Application of the concept of a renewable energy based-polygeneration system for sustainable thermal desalination process—A thermodynamics' perspective

Muhammad Luqman*, Ikhlas Ghiat, Moiz Maroof, Fatima Zahra Lahlou, Yusuf Bicer, Tareq Al-Ansari

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

37 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Fossil fuel-powered thermal desalination processes have many harmful environmental effects including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and high-salinity brine discharge resulting in biological damages, in addition to energy losses because of the high temperatures of the streams leaving the desalination unit. In this study, a solar energy-based polygeneration approach has been proposed to address these issues. In the proposed system, concentrated solar parabolic trough technology is used to drive a multi-stage flash (MSF) desalination unit for production of fresh water. To recover the waste heat carried by the produced clean water, an organic Rankine cycle is integrated to produce electricity. In addition, to recover the waste heat carried by brine, an absorption cooling system is employed to provide cooling. In order to mitigate the effects of high-salinity brine, a pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) unit is installed, which reduces the salinity of the discharge and produces additional electrical energy. To ensure stable nighttime operations, a thermal energy storage (TES) system is also added to the system. A comprehensive thermodynamic analysis is conducted through mass, energy, and entropy, as well as exergy balances along with energetic and exergetic efficiencies to assess the overall performance of the system. The attained results show that at reference conditions with an overall parabolic trough collectors (PTCs) area of 100 000 m2, the system produces 583.3 kW of electricity, approximately 4284 kW of cooling, and 1140 m3 of freshwater daily. Furthermore, the effects of changing operational conditions on the overall performance of the system are investigated. At design conditions, the overall energetic and exergetic efficiencies of the system are found to be 34.54% and 14.55%, respectively.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)12344-12362
Number of pages19
JournalInternational Journal of Energy Research
Volume44
Issue number15
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2020

Keywords

  • desalination
  • exergy
  • polygeneration
  • pressure retarded osmosis (PRO)
  • sustainable development
  • thermal energy storage (TES)
  • thermodynamic analysis

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Application of the concept of a renewable energy based-polygeneration system for sustainable thermal desalination process—A thermodynamics' perspective'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this