Economic assessing and optimizing according to the environmental factor of a reforming cycle for producing hydrogen, cooling, and distilled water

In order to determine the environmental and economic implications of H₂, cooling and distillation water production powered by reforming cycle, both environmental and economic factors must be examined. Therefore, this study propose, evaluate, and optimize a novel poly-generation plant driven by reforming cycle that integrates an organic flash cycle, a two-phase ejector, a thermoelectric generator, and a reverse osmosis unit. The proposed scheme is subjected to a thorough analysis from multiple perspectives, including exergy, energy, sustainability, environmental, thermoeconomic, and economic perspectives. Parametric studies assess the effect of functional parameters on plant performance. It is observed that a rise in reactor temperature leads to a diminution in H₂ production. Nevertheless, this augmentation in temperature has a beneficial impact on both the inlet temperature and the mass flow rate of the subsystem. Subsequently, the heat transfer process is effectively augmented due to this increment in temperature and mass flow rate. Thus, purified water production and cooling within the system are augmented. The alteration in the rate of methanol molarity has a substantial impact on the net present value, which is abridged to 3.258 million dollars. Furthermore, the payback period is elongated to 8.979 years. As a consequence of this optimization procedure, an optimal solution is attained. This solution displays an impressive energy efficiency of 62.99% and a payback period of 2.902 years.