Design and Performance Assessment of Combined Heat and Power Unit Incorporating Parabolic Trough Solar Energy

For improving the utilization of solar energy and promoting power production, a novel conceptual biomass and combined heat and power (CHP) unit is designed. The devised system function can be divided into two operating conditions, cogeneration and power generation, to realize. The high-temperature thermal oil is used to actuate the absorption heat pump (AHP) to provide heating services in cogeneration condition, and to heat the feed water of unit in power generation condition. Both of the operating conditions could reduce steam consumption, thereby increasing additional work. The performance evaluation results of the proposal show that more electricity is generated, though the biomass fuel feed rate and heat supply remain constant.