Energy, exergy and environmental-based design and multiobjective optimization of a novel solar-driven multi-generation system

In this study, energy, exergy and environmental-based design and multiobjective optimization of a novel solar-driven gas turbine-based multi-generation system is performed. For this purpose, a novel multi-generation system composed of a solar tower-driven gas turbine cycle, a Kalina cycle, an organic Rankine cycle, a single effect absorption refrigeration cycle, an electrolyzer and two domestic hot water heaters is developed. The system can produce electricity, heating and cooling for residential applications, domestic hot water, hydrogen and swimming pool heating, simultaneously from a single renewable energy source. A novel performance indicator, exergetic quality factor (EQF), for performance comparison and multiobjective optimization of multi-generation systems is also introduced. The system is analyzed with energy, exergy, EQF, environmental and exergoenvironmental measures. A detailed parametric study is also performed to analyze the effect of varying design parameters on the performance of the proposed system. The results show that the proposed system has 55.57%, 39.45% and 50.83% of energy efficiency, exergy efficiency, and EQF values, respectively; and inclusion of EQF into multiobjective optimization improves the multi-generation system performance.