Simultaneous power, fresh water and fuel generation using a novel hybrid system based on biomass and solar thermal energy

Hybrid renewable energy systems using solar energy and biomass will become more crucial in the near future. In this study a new design for continuous production process of power, biogas and fresh water is proposed. The challenge of the present research is to use different sources for energy production from renewable resources simultaneously including solar and biomass to produce power, fuel and fresh water, using 4-stage Multi Effect Distillation (MED) for desalination of seawater. To cope with constant and stable energy production required for renewable solar power plants at night, due to lack of sunlight, co-consumption of hybrid solar and biomass feedstocks is considered in this system. The associated challenge is discussed by the assessments of Solar Heat transfer fluid (SHTF), Sewage sludge flowrates, biogas production, output waste stream of gasification reactor, power and fresh water production using ASPEN Plus software. The sensitivity analysis was performed to demonstrate the viability of the designed process and the resulting products. The findings of this research show that gasification process produced 76.858 ton/h syngas (CO and H₂). Besides, 34.547 MW of power with about 783 m³/h of fresh water are produced with the overall exergy efficiency of 35.51%, 52.260 MW exergy destruction and desalination efficiency of 52%. Only 25 MW of solar power is necessary due to proper energy recovery throughout the entire process. The productivity of freshwater production is 50%. 38908 m² of Parabolic trough collector (PTC) is needed to supply required solar energy during day light hours. It is revealed that the hybridization of solar & biomass energy resources for producing power, fresh water, and biogas could be a sustainable approach to cope with the increasing demand for fresh water, electricity, and fuel.