Research into the Potential for Energy Recovery from Exhaust Gases from Technological Transport Engines

The article investigates the issue of modeling and increasing the fuel efficiency of power drives used on large-capacity diesel engines in the oil and gas industry. The use of supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO₂) cycles is proposed as a promising direction for the modernization of these diesel engines. An analysis of modern scientific research and publications on the topic of power drive modeling is carried out, and a number of unresolved problems related to the practical implementation of sCO₂ technology in the oil and gas industry are also identified. For this reason, the article considers the potential of using supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO₂), the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) and thermoelectric generator systems (TEG) for waste heat recovery (WHR) of technological transport in the oil and gas industry. The modeling results show that sCO₂ systems have the highest level of energy recovery from exhaust gases, surpassing ORC. In particular, the sCO₂ system was able to recover 19.5 kW in the maximum effective power mode and 10.1 kW in the maximum torque mode, while the ORC system - 14.7 kW and 7.9 kW, respectively. In the low effective power mode, the sCO₂ provided 4.2 kW, while the ORC - 3.3 kW. At the same time, the TEG system demonstrated significantly lower performance: 533 W at maximum effective braking power, 126 W at maximum torque and only 7 W in the low power and torque mode, which is explained by its lower efficiency compared to sCO₂ and ORC. Based on the results obtained, it was concluded that the sCO₂ and ORC technologies have the greatest potential for increasing the efficiency of WHR exhaust systems. The prospects of using supercritical carbon dioxide cycles to improve the economic characteristics of power drives in the oil and gas industry were separately noted.