Dynamic 6E analysis of a novel power and freshwater production based on integration of combined cycle power plant-MED-TVC-RO-STC-ORC systems

Abstract

In this study, a novel power and potable aqua creation system has been proposed based on a combination of the gas cycle, steam cycle, multieffect desalination (MED), reverse osmosis (RO) desalination units, organic Rankine cycle (ORC), and the solar thermal collector (STC). In this regard, the Energy, Exergy, Exergoeconomic, Exergoenvironmental, Emergoeconomice, and EmergoEnvironment (6E) assessments and further dynamic analysis are executed on the novel suggested system. Dynamic analysis helps us to understand the system performance at different times. The validation has been performed based on THERMOFLEX simulation and base references with high accuracy. The results show that the proposed system produces 60 and 73.61 kg/s of freshwaters, respectively. The gas cycle generates 25 MW of power standing alone, and adding ORC as the bottom cycle can generate 4.89 MW extra power using the excess energy of the gas cycle, which elevates the system's thermal efficiency from 36.51 to 43.27%. Using a thermal vapor compressor (TVC) in the MED unit reduces the demand for motive steam from 12.59 to 5.38 kg/s, increasing this unit's performance ratio (PR) from 4.76 to 11.15. Integrating the system with the STC improves the system's thermal efficiency from 42.82 to 43.27 percent.