Investigation of a new heat recovery system for simultaneously producing power, cooling and distillate water

Due to global warming and high demand for energy, the use of heat recovery systems is increasing. Moreover, employing multi-generation systems has been taken into account more than before due to the increase in energy efficiency. In this study, a novel multi-generation system composed of organic Rankine cycle (ORC) and refrigeration cycle (REC) is investigated for simultaneous production of power, cooling and potable water. The power generation cycle and refrigeration cycle are connected by a working fluid line with similar mass flow rate. The condenser of ORC is replaced by a multi-effect desalination (MED) unit to produce potable water through waste heat recovery. In addition, R113, R601, R123, R601a and R141b refrigerants are used as working fluids under a wide range of operating temperatures to evaluate the performance of the proposed multi-generation system. Results show that the system operating with R123 has better performance in power, cooling and water production for temperatures of 220 degrees C and 400 degrees C while for other temperatures up to 440 degrees C, R141b is better. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The increasing demand for energy and the impact of global warming have led to a rise in the use of heat recovery systems, with a focus on the efficiency of multi-generation systems. A novel multi-generation system combining ORC and REC has been studied for simultaneous power, cooling, and water production, demonstrating promising performance across a wide range of operating temperatures.