Performance assessment of a solar based novel combined cycle using vapor compression-absorption refrigeration system for trigeneration application

The solar power tower (SPT) system is responsible for numerous irreversibilities and cannot be avoided. Therefore, it is important to make an efficient energy generation system that utilizes the SPT system effectively. In this way, the present study developed a novel trigeneration system consisting of the Brayton cycle and organic Rankine cycle as topping and bottoming cycles, respectively, both for power production; however, a cascaded vapor compression-absorption system for heating applications like bleaching and drying, etc., and a low temperature (−20°C) cooling application such as food preservation, etc. A comprehensive exergy and energy analysis was performed through computational technique using an engineering equation solver. The trigeneration system obtained exergy and energy efficiency of 74.02% and 52.08%, respectively. However, power output, exergy, and energy were obtained by the overall plant as 18,014 kW, 39.03%, and 35.16%, respectively. The coefficients of performances for cooling and heating were obtained as 0.5629 and 1.563, respectively. Parametric analysis revealed that solar parameters much affected the performance of plants. The proposed plant is more efficient than the previously stated SPT-based Rankine and supercritical carbon dioxide cycles.