Development of a geothermal based integrated system for building multigenerational needs

The present study develops a new integrated geothermal based system, comprising of quadruple flash power plant (QFPP), quadruple effect absorption cooling system (QEACS), electrolyzer and air-conditioning process (cooling with dehumidification) for building applications. The system is designed to generate six outputs namely, power, hot water, heating, cooling, hydrogen and dry air to meet the building needs. The system analysis is carried out through energy and exergy, and parametric studies are carried out to see the effect of variation in geothermal pressure at state f2, geothermal liquid temperature, relative humidity and evaporator load on performance of the integrated system. Illustrations are also provided to display the effect of variation in geothermal liquid pressure at state f2 and geothermal liquid temperature on the exergy efficiencies as the number of output increases. The results show that the exergy efficiency increases from 0.20 to 0.28 with increase in geothermal liquid temperature from 450 K to 500 K and number of generations from single to hextuple generation. An optimization study is also carried out to find the highest possible exergy efficiency and the lowest possible exergy destruction of the hextuple generation system. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.