Development of a solar-ocean based integrated plant with a new hydrogen generation system

Abstract

Considering the global urgency to decrease carbon emissions and shift to sustainable energy sources, combining solar and other renewables with hydrogen generation appears to offer an appealing answer. The combination of solar and ocean energies with hydrogen production, therefore, offers a great potential to improve energy efficiency and create a feasible route towards zero-emission energy systems. A new hybrid photoelectrochemical (PEC)-conventional electrolysis system was designed and incorporated into the proposed multigeneration system. The hybridized reactor combines the benefits of PEC and conventional electrolysis by using a developed bipolar anode to produce hydrogen continuously, even when there is no solar radiation. The main aim of this research is to investigate the integrated power process that utilizes solar power for several uses, such as generating electricity, producing freshwater, and synthesizing hydrogen. The proposed research involves integrating several components, including a solar through collector system, a combination of power cycles (steam and organic Rankine cycles), a multi-effect desalination (MED) unit, a new hybrid electrolyzer system, a wave energy system, and a hydrogen storage and refuelling station. The main outputs include 2.05 kg/s freshwater production, 0.125 kg/s hydrogen production, 16,284.24 kW net work rate, and 95,068 kW solar heat input. The highest exergy destruction rates were found in the solar collector (56,194.8 kW) and turbines T1 and T2 (6019.9 and 4627.6 kW). The overall energy and exergy efficiencies of the proposed system are obtained to be 15.83 % and 16.61 %, respectively.