Abstract
Tri-generation is one of the most efficient ways for maximizing the utilization of available energy. Utilization of waste heat (flue gases) liberated by the Al-Hamra gas turbine power plant is analyzed in this research work for simultaneous production of: (a) electricity by combining steam rankine cycle using heat recovery steam generator (HRSG); (b) clean water by air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) plant; and (c) cooling by single stage vapor absorption chiller (VAC). The flue gases liberated from the gas turbine power cycle is the prime source of energy for the tri-generation system. The heat recovered from condenser of steam cycle and excess heat available at the flue gases are utilized to drive cooling and desalination cycles which are optimized based on the cooling energy demands of the villas. Economic and environmental benefits of the tri-generation system in terms of cost savings and reduction in carbon emissions were analyzed. Energy efficiency of about 82%–85% is achieved by the tri-generation system compared to 50%–52% for combined cycles. Normalized carbon dioxide emission per MW·h is reduced by 51.5% by implementation of waste heat recovery tri-generation system. The tri-generation system has a payback period of 1.38 years with cumulative net present value of $66 million over the project life time.
Highlights
Tri-generation is one of most promising technology integration practice for production of three different outputs with a common primary energy source
Where WGT and WST are the work done by the gas turbine and steam turbine; ṁf is the mass flow rate of the fuel; LHV is the lower heating value; Qch is the chilled energy produced in the absorption chiller and Qdis is the useful energy utilized by membrane distillation unit
The gas turbine cycle is numerically modeled with data and parameters provided by the Al-Hamra gas turbine power plant [19]
Summary
Tri-generation is one of most promising technology integration practice for production of three different outputs with a common primary energy source. The system is modeled with combined cycles of gas turbine and organic rankine cycle for power generation, single stage absorption chiller for cooling, and hot water through heat recovery. Temir and Bilge [10] studied the performance of tri-generation systems for production of electricity by reciprocating engines, absorption cooling using saturated steam from the boiler and process heat recovery from exhaust outlets. Sun [11] proposed a combined production cycle of electricity by gas engine and cooling by absorption chiller, which provides primary energy savings of 37% compared to separate conventional power and cooling systems with payback return in 4.52 years. Liu [15] analyzed the performance of two different cogeneration systems by integrating membrane distillation modules with a gas engine as combined power and desalination cycles and with vapor compression chiller as a combined cooling and distillation unit. Burrieza et al [17] conducted several parametric studies on air gap membrane distillation modules to optimize the performance of the system that produces a maximum distillate flux of 20 L/h per module
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