Process arrangement and multi-aspect study of a novel environmentally-friendly multigeneration plant relying on a geothermal-based plant combined with the goswami cycle booted by kalina and desalination cycles

Abstract

In this study, a novel trigeneration system for cooling, heating, freshwater, and electricity generation, driven by geothermal energy is evaluated from thermodynamics, thermoeconomic, and environmental perspectives. To gain a better understanding of the system's performance, energy and exergy analyses are conducted, and the outcomes are compared with other studies. The proposed structure includes a single-flash geothermal plant, a water desalination unit, the Goswami power and cooling cycle, and the Kalina power cycle. This analysis is conducted using Aspen HYSYS software, and the results demonstrated that the single-flash geothermal plant has the highest irreversibility (48 %), and the major sources of irreversibility among all equipment are the heat exchangers, contributing to 68 % of the total exergy destruction rate. Additionally, it is observed from the thermodynamic analysis results that the energy and exergy efficiencies and the total unit cost of products of the proposed process are 32.28 %, 51.71 %, and 5.66 $/GJ, respectively. According to the results, the production rate of the products is cooling (24.8 m3/h), steam (27.44 m3/h), domestic hot water (209.7 m3/h), fresh water (45.02 m3/h), and electric power (16260 kW). The environmental analysis shows that the new process has zero CO2 emission and can save an annual consumption of petroleum equal to 4325160 L, and when compared to the power plants with natural gas and oil as fuel, CO2 emissions are prevented equal to 5691000 kg/year and 13804740 kg/year, respectively.