Feasibility study of a new solar based trigeneration system for fresh water, cooling, and electricity production

Abstract

Summary The utilization of solar energy to generate electricity, cooling, and freshwater in remote areas in a sustainable way still poses lots of challenges to researchers. The aim of the current study is to design a new solar‐operated trigeneration system to produce electricity, cooling, and fresh water using parabolic trough collectors in remote areas. Electric power is generated by using Organic Rankine Cycle, and cooling and fresh water (using freezing desalination technique) are obtained by two‐stage NH3–H2O vapor absorption system run by solar energy. Simulation results show that for PTC arrays of 200 m2, an electrical output obtained is 3.3 kW, cooling rate is 20.4 kW, and mass flow rate of freshwater produced is 36 kg/h for an average solar irradiation of 0.7 kW/m2. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis is conducted by varying the parameter like solar irradiation, evaporator temperature, seawater inlet temperature, etc. and their effect on performance characteristics of the overall setup is investigated.

Energy, exergy, environment and techno-economic analysis of parabolic trough collector: A comprehensive review

“…Investigating the unit integrated with the solar thermal collector field had achieved an improvement of 4.77% in terms of efficiency of the unit. Khalid and Kumar 227 assessed a PTC-based polygeneration unit to meet the daily requirement of a residential society of 250 members. They used the unit to produce fresh water, electricity, hydrogen, and cooling.…”