Exergo-economic assessment of an improved combined flash-binary geothermal cycle for hydrogen and desalinated water production

This study proposes a combined flash-binary cycle to generate power, hydrogen, and desalinated water from geothermal wells, employing a supercritical CO2 (SCO2) cycle, which is improved by a thermoelectric generator (TEG). The proposed cycle underwent analysis from energy, exergy, and economic perspectives using real data from existing geothermal wells. Results indicate energy and exergy efficiencies of 14.71% and 38.59%, respectively, with the capability of producing 0.003698 kg/s of hydrogen and 133 kg/s of desalinated water. Thermo-economic analysis reveals production costs of $3.45/kg for hydrogen and 39.7 cents/m3 for desalinated water, outperforming previous studies.