Proposal, process development, and multi-aspect investigation of a novel environmentally friendly multigeneration process in arrangement with a sea water desalination unit

Abstract

The present study focuses on the energy, exergy, economic, and environmental evaluations of a new multigeneration process integrated with a gas turbine power plant for an eco-friendly cascade heat recovery. This system includes an organic Rankine cycle, a sea water desalination unit, a combined cooling and power unit, and a dual organic Rankine cycle. The process is simulated by employing the Aspen HYSYS software. A parameter evaluation is performed to investigate the effect of operational conditions on the output of the new structure and its energy and exergy efficiencies. It is determined that the system is capable of producing cooling, heating, power, and fresh water products with capacities of 1096 kW, 51,040 kW, 148,500 kW, and 131.2 kg/s, respectively, in the baseline state. Additionally, it is found that the primary energy saving, thermal efficiency, electricity efficiency, energy utilization factor, energy efficiency, and exergy efficiency for the new structure are 31.9%, 13.4%, 39.0%, 52.4%, 52.7%, and 63.6%, respectively. The investigations demonstrate that the total exergy destruction is 146,675 kW, and the highest amount occurs in the desalination subsystem (46.4%). The evaluations describe that the new structure can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 39.8% compared to conventional power and heat generation. The economic estimation indicates the proposed process has positive economic growth with a net present value of 502.99 M$. The values of the total unit cost of products, the cost of energy, and the internal rate of return equal 10.9 $/GJ, 0.057 $/kWh, and 5.08 year, respectively.