Exergy, economic, and environmental optimization of a geothermal-based multigeneration system for power, cooling, and hydrogen production

Abstract The increased use of renewable energy (RE) to meet energy demand is recognized as a suitable solution to environmental issues. The current study examines the potential of a geothermal heat source for a multi-generation setup. The setup consists of a geothermal power plant with a customized transcritical CO 2 cycle for power and cooling generation, and a water electrolyzer for hydrogen generation subsystems. The system analysis was conducted from thermodynamic, economic, and exergoenvironmental outlooks. The outcomes show that power generation has the greatest impact on exergy efficiency, while the exergoenvironmental impact of products is mainly determined by cooling capacity. Also, the exergy efficiency, despite an increased product cost rate, is independent of the inlet geofluid’s rates. The estimated optimum net power, cooling capacity, and hydrogen generation rates are approximately 991.40 kW, 71.77 kW, and 2.51 kg/h, respectively. The cost and exergoenvironmental impact rates of these products are 9.90 $/h and 82.77 mPts/h, which offered an exergy efficiency of 34.90 %.