Design and production of a novel encapsulated nano phase change materials to improve thermal efficiency of a quintuple renewable geothermal/hydro/biomass/solar/wind hybrid system

In this article, a novel hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) is designed, introduced, and constructed to supply power, heat, and pure water. The proposed HRES is comprised of ground source heat pump/microalgal culture pond to produce microalgae biomass, parabolic trough collector/Solar still desalination/Photovoltaic panels to supply heat/electricity/water required for encapsulation of n-Octadecane with polymer shell via miniemulsion polymerization and conversion of bio-oil into biodiesel, and wind turbine/Proton exchange membrane to produce hydrogen in the strategic region of the Persian Gulf, Bandar Abbas. In this system, hybrid Nanofluid is used to increase the efficiency of the solar collector system. Moreover, for the first time, a transesterifled conversion reactor (TCR) enhanced with thermal energy storage (TES) powered by renewable energies is introduced to yield more biodiesel. The produced Biodiesel along with diesel fuel with a mixture of air and hydrogen combine to form the fuel of diesel-fueled generator. In order to achieve the highest performance and efficiency of the proposed system, each part of the system is optimized based on the most influencing parameters using experimental design techniques. According to the results, the produced nanocapsules with an Encapsulation production efficiency of 67.1% and an average latent heat of 163.1 kJ/kg had enough potential to be used as TES in the TCR system. As the implementation of TES in the designed TCR could increase the biodiesel production by 34.9%. Also, with a power generation of 2.48 kW, the proposed HRES emitted 12% less NOx than the pure diesel. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

A novel hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) utilizing multiple renewable energy sources to produce electricity, heat, and pure water for fuel conversion is introduced. Optimization of each part of the system based on experimental design techniques has resulted in high efficiency and performance.