Thermoeconomic investigation on advanced Kalina power generation system

Abstract

This work presents energy, exergy, and thermoeconomic analysis of an advanced Kalina power generation system. In every key component of the proposed system, cost-balance and auxiliary equations are typically developed which is solved efficiently through MATLAB coding. The cost-effectiveness of the entire system is assessed by the determination of thermoeconomic variables for the individual components. The energy analysis of the advanced Kalina cycle system (AKCS) proves marginal improvement to the medium temperature heat recovery Kalina cycle system (KCS). The relative cost difference in HE5, turbine, HE6, and condenser are quite larger than other components of AKCS emphasizing more focus on these components is required. The low values of HE5 (11.77 %) and pump1, P1 (13.33 %) insist that the performance of these two components has to be improved by capital investment into a better and improved design. The energy performance maximizes at operating conditions of 45 bar turbine inlet pressure, 72–74 °C separator inlet temperature, 0.94 ammonia concentration at the condenser and 0.83 separator inlet concentration. The thermoeconomic performance minimizes at operating conditions of 30 bar turbine inlet pressure, 68 °C separator inlet temperature, 0.89 ammonia concentration at the condenser and 0.79 separator inlet concentration.