Estudo da viabilidade de implantação de plantas para conversão de energia térmica do oceano (OTEC) no Brasil

• Autor(a) principal: Neves, Marcus Godolphim de Castro [UNESP]
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNESP
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/11449/124434; http://www.athena.biblioteca.unesp.br/exlibris/bd/cathedra/18-06-2015/000836695.pdf
• topic: Energia - Conversão; Energia - Fontes alternativas; Calor solar; Energy conversion

The search for new sources of clean renewable energy has been the subject of current research and investment, and the possible exploration of oceanic processes may be an interesting alternative. One of these processes is based on extraction of the solar thermal energy accumulated in the ocean upper layer. A fraction of this energy can be converted into electricity and various byproducts by means of a conversion process known simply as Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC), which uses the cold water gotten from a depth of 1,000 m. OTEC plants operate in three distinct thermal cycles: open, closed and hybrid. To operate in an adequate form, the local of installation of an OTEC plant must have the sea's average surface temperature greater than 24 oC. Brazil has several offshore regions with these conditions, being one of the countries with good capacity to install OTEC plants to help to supply the electrical and energy demands. This work presents the study of thermodymanic, thermoeconomic and economic feasibility to install an OTEC plant in Brazil through numerical simulation of six cases of closed thermal cycles of an OTEC plant, being five of them with one stage (three with and two without solar boosters); one case with two stages and none solar booster. The results have shown that the two-stage plant has not been feseable. However, the one-stage closed cycle plants are able to produce between 13 to 19 MW, depending on the case considered, with cost between R$ 0,55 (with solar booster) and R$ 0,65 (without solar booster) per kW. These values is lower than the energy cost produced by Diesel stationary engines, so that this technology may be a feseable and sustainable alternative to replace this kind of power generation in Brazilian Northeast region, being able to produce fresh water and salt too