Investigation of a novel solar-assisted multigeneration system comprising water desalination systems, an absorption refrigeration system, a single-effect absorption heat transformer and two organic Rankine cycles.

A novel solar-assisted multigeneration system is proposed and examined from a thermodynamic perspective, designed to simultaneously produce electricity, distilled water, and refrigeration. The system utilizes solar energy through an absorption refrigeration generator and the heat recovery mechanism of an organic Rankine cycle (ORC). The absorption refrigeration system generates both refrigeration and the necessary heat for a single-effect absorption heat transformer, which in turn produces distilled water and power via an evaporative desalination system and an ORC, respectively. Additionally, two distinct humidification-dehumidification (HDH) desalination systems are integrated to enhance freshwater production. The study evaluates the impact of various operational conditions on key performance parameters, including the coefficient of performance (COP), exergy coefficient of performance (ECOP), simple payback period (SPP), refrigeration capacity, total generated power, and distilled water production. Pareto frontiers are graphically constructed to identify optimal points and their corresponding parameter values. The results show that, with a total solar heat input of 250 kW, the system can generate 21.46 kW of electricity, 71.02 kW of refrigeration, and 100.65 g per second of distilled water. The optimal performance parameters are determined to be a COP of 2.13, an ECOP of 0.19, an SPP of 3.34 years, a power output of 16.77 kW, distilled water production of 99.84 g per second, and a refrigeration capacity of 74.44 kW.