Thermoeconomic study of a new combined power, heat and cooling system combined with an electrolyzer for producing hydrogen

This evaluation presents an integrated and renewable multi-generation system. The system has a steam cycle, a double-effect absorption refrigeration cycle, a proton exchange membrane electrolysis, and a steam heat exchanger generator. This study investigates a multi-generation system that uses waste heat recovery from a steam turbine to provide the energy required for hydrogen production and cooling capacity in an absorption refrigeration unit. The performance of the proposed system is evaluated based on energy, exergy, and economic factors. A case study analyzed the behavior of the system under specific conditions. In addition, a sensitivity analysis was conducted to understand how different operating conditions affect the system performance. The results of the thermodynamic evaluation show that the energy efficiency of the proposed system is 37% while the exergy efficiency is 38%. The results show that the hydrogen production rate in the proposed system is 11.03 kg/h and the resulting power output is 4399 kW. The analysis shows that the total exergy destruction in the studied system is 31317 kW. The economic analysis shows the total system cost at 2.084$/GJ, which emphasizes its high economic justification. In addition, the electricity production cost is calculated at 1.138 cents /kWh and the hydrogen production cost is calculated at 3.529$/kg, which indicates the strong thermodynamic performance and better economic feasibility of the system.