Water desalination using waste heat recovery of thermal power plant in tropical climate; optimization by AI

• Water desalination using heat recovery of a real thermal power plant is aimed. • Artificial intelligence (AI) has been employed to find the optimum case. • Water production rate of the proposed system is estimated to be 64 kg/s. • CO 2 emission reduction and the cost rate have been calculated. The primary objective of the current research is to address the pressing issue of water scarcity in Khuzestan Province, Iran, specifically targeting the Khorramshahr gas power plant. The proposed redesign incorporates a Multi-Effect Distillation (MED) unit with Thermal Vapor Compression (TVC) and dual-pressure heat recovery steam generators. This innovative system aims to optimize cost reduction, minimize CO 2 emissions, and maximize both net output power & energy efficiency, simultaneously. The optimization process is facilitated by artificial neural networks and genetic algorithms, utilizing EES and MATLAB software. Optimized system is projected to gain more average cost of 1,912.1 $/h, reflecting the investment required for the redesign and upgrades. Water production is expected to reach 64 kg/s, and the energy efficiency is anticipated to increase by more than 10 %. CO 2 emissions are forecasted to decrease by approximately 23 %. From exergy point of view, the exergy efficiency of the system has been enhanced from 31.1 % for the conventional state to 41.7 % as the best optimized case (10.6 % improvement). In the suggested system, outlet gas exergy, with an amount of 136.9 MW, is recovered. Finally, the net power output is set to rise by around 32 %, further enhancing the overall performance of the power plant.