Low Temperature Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) Units

Boundary Energy is developing a cost-effective technology to capture and convert thermal energy to usable power from low-grade thermal heat sources. At its core is a turbine that has been designed specifically for ultra low source temperatures (<95C) and uses a combination of modular design and advanced fabrication techniques to lower the equipment capital costs to much less than current market solutions. The Boundary multi-stage ORC turbine uses a benign working fluid, which expands appreciably at lower temperatures, and whose heat is gained through conventional plate heat exchangers. The entire power generation package is compact and can be easily housed in a 20 ft shipping container or on a transportable skid, making it ideal for shipping to site and allows any number of modules to be combined to meet varying customer capacity requirements. Due to the low operating temperatures, water can be used to store energy in simple insulated storage tanks.

Boundary has created a simple design and a design process that allows for inexpensive yet customized turnkey solutions that are scalable to customer needs. The overall turbine design is simple to assemble, disassemble, and maintain. Currently, replacing a full turbine section requires about 30 minutes.

  • Efficient power generation with low-grade heat requirements: as low as 90 degrees Celsius with >15% efficiency and the efficiency increases with higher temperatures.

  • Rapidly scalable from as low as 50 kW up to 500 kW modules with simple connections between modules for further scaling. A modular design approach has been introduced so that units can be easily altered to meet specific customer requirements, such as capacity and source temperatures.

  • Highly automated, low speed, and effective design allowing for simple and lower cost maintenance. E.g. 10+ year bearing life and remote monitoring and PLC control systems with user-friendly interfaces.

  • Continous, turnkey units that are rapidly manufactured, delivered and installed on-site.

Key Advantages With Our System

ORC Unit - Inputs & Outputs

Unit Examples

Alberta, Canada

Extensive laboratory testing has been conducted and is ongoing for the ORC Unit. Lessons learned from these activities are being incorporated into the current design being demonstrated in Alberta, Canada. The remainder of the ORC cycle uses conventional equipment and is readily commercially available. The most innovative aspect of our system is the turbine which has been custom designed to fit the low- grade thermal application. 

Benefits of Using Boundary’s ORC Unit

GHG Benefits

Significant positive impact on GHGs by offsetting fossil fuels as an energy source and increasing the energy efficiencies of various industries. This will help businesses with their carbon footprint and address scope 1 & 2 emissions.

Non-GHG Benefits

By reducing the cost of an ORC plant to below $2,000/kW, power can be produced very competitively allowing for other commodities to be produced economically including hydrogen, ammonia, and fertilizer. This improves cost competitiveness but also facilitates economic diversification. Our solution can serve as baseload power since we can store energy using simple insulated water tanks for up to standard installations having storage capacity for up to 2 weeks. Because our technology can take advantage of ultra-low temperature heat sources, the benefits will extend across multiple industries and applications. This will help to accelerate market penetration to both large industrial users and, due to its low cost, smaller outfits. This provides a fairer opportunity for all potential users to adopt the technology and benefit from it.

The direct employment benefits that come with the adoption of our technology include the creation of many jobs that are compatible will existing skill sets already established within many industries.