Yearly simulations of the electricity and fresh water production in PT-CSP+MED-TVC plants: Case study in Almería (Spain)

Exergy analysis of a hydrogen and water production process by a solar-driven transcritical CO2 power cycle with Stirling engine

Design, simulation and investigation of the tri-generation process of fresh water, power and biogas using solar thermal energy and sewage sludge

This chapter deals with the combined fresh water and power production by concentrating solar power (CSP) and desalination plants (CSP + D). First, the cogeneration of electricity and desalinated water from conventional power plants is described to provide a better understanding of the integration processes. Later in the chapter, the CSP plant technologies available are described, focusing particularly on parabolic-trough collectors. Finally, the latest studies related to CSP + D plants and the existing refrigeration systems within CSP plants are expounded.

A novel solar polygeneration system for heat, power and fresh water production with absorption heat pump (AHP) and humidification-dehumidification (HDH) desalination system was proposed for high-efficiency utilization of solar energy. A case study of the proposed system was investigated based on 1 MW solar thermal power (STP) tower plant located in Beijing. Depending on mathematical modeling of the proposed system, corresponding modules were developed in TRNSYS. Meanwhile, control and operation strategies were fully studied with principal of solar energy cascade utilization. The thermodynamic performance of the proposed system was dynamically simulated at one minute intervals in a typical day. It was found that solar energy utilization level was improved with the help of solar thermal storage system and continuous heating in different operation modes met well with flexible heating loads from 93.76 kW to 169.49 kW. During AHP operation period, its Coefficient of Performance (COP) varied from 1.39 to 1.73 due to recoverable condensate heat restricted by heating demand. Meanwhile, fresh water production of HDH increased from 352.05 kg/h to 416.62 kg/h with Gained Output Ratio (GOR) increase from 2.48 to 2.67. Compared with original STP tower plant, maximum power generation efficiency was increased from 18.66% to 19.22% with power from 1169.69 kW to 1204.44 kW.

Comparative assessment of the annual electricity and water production by concentrating solar power and desalination plants: A case study

Quasi-steady state simulations of thermal vapor compression multi-effect distillation plants coupled to parabolic trough solar thermal power plants

Exergoeconomic analysis and optimization of an integrated system of supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle and multi-effect desalination

In this study, the thermodynamic and thermoeconomic analysis of a multigeneration system which produces power, cooling, domestic heating, hydrogen and freshwater has been carried out. The main source of energy for this system is a solar parabolic trough collector (PTC). The working fluid applied for this solar collector is Al2O3-Therminol VP1 nanofluid. The subsystems of this multigeneration system are a steam Rankine cycle for power production, an organic Rankine cycle for power production, a double-effect absorption refrigeration system for cooling production, a domestic water heater for hot water production, a PEM electrolyzer for hydrogen production and a RO desalination unit for freshwater production. In the ORC cycle a TEG unit is applied instead of the condenser for extra power production. The system is analyzed by using the EES software. The effects of different parameters as well as the effects of nanoparticles on the performance of the proposed system were investigated. According to the results, the energy and exergy efficiency of the system are 33.81 % and 23.59 %, respectively. Among the studied working fluids in the ORC cycle, n-pentane shows the best performance. The energy and exergy efficiency of the system increases by the nanoparticle volume concentration and the solar radiation increase. Moreover, the collector inlet temperature has a negative effect on the hydrogen and freshwater production rates. Finally, it is proved that the PTC collector has the highest amount of exergy destruction rate in the studied system.

Coupling a small-scale concentrated solar power plant with a single effect thermal desalination system: Analysis of the performance

The goal of this study is to evaluate and compare the thermodynamic performance of three feasible hybrid solar power tower-desalination plants for co-generation of power and fresh water. In these hybrid configurations, either multi effect desalination (MED) or thermal vapor compression (TVC)-MED unit is integrated to the Rankine cycle power block. The particular focus is on comparison between single plant and hybrid plants in terms of energy efficiency and penalty in power production to determine the more efficient configuration. The achieved results showed that integration of MED unit to the power cycle is thermodynamically more efficient, due to less reduction in power production and efficiency than the TVC-MED configurations. Also, for hybrid solar tower-MED plat, the average penalty in power production was between 9.27% and 12.88% when fresh production increased from 10000 m3/day to 31,665 m3/day. Another important finding showed the specific power consumption (specific power penalty) of the hybrid plant decreases with increasing the fresh water production. Especially at higher fresh water production, this specific power consumption was competitive to other desalination technologies such as reverse osmosis. The proposed hybrid solar tower-MED plant offers different benefits such as possibility of eliminating the cooling system requirement of the cycle as it can be replaced by the MED unit.

ABSTRACTMinimizing the detrimental effects of global warming and pollution from fossil fuel consumption is essential to meet the growing demand for energy and fresh water, making it imperative to adopt renewable energy alternatives. The integration of solar energy and biomass in hybrid renewable energy systems will grow in importance. The proposed study introduces a new design that facilitates the simultaneous production of power, biogas, and fresh water in a continuous process. The present research aims to tackle the challenge of utilizing multiple renewable energy sources, such as solar and biomass, to generate power, fuel, and fresh water. To achieve this, a 4‐stage multi‐effect desalination system will be employed for desalinating seawater. This paper discusses combining hybrid solar and biomass feedstocks to address the challenge of maintaining consistent energy production in renewable solar power plants at night, when there is no sunlight. The challenge at hand involves assessing various factors using ASPEN Plus software, such as solar heat transfer fluid (SHTF), sewage sludge flowrates, biogas production, output waste stream of gasification reactor, power generation, and freshwater production. Additionally, the payback period for this project is approximately 4.8 years, with a net present value (NPV) of around 560 million dollars. By performing a sensitivity analysis, the viability of the designed process and the quality of the resulting products were effectively demonstrated. From the gasification process, an impressive 76.8586 tons per hour of syngas, composed of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, was generated. Additionally, the power output of the system reached 34.547 MW, while simultaneously producing approximately 783 m3/h of fresh water. Due to efficient energy recovery throughout the entire process, only 25 MW of solar power was required. Despite efforts, fresh water production was only operating at a 50% productivity level. To supply the required solar energy during daylight hours, a total of 38,908 square meters of Parabolic trough collector (PTC) was necessary. According to the environmental analysis, the primary concern is the detrimental effect of pollution on human health. Solar collectors and sea water desalination units account for over 95% of the pollution. The revelation showed that combining solar and biomass energy resources could provide a sustainable solution to meet the rising demand for fresh water, electricity, and fuel.

There is an escalating climate crisis that is stressing the Earth’s environment partially a result of the increasing accumulation of carbon dioxide and methane greenhouse gases in the lower atmosphere. One area that is significantly affected is the water infrastructure around the planet including hydropower, flood defense, drainage, and irrigation systems. The effect of adverse climate change on freshwater systems aggravates population growth, weakening economic conditions, land-use changes, and urbanization. In the western U.S., for example, reduced water supplies plus increased demand are likely to provoke more interstate and urban–rural competition for over-allocated water resources. Seawater desalination has existed for decades and is a proven technology for supplying water in coastal areas. Continued population growth in coastal areas makes it economically feasible to begin considering seawater desalination as a larger source for metropolitan water supplies. It is noted that offshore oil and gas platforms already use seawater desalination to produce fresh water for platform personnel and equipment. It is proposed that as California coastal oil and gas platforms come to the end of their productive lives, they be re-commissioned for use as large-scale fresh water production facilities. Solar arrays, mounted on the platforms, are able to provide the power needed for seawater desalination during the daytime. However, for efficient fresh water production, including on oil platforms, a facility must be operated 24 hours a day. The use of solar power transmitted from orbiting satellites (Solar Power Satellites – SPS) to substantially augment the solar array power generated from natural sunlight is a feasible concept. The advantage of a SPS in geosynchronous orbit (GEO) is that it is able to produce power at nighttime, thus enabling 24 hours a day operations. A SPS would be conceptually similar to existing commercial communication satellites but with a much larger solar array. A single satellite could power at least one seawater distillation plant on a converted offshore oil platform during the night and supplement the power during the day to provide clean energy and water for urban or agricultural on-shore areas. Production of industrial quantities of fresh water on re-commissioned oil and gas platforms, using energy transmitted from solar power satellites, is a breakthrough concept for addressing the pressing climate, water, and economic issues of the 21 Century. It is a novel combination of mature technologies that provides new solutions and expert team feasibility studies are the next step to evaluate this vision for producing fresh water using space power.

Fresh water generator is an auxiliary aircraft aboard a ship that produces fresh water by evaporating seawater in the evaporator and the seawater is cooled by condensation in a distillation vessel or condenser (condenser), thus producing condensed water called condensate. Fresh water generator running optimally is one of the important factors to support ship operations, especially the results of the fresh water generator used for cooling systems and daily needs on board. This study aims to find out the causes of the problems and efforts that occur in the fresh water generator so that it can maintain fresh water production results in the fresh water generator. While data analysis is to identify the data set that has been obtained, so that the data can be analyzed and the purpose is analyzed in order to get a clearer picture in the preparation of this research both from the problems and the final results. It is hoped that this research research can produce ideas, solutions and appropriate problem solving, both in observing and dealing with the problems raised in this study. Based on research on fresh water production on fresh water generators in MT. Rubra has decreased from 19 tonnes/day to 12 tonnes/day. This is caused by the occurrence of salt deposits on the evaporator plate so that evaporation becomes late and the low pressure of sea water leading to the fresh water generator causes fresh water production to decrease

This paper targets to consider a hybrid cycle consisting of a solid oxide fuel cell and an Ericsson thermal engine that provides drinking water by connecting to a reverse osmosis desalination unit. First, a parametric assessment was performed on the target functions, including power, exergy destruction density, and fresh water production. After conducting studies on the composition of these target functions, three scenarios are defined for the simultaneous optimization of the mentioned functions. The first scenario targets to optimize the exergy destruction density (Exd) and the fresh water production (mf). In this scenario the exergy destruction and fresh water production have a better condition in the FUZZY approach, that the maximum value of the exergy destruction density and fresh water production are 450.879 (W m−2) and 2.078 (kg s−1), respectively. The second scenario attempts to optimize the power (P) and the fresh water production (mf). According this scenario the power has the highest value in the FUZZY that is equal to 531.965 (KW), besides the fresh water production achieves to a maximum value in TOPSIS which it value is 0.365 (kg s−1). The third scenario considers optimizing the power (P), the fresh water production (mf), and the exergy destruction density (Exd). The power (P) has permanent value in three decision-making which is equal 311.105 (KW), also the fresh water production (mf) is 1.816 (kg s−1) in three decision-making and besides the exergy destruction density (Exd) has a constant value in three decision-making which is 30.439 (W m−2). In all three scenarios, the decision-making methods, such as TOPSIS, FUZZY, and LINMAP were appropriate to specify the ultimate solution between the beam fronts.

Summary In this study, a new integrated solar-energy based system for fresh water and electricity production is proposed and thermodynamically analyzed. The proposed system consists of a solar tower with a volumetric solar receiver, a Rankine cycle driven by solar power, molten salt storage subsystem and a multi-stage flash distillation (MFD) subsystem. In the present system, solar tower charges the molten salt, which flows through a heat exchanger to produce steam for the Rankine cycle. A part of the molten salt directly goes to hot storage tank after they are heated up by the solar tower. In order to keep the generated energy at the same level, molten salt in the hot storage tank compensates the deficient energy when direct normal irradiance (DNI) level is not sufficient. After the sunset, only the molten salt from the storage supplies energy to the cycle. The MFD produces the desired amount of fresh water from seawater. The seawater used for the distillation is heated by the saturated steam-water mixture coming from the steam turbine. Utilizing the output fluid as a heat source for the MFD also eliminates the external device for condensation. All system components of the integrated system are analyzed in the Engineering Equation Solver (EES). The overall energy and exergy efficiencies are calculated for each system component. The capacity of the power generation and fresh water production of the proposed system is also calculated. Moreover, a parametric study is undertaken to investigate the effects of varying ambient conditions on the system performance.