Thermodynamic and exergoenvironmental analysis of a new solar-driven cogeneration system integrated with a solar still desalination unit

Abstract

Global warming and environmental pollution problems motivate researchers to investigate and analyze renewable energy-based systems for cogeneration and multigeneration aims. This paper proposes a novel combination of the organic Rankine cycle, ejector refrigeration cycle, and organic flash cycle to produce power and cooling. Also, a solar still desalination unit is applied to assess freshwater production through solar energy. Thermodynamic, economic, and exergoenvironmental approaches are employed to determine the system performance indexes. Also, some design variables' variation effects are investigated in the parametric study. The system’s optimum state is obtained via three multi-objective scenarios. Based on the results, the designed system yields 143.4 kW net power, 5.89 kg·h−1 freshwater, and a cooling load of about 66.85 kW. The total product exergoenvironmental impact and total product cost rates are evaluated to be 78.25 Pts·h−1 and 1.619 $·h−1, respectively. Besides, in the base case, the total exergy destruction value is obtained by 892.8 kW. Moreover, the thermal and exergy efficiencies are computed at 22.14% and 14.50%, respectively. Furthermore, the exit pressure variation related to the high-pressure turbine mainly affects the performance indexes. Also, the economic-exergy scenario demonstrates the best overall performance indexes among the considered optimization scenarios.