Rick wrote:



Recips don't require as great a vacuum as a turbine to operate at their
peak efficiency. Plant efficiency without the turbine would drop
considerably as the energy in the recip exhaust would be lost to heating
the sea.



I see you agree with me, the steam would be bypassed to the condensor.
But I'm puzzled by your statement that recips don't need as great a
vaccum for peak efficiency. Isn't thermodynamic efficiency directly
related to the inlet and outlet pressures -or do you mean that most
reciprocating engines run at higher outlet pressures?

Cheers