Thermodynamic Assessment and Optimization of a Solar-Thermal Natural Gas-Driven Polygeneration System: Energy, Exergy and Exergoeconomic Analysis

The increasing global demand for energy, environmental concerns and the depletion of fossil fuel reserves, necessitates a paradigm shift towards sustainable energy solutions. Cogeneration emerges as a versatile approach to address these challenges. This article explores a solar-thermal natural gasdriven polygeneration system. The proposed system integrates solar-thermal heliostat energy and natural gas for power generation, hydrogen production, freshwater production, and domestic hot water. Using energy, exergy, and exergoeconomic analyses, the study examines the efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and environmental impact, contributing vital insights to enhance cogeneration systems’ efficacy and applicability. The Pareto front diagram, utilizing the LINMAP method, showcases optimal points for the system, balancing exergy efficiency and total cost rate as objective functions. The best point achieved through optimization exhibits an exergy efficiency of $36.24 \%$ and a total cost of 1208${\$}$/hr