Design and assessment of a solar-driven combined system with hydrogen production, liquefaction and storage options

There has been an increased interest in tackling with a crucial issue of providing energy needs sustainably and effectively without using fossil fuels. The present study, in this regard, aims to focus on using solar energy for various production purposes, which aligns with the overall objective of s...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mehmet Gursoy, Ibrahim Dincer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-05-01
Series:International Journal of Thermofluids
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666202724000417
Description
Summary:There has been an increased interest in tackling with a crucial issue of providing energy needs sustainably and effectively without using fossil fuels. The present study, in this regard, aims to focus on using solar energy for various production purposes, which aligns with the overall objective of shifting towards more environmentally friendly and sustainable energy options. This proposed system does not only help decrease greenhouse gas emissions, but also addresses the increasing demands for power, fresh water, and liquid hydrogen production and storage. The present system, therefore, integrates a solar power tower, a Brayton-Rankine cycle, a multi-effect desalination unit, a proton-exchange membrane electrolysis unit, and a Linde–Hampson hydrogen liquefaction cycle. Both the Engineering Equation Solver and the System Advisor Model software packages are employed to perform comprehensive thermodynamic evaluations, examine both energy and exergetic efficiencies and thermal storage capacity and simulate the behaviour of the integrated power process. The presently developed system can generate 47,304 tons of freshwater per year, 5975.4 kW of liquid hydrogen, and 103.28 MW of electricity. The thermal (energy) efficiency is 41.2 % during both the charging and discharging processes. The exergy and energy efficiencies of the overall system are determined to be 41 % and 39 %, respectively.
ISSN:2666-2027