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Solar Energy 134 (2016) 95–106
www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

Energy and exergy analyses of a new geothermal–solar energy

based system
M.F. Ezzat a,b,⇑, I. Dincer a,c
a
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, 2000 Simcoe Street North, Oshawa, Ontario L1H 7K4, Canada
b
Automotive and Tractor Engineering Department, Minia University, Egypt
c
Department of Mechanical Engineering, KFUPM, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia

Received 30 March 2015; received in revised form 12 March 2016; accepted 17 April 2016
Available online 6 May 2016

Abstract

This paper deals with a new multigeneration system which is primarily powered by renewable energy, geothermal energy and assisted
with solar energy. This multigeneration system consists of a single flash geothermal cycle, heat pump system, single-effect absorption
cooling system, thermal energy storage connected with auxiliary steam turbine, hot water system and drying system. The aim of this sys-
tem is to produce five output commodities; refrigeration for industry, heating air for residential application, hot water for domestic use,
drying food and finally electricity. The system is assessed both energetically and exergetically. The overall energy and exergy efficiencies
are found to be 69.6% and 42.8% respectively. The effects of changing various system parameters on energy and exergy efficiencies of the
overall system and its subsystems are examined accordingly.
Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Solar energy; Geothermal power; Multi-generational systems; Exergy analysis; Efficiency

1. Introduction According to EIA (2014), the production of energy

A heavy use of fossil fuels has resulted in two main con-
cerns: fundamentally over their sustainability and their
environmental and health impacts. The emissions of harm-
ful gasses and particulates, including CO2, NOx, SOx, etc.,
which cause considerably serious problems for nature,
human beings and the environment. Accordingly, using
alternate sources of energy, especially if derived from
nature itself, such as; solar, wind and geothermal will be
more convenient and a rescue solution from fossil fuels
era on the long term.
⇑ Corresponding author at: Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science,
University of Ontario Institute of Technology, 2000 Simcoe Street North,
Oshawa, Ontario L1H 7K4, Canada.
E-mail addresses: muhammad.ezzat@uoit.ca (M.F. Ezzat), ibrahim.
dincer@uoit.ca (I. Dincer).
from renewable resources in the USA has, for example,
increased more than three times since 1950 until 2013
from 3142 EJ to 9810 EJ. The shares of geothermal, solar
and wind are 233 EJ, 323 EJ and 1683 EJ respectively.
The statistics of 2014 provide a key promise as they show
a higher production for the first nine months compared
with 2013. Note that an amount of 9810 EJ is distributed
as generating electric power (with 5 EJ), industrial
application (with 2.32 EJ), transportation (with 1.37 EJ),
residential applications (with 0.84 EJ) and commercials
(with 0.1 EJ), respectively.
IEA (2014) stated that the use of renewable power
increased tremendously for the last few years and expected
to grow more in the future. Currently renewable power
generation reached almost 22% of the global mix, com-
pared with 21% in 2012 and 18% in 2007. It also asserts
that the share of renewables in electricity production in

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2016.04.029
0038-092X/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
96 M.F. Ezzat, I. Dincer / Solar Energy 134 (2016) 95–106

Nomenclature

E_ exergy rate (kW) 1, 2, . . . , 40 state points

E exergy of flow (kJ) Abs absorption chiller
ex specific exergy (kJ/kg) Comp compressor
Enacc energy accumulation (kJ) Cond condenser
Exacc exergy accumulation (kJ) COP coefficient of performance
ExQ thermal exergy (kJ) Dry dryer
Exd exergy destruction (kJ) Eva evaporator
Ex _ Q thermal exergy rate (kW) sol solar energy input
Ex _ d exergy destruction rate (kW) F fan
H enthalpy of flow (kJ) Gen generator
h specific enthalpy (kJ/kg) HE heat exchanger
m_ mass flow rate (kg/s) hp heat pump
P pressure (kPa) ha hot air
Q_ heat rate (kW) hw hot water
Q heat (kJ) L loss
s specific entropy (kJ/kg K) O overall
s_ gen entropy generation rate (kW/K) P pump
T temperature (K) Pr product
W_ work rate (kW) s source
st steam turbine
Greek letters Sol solar
g energy efficiency TES thermal energy storage
w exergy efficiency Wa water
X vapor quality
Subscripts
0 reference environment

OECD countries steadily increased from 17.3% in 1990 to
21% in 2013. Most of the growth was primarily observed
in the use of wind, solar and geothermal energies.
The benefit of the solar energy is that it provides energy
without any environmental pollution and can be sustain-
able. In addition, solar energy industry has grown and
the obstacle of high prices of the solar energy systems
components has come finally to an end due to the tremen-
dous increase of its usage (Kalogirou, 2013). The other type
of renewable energy that is most common is geothermal
energy. There are generally three types of geothermal fields
based on temperature range namely hot water, wet steam
and dry steam fields (Guo et al., 2011; Hettiarachchi
et al., 2007).
One of the ways to make the system more efficient is by
using the approaches of cogeneration and multigeneration
as designated by Dincer and Rosen (2013). Dincer and
Zamfirescu (2012) stated that multigenerational systems
can provide better efficiency, cost-effectiveness, environ-
ment and hence better sustainability. A lot of work done
towards energy and exergy analyses of multi-generation
systems. Espirito Santo (2014) conducted energy and
exergy analyses of combined heating, cooling and power
generation system and the results of energy efficiencies were
between 58% and 77%, while exergy efficiencies were rang-
ing between 35% and 41%.
Esfahani and Yoo (2013) proposed three power and
fresh water cogeneration systems, an exergy analysis of
the three systems was carried out by them. Their results
showed that the cogeneration system with the absorption
chiller is found to be the best. Since it can increase exergy,
energy efficiencies and net power generation by 3.79%,
4.21%, and 38%, respectively, compared to the base system.
El Emam and Dincer (2013) performed thermodynamic
and economic analyses of a geothermal regenerative
organic Rankine cycle based on both energy and exergy
analyses. The energy and exergy efficiencies values are
found to be 16.37% and 48.8%, respectively. The mass flow
rates of the organic fluid, cooling water and provided
geothermal water are calculated for a net output power
of 5 MW.
Khalid et al. (2015) combined two energy sources solar
and biomass to develop multi-generation system which
provide multiple commodities and the performance of the
system is evaluated. Moreover, a parametric study is
carried out to reveal the effect of different parameters on
the energy and exergy efficiencies of the system. The overall
energy and exergy efficiencies of the system are found to be
66.5% and 39.7% respectively. Malik et al. (2015) devel-
oped and studied a multigeneration system energetically
and exergetically. The system is based on two renewable
sources of energy, biomass and geothermal, both sources
 M.F. Ezzat, I. Dincer / Solar Energy 134 (2016) 95–106
are combined to deliver five useful outputs for residential
applications. The energy and exergy efficiencies of the sys-
tem were found to be 56.5% and 20.3% respectively.
Al-Ali and Dincer (2014) conducted an energetic and
exergetic analyses with detailed parametric study for a
multigenerational solar–geothermal system. The system
mainly proposed to produce electrical power, cooling,
space heating, hot water and heat for industrial use. In
addition, comparison of the results of single generation,
cogeneration, trigeneration and multigeneration systems
has been done. The energy efficiencies for single generation
and multigeneration systems are found to be 16.4% and
78%, respectively, while the exergy efficiencies become
26.2% and 36.6%, respectively. Suleman et al. (2014) used
two renewable sources represented in solar and geothermal
sources for multi-generation applications. The overall
energy and exergy efficiencies of the system are found to
be 54.7% and 76.4%, respectively with full parametric study
on the proposed system. The system presented in this study
includes geothermal energy and solar energy as two main
power sources, which are common with the main power
sources utilized in the two studies mentioned in this para-
graph. However, in the current study a thermal energy stor-
age is used to guarantee continuous operation of the plant.
AlZaharani et al. (2013) investigated a multi-generation
system with a net power output of 18.59 MW by cascaded
supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) Rankine cycle with
Organic (R600) Rankine cycle for power and hydrogen
production, and thermal energy utilization for space heat
heating. The system proposed provided overall energy
and exergy efficiencies of 13.67% and 32.27%, respectively
while the system overall exergetic effectiveness was
43.22%. Al-Sulaiman et al. (2011) proved that using trigen-
eration systems improved the exergy efficiency for the three
modes (solar mode, solar and storage mode and finally
storage mode during night) used in the comparison
between single generation, cogeneration and multi-
generation the exergy efficiency for trigeneration increased
by more than 285% for solar mode, 220% for solar and
storage mode and 233% for store mode).
Cetinkaya (2013) showed that using trigeneration
systems offer best replacement for single generation and co-
generation systems. Two tri-generation systems are exam-
ined first one was solar thermal energy based to produce
power, hot water and desalinated water in which the over-
all energy efficiency increases from 21.72% to 69.38%, and
the overall exergy efficiency increased from 33.76% to
70.64%. Second system was coal and biomass based where
gasification is used to obtain power, hot water and fuel
through Fischer–Tropsch synthesis where the overall
energy efficiency increases from 33.76% to 70.64%, and
the overall exergy efficiency increased from 42.21% to
72.54%. Alsayed et al. (2014) provided an optimal design
of grid connected PV-WT PGSs by using a procedure
based on multi criteria decision analysis optimization
approach. The approach included economic, technical
and environmental analysis.
97
Bingöl et al. (2011) used energy, exergy and rational
exergy management model analysis to analyze natural gas
fired internal combustion engine (ICE) driven poly genera-
tion system. The results show that ICE poly-generation sys-
tems efficiency may increase beyond 60%. Tang et al. (2015)
produced hydrogen energy and electricity by constructing a
photo powered poly generation system based on pho-
tograding the simulated ethanol waste liquid. Ozturk and
Dincer (2013) developed a solar based multi generation
energy system, system is analyzed thermodynamically and
the overall energy and exergy efficiencies are found to be
52.7% and 57.3% respectively. In addition, the highest
exergy destruction occurred in the parabolic dish collec-
tors. Coskun et al. (2012) conducted energy and exergy
analyses of new geothermal energy based multi generation
system with seven different combinations. All systems
exergy efficiencies vary between 10% and 60%, while energy
efficiencies vary between 7% and 80%. Moreover, they
found that energy systems accompanying with electricity
generation increases the overall energy and exergy
efficiencies.
The main goal of this study is to develop a new renew-
able energy based integrated system and analyze it thermo-
dynamically through energy and exergy. The specific
objectives of the present study are listed as follows:

To develop a new integrated, solar and geothermal
based system for multi-generation and analyze it in
detail through energetic and exergetic approaches.

To assess the performance of the system by determining
energy and exergy efficiencies of all subsystems and
overall system.

To determine the energy losses and exergy destructions
for all major components to investigate the possibility
of improving the proposed system.

To conduct a comprehensive parametric study to inves-
tigate the effects of varying surrounding, operating con-
ditions and state properties on the performance of the
proposed system.
2. System description
For the system shown in Fig. 1, the system is mainly
powered by geothermal energy, all the data used were
taken from an existed geothermal power plant (the Cerro
Prieto geothermal field) (Third Symposium on the Cerro
Prieto Geothermal Field, 1981). The proposed system is
assisted with solar energy to increase the power output.
To ensure continuity in supplying the heat from the solar
source, a thermal energy storage tank is connected to both
the solar panels and steam turbine 2. The aim of the sug-
gested system is to provide a cooling effect through the
absorption chiller, heated air from the heat pump system,
hot water, dried product and power generation in form
of electricity. The detailed description of each cycle is given
below.
98 M.F. Ezzat, I. Dincer / Solar Energy 134 (2016) 95–106

14
Fan Residential
Water tank 15 application
21
12 39
TES
Eva1
Hot
water 40
16 24 P2
comp 37
38
10 EV1
13 Space Electricity
23 heating Expansion tank
22 35
HE1 8
Gen2
Condenser 1 Gen1
Turbine 2
17
7
18
Dryer 20
Dried 3
9
product Turbine 1
19

4
11 5
Separator
5
25
Generator Condenser 2
6
36
2 31 32
26
EV 2
HE2 27
Flash a
chamber 30 33 Cooling for
P1 EV 3 Eva2 industrial
29 34 application
1
b
Absorber
28

Production well Re injection well

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the solar and geothermal energy integrated cycle for multigeneration system.

2.1. Steam turbine 1 cycle
Steam turbine 1 is directly connected to the geothermal
well, the water-steam mixture enters the system at state
point 1 and then it passes through a flashing chamber to
increase the percentage of the steam entering the first steam
turbine. After the steam water mixture leaves the flashing
chambers, it enters the separator at state point 2 to sepa-
rate the steam from the mixture supplying it to the steam
turbine 1. The remaining brine will pass through the HE1
 M.F. Ezzat, I. Dincer / Solar Energy 134 (2016) 95–106
to assist in heating the air stream entering the dryer and
then it enters the water tank to produce hot water. Steam
then arrives the turbine 1 at temperature of 233 °C and
30 bar to leave the steam turbine 1 at 3 bar and 130 °C.
2.2. Absorption cooling cycle
The steam coming from steam turbine 1 is divided into
two streams, one to provide steam to the second steam tur-
bine and second to feed the absorption generator with heat
needed to separate the ammonia from the rich mixture. The
heat is supplied to generator through point 5, and the
concentrated ammonia vapor (usually 99.9% pure) leaves
at point 25 and enters condenser 2 to reject heat to the
environment. It then enters the expansion valve where its
pressure and temperature decrease before it enters the
evaporator 2 to capture heat from the space that required
to be cooled to provide the necessary cooling effect. While
the weak solution leaves at point 32 at high temperature
and transfer heat through a heat exchanger to the strong
solution coming from the absorber. It helps increase the
temperature of strong solution before it enters the
generator.
2.3. Steam turbine 2 cycle
Steam line coming from turbine 1, will ensure a constant
supply of steam to the second turbine. By this way, the
amount of heat required to operate the second turbine will
be shared between steam turbine 1 and the heat coming
from solar collectors. The concentrated solar collectors will
be used to heat the thermal oil fluid. The heat transfer fluid
used is Dowtherm A and its properties are shown in
Table 1, the Dowtherm A will enter the thermal energy
storage at point 38 after been circulated by pump 2 to store
the heat, assuring continuous heating to the line entering
thermal energy storage at point 5 coming from steam tur-
bine 1 and leaving TES at point 35 to supply steam turbine
2 with the steam. The output of the steam turbine 2 at point
36 will be reinjected in the geothermal well. The TES tank
is filled with molten salts of the following composition (7%
NaNO3–40% NaNO2–50% KNO3) by weight to operate in
temperature range of 142–540 °C with specific heat CP of
1.56 kJ/kg.
Table 1
Thermodynamics properties of Dowtherm A. Source: Dowtherm (1997).
Chemical composition Biphenyl (C12H10) and
diphenyl oxide (C12H10O)
Atmospheric boiling point 257.1 °C
Density at 25 °C 1056 kg/m3
Fire point, C.O.C 118 °C
Critical temperature 497 °C
Auto ignition temperature ASTM E659-78 599 °C
Freezing point 12 °C
Dynamic viscosity at 40 °C 2.56 m Pa sec
99
2.4. Heat pump cycle
The heat pump system is operated using iso-butane as a
working fluid which leaves the evaporator after being
heated by the ambient air supplied to feed the dryer which
gives double advantage for both systems dryer and heat
pump systems. The ambient air will increase the tempera-
ture of iso-butane and reduce the work required by the
compressor to reach the desired temperature at the
entrance of condenser 1. On the other hand, the refrigerant
will reduce the temperature of the ambient air entering the
evaporator 1, and therefore, providing cooling with dehu-
midification for the ambient air. The superheated iso-
butane then enters the compressor at state point 21 and
leaves the compressor at state 22 under high pressure and
temperature. The refrigerant then passes through con-
denser 1 where it loses heat to the entering air stream to
provide the hot air accommodate. The refrigerant leaves
the condenser 1 at point 23 to enter expansion valve where
its pressure and temperature reduced. At the end iso-
butane will leave the evaporator after being heated by the
ambient air supplied at point 15 and cycle repeat.
2.5. Drying and hot water cycle
After the ambient air being cooled with dehumidifica-
tion by evaporator 1, it undergoes simple heating process
to reduce the relative humidity of the air to be supplied
to the dryer as dry air. The line of brine leaving the separa-
tor at point 9 to supply heat to heat exchanger 1 to increase
the temperature of the ambient air leaving evaporator 1.
The heated ambient air leaves heat exchanger 1 at point
17 with high temperature and less relative humidity enter-
ing the dryer and then leaving the dryer at point 19 as
relatively hot ambient air with high relative humidity.
The targeted dried product enters the dryer at state 18
and leaves dryer at 20 as dried product. Regarding the pro-
cess of heating the domestic water, after the line of the
brine exchange heat with the ambient air at heat exchanger
1, it will leave at point 10 and enter water tank to provide
hot water by exchanging heat with water line entering tank
at point 12 and leaving at point 13. The brine will leave the
water tank at point 11 and reinjected in the geothermal
well.
3. Energy and exergy analyses
In order to study the multigeneration system perfor-
mance and thermodynamic behavior, some reasonable
assumptions are made, and the respective calculations are
performed for the inlet and outlet enthalpies, exergies, mass
flow rates, pressures and temperatures. Exergy destructions
are also calculated to exhibit system irreversibilities. More-
over, the model is based on typical simplifying assumptions
commonly utilized for these kinds of problems. Engineer-
ing Equation Solver (EES) is used as the main software
for all calculations. The energy analysis of the single effect
100 M.F. Ezzat, I. Dincer / Solar Energy 134 (2016) 95–106

absorption chiller is similar to the approach presented in W_ st1 ¼ m_ 3 ðh3  h4 Þ

Herold et al. (1996). The following assumptions are made
W_ st2 ¼ m_ 35 ðh35  h36 Þ
for analysis and assessment:
The exergy destruction of steam turbine 1 and 2 can be

The reference (dead) state temperature T0 = 25 °C and considered by the following exergy balance equation:
pressure P0 = 1.01325 bar. _ d
m_ 3 ex3 ¼ m_ 4 ex4 þ W_ st1 þ Ex ð6Þ

The system operates in a steady state condition. st1

The changes in the kinetic and gravitational terms in the _ d

m_ 35 ex35 ¼ m_ 36 ex36 þ W_ st2 þ Ex ð7Þ
st2
energy and exergy balances are negligible.

The turbines and pumps are adiabatic. The energy balance equation for the overall storage pro-

The working fluid of heat pump is iso-butane. cess can be written as

The pressure losses in all the heat exchangers and the ðH 38  H 39 Þ  ½ðH 35  H 5 Þ þ Ql  ¼ Enacc ð8Þ
pipelines are neglected.
The exergy balance equation for the overall storage pro-

The geothermal fluid temperature is 300 °C and treated
cess can be written as
as mixing of steam and water with percentage of 50% for
both of them under pressure of 60 bar (Third ðE38  E39 Þ  ½ðE35  E5 Þ þ ExQL   Exd ¼ Exacc ð9Þ
Symposium on the Cerro Prieto Geothermal Field,
The hot water heat exchanger is defined as
1981).

Air is treated as an ideal gas. Q_ hw ¼ m_ 13 ðh13  h12 Þ ð10Þ

First law of thermodynamics is used to perform energy

analysis for all multigeneration system components. The 3.2. Absorption cooling system
general energy balance equation used for all components
can be expressed as follows: The heat supplied to the generator in the absorption
chillier is defined as
X X
Q_  W_ þ m_ in hin  m_ out hout ¼ 0 ð1Þ Q_ Gen ¼ m_ 5 ðh5  h6 Þ

For the exergy analysis second law of thermodynamics The outlet condition of generator can be obtain by the
is adopted for the calculation of exergy rate exergy destruc- following energy and exergy balances:
tion and exergy efficiency. The physical exergy terms at Q_ Gen þ m_ 31 h31 ¼ m_ 25 h25 þ m_ 32 h32 ð11Þ
each state point can be expressed as  
T0 _ d
exi ¼ hi  h0  T 0 ðsi  s0 Þ ð2Þ Q_ Gen 1  þ m_ 31 ex31 ¼ m_ 25 ex25 þ m_ 32 ex32 þ Ex
T sGen Gen

Also, the general exergy balance equation used for all ð12Þ
system components can be expressed as follow:
The cooling effect which is achieved in the evaporator of
X X
m_ in exin  _ Qi  Ex
m_ out exout þ Ex _ W  Ex
_ d ¼0 ð3Þ absorption chillier cycle can be obtained from the following
i i
energy and exergy balance equations
The exergy transfer due to heat can be expressed as Q_ eva2 ¼ m_ 28 ðh28  h27 Þ ð13Þ
follows:  
  T0 _ d
Q_ eva2 1  þ m_ 27 ex27 ¼ m_ 28 ex28 þ Ex ð14Þ
_ Qi ¼ Q_ i 1  T 0
Ex ð4Þ T seva2 eva2

T si
Determining true magnitudes of exergy destructions 3.3. Heat pump system
help provide a better picture of the systems and give infor-
mation about irreversibilties and their reduction possibili- The work required for the compressor can be achieved
ties. Exergy destructions can be determined by the by the following energy equation:
previous equation or by calculating the entropy generation
of each component and substitute in the following W_ comp ¼ m_ 22 ðh22  h21 Þ
equation: The exergy destruction of the compressor can be
_ d ¼ T 0  S_ gen
Ex ð5Þ achieved by the following exergy balance equation:
i 1
_ d
W_ comp þ m_ 21 ex21 ¼ m_ 22 ex22 þ Ex ð15Þ
comp

3.1. Geothermal–solar system balance equations The heating load for the space heating can be obtained
from condenser 2 and is defined as
The power produced by steam turbine 1 and steam tur-
bine 2 is calculated as follows: Q_ cond2 ¼ m_ 22 ðh22  h23 Þ
 M.F. Ezzat, I. Dincer / Solar Energy 134 (2016) 95–106 101

The exergy balance equation can be written as 3.6. Exergy efficiencies

 
_ T0 _ d
m_ 22 ex22 ¼ m_ 23 ex23 þ Qcond2 1  þ Ex ð16Þ Exergy efficiency can be expressed as the useful exergy
T scond2 cond2
output divided by the total exergy input (Dincer and
Rosen, 2013). The exergy efficiency of steam turbine 1,
steam turbine 2, dryer, hot air heater and water heater
3.4. Drying process
can be written as follows:
The enthalpies and exergy destruction are defined by the W_ t1
wst1 ¼ ð26Þ
following balanced equations: m_ 3 ex3  m_ 4 ex4
m_ 17 h17 þ m_ wa18 hwa18 þ m_ pr 18 hpr 18 W_ t2
wst2 ¼ ð27Þ
¼ m_ wa20 hwa20 þ m_ pr 20 hpr 20 þ m_ 19 h19 þ Q_ loss;Dry ð17Þ m_ 38 ex38  m_ 39 ex39
m_ 20 ex20
_ d;Drying ¼ m_ 17 ex17 þ m_ wa18 exwa18 þ m_ p 18 exp 18
Ex wdry ¼ ð28Þ
r r m_ 17 ex17  m_ 17 ex19
 m_ wa20 exwa20  m_ pr 20 expr 20  m_ 19 ex19 m_ 13 ex13  m_ 12 ex12
! whwa ¼ ð29Þ
T0 m_ 10 ex10  m_ 11 ex11
_
 Qloss;Dry 1  ð18Þ
T sdry And for the absorption cooling system the efficiency
expressed by COP as follows:
 
ðm_ 28 h28  m_ 27 h27 Þ 1  T sT 0
3.5. Energy efficiencies COPex;AC ¼ eva2
ð30Þ
m_ 5 ex5  m_ 6 ex6
A simple definition for the energy efficiency is the useful And for the heat pump system the efficiency expressed
energy output to the total energy input (Dincer and Rosen, by COP as follows:
2013). The energy efficiency of steam turbine 1, steam tur-  
bine 2, dryer, hot air heater and water heater can be written Q_ cond2 1  T sT 0
as follows: COPex;Hp ¼ cond2
ð31Þ
W_ comp
W_ st1
gst1 ¼ ð19Þ Also, the overall exergy efficiency can be written as
m_ 3 h3  m_ 4 h4 follows:
W_ st2 w_ net ¼ W_ st1 þ W_ st2  W_ comp  W_ p1  W_ p2  W_ fan
gst2 ¼ ð20Þ
m_ 38 h38  m_ 39 h39  
Ex_ Qsol ¼ Q_ Sol 1  T 0
m_ 20 h20 T ssol
gdry ¼ ð21Þ
m_ 17 h17  m_ 19 h19
W_ net þ Ex_ Qeva2 þ Ex _ Qcond2 þ ðm_ 13 ex13  m_ 12 ex12 Þ þ m_ 20 ex20
m_ 13 h13  m_ 12 h12 wO ¼
ghw ¼ ð22Þ ðm_ 1 ex1 ðm_ 6 ex6 þ m_ 36 ex36 þ m_ 11 ex11 ÞÞ þ Ex_ Qsol
m_ 10 h10  m_ 11 h11
ð32Þ
And for the absorption cooling system the efficiency
expressed by COP as follows:
4. Results and discussion
m_ 28 h28  m_ 27 h27
COPen;AC ¼ : ð23Þ
m_ 5 h5  m_ 6 h6 A comprehensive energy and exergy analyses of the
multigeneration system is accomplished and some impor-
And for the heat pump system the efficiency expressed
tant results are presented in Table 2. The overall energy
by COP as follows:
and exergy efficiencies are found to be 69.6% and 42.8%
Q_ cond2 respectively which are comparable with other previous
COPen;Hp ¼ ð24Þ
W_ comp studies (Al-Ali and Dincer, 2014; Suleman et al., 2014).
Table 3 shows the thermodynamic properties of each state
And the overall energy efficiency can be written as calculated by Engineering Equation Solver. The effect of
follows: changing vapor quality of the production well, mass flow
rate of the geothermal well on the overall energy and
w_ net ¼ W_ st1 þ W_ st2  W_ comp  W_ p1  W_ p2  W_ f exergy efficiencies are examined. In addition, the effect of
W_ net þ Q_ e þ Q_ condenser1 þ ðm_ 13 h13  m_ 12 h12 Þ þ m_ 20 h20 varying ambient conditions on system performance and
gO ¼ exergy destruction rates of major components are intro-
ðm_ 1 h1  ðm_ 6 h6 þ m_ 36 h36 þ m_ 11 h11 ÞÞ þ Q_ Sol
duced. Besides that, the effect of changing mass flow rate
ð25Þ of the air entering heat pump evaporator on heat pump
102 M.F. Ezzat, I. Dincer / Solar Energy 134 (2016) 95–106

energetic and exergetic COPs, overall energy and exergy entering the generator on energetic and exergetic COPs of
efficiencies and drier energy and exergy efficiencies are the absorption cooling system, overall energy and exergy
shown. Moreover, the effect of changing mass flow rate efficiencies are investigated. Furthermore, the effect of
altering thermal oil (Dowtherm A) temperature entering
Table 2 thermal energy storage coming from the solar collectors
Output work and efficiency percentages of on overall system energy and exergy efficiencies are pre-
important components.
sented. Finally, exergy destruction rates of different com-
Component Value ponents in the system are investigated.
W_ st1 10043 (kW)
W_ st2 9886 (kW) 4.1. Effects of changing vapor quality and mass flow rate of
COPen,Abc 0.678
COPex,Abc 0.253
the geothermal well
Q_ Gen 2635 (kW)
Q_ evap2 1787 (kW) Fig. 2 shows the influence of changing the quality of the
COPen,Hp 2.029 production well on the overall system performance repre-
COPex,Hp 0.1826 sented in both energy and exergy efficiencies. Mainly
gdry 59.2%
wdry 42%
increasing quality will lead to increasing the amount of
Overall energy efficiency 69.6% steam entering the system. Energy efficiency is reduced
Overall exergy efficiency 42.8% from 81% to 54.4% and exergy efficiency is decreased from
64.5% to 23.5% when vapor quality increase from 0.3 to

Table 3
Thermodynamic properties at each state point.
State no. m_ (kg/s) T (K) P (kPa) h (kJ/kg) s (kJ/kg K) ex (kJ/kg)
[1] 50 573.2 6000 2232 5.024 738.7
[2] 50 507 3000 2232 5.059 728.4
[3] 34.09 507.1 3000 2803 6.186 963.5
[4] 34.09 403.2 300 2509 6.487 578.9
[5] 17.05 403.2 300 2509 6.487 578.9
[6] 17.05 323.6 300 2354 7.331 172.7
[7] – – – – – –
[8] – – – – – –
[9] 15.91 507.1 3000 1008 2.645 223.8
[10] 15.91 507 3000 934.6 2.645 150.4
[11] 15.91 318.2 3000 188.4 0.6385 2.596
[12] 30 278 101.3 20.49 0.07399 2.987
[13] 30 372.5 101.3 416.1 1.303 32.28
[14] 3 298.2 101.3 63.74 5.838 0.3528
[15] 3 298.7 101.3 65.45 5.843 0.3704
[16] 3 290.2 101.3 45.85 5.777 0.02457
[17] 3 368.2 101.3 435 7.001 66.33
[18] 2.77 303.2 101.3 233 0.49592 6.943
[19] 3 323.2 101.3 203 6.291 26.22
[20] 2.6 333.2 101.3 371.2 1.901 18.403
[21] 0.3 290.7 250 443.6 1.842 45.49
[22] 0.3 333.2 850 634.2 2.344 86.39
[23] 0.3 293.2 850 247.6 1.164 51.6
[24] 0.3 275.4 250 247.6 1.173 48.91
[25] 1.668 388.2 1555 1509 4.778 277.6
[26] 1.668 313.2 1555 190.3 0.6588 187.2
[27] 1.668 261.2 250 190.3 0.7519 159.5
[28] 1.668 269.2 250 1262 4.7 54.03
[29] 2.001 308.2 250 72.67 0.3897 4.479
[30] 1 313.2 1550 49.57 0.4591 6.888
[31] 2.5 339.7 1550 70 0.8195 19
[32] 0.8325 393.2 1550 353.2 1.552 83.81
[33] 0.8325 320.5 1550 17.34 0.5039 25.76
[34] 0.3333 313.2 250 17.34 0.5086 24.36
[35] 17.05 502.2 300 2803 6.992 722.9
[36] 17.05 318 9.5 2223 7.037 129.3
[37] 16.5 668.2 101.3 797.9 1.702 289.8
[38] 16.5 669.2 120 800.6 1.706 291.2
[39] 16.5 373.2 120 143 0.4328 13.22
[40] 16.5 669.2 120 800.6 1.706 291.2
 M.F. Ezzat, I. Dincer / Solar Energy 134 (2016) 95–106 103

1 1 1 1
0.9 ηo 0.9 0.9 ψo ψ st,2 ψ dry 0.9
0.8 0.8 0.8 ηo ψ hw ψ st,1 0.8
ψo
0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7
0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6

ψo
ηo

ηo
0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5

ψ
0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4
0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3
0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2
0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1
0 0 0 0
0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 278 288 298 308 318
Vapor quality X1 Ambient Temperature T0 (K)
Fig. 2. Effect of changing vapor quality (X1) of the production well on Fig. 4. Influence of changing ambient temperature on energy and exergy
energy and exergy efficiencies of the overall system. efficiencies and of subsystems and overall system.

overall system. Energy efficiency does not change with

0.8. The previous results can be interpreted by a decline in
ambient temperature as in fact it is not related to ambient
the energy and exergy efficiencies of the parts that use the
temperature in any of its calculation. Changing ambient
heat coming from the brine to produce the required useful
temperature may cause increasing or declining in the per-
outputs as the amount of mass flow rate of the brine sup-
formance of any thermodynamic system. In our case
plied to these parts will drop. And the greater reduction
increasing ambient temperature decreases the exergy effi-
in exergy efficiency can be explained by increasing the
ciency of the system from 44.4% to 41.13% in the ambient
amount of exergy destruction and irreversibilities as a
temperature range from 278 K to 318 K. In addition, all
result of increasing vapor quality.
the exergy efficiencies of the subsystems decreased as
Fig. 3 shows that the mass flow rate of hot water from
shown in Fig. 4. As the exergy efficiency of steam turbine
the geothermal well strongly affects the exergy and energy
1 decreased from 77.8% to 75.4%, exergy efficiency of
efficiencies. It is observed that the exergy efficiency of the
steam turbine 2 decreased very slightly from 97.8% to
system increases with increasing mass flow rate from 14.9
97.5%. Moreover, exergy efficiency of the dryer changes
% to 48.6%, whereas the energy efficiency decreases from
from 70% to 32.66% and finally exergy efficiency of hot
82% to 65.36% at mass flow rate variation from 20 to
water system reduced from 54% to 8.5%.
80 kg/s. The reason for this kind of trend is that the rate
Fig. 5 shows the effect of increasing ambient tempera-
at which exergy output of the system increases is more
ture on the exergy destruction rate of some major compo-
comparable to the rate at which energy output of the sys-
nents. For instance, steam turbine 1 exergy destruction rate
tem changes.
increased from 2.8 MW to 3.2 MW, steam turbine 2 from
0.21 MW to 0.24 MW, absorption chiller generator from
4.2. Effects of varying ambient temperature conditions 0.18 MW to 0.212 MW, drier from 0.009 MW to
0.098 MW and finally hot water system from 1.37 MW to
Fig. 4 shows the relation between the ambient tempera- 1.57 MW. The above results of exergy destruction rate
ture and energy and exergy efficiencies of subsystems and (see Fig. 5) reveal the important effect of ambient temper-
ature on system performance and how the exergy analysis

1 1 3.5
0.9 ηo 0.9
Exergy Destruction Rate (MW)

3
S t2 Gen
0.8 ψo 0.8
hw S t1
0.7 0.7 2.5
dry
0.6 0.6 2
ηo

ψo

0.5 0.5
1.5
0.4 0.4
0.3 0.3 1
0.2 0.2
0.5
0.1 0.1
0 0 0
20 40 60 80 278 288 298 308 318
Geothermal water mass flow rate (kg/s) Ambient Temperature T0 (K)

Fig. 3. Effect of changing inlet mass flow rate ðm_ 1 Þ from the production Fig. 5. Influence of changing ambient temperature on exergy destruction
well on energy and exergy efficiencies of the overall system. rate of subsystems.
104 M.F. Ezzat, I. Dincer / Solar Energy 134 (2016) 95–106

give better evaluation for the system performance as the
energy analysis completely disregard the effect of ambient
temperature on the system.
4.3. Effects of changing mass flow-rate of the air entering
heat pump evaporator
Fig. 6 shows the variations of increasing the mass flow
rate of the ambient air entering the evaporator with ener-
getic and exergetic COPs of heat pump system. It is found
that energetic COP increases from 1 to 6.46 when mass
flow rate changes from 0.5 to 5 kg/s, and exergetic COP
increases from 9.8 % to 58%. Since increasing the mass flow
rate will increase the energy transferred to the refrigerant
and lead to the increase in its temperature and as a result
amount of work needed from the compressor will be
reduced to reach the desired hot temperature. Finally, this
will help the cycle to reach the same targeted heat output
with less compressor work.
Fig. 7 depicts the relation between increasing the mass
flow rate entering evaporator 1 and the energy and exergy
efficiencies of overall system and drier. The efficiencies
show a decline in the performance, this is mostly happened
7 0.6
COPHp,en
6 COPHp,ex 0.5
5 0.4
COPHp,ex
COPHp,en
because other components of the system get affected nega-
tively. By increasing the ambient air flow for the drier as
shown in Fig. 7, the energy and exergy efficiencies of the
drier decrease to 29.0% and 21.0% respectively at mass flow
rate of 6 kg/s. The reason for this is that with increasing the
mass flow rate of air entering evaporator 1, the chance of
decreasing the inlet air temperature will be reduced and
subsequently decreasing the condensation of the inlet air.
This will finally lead to an air entering the dryer with a
higher relative humidity which will affect the efficiency of
the drier and dry the products less.
4.4. Effects of changing mass flow-rate entering the generator
Fig. 8 reveals that the energetic and exergetic COPs of
the absorption cycle decrease with increasing mass flow
rate of heating stream entering the generator. This is
mainly because increasing the mass flow rate of steam
entering the generator in order to supply heat, will increase
the rate of heat input to the generator and as a result an
increase in the production of refrigerant vapor for a con-
stant ammonia – water mixture supply to the generator,
leading to an increase in the cooling capacity. Although
increasing the cooling capacity does not result in any
increase in the COPs, as the heat input to the generator
is a crucial part in calculating the COPs as it controls the
denominator in the COP equation and the increase in cool-
ing capacity cannot be compared with the increase of the
heat input to the generator. While as a result of increasing

4 0.3
3 0.2
2 0.1
1 0
1 2 3 4 5
Inlet mass flow rate to evap1 (kg/s)
Fig. 6. Effect of changing mass flow rate of the air entering heat pump
evaporator on energetic and exergetic COPs of the heat pump.
the mass flow rate of the heating stream overall energy effi-
ciency increased from 55.4% to 91% and exergy efficiency
increased slightly from 42.6% to 42.9%, respectively. Fur-
thermore, the barely increase in the overall exergy efficiency
is related to the effect of increasing irreversibilities and
exergy destruction in the solar collectors. For instance,
increasing the mass flow rate to stream 5, will require the
solar collectors to provide supplementary heat to achieve
the designed inlet temperature to steam turbine 2, as shown
in Fig. 9 where exergy destruction in solar collectors is

1 1 1 1
ψo COPen,Abs ηO
0.9 ηo 0.9 0.9 0.9
COPex,Abs ΨO
COPen,Abs , COPex,Abs

0.8 ψ dry ηdry 0.8 0.8 0.8

0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7
0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6
ψo
η

0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5

ηo

0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4

0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3
0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2
0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1
0 0 0 0
2 3 4 5 6 14 16 18 20
Inlet mass flow rate to evap1 (kg/s) Inlet mass flow rate to generator (kg/s)

Fig. 7. Effect of changing mass flow rate of the air entering heat pump Fig. 8. Effect of steam mass flow rate entering the generator on energetic
evaporator on energy and exergy efficiencies of the overall the system and and exergetic COPs of absorption cooling system and overall system
drier. energy and exergy efficiencies.
 M.F. Ezzat, I. Dincer / Solar Energy 134 (2016) 95–106 105

15 and the overall energy and exergy efficiencies. Both energy

Solar collectors
Steam turbine 2
and exergy efficiencies are decreased from 94% to 64% for
energy and from 61% to 38% for exergy in temperature
Exergy destruction (MW)

range from 550 K to 700 K. These results can be clarified

10
due to increasing the temperature of the thermal oil fluid
which will result in increasing the solar energy demand to
provide the appropriate temperature needed for operating
5 the system. Additional solar energy means more energy
input to the system and more exergy destruction, as a result
less energy and exergy efficiencies.
0
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 4.6. Exergy destruction results
Inlet mass flow rate to generator (kg/s)
Knowing the sources of the exergy destructions and try-
Fig. 9. Effect of steam mass flow rate entering the generator on exergy
destruction of solar collectors and steam turbine 2.
ing to reduce them can help in improving the system per-
formance. Fig. 11 shows different exergy destruction rate
1 1 for some major components in the multigeneration system.
0.9 ψ0 η0 0.9 Solar collectors possess the highest rank followed by the
0.8 0.8 steam turbine 1 then the exergy destruction due to the dis-
0.7 0.7 charging of TES, the generator came after both of them
0.6 0.6 and occupied the third rank. On the opposite side second
evaporator, steam turbine 2 show the lowest exergy
ψ0
η0

0.5 0.5
0.4 0.4
destruction. Thus the efforts need to be made to reduce
0.3 0.3
these exergy destructions in a cost effective way.
0.2 0.2
5. Conclusions
0.1 0.1
0 0
550 575 600 625 650 675 700 A multigeneration system is developed based on two
Thermal oil temperature T 37 (K) renewable resources geothermal and solar. The system is
analyzed thermodynamically using energy and exergy
Fig. 10. Effect of changing thermal oil temperature entering TES from
approaches. The overall energy and exergy efficiencies, heat
solar collectors on energy and exergy efficiencies of the overall system.
losses and exergy destruction are investigated and deter-
increased from 10.12 (MW) at mass flow rate of 14 (kg/s) mined. In addition, a comprehensive parametric study is
up to 14.46 (MW) at 20 (kg/s). applied on the system to observe the effect of changing
the operating conditions on both energy and exergy effi-
4.5. Effects of changing thermal oil (Dowtherm A) ciencies of subsystems and overall system. In this regard,
temperature the following main findings are extracted:

Fig. 10 shows the relation between the temperature of
The overall energy and exergy efficiencies of the present
the thermal oil entering TES from the solar collectors system are found to be 69.6% and 42.8%, respectively.

14
12.32
Exergy Destruction Rate (MW)

12

10

4 3.06 2.86

2 1.47 1.17
0.97
0.35 0.51 0.23
0

Fig. 11. Exergy destruction rates of selected units of the multigeneration system.
106 M.F. Ezzat, I. Dincer / Solar Energy 134 (2016) 95–106

The energetic and exergetic COPs of the absorption chil-
ler cycle are 0.678 and 0.2532 respectively.

The energetic and exergetic COPs of the heat pump
cycle are 2.029 and 0.18 respectively.

The maximum exergy destruction rates occur in the
solar collectors with 12.32 MW.

The overall energy efficiency of the system appears to be
about five times more than the energy efficiency of the
basic geothermal cycle.
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