nearly saturated steam at approximately 290°C to superheated steam at 1500 psi and 510°C (220°C superheat). Since the heat source (field of collectors) is distributed over a wide area, interstage reheat by returning the fluid to the collector field is not considered as a realistic possibility. Reheat is possible by introducing a heat exchanger and using the fluid from the collector field as the heat source. Fossil reheating is also possible. However, for this evaluation reheat has not been considered. Feedwater heating is one of the major tradeoffs between the energy transport and Rankine engine subsystems. A useful reference to evaluate Rankine plant performance and cost is the Black and Veatch contribution to Reference 1. This has been used to obtain a consistent basis for Rankine plant evaluation. Section 3.2.2 will develop the cost-performance data for this subsystem.
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