Energy 94 (2016) 623e632

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Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Analysis and performance evaluation of a renewable energy based

multigeneration system
Yusuf Bicer*, Ibrahim Dincer
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, 2000 Simcoe Street North, Oshawa, Ontario L1H 7K4, Canada

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study proposes a new renewable energy based multigeneration system, which integrates a solar PV/
Received 30 January 2015 T system and a geothermal energy system to produce electricity and heat for power, heating, cooling, hot
Received in revised form water and drying air, and investigates the design, analysis and assessment of this integrated system. The
8 July 2015
psychometric processes are utilized for obtaining required dry agent from the ambient air, and an air
Accepted 31 October 2015
circulation system is used to benefit from the heat transferred from the PV modules to the air, which
Available online 14 December 2015
ultimately increases the PV/T efficiency and hence the overall efficiency. We also assess the performance
of the system, through energy and exergy analysis methods, for a selected common case and obtain
Keywords:
Solar energy
overall energy and exergy efficiencies of 11% and 28%, respectively. The selected parametric studies
PV/T system investigate the effects of various environmental and operating conditions on the energy and exergy
Geothermal energy efficiencies of the overall system and subsystems.
Exergy © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Efficiency
Multigeneration

1. Introduction
Dramatic increase in human population over the last century
and hence the energy demand to support this growth have resulted
in important concerns with respect to current energy resources and
supply limitations [1,2]. Reducing the usage of carbon based fuels
and sources will contribute to decrease level of global warming.
Hence, renewable energy based multigeneration systems emerge
as an alternative solution.
Renewable energy based multigeneration systems are a dy-
namic area of research, with many studies proposing various op-
tions for alternatives to current fossil fuel based systems. Dincer
and Zamfirescu [3] showed that renewable energy-based multi-
generation system decreases conventional fuel prices and harmful
pollutant emissions, compared to conventional systems. Khalid
et al. [4] proposed a biomass and solar integrated based system for
multigeneration for power, cooling, hot water, heated air and found
the overall system exergy efficiency as 39.7%. El-Emam and Dincer
[5] studied on thermodynamic and economic analyses of a
geothermal regenerative organic Rankine cycle through energy and
exergy concepts. The energy and exergy efficiency values are found
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: yusuf.bicer@uoit.ca (Y. Bicer), ibrahim.dincer@uoit.ca
(I. Dincer).
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 power output of 5 MWe. AlZaharani et al. [6]
proposed an integrated system which is comprised of a supercrit-
ical carbon dioxide (CO2) Rankine cycle cascaded by an organic
(R600) Rankine cycle, an electrolyzer, and a heat recovery system. It
is designed to utilize a medium-to-high temperature geothermal
energy source for power and hydrogen production, and thermal
energy utilization for space heating. The system provides overall
energy and exergy efficiencies of 13.67% and 32.27%, respectively.
Ozcan and Dincer [7] conducted a research of trigeneration system
which consists of mainly an IRSOFC (internal reforming tubular
type solid oxide fuel cell), PTSC (parabolic trough solar collectors)
and a two-stage ORC (organic Rankine cycle). They have found the
energy and exergy efficiencies of tri-generation as 85.1% and
32.62%, respectively for optimum SOFC stack and environmental
conditions. Kanoglu and Bolatturk [8] performed exergy analysis of
a binary geothermal power plant using actual plant data to assess
the plant performance and pinpoint sites of primary exergy
destruction. They found the energy and exergy efficiencies as 10.2%
and 33.5%, respectively, based on the heat input and exergy input to
the binary Rankine cycle. Al Sulaiman et al. [9] used an exergy
model to assess the exergetic performance of a novel tri-generation
system using parabolic trough solar collectors (PTSC) and an
organic Rankine cycle (ORC). In their system, a single-effect

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.10.142
0360-5442/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
624 Y. Bicer, I. Dincer / Energy 94 (2016) 623e632
absorption chiller is employed to provide the necessary cooling
energy, and a heat exchanger is employed to provide the necessary
heating load.
Sahin et al. [10] defined a new efficiency which is useful in
studying PV performance and possible improvements. They found
that exergy efficiencies of PVs, which incorporate the second law of
thermodynamics and account for solar irradiation exergy values,
are lower than energy efficiencies ranging from 2% to 8%. Bouz-
guenda [11] conducted a performance evaluation of hybrid systems,
including wind turbines, solar systems, and storage batteries
backed up with diesel generators, using HOMER software for
different locations in Oman. He concluded that hybrid systems offer
many advantages such as reducing diesel operating time, fuel
consumption, and maintenance. Dincer and Acar [12] performed a
review regarding integrated renewable energy based systems. The
advantages of multigeneration systems were explained as reli-
ability, better environmental performance by reduction of GHG and
other air pollutants' emissions, economic feasibility, and higher
efficiencies. Heberle and Brüggemann [13] studied the combined
heat and power generation by geothermal resources at a temper-
ature levels lower than 177
C. Their results showed that using the
combined heat and power generation, the exergy efficiency of a
geothermal power plant could be significantly improved in com-
parison to single power production. Tunc et al. [14] analyzed
Kizildere geothermal power plant, in terms of exergy, by using
organic Rankine cycle. The results of their study showed that the
cycle efficiency can vary between 8% and 30% based on the working
fluid used. The geothermal data and parameters in their study were
based on their earlier studies. Houston et al. [15] evaluated the
energy efficiency and renewable energy generation opportunities
for small scale dairy farms by making a case study in Prince Edward
Island, Canada. They implied that reducing their energy-related
operational costs and greenhouse gas emissions can be achieved
through taking energy efficiency steps, reducing overall energy
consumption and generating energy through renewable energy
resources and technologies.
In this paper, a novel multigeneration system based on solar and
geothermal renewable energy sources is developed and analyzed.
The present multigeneration system is practical and feasible since
they employ current technologies and existing systems. Here, the
novelty is the integration of these technologies for multigeneration
purposes in a more efficient, more cost effective and
environmentally-benign manner Therefore, the proposed system
will also be practical and applicable after system is verified by
testing under various conditions. The specific objectives of this
paper are to propose and to assess with energy and exergy analyses
a new integrated multigeneration system using geothermal and
solar energy, including the determination of overall energy and
exergy efficiencies of the multigeneration system and its sub-
systems; and to conduct a parametric study to determine the ef-
fects of various parameters on the overall energy and exergy
efficiencies of the multigeneration system and its subsystems.
2. System description
In the designed multi-generation system, solar thermal/photo-
voltaic and geothermal energy are two independent sources. The
system consists of an organic Rankine cycle, heat pump, absorption
cooling system, thermal energy storage and drying system. The
designed multi-generation system serves for consumers such as
large scale dairy farms which are located on a geothermal area. As
system schematic is seen in Fig. 1, organic Rankine cycle whose
working fluid is isobutane is run by a mediumehigh temperature
geothermal water by giving its heat to Evaporator 1. The inlet
temperature of Evaporator 1 is 202
C and outlet is 150
C which is
utilized by Heat Exchanger 1 to the hot water storage tank. The inlet
temperature of the Turbine is 145
C and steam leaves the turbine
with 100
C which transfers its heat to the generator of the ab-
sorption cooling system. This temperature is satisfactory for a LiBr-
water absorption cooling system. The turbine is coupled with a
power generator to supply the electricity demand of the dairy farm.
The condensers of the system, except for absorption cooling sys-
tem, are cooled by a cold water storage tank which is supplied by
ground water through the pump. The temperature of ground water
is around 10
C. The cooling effect provided by the outlet of Evap-
orator 2 of the absorption cooling system is used to cool the storage
of dairy products at around 10
C. In order to heat the offices of
dairy farm, a heat pump with a working fluid of refrigerant R134a is
used. Energy supply of heat pump is stored heat in the thermal
energy storage system whose temperature is around 58
C.
Refrigerant R134a is chosen to enable low temperature application.
The hot water from hot water storage tank is mixed with the
warm water coming from Evaporator 3 in the mixing chamber to
keep the temperature of thermal energy storage as high as possible.
Some of the hot water is also transferred to hot water storage tank
for later use. The working fluid refrigerant R134a leaves the Evap-
orator 3 with a temperature of 9.5
C. After compression, it enters to
Condenser 3 with 75
C and leaves at 35
C. The heat output of
Condenser 3 is utilized for office heating purposes. After refrigerant
R134a is expanded in the expansion valve, the cold refrigerant with
a temperature of 2
C enters the cooling coils for cooling with
dehumidification process. This dehumidified air is then utilized in
the drying process. A fan and duct system under the solar PV/T
system is used to heat the air needed for drying process. The drying
air with the temperature of 55
C enters dryer for extracting the
moisture of milk around 60%. At the end of the drying process, the
evaporated milk is obtained allowing long storage conditions for
long distance transportation. PV/T systems combine a solar cell,
which converts sunlight into electricity, with a solar thermal col-
lector, which captures the remaining energy and removes waste
heat from the PV module. The harvesting of both electricity and
heat yields these devices to have higher exergy and thus be more
overall energy efficient than solar photovoltaic or solar thermal
alone. PV/T operating temperatures may reach up to 90
C [16,17] In
the proposed system, solar thermal system reaches up to 75
C and
the hot water is stored in thermal energy storage to have 24 h
operation of heat pump. Heating, cooling, electricity and hot water
are always needed for users such as dairy farms. By using
geothermal energy source and thermal energy storage system, it is
guaranteed to have an uninterrupted power generation, heating,
cooling and hot water. The drying process is only held during
daytime since evaporated milk production is processed between
11.00 am and 3.00 pm within the proposed system.
In a recent research by Alberta Government, a typical 100 cow
dairy farm energy consumption is 111,000 kWh [18]. Required po-
wer in a dairy farm is distributed into following subsystems:
milking, cleaning, waste management, farm house, ventilation,
lighting, water pumping and livestock keeping [15]. Milk cooling is
held whole year during the nights. Daily milk cooling time is
assumed to be around 8 h per day. The output of absorption cooling
system is used in milk cooling and storage process. In the day time,
produced milk is distributed to the local markets. The heating of the
farm house is supplied by the heat pump in the system. Required
electricity for whole processes including milking, cleaning, waste
management, ventilation, lighting, water pumping etc. is supplied
by generated electricity in the organic Rankine cycle. The generated
electricity in the PV/T system is used in electricity consumption of
fan and circulating Pump 3 which is used in the thermal energy
storage. The fan is only used in daytime during the drying process.
Pump 3 needs to circulate the water whole day, hence it is run by
 Y. Bicer, I. Dincer / Energy 94 (2016) 623e632 625

Condenser
32 2
33
Expansian
Valve 1
34

Evaporator
AbsorpƟon Cooling System
(LiBr) Cooling 24

2
25

30 35 Solar
Expansian
39 40 Valve 2 41 PV/Thermal 26
We

Absorber
Heat
Organic Rankine Cycle

Condenser Generator Exchanger 23

4 38 2 37 36
(Isobutane)

P2
29 Cooling with
dehumidificaƟon 19
31 17
Electricity

16 Expansian
22
Turbine

Floor HeaƟng

Valve 3
Fan
P4 G Condenser
Heat Pump 21 18
3

(R134a) Air
27 20
28 15

Evaporator (HX)
Comp.
1 Thermal
Energy
2 3 Storage
P3
14 12 11
Geothermal 6 Evaporator
water Heat 13 TES
3 9 10
Exchanger
P1 1 Mixing
4 7 Chamber
1 5
Hot Water
8
Hot Water Storage Tank
ProducƟon well ReinjecƟon

Fig. 1. Schematic of designed multigeneration system.

electricity generated in organic Rankine cycle during night time.  The heat exchangers are isobaric, and the pressure drops
The generator coupled with turbine is connected to the grid in throughout are negligible.
order to work parallel with the grid. A total of 40 PV/T modules as  There is no chemical reaction taking place between the refrig-
given in Table 1 are used in the designed system which corresponds erant and absorbent. Therefore, the changes in chemical exergy
to 9.5 kW installed solar power [19]. The required cooling water for are neglected.
condensers are supplied by 10
C ground water through the cold  The working fluid of organic Rankine cycle is isobutane.
water storage tank.  The working fluid of heat pump is R134a.
 The working fluid of absorption cooling system is LiBr-water.
3. Thermodynamic analysis  The psychometric process cooling with dehumidification and
simple heating is at constant pressure.
Energy and exergy analyses are performed for the proposed  The solar PV/T back surface temperature is taken as 65
C
multigeneration system, in order to provide the information about [20e22].
its performance, efficiency and exergy destructions. The assump-
tions made for the analysis of the integrated system are as provided The energy balance, based on the first law of thermodynamics, is
below: applied to each of the sub system components. The general form of
the energy balance equation for any component can be written as
 The expansion valves, compressors and turbines are adiabatic. follows:
 The air is treated as ideal gas.
 The ambient has a temperature T0 ¼ 25
C and a pressure X X
P0 ¼ 100 kPa DE ¼ Q_  W
_ þ _ in hin 
m _ out hout
m (1)
 The changes in kinetic and potential energy and exergy terms
are negligible. where DE is zero for steady state, Q_ and W
_ represent the heat
 The processes are steady-state and steady-flow. transfer and work energy crossing the component boundaries and
626 Y. Bicer, I. Dincer / Energy 94 (2016) 623e632

Table 1 source in case there is a heat penetration and temperature of sink in

PV/T Module specifications and important analysis data of solar system (modified case there is a heat loss.
from Ref. [16]).
The exergy destruction rate is calculated based on entropy
Dimensions (mm) 1310  2175  180 generation in each component:
Gross Area (m2) 2.85
Weight (kg) 34.4 _ _
Liquid content (L) 1.2
Exdi ¼ To $Sgeni (5)
Absorber panel Mono-Crystalline
Number of cells 72 where S_ gen;i denotes the entropy generation rate in the component i
Cell dimensions (mm) 125  125 and it is determined from applying the entropy balance equation for a
WPower (W) Nominal power 235
steady state operation on each component of the system as follows:
Imp (A) Nominal current 5.98
Isc (V) Short circuit current 6.4 !
Vmp (V) Nominal voltage 39.36 X X X Q_
Voc (V) Open circuit voltage 44.64 S_ gen;i ¼ _ out sout 
m _ in sin 
m (6)
T
Heat exchanger Copper
Internal piping Copper
Flow (l/h) 360
The exergy destruction rate definitions and exergy efficiency
Test pressure (bar) 20 equations of all components are given in Table 3. The energy effi-
Maximum operating pressure (bar) 10 ciency of the processes can be given as the ratio of useful energy
Cover glass 4 mm module glass output that is produced by the system to the total energy input. The
Maximum temperature (
C) <134
exergy efficiency of the process can be given as the ratio of exergy
Base sheeting Embossed -finished aluminum
Rear side Aluminum output to the total exergy input. Exergy efficiencies for the sub-
Cell temperature Tcell (
C) 35
C systems can be stated as follows:
Sun temperature Tsun (
C) 5504.85 The organic Rankine cycle exergy efficiency is the ratio of net
PV/T modules total area A (m2) 114
work generated by turbine over total exergy input:
Direct normal irradiation ST (W/m2) 770

W _
_ out;T  W
in;P4
hex;ORC ¼ (7)
_ _
ðm2 ex2  m3 ex3 Þ
m_ and h represent the mass flow rate and the specific enthalpy of
the streams of the system working fluid. The absorption cooling system energetic COP is written as
Exergy analysis is one of the most important aspects for the follows:
design and analysis of thermal systems. It is based on the second
law of thermodynamics [23]. Exergy is a measure of the system Q_ AC
COPen;AC ¼ (8)
state departure from the environment state and is considered also _ 29 h29  m
ðm _ 30 h30 Þ
as a measure of the available energy [24].
The flow exergy terms for each state point are defined as where Q_ AC is heat absorbed by Evaporator 2.
following equation: Note that the reversible COP can be found as follows [26]:
  
exi ¼ hi  h0  T0 ðsi  s0 Þ (2) T32  T0 10 þ 273
COPreversible ¼ (9)
T32 þ 273 T0  10
Applying the exergy balance on the system components at
steady state, the exergy destruction in each component can be The exergetic COP of absorption cooling system is the ratio of
calculated as follows: energetic COP over reversible COP stated as:
X X COPen;AC
_ _ Q i  Ex
_ W þ _ in exin  _ out exout
Exdi ¼ Ex i
m m (3) COPex;AC ¼ (10)
COPreversible
where Ex _
di represents the exergy destruction rate that occurs at the In the heat pump system, useful output is the heat out from
_ W and Ex
device i, Ex _ Q i represent the exergy rate due to work and
i Condenser 3. Therefore overall energetic and exergetic COPs of heat
heat transfer respectively across the system boundaries and the pump system can be written as
exin , exout represents the exergy rate carried with the flow in and
out from the system. Work exergy is equal to work energy. The Q_ out;Cond3
exergy transfer due to heat can be expressed as follows: COPen;HP ¼ (11)
W_
in;C
 
_ Q i ¼ Q_ 1  T0
Ex (4)  
i
Tsi
Q_ out;Cond3 1  TT0s
COPex;HP ¼ (12)
where To is the ambient temperature that describes the state at _
W in;C
which the system is in unrestricted equilibrium with the environ-
ment and it cannot undergo any state change through any kind of By considering all useful outputs and total inputs, overall system
interaction with the environment [25] and TS is the temperature of energy and exergy efficiencies are defined as follows:

_ PV  P W
_ out;T þ W _ Pump  W
_ _ _ 6 h6 þ Q_ out;Cond3 þ Q_ cooling þ Q_ Heating þ Q_ AC þ mp;26 hp;26
_ 5 h5  m
W in;Fan  Win;C þ m
hen;overall ¼ (13)
m_ h þ Q_ 1 1 Solar
 Y. Bicer, I. Dincer / Energy 94 (2016) 623e632 627

_ _ P _ _ _ _ Q Cond3 þ Ex
_ Q Cooling þ Ex
_ Q Heating þ Ex
_ Q AC þ m
W out;T þ WPV  WPump  W _ 5 ex5  m
in;Fan  Win;C þ m _ 6 ex6 þ Ex p;26 exp;26
hex;overall¼
m _
_ ex þ ExQ Solar
1 1
(14)

4. Results and discussion
While executing energy and exergy analyses of the designed
renewable energy based integrated multigeneration system, values
of mass flow rate (kg/s), temperature (
C), pressure (kPa), specific
enthalpy (kJ/kg) and specific exergy (kJ/kg) are determined for the
each state of the system as listed in Table 2. The reference condi-
tions are taken to be the ambient conditions. Thermodynamic
values are calculated using EES (Engineering Equation Solver)
software.
The solar PV/T system is capable of both generating hot water
and electricity. Selected PV/T module has a nominal power of
235 W. Some important information related to the PV/T system and
the respective design parameters are shown in Table 1. The exergy
destruction rate values, energy consumption or generation values,
energy and exergy efficiency values of some important components
are listed in Table 4. As seen in the table, the highest exergy
destruction rate is observed in Turbine which is about 696 kW.
Because of high mass flow rate and temperature difference in the
turbine, exergy destruction is more than the other components. The
major exergy destructions in the system are caused by evaporator
losses, turbine-pump losses and the exergy of different types of
working fluids lost in the condenser. An increase of exergy
destruction may well be due to increase of temperature differences

Table 2
Process data for the multigeneration system.

State No Fluid type T (
C) P (kPa) _ (kg/s)

m h (kJ/kg) s (kJ/kg K) ex (kJ/kg)

0 Water 25 100 e 104.8 0.3669 e

0' R134a 25 100 e 276.4 1.106 e
0'' LiBr-water 25 100 e 50.78 0.1773 e
0''' AirH2O 25 100 e 50.67 5.793 e
0'''' Air 25 100 e 298.6 5.699 e
0''''' Isobutane 25 100 e 599 2.515 e
1 Water 200 2500 15 852.8 2.329 162.9
2 Water 202 2500 15 861.7 2.348 166.2
3 Water 150 2500 5 633.6 1.84 89.58
4 Water 85 2500 5 357.8 1.133 24.7
5 Water 65 150 0.2 272.2 0.8934 10.36
6 Water 45 150 0.2 188.5 0.6385 2.736
7 Water 50 150 0.1 209.4 0.7037 4.203
8 Water 17 150 0.1 71.43 0.2531 0.5073
9 Water 15 230 0.1 63.14 0.2242 0.8479
10 Water 46 150 0.1 192.7 0.6516 3.005
11 Water 58 150 0.1 242.9 0.8059 7.167
12 Water 63 230 0.1 263.9 0.8686 9.471
13 R134a 6 300 0.16 133.3 0.5532 21.73
14 R134a 9.5 300 0.16 258.7 0.9595 26.06
15 R134a 75 950 0.16 309.8 1.037 54.06
16 R134a 35 950 0.16 100.9 0.3712 43.57
17 R134a 2 300 0.16 100.9 0.4362 24.2
18 Water 75 150 0.08 314 1.015 15.85
19 Water 60 150 0.08 251.3 0.8311 8.023
20 Air 30 101.3 0.09173 96.15 5.942 0.807
21 Air 12 101.3 0.09021 34.11 5.732 1.552
22 Air 15 105 0.09021 39.75 5.741 4.422
23 Air 55 105 0.09021 80.75 5.874 5.72
24 Air 35 105 0.2188 92.84 5.921 4.042
25 Product-water 25 101.3 0.4
26 Product-water 25 101.3 0.262
27 Isobutane 77 2000 20 396.6 1.62 64.5
28 Isobutane 145 2000 20 795.5 2.677 148.3
29 Isobutane 100 250 20 735.1 2.794 53.09
30 Isobutane 85 250 20 704.9 2.711 47.51
31 Isobutane 75 250 20 391.4 1.61 62.32
32 Water 90 5.48 0.18 2669 8.674 86.85
33 Water 40 5.48 0.18 167.5 0.5723 1.434
34 Water 5 0.8 0.18 40.73 0.1475 1.319
35 Water 5 0.8 0.18 2510 9.064 88.1
36 LiBr-water 35 0.8 1.7 88.12 0.2075 28.32
37 LiBr-water 38 5.48 1.7 94.09 0.2269 28.53
38 LiBr-water 53 5.48 1.7 124.2 0.3217 30.39
39 LiBr-water 90 5.48 1.5 229.1 0.4861 86.2
40 LiBr-water 60 5.48 1.52 173.8 0.3271 78.35
41 LiBr-water 55 0.8 1.52 164.7 0.2996 77.48
628 Y. Bicer, I. Dincer / Energy 94 (2016) 623e632

Table 3
Exergy destruction rates and exergy efficiency equations for the system components.

Component Exergy destruction rate definition Exergy efficiency definition

_ _ 28 ex28  m _ out;T
_ 29 ex29 þ W _
Turbine Exd;T ¼ m hex;T ¼ ðm_ 28 ex28 
out;TW
  m_ 29 ex29 Þ
 
Condenser 4 _
Exd;Cond4 ¼ m _ 31 ex31 þ Q_ out;Cond4 1  TT0
_ 30 ex30  m
Q_ out;Cond4
T
s 1 T0s
hex;Cond4 ¼ ðm_ _ 31 ex31 Þ
30 ex30 m
_ _
_ 31 ex31 þ W _ 27 ex27 _ 27 ex27 m _ 31 ex31 Þ
d;P4 ¼ m in;P4  m
Pump 4 Ex ðm
hex;P4 ¼ _ in;P4
W
_ _ 27 ex27 þm
_ 2 ex2 m
_ 28 ex28 m
_ 3 ex3 _ _
Evaporator 1 Exd;Eva1 ¼ m hex;Eva1 ¼ ðmðm
28 ex28 m27 ex27 Þ
_ ex m _ ex Þ2 2 3 3

Generator _
Ex ¼m _ 38 ex38 þ m _ 29 ex29  m _ 30 ex30  m _ 39 ex39  m
_ 32 ex32 _ 32 ex32 þm
ðm _ 39 ex39 m_ 38 ex38 Þ
d;Gen   hex;Gen ¼ _ 29 ex29 m
ðm _ 30 ex30 Þ
   
Condenser 2 _
Ex ¼ m_ ex m_ ex Q_  1  T0   T
d;Cond2 32 32 33 33 out;Cond2  Ts  1 0 
Q_ out;Cond2  Ts 
  hex;Cond2 ¼ _ 32 ex32 m
ðm _ 33 ex33 Þ
   
Evaporator 2 _
Ex _ 34 ex34 þQ_ AbsCooling 1  TT0   m
d;Eva2 ¼ m _ 35 ex35  T 
35 Q_ AbsCooling 1 0 
 T35 
hex;Eva2 ¼ ðm_ 35 ex35 m _ 34 ex34 Þ
_ _ 39 ex39 þ m _ 37 ex37  m _ 40 ex40  m _ 38 ex38 _ _
Heat exchanger 2 Exd;HX2 ¼ m   hex;HX2 ¼ ððm 38 ex38 m37 ex37 Þ
_ ex m
m _ ex Þ
39 39 40 40
_ ¼ _ þ _  T0
 _ _ PV
ex18  W __ 18 ex18 
Solar PV/T Exd;Solar m 19 ex 19 Q in;Solar 1 Tsun m 18 hex;Solar ¼ WPV þ
m m_ 19 ex19
0T A
ST 1Tsun
  1000

Food drying _
Ex _ 23 ex23 þ m
d;Drying ¼ m _ w;25 exw;25 þ m
_ p;25 exp;25  m
_ w;26 exw;26  m
_ p;26 exp;26 _ 24 ex24 Q_ loss; Drying 1  TT0
m hex;Drying ¼
_ w;25 m
ðm _ w;26 Þðexw;24 exw;25 Þ
0
ðm_ a;23 ex23 Þ
_ _
_ 14 ex14 þ W _ 15 ex15 _ 15 ex15 m _ 14 ex14 Þ
d;C ¼ m in;C  m
Compressor Ex ðm
  hex;C ¼ _ in;C
W
   
Condenser 3 _
Ex _ 16 ex16  Q_ out;Cond3 1  TT0 
_ 15 ex15  m
d;Cond3 ¼ m
 T
s Q_ out;Cond3 1 0 
 Ts 
hex;Cond3 ¼ _ 15 ex15 m
ðm _ 16 ex16 Þ
_ _ 13 ex13 þ m
_ 12 ex12  m
_ 14 ex14  m
_ 9 ex9 _ _
Evaporator 3 Exd;Eva3 ¼ m hex;Eva3 ¼ mm_14 ex14 m13 ex13
_ ex
ex m 12 12 9 9

across the turbine and evaporator. The Evaporator 1 and Heat
Exchanger 1 exergy destruction rate follows Turbine with the
values of 369.6 kW and 322.9 kW respectively as seen in Fig. 2. The
maximum exergy destruction ratios are closely linked to the
geothermal fluid condenser, turbines and evaporator in the cycle.
Highest exergy efficiency values are observed in Expansion Valve 1
and 2, as 92% and 99% respectively. In organic Rankine cycle, Tur-
bine generates approximately 1.2 MW power with an exergy effi-
ciency of 63.5%. The turbine exergy destruction rate is 696 kW.
Thermal energy storage energy and exergy efficiencies are 85.7%
and 76.6% respectively. Solar PV/T system's exergy efficiency is 12%,
while power conversion efficiency of the PV/T system is calculated
to be 10.7%. The energy efficiency of solar PV/T system is 16.5%.
The overall energy and exergy efficiencies of the renewable
energy based multigeneration system are calculated to be 11% and
28% respectively. In the literature, it is observed that the energy
efficiency values of geothermal based multigeneration systems
generally vary between 10% and 30% while the respective exergy
efficiencies change between 30% and 48%. The exergy efficiency
yields lower compared to literature efficiencies because exergy
efficiency of the solar system is low around 12%. The energetic and
exergetic COPs of the absorption cooling system are found to be
0.73 and 0.21 respectively. Energetic COP of heat pump system is 4.1
and exergetic COP is 0.03. In addition, the energy and exergy effi-
ciencies respectively are calculated to be 9% and 42% for organic
Rankine cycle. In order to understand the effect of ambient condi-
tions and various parameters on subsystem and overall efficiencies,
number of parametric studies are performed.
efficiency of the multigeneration system are shown in Figs. 3 and 4.
By increasing ambient temperature, energetic COP of both ab-
sorption cooling system and heat pump system remains constant
however exergetic COP of absorption cooling system increases
dramatically from 0.1 to 0.9. On the other hand, heat pump's
exergetic COP is decreasing from 4.5 to 3.7 by a change of the
ambient temperature from 15
C to 25
C.
Organic Rankine cycle exergy efficiency increases up to 60% by
increasing ambient temperature from 15
C to 50
C as shown in
Fig. 4. In addition, cooling with dehumidification process exergy
efficiency increases up to 15%. Overall energy efficiency is not
affected by ambient temperature, however exergy efficiency of
the system increases up to 37% at 50
C. The exergy efficiency of
the overall system as well as the exergy of the each cycle shows
an increasing trend, which is associated with the increase in
ambient temperature. This could be due to the fact that the
exergy of the heat transferred to generator and heat exchanger 1
is affected greatly by the ambient conditions when calculating the
exergy of this heat and resulting in increase of organic Rankine
cycle exergy efficiency. This trend occurs because an increase in
ambient temperature results in the higher exergetic value of the
desired outputs. When the exergetic value of the desired output

4.1. Effects of ambient pressure and ambient temperature

Overall system efficiency is not much affected by ambient

pressure. It is understood from the parametric study that ambient
pressure has no effect on the system performance. The ambient
temperature is important for the performance of most thermody-
namic systems. Therefore, changes in ambient temperature may
increase or decrease the system efficiency. The effects of variations Fig. 2. Highest exergy destruction rates and ratios for the major components of the
in ambient temperature on some of the subsystems and overall system.
 Y. Bicer, I. Dincer / Energy 94 (2016) 623e632 629

Table 4
Thermodynamic analysis data of the multi-generation system components.

Component/process Exergy destruction rate (kW) Exergy efficiency (%) Power or heat transfer rate (kW)

Condenser 2 2.962 81 450.2

Condenser 3 1.472 12 33.43
Condenser 4 35.88 36 6270
Heat exchanger 1 322.9 1 e
Heat exchanger 2 7.034 31 e
Expansion valve 1 0.02086 92 e
Expansion valve 2 1.334 99 e
Expansion valve 3 3.099 56 e
Pump 1 84.67 37 134.7
Pump 2 9.807 3 10.16
Pump 3 4.916 10 5.443
Pump 4 291.2 13 334.7
Turbine 695.7 63 1208
Fan 0.2494 51 0.5083
Compressor 3.688 55 8.167
Generator 18.47 83 e
Absorber 103.5 2 552.3
Evaporator 1 369.6 82 e
Evaporator 2 2.131 95 e
Evaporator 3 0.1693 80 e
Drying 5.591 18 28.8
Hot water storage tank 1.155 45 2.926
Mixing chamber 0.1538 70 0.8436
Thermal energy storage 0.2098 66 0.04943
Simple heating 0.4576 20 3.698
Solar PV/T 3.652 12 9.415/14.44
Cooling with dehumidification 0.3358 4 0.4458

Fig. 5. Effect of ambient relative humidity change on drying, cooling with dehumidi-
Fig. 3. Effect of ambient temperature on absorption cooling system COPs. fication process and overall efficiencies.

Fig. 4. Effect of ambient temperature on organic Rankine cycle, cooling with dehu-
midification process and overall efficiencies. Fig. 6. Variation of organic Rankine cycle and overall system efficiencies with
increasing geothermal water mass flow rate.

increases the exergetic performance of the system rises. Fig. 4 4.2. Effects of ambient relative humidity
indicates that the designed system will work more exergy effi-
cient under high temperature ambient conditions especially in Since there are psychometric processes in the system, relative
hot locations. humidity is also an important factor which may affect the
630 Y. Bicer, I. Dincer / Energy 94 (2016) 623e632
Fig. 7. Variation of overall system efficiencies with increasing water mass flow rate in
Solar PV/T system.
performance. In Fig. 5, it is seen that relative humidity affects the
drying process negatively and cooling process positively when
relative humidity increases from 30% to 80% which is an expected
ambient condition change. Overall system and other processes are
not affected by relative humidity change because it is not consid-
ered in other calculations.
4.3. Effects of mass flow rates on some components and overall
efficiencies
There are two independent inputs to the system; geothermal
and solar energy. The mass flow rates of these systems play an
important role on overall system efficiency. As seen in Fig. 6, an
increase in the geothermal water mass flow rate lowers both
organic Rankine cycle and overall system efficiency. This indicates
us that the energy output increase appears to be much lesser than
the respective energy input increase. By increasing the mass flow
rate of the geothermal production well, the mass flow rate that
enter the evaporator 1 is increasing which means more heat is
required to heat the fluid in organic Rankine cycle to the operating
temperature. This allows to have higher exergy input to the system
that decrease the exergy efficiency of both organic Rankine cycle
and overall system. Since the saturated steam curve of isobutane
has a positive slope, the organic vapor is still at a superheated state
at the last levels of the turbine. Because of that, there will not be a
deterioration of the turbine blades because of wet vapor, hence it is
expected to obtain longer turbine life. It is observed that as the
condenser load increases the evaporator load increases because
more heat is removed in the condenser from the stream going into
the evaporator. Because of this higher heat rejection, there occurs a
Fig. 8. Variation of hot water storage tank, solar system, thermal energy storage sys-
tem and mixing chamber efficiencies with increasing water mass flow rate in Solar PV/
T system.
0.8 η ex,ov,sys
ηen,ov,sys
Efficiency (-)
0.6 η ex,ORC
ηen,ORC
0.4 η ex,GEN
ηen,GEN
0.2
0
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Isobutane Mass Flow Rate (kg/s)
Fig. 9. Effect of organic Rankine cycle isobutane mass flow rate on organic Rankine
cycle, generator and overall system efficiencies.
lower input temperature of the stream going into the evaporator
resulting in higher cooling load.
In Fig. 7, an increment in the water mass flow rate in solar en-
ergy system lowers both energy and exergy efficiency not more
than 1%. Because the water mass flow rate of solar energy system is
one of the two inputs of the overall system. The effect of mass flow
rate in PV/T on thermal energy storage, hot water storage tank,
mixing chamber and solar energy system is seen in Fig. 8. Thermal
energy storage efficiencies are decreasing, however, solar energy
system exergy efficiency rises up to 38% at 1 kg/s water mass flow
rate.
Rising the isobutane mass flow rate in organic Rankine cycle
decreases the generator efficiencies in Fig. 9 because generator's
input is the output of the turbine. This will increase the denomi-
nator of efficiency definition of generator. On the other hand, an
increasing isobutane mass flow rate in organic Rankine cycle results
in increasing both organic Rankine cycle efficiency and overall ef-
ficiency since the power generation from Turbine rises drastically
although input from the evaporator 1 remains constant. The exergy
efficiency of organic Rankine cycle increases up to 65% and overall
system efficiency increases up to 50% at 25 kg/s mass flow rate.
4.4. Effects of global solar irradiance on solar system and overall
efficiencies
Fig. 10 indicates that solar irradiance decreases the energy effi-
ciency of solar energy system because energy output of solar
module increases less than the increase in solar irradiance. Since
average solar irradiation may change around 600 W/m2e1000 W/
m2 in hot countries located near equator line, parametric study is
performed accordingly. The overall system is not affected by the
Fig. 10. Effect of global solar irradiance change on solar system and overall system
efficiencies.
 Y. Bicer, I. Dincer / Energy 94 (2016) 623e632
Fig. 11. Variation of turbine exergy destruction rate and exergy efficiency with
changing ambient temperature.
Fig. 12. Variation of compressor exergy destruction rate and exergy efficiency with
changing ambient temperature.
Fig. 13. Variation of Solar PV/T system exergy destruction rate and exergy efficiency
with changing ambient temperature.
solar irradiance change as seen in Fig. 10 because power generation
from the PV/T system has a very low effect on overall output.
4.5. Changes of exergy destruction rates and exergy efficiencies by
varying ambient temperature
Figs. 11e15 indicate that the exergy destruction of components
is inversely proportional with exergy efficiencies. As seen in Fig. 11,
when the turbine exergy destruction increases from 670 kW to
750 kW by an increment of 35
C temperature, exergy efficiency of
Turbine decreases more than 3%. Fig. 12 shows that the compressor
exergy destruction is reverse proportional with exergy efficiency
when the temperature increases from 15
C to 50
C even though
the efficiency decreases around 5%. Solar PV/T system efficiency
decreases to 12% from 13.7% by an increasing temperature and
631
Fig. 14. Variation of heating process exergy destruction rate and exergy efficiency with
changing ambient temperature.
Fig. 15. Variation of drying process exergy destruction rate and exergy efficiency with
changing ambient temperature.
exergy destruction as indicated in Fig. 13. Exergy destruction rate of
heating process of air is very low around 0.45 kW. In Figs. 14 and 15,
increasing the ambient temperature from 15
C to 25
C decreases
the heating process efficiency down to 21% and drying efficiency to
18%, which proves that the drying process is highly dependent on
ambient temperature. The exergy results show that organic
Rankine cycle evaporator and turbine are the two main sources of
irreversibility, with the largest exergy destruction rate due to the
high mass flow rate of geothermal water input and high tempera-
ture difference in both components.
5. Conclusions
In this paper, a novel renewable energy based multigeneration
system is designed and analyzed for heating, cooling, hot water,
food drying and electricity generation. The electricity production is
achieved by geothermal based organic Rankine cycle and the solar
PV/T system, and the absorption cooling system is based on organic
Rankine cycle turbine output. By a duct system under the solar PV/T
system, the ambient air is conditioned for the food drying process
in a farm. The effects of certain operating conditions on the sub-
systems and overall system performance are investigated. A para-
metric study on the efficiencies under various ambient tempera-
ture, pressure, relative humidity and mass flow rate values is
undertaken and their results are discussed. A change in ambient
pressure has a very less effect on the overall efficiencies as well as
organic Rankine cycle efficiency. Increasing the ambient tempera-
ture of the system positively influences exergetic COP of absorption
cooling, exergy efficiencies of the organic Rankine cycle, cooling
632 Y. Bicer, I. Dincer / Energy 94 (2016) 623e632

with dehumidification process and overall system efficiency. This oc Open circuit
implies a reduction in the exergy destruction of the system com- mp Nominal
ponents and higher system efficiency in high temperature loca- m Maximum
tions. The mass flow rates of the sub-systems have a critical impact ov Overall
on the system. Some findings are extracted as: (i) Both energy and HWST How water storage tank
exergy efficiencies are calculated as 11% and 28% respectively. (ii) TES Thermal energy storage
The evaporator and the turbine in organic Rankine cycle have the pce Power conversion efficiency
highest exergy destruction rates, accounting for about 57% of the HX Heat exchanger
total exergy destruction rate of the overall system. HP Heat pump
EV Expansion valve
Acknowledgment 1, 2, … 41 State numbers

The authors acknowledge the support provided by the Natural References

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