8  Binary Cycle Power Plants 167

The dual-fluid binary cycle shown in Fig. 8.13 features a heat recuperator E2 that
links the upper cycle having fluid 1 and the lower cycle having fluid 2.
The process diagram is given in Fig. 8.14 in temperature-entropy coordinates. Note
that there are two entropy axes, one for each working fluid; the saturation curves are
drawn in a convenient location to illustrate the relationship between the two cycles. If
the fluids are selected judiciously according to their thermodynamic properties, they
will complement one another to create synergy in the overall dual cycle.
As with the dual-pressure cycle, the motivation here is to create a good match
between the brine and the working fluid heating-boiling curves. The temperature-heat
transfer diagram, Fig. 8.15, shows this relationship. The discontinuity between state
points 5 and 11 arises from the internal heat transfer between the working fluids and
does not involve the brine. From the diagram it can be seen that the pinch point
occurs between state b on the brine cooling curve and state 6, the bubble point for
fluid 1. The near parallelism between the brine and the working fluids in the prehea-
ters means that the thermodynamic irreversibilities will be low, as will the loss of
exergy during the heat transfer process in those components. Since the average tem-
perature difference in the fluid 1 evaporator is relatively large, there will be a higher
loss of exergy there.
Note that all cycles considered so far in this chapter have been subcritical cycles, i.e.,
the pressure of the working fluids in the brine heat exchangers is less than the critical
pressure. If fluid 1 is raised to a supercritical pressure before entering its preheater, the
temperature-heat transfer diagram would change dramatically; see Fig. 8.16. The sharp
corner at state 6 denoting the bubble point for fluid 1 has vanished. Fluid 1 now has
a smooth heating curve that takes the fluid from a cool compressed liquid to a hot
supercritical vapor. There will still be a point of closest approach between the two
curves, but it will be far less pronounced. This now allows a very good match between

Fig. 8.13 Dual-fluid cascaded binary cycle featuring a heat recuperator.