Performance and exergoeconomic evaluation of a parabolic trough-based hybrid power system with LNG expansion and electrolytic hydrogen generation

This study presents a novel multigeneration system that uniquely integrates a parabolic trough solar collector (PTC), a Kalina cycle, and multiple organic Rankine cycles (ORCs) with a liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification path and an electrolyzer unit for simultaneous power and hydrogen production. Unlike previous studies that focus primarily on power generation, this work introduces an innovative configuration that maximizes thermal resource utilization by recovering low-grade and cryogenic energy sources. In this study, an attempt has been made to obtain more outputs from the same heat source by improving the primary cycle. In addition to the primary cycle cycles, the improved cycle has two other organic Rankine cycles, a liquefied natural gas path, and an electrolyzer unit. In addition to power, hydrogen is also produced as an output product in the improved cycle. The improved cycle has been investigated from the energy, exergy, and exergy-economic perspectives. The energy efficiency of the improved cycle has been calculated to be 25.31 %, and the exergy efficiency has been calculated to be 18.53 %, both of which have increased compared to the primary cycle. The net output power in the improved cycle has been calculated to be 498.6 kW. Also, a parametric analysis was performed on the improved cycle to examine the effect of changing the value of the thermodynamic properties of different components on the cycle outputs.