Energy 257 (2022) 124528

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

A novel negative carbon-emission, cooling, and power generation

system based on combined LNG regasification and waste heat
recovery: Energy, exergy, economic, environmental (4E) evaluations
Zhen Tian a, *, Zhixin Qi a, Wanlong Gan a, Molin Tian b, Wenzhong Gao a, **
a
Merchant Marine College, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai, 201306, China
b
Shanghai Fengzi New Energy Ship Technology Center, Shanghai, 201802, China

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

Article history: In this paper, a novel negative carbon-emission, cooling, and power generation (NCCP) system was
Received 12 September 2021 proposed to improve the energy efficiency of the liquid natural gas (LNG)-powered hydrogen production
Received in revised form plant. With LNG cold energy and waste heat recovery, the NCCP system integrated organic Rankine cycle
1 May 2022
(ORC) power generation, data center cooling, and CO2 capture. The NCCP system could operate under
Accepted 12 June 2022
Available online 17 June 2022
seven scenarios and the system performance evaluations were performed via energy, exergy, economic
and environmental (4 E) analysis. It was found that the NCCP system showed the best performance when
all subsystems were running simultaneously. The system could produce 31.67 MW of power, 24.92 MW
Keywords:
LNG cold recovery
of cooling capacity, and 29.97 t/h of CO2 capture. The levelized energy cost and the payback period of the
Organic Rankine cycle NCCP system were 0.071 $/kWh and 7.9 years, respectively. LNG cold energy utilization efficiency, system
Negative carbon index energy efficiency, and exergy efficiency were 43.20%, 19.08%, and 29.28%, respectively. The environmental
Data center cooling profits are validated with the negative carbon index of 29.47 t/h. Moreover, the effects of the LNG
Medium temperature shift gas pressure, flue gas mass flow rate, and the temperature of the medium temperature shift gas on the NCCP
Waste heat recovery system performances were investigated. The results show that the proposed system is a polygeneration
system with the advantages of high efficiency, diversified energy output, fast return on investment, and
CO2 capture. It is expected to be an energy conversion technology that could be used for reference in
practical applications.
© 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction Before LNG could be utilized by the end-users, it requires to be

Natural gas (NG), as the intermediate substitute between
traditional and renewable energy, plays an increasingly important
role in economy [1]development [2]. Liquid natural gas (LNG) is an
effective way in the global energy market due to easy trans-
portation and high energy density [3]. According to the Interna-
tional Gas Union, global LNG trade reached 482 billion cubic meters
in 2018, with an annual growth rate of 13% [4]. The NG uneven
distribution facilitates LNG transportation by sea [5]. Fig. 1 shows
the global distribution of the major liquification and regasification
stations in the world, as well as LNG maritime transportation routes
[6].
* Corresponding author.
** Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: ztian@shmtu.edu.cn (Z. Tian), wzgao@shmtu.edu.cn (W. Gao).
vaporized in the regasification stations by the heat sources, such as
seawater and air [7]. If so, most high-grade cold energy of LNG
would be wasted. During the regasification process, approximately
830 kJ/kg cold energy would be released when LNG temperature
rises from
162  C to 25  C [8,9]. Recovering LNG cold energy is of
great significance to improve energy utilization efficiency. Many
LNG cold energy recovery methods have been developed over the
past decades, such as power generation [10,11], cold storage [12],
and air separation [13]. In recent years, the utilization of LNG cold
energy for CO2 capture [14], seawater desalination [15], and light
hydrocarbon separation [16] has gradually become the mainstream
trend. A comprehensive review of LNG cold energy recovery could
be found in He et al.‘s work [17], which provides the suggestions
and directions for the high-efficient LNG cold energy recovery.
Considering the large temperature range, many researchers suggest
to reduce the irreversible loss through energy cascade utilization

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2022.124528
0360-5442/© 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Z. Tian, Z. Qi, W. Gan et al. Energy 257 (2022) 124528

Nomenclature Abbreviations
CCS carbon capture system
A heat transfer area (m2) CP compressor
Bpt bubble point DCC data center cooling
C cost ($) DEX direct expansion
CEPCI chemical engineering plant cost index DPI direct permanent investment
CRF capital recovery factor EG ethylene glycol
Dewpt dew point GWP global warming potential
EER energy efficiency ratio HEX heat exchanger
EF emission factor LNG liquid natural gas
_
Ex exergy (kW) NCCP negative carbon-emission, cooling, and power
_
DEx exergy destruction (kW) generation
h specific enthalpy (kJ/kg) NG natural gas
LEC levelized energy cost ($/kWh) ORC organic Rankine cycle
m_ mass flow rate (kg/s) ODP ozone depression potential
p pressure (Mpa) P pump
PBP payback period (year) S separator
PES primary energy savings (kWh) SW seawater
T turbine
Q_ heat transfer (kW)
TCI total capital investment
s specific entropy (kJ/kg/K)
t temperature ( C)
Subscripts
U overall heat transfer coefficients W/(m2K)
boi boiling point
W _ power (kW) cont construction
cri critical point
Greek letters in inlet
D different lac land acquisition
z carbon capture amount (t/h) mo maintenance and operation
h efficiency (%) net net output work
k interest rate out outlet
s electricity price ($/kWh) ref reference
t annual operation time serv service facilities
c lifetime (year) start-up start-up capital
j negative carbon index (t/h) sys system
U avoid CO2 emissions (t/h) tri triple point
u exergy destruction ratio tot total
0 reference state

[18]. Fig. 2 illustrates the methods of utilizing LNG cold energy
within different temperature zones.
LNG cold energy has been extensively used in power generation
from the past to the present. Among the diverse power generation
cycles, the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) has attracted the greatest
attention due to its simple structure and high energy efficiency
[19]. The investigations of the ORC topics focus on the structure
[20], working medium [21], and operation strategy [22]. Choi et al.
[23] compared five structures of ORC systems recovering LNG cold
energy.Bao et al. [24] proposed a two-stage ORC system using
propane as the working medium. Compared with the traditional
ORC systems, the net power output, energy efficiency, and exergy
efficiency of the system were increased by 45.27%, 42.91%, and
52.31%, respectively. Xue et al. [25] presented a two-stage ORC, by
which the low-grade heat of exhaust flue gas combined cycle po-
wer generating unit, as well as the cryogenic energy of LNG could
be effectively recovered and utilized.
Meanwhile, the LNG cold energy used for CO2 capture has been
widely investigated because of the huge potential of carbon capture
in energy and commercial value [26]. Zhao et al. [27] proposed a
novel combined system with a twin-stage ORC power generation
and CO2 capture using LNG cold energy and waste heat from the
magnesite processing industry. Their system could reach the exergy
efficiency of 0.57 and provide 119.42 kW electric power and liquid
CO2 of 0.75 t/ton LNG. Go
mez et al. [28] proposed an innovative
power plant with LNG exergy utilization and the capture of CO2
proceeding from the flue gases. As a result, a high efficiency
exceeding 65% was achieved, with almost zero greenhouse gas
emission. Mehrpooya et al. [29] developed an integrated coal
gasification process with a novel double-column cryogenic air
separation unit based on the LNG cold energy recovery. The outlet
LNG stream from air separation unit was utilized as cold source of
the condenser in the trans-critical CO2 power cycle. The results
demonstrated that 99.83% of CO2 with 99.80% purity was captured
and the required power was around 0.10 kWh/kg CO2. Aghaie et al.
[30] introduced an integrated system combining biomass gasifica-
tion, chemical looping hydrogen production, CO2 capture, solid
oxide fuel cell system, and a steam power cycle, which generated
the system net efficiency of 55.8% with 100% CO2 capture. Based on
the LNG cold energy and waste heat from solid oxide fuel cell, Liu
et al. [31] proposed a combined system. The results illustrated that
the net power generation efficiency was about 79.81% and the CO2
capture rate was 79.2 kg/h under the given conditions.
In addition to CO2 capture technology, clean energy with zero
CO2 emission such as hydrogen is regarded as an effective way to
protect the environment. The hydrogen production from natural
gas reforming has attracted wide attention [32]. In the conventional
hydrogen production process, the medium temperature shift gas is

2
Z. Tian, Z. Qi, W. Gan et al. Energy 257 (2022) 124528

Fig. 1. Map of worldwide distribution of LNG plants and maritime trade routes [4].

Fig. 2. LNG cold energy utilization methods within different temperature zones.

usually cooled by the air cooler to the temperature that could be
processed by the downstream absorption tower. The low-grade
waste heat during the hydrogen production process is not effec-
tively used. Therefore, if this part of heat could be utilized, it not
only provides a heat source for the system but also achieves the
3
purpose of cooling the medium temperature shift gas and improves
the energy utilization efficiency.
In recent years, polygeneration systems are increasingly being
proposed and studied due to high conversion efficiencies and wide
range of application scenarios. To further improve the LNG cold
Z. Tian, Z. Qi, W. Gan et al.
energy utilization efficiency, researchers turned to seek the possi-
bilities of exploitation via polygeneration. Atienza-Ma
rquez et al.
[33] analyzed a polygeneration plant for cold recovery from LNG
regasification. The plant achieved an equivalent energy saving of
81.1 kWh/ton LNG with an exergy efficiency of 34.7%. He et al. [34]
proposed a novel integrated system to use LNG cold energy, which
was constituted of cryogenic energy storage, organic Rankine cycle
(ORC), and direct cooling. The results indicated that the net power
output was 22.48% higher than the base case. The energy efficiency
and the exergy efficiency were 141.88% and 73.92%, which were 19%
and 5.17% increments compared with the base case.
Although the polygeneration power system based on LNG en-
ergy utilization has been addressed, there is still a lack of infor-
mation about the CO2 emission analysis of the system. In particular,
the CO2 emission net value of the proposed system is rarely re-
ported. Inspired by the published work and LNG terminal devel-
opment, a novel negative carbon emission, cooling, and power
generation (NCCP) system based on LNG cold energy cascade uti-
lization was established, aiming to build close links among the
LNG-powered hydrogen production plant, LNG receiving station,
and data center. In the NCCP system, LNG cold energy was recov-
ered in cascade according to the low, medium, and high tempera-
ture zones. The NCCP system was composed of the carbon capture
system (CCS), the ORC, the data center cooling (DCC), and the direct
expansion cycle (DEX) subsystems. The greatest advantage of this
proposed process concerns the fact that all the retrievable LNG cold
energy can be utilized. The heat source is not only a single industrial
waste heat, but also a heat flow gas that needs to be cooled. Thus, it
has the property of mutual benefit, contributing to the efficiency
improvement by cascading CCS, ORC, DCC and DEX. The novelty of
this study is to propose an LNG cold energy cascade utilization
process with negative carbon emission. Moreover, the poly-
generation system overcomes the problem of long distance be-
tween cold and heat sources, and the analysis results can provide
theoretical basis for the construction of multi-energy industry
chain based on LNG.
Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of the NCCP system.
4
Energy 257 (2022) 124528
This study is organized as follows: In Section 2, the proposed
NCCP system was described in detail, including the working prin-
ciples and working scenarios. The thermo-economic models and
system performance indicators were presented in Section 3. In
Section 4, the model was validated and the system performances
under different scenarios were compared. The parametric analyses
were carried out and thermo-economic indicators were discussed
in Section 5, followed by the article conclusions.
2. System description and assumptions
2.1. Process description of the NCCP system
A schematic of the proposed NCCP system for the LNG-powered
hydrogen production plant is illustrated in Fig. 3. Based on LNG cold
energy cascade utilization, the NCCP system consists of four sub-
systems including CCS, ORC, DCC, and the DEX. The CCS subsystem
contributes to CO2 capture from the flue gas by recovering LNG cold
energy in the low temperature zone. The ORC subsystem is
responsible for the recovery of LNG cold energy in the medium
temperature zone and the waste heat from hydrogen production.
The DCC subsystem aims to provide cooling capacity to the data
center, which recovers the LNG cold energy in the high temperature
zone. At last, the LNG remaining cold and pressure energy is
recovered by the DEX subsystem.
The detailed working principle of the NCCP system could be
summarized as follows. In the CCS subsystem, the flue gas from the
NG power station enters the system through the pipeline (F1) via
the regenerator (HEX-7), where the flue gas is cooled down for the
first step. Then, the flue gas is pressurized by the compressor (CP-1)
and is further cooled in the heat exchanger (HEX-1), in which the
high-pressure flue gas is cooled by the LNG to liquefaction tem-
perature of CO2 (99% CO2, 0.6% O2, 0.4% N2. In order to simplify the
model, the default is pure component CO2). Afterward, the liquified
CO2 is separated in the separator (S-1) and stored in the storage
tank. The flue gas after CO2 separation is reheated in the HEX-7 and
Z. Tian, Z. Qi, W. Gan et al. Energy 257 (2022) 124528

goes into the downstream turbine (T-1) to generate power. After
that, the flue gas flows out to the downstream device.
In the ORC subsystem, R290 is selected as the working medium
considering the cryogenic operating conditions. The basic physical
properties of heat transfer medium R290 are shown in Table 1. Due
to the extremely low temperature of LNG, in order to ensure a small
temperature difference between the heat transfer medium and
LNG, and to avoid the phenomenon of solidification in the heat
transfer process between the heat transfer medium and LNG, R290
with a very low freezing point is selected as the intermediate me-
dium for power generation and heat transfer. R290 at the outlet of
the T-2 is cooled to the saturated liquid by LNG in the condenser
(HEX-2), and then pressurized by the pump (P-1). R290 is heated to
the superheated state in the evaporator (HEX-6) and then enters
the turbine (T-2) to generate electricity. It should be noted that the
heat flow (R5-R6) in the HEX-6 is provided by the medium tem-
perature shift gas generated during the hydrogen production,
through which the waste heat from hydrogen production is
recovered.
In the DCC subsystem, ethylene glycol (EG) is selected as the
working medium. The LNG cold energy is continually recovered by
the circulating EG in the HEX-3. Based on the engineering experi-
ence, the supply and return temperatures of the EG (D1 and D2) are
7  C and 14  C, respectively. Before reaching the end-users, the LNG
cold and pressure energy are recovered with the DEX subsystem.
The LNG is further heated by the seawater (W1 and W2) and enters
the turbine (T-3) to produce electricity. The proposed system is
compared with recent LNG utilization cases. As shown in Table 2,
the present work is more comprehensive in both functions and
analysis model.
2.2. Simulation assumptions and parameters
To simplify the analysis of the proposed NCCP system, several
assumptions are made, as listed below [34].
(1) The system operates under steady state conditions.
(2) The heat or cold energy loss in the system is omitted.
(3) It is assumed there is no pressure drop in the heat
exchangers.
(4) The isentropic efficiencies of turbine, pump, and compressor
are 75%, 75%, and 80%, respectively.
To evaluate the proposed NCCP system, the process simulation is
essential to obtain the operating performances. The analysis is
carried out using the mature process simulator Aspen HYSYS V11.
The Peng-Robinson equation of state is adopted for the thermo-
dynamic property calculations because it is recommended for
petrochemical and gas processing. According to engineering
experience and relevant enterprise data, the parameter basis of the
NCCP system is summarized in Table 3. The molar compositions of
the LNG, the flue gas, and the medium temperature shift gas are
shown in Table 4.
According to the Fig. 4, the selected liquefaction pressure is

Table 1
Thermo-physical properties of R290 [35].

Fluid Chemical formula ttri ( C) tboi ( C) tcri ( C) pcri (kPa) ODP GWP Safety Group

R290 CH3CH2CH3
187.6
42.1 96.7 4251 0 5 A3

Table 2
Comparison of LNG cold energy utilization models.

Authors Year Working medium Functions Analysis model

Inkyu Lee et al. [36] 2019 LNG Power generation, liquid air energy storage Energy, Exergy, Economic
Liang Zhao et al. [37] 2020 R1150 Cold, heat and power generation Dynamic exergy method
Ruihang Zhang et al. [38] 2020 LNG Light hydrocarbon recovery, air separation Energy, Economic
Haoshui Yu et al. [39] 2021 Ethane Carbon capture and storage, power generation Energy, Exergy
Hanbing Wang et al. [40] 2021 CO2, propane Power generation, pressurized SOFC and ORC Energy, Exergy, Economic
Kang Chen et al. [41] 2022 CO2, N2 Power generation Energy, Exergy
Present work / Propane, ethylene glycol Carbon capture and storage, power generation, data center cooling Energy, Exergy, Economic, Environmental

Table 3 Table 4
Simulation process parameter basis. Molar compositions of streams.

Block Parameters Values Streams Compositions Molar fraction

LNG LNG inlet pressure 0.13 MPa LNG [34] CH4 0.9115
LNG inlet temperature
162  C C2H6 0.0555
LNG mass flow rate 190 kg/s C3H8 0.0216
Operating pressure of LNG in the plant 8 MPa i-C4H10 0.0051
CCS Flue gas inlet pressure 0.101 MPa n-C4H10 0.0051
Flue gas inlet temperature 79  C N2 0.0012
Flue gas mass flow rate 130 kg/s Flue Gas [42] N2 0.85
ORC Medium temperature shift gas inlet pressure 0.2 MPa O2 0.1
Medium temperature shift gas inlet temperature 148  C CO2 0.05
Medium temperature shift gas mass flow rate 390 kg/s Medium temperature shift gas [43] H2 0.75
DCC Data center water supply pressure 0.2 MPa CH4 0.04
Data center water supply and backwater temperature 7/14  C CO2 0.16
DEX Seawater inlet pressure 0.101 MPa CO 0.04
Seawater inlet/outlet temperature 25/15  C N2 0.01

5
Z. Tian, Z. Qi, W. Gan et al. Energy 257 (2022) 124528

In addition, the performances of the NCCP system are analyzed

from four perspectives: (1) energy analysis based on the first law of
thermodynamics, (2) exergy analysis based on the second law of
thermodynamics, (3) economic analysis for the system practical
feasibility, and (4) environmental analysis for the system contri-
bution to the environment and the carbon-neutral target. In today's
society, high efficiency, environmental protection, and economy are
important indicators to measure factory performance, 4 E analysis
of NCCP system is helpful to understand the performance of NCCP
system in terms of thermodynamics, economy and environment,
which can help us further understand the feasibility of NCCP sys-
tem. And in the section 5 of the article, the effects of LNG pressure,
the flue gas mass flow rate, and the medium temperature shift gas
temperature on system performance were analyzed. Their variation
ranges are 7 MPa ~21 MPa, 100 kg/s~1000 kg/s and 140  Ce300  C
respectively. All calculations are performed in Aspen HYSYS V11,
the system schematic in Aspen HYSYS is shown in Fig. 6. In addition,
the built-in Peng-Robinson equation is chosen as physical proper-
ties calculation package.
Fig. 4. Dew point temperature and pressure of flue gas and bubble point temperature
and pressure of rich CO2 (99%).

3.1. Energy analysis modeling

203 kPa. It can reduce the power consumption of the compressor. In
The thermodynamic modeling of the system is based on the
addition, the flue gas is a mixed stream, the temperature of CO2
energy conservation equations of each component, which could be
liquefaction is affected by the composition of N2 and O2. With the
written uniformly in Eq. (1).
decrease of CO2 mass fraction in flue gas. With the decrease of CO2
mass fraction in flue gas, the liquefaction temperature will also X X
m_ in hin þ Q_ ¼ m_ out hout þ W_ (1)
decrease. Therefore, the liquefaction temperature is selected
as
150  C.
where, Q_ , m, _ and h are the heat flow, mass flow rate, power, and
_ W,
the specific enthalpy. The subscript in and out represents the inlet
3. System modeling and outlet, respectively.
The cold energy provided by LNG (Q_ ) is calculated by:
LNG
In order to better analyze the system performance, as is shown
in Fig. 5, the calculation method follows the following logic. The Q_ LNG ¼ m_ L1 ðhL7
hL2 Þ (2)
reliability of the system is verified first. Then the possible seven
operating scenarios of the system are evaluated. Finally, the best The total heat amount (Q_ tot ) supplied by the four subsystems are
operating scenarios are selected for case study to draw conclusions. determined by:

Fig. 5. Flow chart of system calculation.

6
Z. Tian, Z. Qi, W. Gan et al. Energy 257 (2022) 124528

Fig. 6. System schematic in Aspen HYSYS.

Table 5
Q_ tot ¼ Q_ CCS þ Q_ ORC þ Q_ DCC þ Q_ DEX (3) Energy equations for the NCCP system.

Components Energy equations Eq.

where, the subscript CCS, ORC, DCC, DEX represent the CCS sub-
CP-1
system, the ORC subsystem, the DCC subsystem, and the DEX _
W _ F2 ðhF3
hF2 Þ
CP;1 ¼ m (13)
subsystem, respectively.
The heat capacity of each subsystem is calculated by the LNG pump
_ _ L1 ðhL2
hL1 Þ
enthalpy difference, as the following equations: W P;LNG ¼ m (14)

P-1
Q_ CCS ¼ m_ F1 ðhF3
hF4 Þ (4) _ _ R2 ðhR3
hR2 Þ
W P;1 ¼ m (15)

P-2
Q_ ORC ¼ m_ R5 ðhR5
hR6 Þ (5) _ _ D3 ðhD4
hD3 Þ
W P;2 ¼ m (16)

T-1
Q_ DCC ¼ m_ D1 ðhD1
hD2 Þ (6) _ _ F7 ðhF7
hF8 Þ
W T;1 ¼ m (17)

T-2
Q_ DEX ¼ m_ W1 ðhW1
hW2 Þ (7) _ _ R4 ðhR4
hR1 Þ
W T;2 ¼ m (18)

The net power (W_ net ) of the NCCP system is defined as the T-3
difference between generated power and consumed power: _ _ L6 ðhL6
hL7 Þ
W T;3 ¼ m (19)

_ net ¼ W_ _ _ _
W CCS þ W ORC þ W DCC þ W DEX (8)
The net power generated by the CCS, ORC, DCC, and DEX sub-
systems are respectively calculated by: amount of overall input cold energy. Thus, hLNG is described in:

_ _ _ _ net þ Q_ _
W CCS ¼ W T;1
W CP;1 (9) W CCS þ Q DCC
hLNG ¼ (20)
Q_LNG
_ _ _
W ORC ¼ W T;2
W P;1 (10) The system energy efficiency (hsys) is defined as the ratio of the
net power output to the total heat amount:
_ _
W DCC ¼
W P;2 (11)
W_
hsys ¼ _ net (21)
_ DEX ¼ W_ Q tot
W T;3 (12)

where, the subscripts T,1, T,2, T,3 represent the turbines, the
subscript CP,1 represents the compressor, and the subscripts P,1 and
P,2 represent the pumps, respectively.
The energy equations for the components of the proposed NCCP
system are summarized in Table 5.
The cold energy utilization efficiency (hLNG) could reflect the
overall performance of the proposed NCCP system. The definition of
hLNG is the ratio of the cold energy utilized by the system to the
3.2. Exergy analysis modeling
Exergy is defined as the maximum useful work that could be
extracted from a system when it is reversibly in equilibrium with
the reference state. Exergy analysis plays a key role in evaluating
the energy conversion processes and quantifying the resource loss
_ is written as:
of the systems. The physical exergy of each point (Ex)

7
Z. Tian, Z. Qi, W. Gan et al. Energy 257 (2022) 124528

W_ W_
_ ¼ m½ðh
Ex _
h0 Þ
T0 ðs
s0 Þ (22) hEx;LNG ¼ _ net ¼ _ net
_ L7
(38)
ExLNG ExL2
Ex
where, s denotes the specific entropy, and the subscript 0 repre- The overall exergy efficiency (hEx,sys) of the NCCP system is
sents the reference state (101.325 kPa and 298 K). defined as the ratio of the effective work to the total input exergy,
The exergy destruction (DEx) _ of the component could be which is derived as:
expressed as:
P
3
_ F5 þ ðEx
_ þ Ex _ _ _ _
W T;i R6
ExR5 Þ þ ðExD2
ExD1 Þ
_ ¼ Ex
DEx _ _ hEx;sys ¼ i¼1 (39)
in
Exout (23) _
Ex _ _ _ _
L2
ExL7 þ W CP;1 þ W P;1 þ W P;2
The exergy destruction ratio (ui) of the component is defined as:

DEx_
ui ¼ _
i
(24) 3.3. Economic analysis modeling
DExtot
The exergy destruction calculation equations for the component Economic performance analysis contributes to understanding
in the NCCP system are summarized in Table 6. the feasibility of the proposed NCCP system. The total equipment
Additionally, the cold exergy efficiency (hEx,LNG) is defined as the cost (Cequ) of this system includes heat exchanger purchase cost,
ratio of net output work to the LNG cold exergy: turbine purchase cost, pump purchase cost, and compressor pur-
chase cost, which could be expressed as follows:
!
Table 6 X
7 X
3 X
2
CEPCI2019
Exergy equations for the NCCP system. Cequ ¼ CHEX;n þ CT;n þ CP;n þ CCP;1
n¼1 n¼1 n¼1
CEPCI2001
Components Exergy destruction equations Eq.
(40)
HEX-1
_
DEx _ _ _ _
HEX;1 ¼ ðExL2
ExL3 Þ
ðExF4
ExF3 Þ (25) where, the Chemical Engineering Plant Cost Index (CEPCI) is
HEX-2 introduced by Bailie et al. [44], CEPCI2001 ¼ 397, CEPCI2019 ¼
_
DEx _ _ _ _
HEX;2 ¼ ðExL3
ExL4 Þ
ðExR2
ExR1 Þ (26) 619:2[45].
The component cost of the turbine (CT) depends on its output
HEX-3
power (WT), which is calculated by Ref. [46]:
_
DEx _ _ _ _
HEX;3 ¼ ðExL4
ExL5 Þ
ðExD5
ExD4 Þ (27)
0:46
HEX-4 CT ¼ 9624:2W_ (41)
T
_
DEx _ _ _ _
HEX;4 ¼ ðExL5
ExL6 Þ
ðExW2
ExW1 Þ (28)
The component cost of the compressor (CCP) depends on its
HEX-5 output power (WT), which is calculated by:
_ HEX;5 ¼ ðEx
DEx _ D5
Ex
_ _ _
D3 Þ
ðExD2
ExD1 Þ (29)

HEX-6 CCP ¼ 9624:2W_ 0:46 (42)

CP
_
DEx _ _ _ _
HEX;6 ¼ ðExR3
ExR4 Þ
ðExR6
ExR5 Þ (30)
The component cost of heat exchanger (CHEX) is related to its
HEX-7 area (AHEX), which are calculated by Ref. [47]:
_ HEX;7 ¼ ðEx
DEx _ _ _ _
F6
ExF7 Þ
ðExF2
ExF1 Þ (31)

CP-1 CHEX ¼ 1397A0:89

HEX (43)
_
DEx _ _ _
CP;1 ¼ W CP:1
ðExF3
ExF2 Þ (32)

P-1
X
7 X
7
Q_ HEX;n
AHEX ¼ AHEX;n ¼ (44)
_
DEx _ _ _
P;1 ¼ W P;1
ðExR3
ExR2 Þ (33)
n¼1
U
n¼1 HEX;n
DTHEX;n
P-2
_
DEx _ _ _ where, the U represent the overall heat transfer coefficients of heat
P;2 ¼ W P;2
ðExD4
ExD3 Þ (34)
exchangers, which is assumed as 1221.6 W/(m2K) [48]. The DT
T-1
_ _ _ _
represents heat exchange temperature difference of heat
DEx T;1 ¼ ðExF7
ExF8 Þ
W T;1 (35)
exchangers.
T-2 The investment cost of the pump (CP) is dependent on the power
_
DEx _ _ _
T;2 ¼ ðExR4
ExR1 Þ
W T;2 (36) consumption (WP) [49], as determined by:
T-3 0:46
_ _ _ _ CP ¼ 10167:5W_ (45)
DEx T;3 ¼ ðExL6
ExL7 Þ
W T;3 (37) P

Total capital investment of the system (CTCI) includes a number

of investment costs and expense costs in addition to equipment
acquisition costs, which are summarized in Table 7.
The capital recovery factor (CRF) is the coefficient by which the
present value of an investment is converted into the present value

8
Z. Tian, Z. Qi, W. Gan et al. Energy 257 (2022) 124528

Table 7
Components of total capital investment [50].

Components Equations Eq.

Cost of land acquisition and service facilities Clac ¼ 0:05Cequ , Cserv ¼ 0:05Cequ (46)
Construction cost Ccont ¼ 0:18Cequ (47)
Direct permanent investment CDPI ¼ Cequ þ Clac þ Cserv þ Ccont (48)
System start-up capital Cstart
up ¼ 0:1CDPI (49)
Maintenance and operation cost (annually) Cmo ¼ 0:06CDPI (50)
P
Total capital investment CTCI ¼ CDPI þ Cmo þ Cstart
up (51)

of an annuity over a predetermined period. CRF is calculated by: The payback period (PBP) of the NCCP is defined as:

kð1 þ kÞc PBP ¼

CTCI
(54)
CRF ¼ (52) Wnet  t  s
ð1 þ kÞc
1

where, k is the interest rate, 5%. c is the lifetime of the facilities, 20
years. The levelized energy cost (LEC) defined as the total cost to the
net output power is selected as the economic indicator, which is
calculated by:
CRF  CTCI þ Cmo
LEC ¼
Wnet  t
where, t is the annual operation time, 7200 h. Cmo is the mainte-
nance and operation cost, which is assumed as 6% of the direct
permanent investment [42].
where, s is the electricity price, which is assumed as 0.085 $/kWh.
3.4. Environmental analysis modeling
In order to evaluate the impact of the system on the environ-
ment, three environmental performance indexes are selected: the
(53) amount of primary energy saved (PES), the avoid CO2 emissions (U),
and the negative carbon index (j). The PES is defined as Eq. (55),
which evaluates the amount of primary energy saved by the poly-
generation plant taking as a reference energy efficiency (href ¼ 52%)
of a power plant.

Table 8
Model validation results of the CCS subsystem.

Items Liu et al. [42]. This study Deviations (%)

The input parameters Flue gas temperature ( C) 395.8 395.8 e

Flue gas pressure (kPa) 112.3 112.3 e
Flue gas flow rate (kg/s) 20.4 20.4 e
LNG gas temperature ( C)
158.2
158.2 e
LNG gas pressure (kPa) 8000 8000 e
LNG gas flow rate (kg/s) 41.26 41.26 e
The output parameters Compressor inlet stream temperature ( C)
56
56 0.0
Compressor inlet stream pressure (kPa) 101.3 101.3 0.0
Compressor outlet stream temperature ( C) 154.1 187.4 21.6
Compressor outlet stream pressure (kPa) 2000 2000 0.0
Separator inlet stream temperature ( C)
22.8
23.9 4.8
Separator inlet stream pressure (kPa) 1805 2000 10.8
Separator outlet stream temperature ( C)
22.8
23.9 4.8
Separator outlet stream pressure (kPa) 1805 2000 10.8
CO2 flow rate (kg/s) 2.201 1.972 10.4
The power input of compressor (kW) 5603 5957 6.3

Table 9
Model validation results of the ORC subsystem.

Items Atienza-M

arquez et al.et al. [33] This study Deviations (%)

The input parameters LNG mass flow rate (kg/s) 29.9 29.9 e
LNG storage temperature ( C)
162
162 e
LNG storage pressure (MPa) 0.13 0.13 e
Seawater mass flow rate (kg/s) 163.7 163.7 e
Seawater inlet temperature ( C) 20 20 e
Seawater inlet pressure (MPa) 0.101 0.101 e
The output parameters Temperature of stream R1 ( C)
103.8
104.2 0.38
Pressure of stream R1 (MPa) 3.998 3.982 0.4
Temperature of stream R2 ( C)
127.5
127.4 0.07
Pressure of stream R2 (MPa) 3.998 3.982 0.4
Temperature of stream R3 ( C)
101.8
104.8 2.9
Pressure of stream R3 (MPa) 16.95 16.93 0.1
Temperature of stream R4 ( C) 10 10.1 1
Pressure of stream R4 (MPa) 16.95 16.93 0.12
Power output of T-2 (kW) 1300 1322 1.6
Power input of P-1 (kW) 500 508.8 1.8
Energy efficiency (%) 23.4 23.7 1.3
Exergy efficiency (%) 35.8 36.4 1.7

9
Z. Tian, Z. Qi, W. Gan et al. Energy 257 (2022) 124528

  Considering the carbon trading market, it is necessary to set an

1 QORC Q
PES ¼ Wnet þ þ DCC (55) index to measure the power plants contribution to the goal of
href EERORC EERDCC carbon neutrality. Therefore, the negative carbon index (j) is set to
evaluate the environmental performance of the proposed system.
The carbon capture amount (zCCS) is expressed as:
The j is defined as the difference between the amount of CO2
zCCS ¼ mF5 (56) recovered by the system and the amount of CO2 produced by the
system, as shown in Eq. (58). The greater the carbon negative index,
The U is designed to evaluate the system contribution to avoid the better the environmental performance of the project. If the
CO2 emissions, which is expressed as: carbon negative index is negative, it means the factory is not
  environmentally friendly.
QORC Q
U ¼ EF Wnet þ þ DCC þ zCCS (57)
EERORC EERDCC
j ¼ zCCS
EFðWCP
1 þ WP
1 þ WP
2 Þ (58)
where, the EF is the emission factor that is set to 0.308 kg CO2/kWh.
The EERORC and EERDCC are the cooling reference energy efficiency The subscripts in the Eq. (2)~Eq. (58) are the relevant streams as
ratio, which are 5.2, and 4.0, respectively [51]. shown in Fig. 3.

Table 10
Energy balance verification of the proposed NCCP system.

Streams Energy (kW) Total energy (kW) Error (kW) Deviations (%)

Input L1 183603.98 275017.91 7931.81 2.97

F1 589.06
G1 84192.89
D1 754.12
W1 66.21
CP-1 4269.01
P-1 1542.63
Output L7 106258.25 267086.11
F5 2276.98
F8 56980.99
G2 61885.85
D2 1920.25
W2 276.54
T-1 5239.38
T-2 29379.01
T-3 2868.84

Fig. 7. Seven operation scenarios of the NCCP system.

10
Z. Tian, Z. Qi, W. Gan et al.
4. Performance comparisons under basic conditions
4.1. Model validation
To verify the accuracy of the model, the calculated results were
compared with the data obtained from open literature. The model
was firstly validated from the subsystem levels. The widely used
CCS and ORC subsystems were selected as the targets. For CCS
systems, the input parameters were also used to the same values in
the reference. The performances of the CCS were compared with
the results obtained in Liu et al.‘s work [42], which are listed in
Table 8. The maximum deviation is 8.28%, which indicates that the
established CCS subsystem model is reliable for the NCCP system
performance analysis. The deviations are caused by the different
sequences of the flue gas compression and the precooling.
The ORC subsystem model was compared with Ref. [33] because
the system configuration and working conditions were similar to
the system within it. The main parameters are summarized in
Table 9, which shows that the predicted results with the proposed
model are consistent with those in the published paper.
Since this study focuses on the system performance analysis,
Table 10 shows the simulation results of input and output energy
for the NCCP system under basic conditions. The relative error
Fig. 8. The NCCP system performances with different operating scenarios (a) Wnet, QDCC, and zCCS, (b) thermal efficiencies, (c) PES, U, and j
11
Energy 257 (2022) 124528
between the input energy and output energy is only 2.97%, which
proves the satisfying accuracy of the developed model. The exergy
balance of the system can be verified by the exergy analysis below.
4.2. Scenario comparisons
In summary, the NCCP system described herewith is arranged to
capture the CO2 from the flue gas, cool the data center, and generate
power by adequately utilizing the cold energy in the LNG regasifi-
cation process. Specifically, the proposed NCCP system is flexible,
which could work with 7 different operating scenarios. The oper-
ating scenarios are demonstrated in Fig. 7.
The performance indicators of the NCCP system for 7 different
operating scenarios are shown in Fig. 8. The results indicate that:
(a) For the first three scenarios, the NCCP system has only one
subsystem running. The advantages and disadvantages of
these working modes are distinct. When only the CCS sub-
system is working, the system performs well in terms of
carbon capture and avoidance of CO2 emissions with the zCCS
and U of 102.19 t/h and 96.20 t/h, respectively. The negative
emissions of carbon (j) reach 100.92 t/h, which is the highest
value among the seven scenarios. However, since all the cold
Z. Tian, Z. Qi, W. Gan et al. Energy 257 (2022) 124528

Table 11
Comparison of simulation results for the proposed system with literature.

Parameter Atienza-M

arquez et al. [33] Pan et al. [52] Present work

Maximum heat source temperature ( C) 400.00 196.00 148.00

LNG cold energy (kJ/kgLNG) 581.22 956.00 410.20
Cooling output (kJ/kgLNG) 304.50 e 772.28
Carbon capture amount (kg/kgLNG) e 0.60 0.04
Net power output (kJ/kgLNG) 149.80 284.17 166.60

energy is used for carbon capture, the system energy is conditions are calculated. The cold and net output power of the
underutilized with the hLNG, hsys, and hEx,LNG of 15.03%, 4.98%, NCCP system are 146.83 MW and 31.67 MW, respectively. The
and 3.40%, respectively. When the ORC subsystem is running, carbon dioxide capture rate is up to 29.97 t/h, and the exergy effi-
the power output is 34.15 kW, the cold energy utilization ciency is 46.88%. As shown in Table 11 some selected simulation
efficiency, the energy efficiency, and cold exergy efficiency results of the proposed system are compared with the corre-
are 18.52%, 19.32%, and 29.09%, respectively, and the PES and sponding values listed in the literature. Compared with the existing
U of the system are 65.67 MWh and 10.52 t/h. When the DCC literature, the proposed NCCP system could perform well in terms
system is running, the cooling capacity of 158.66 MW could of carbon recovery, cooling capacity, and output work at lower heat
be output. In addition, the cold energy utilization efficiency source temperature and lower input LNG cold energy.
of this scenario is 86.02%. The PES and U of the system are
76.28 MWh and 12.22 t/h, respectively. The system has
4.3. Performances under basic conditions
excellent performances in a certain energy form output, but
mediocre performance in energy efficiency and environ-
Fig. 9 illustrates the schematic overall heat flow diagram for the
mental performance.
(b) For the scenario 4e6, the NCCP system works with two
subsystems. In Scenario 4, the NCCP system could output
7.69 MW of power and 101.85 t/h of carbon capture, the
energy efficiency, and cold exergy efficiency are 6.32%, and
6.55%, respectively. PES, U, and j are 99.80 t/h, 14.78 MWh,
and 104.21 t/h, respectively. Scenario 4 could produce two
forms of energy, which performs better on U, but the energy
efficiency and cold exergy efficiency are low. For scenario 5,
the NCCP system could generate 11.1 MW electricity and
0.15 MW cooling capacity for the data center. The cold energy
utilization efficiency, the energy efficiency, and the cold
exergy efficiency were 6.10%, 15.87%, and 9.46%, respectively.
The cold energy utilization efficiency of this kind of scenario
is the lowest among the seven kinds of scenarios. The PES and
U are 21.42 MWh and 3.42 t/h, respectively. Compared with
Scenario 4, Scenario 5 has a certain improvement in energy
efficiency, but it is not as good as Scenario 4 in environmental
performance. In Scenario 6, the NCCP system could output
0.09 MW data center cooling capacity and 101.95 t/h carbon
capture capacity, and the U is 100.27 t/h. However, Scenario 6
operation requires a power input of 5.47 MW, which leads to
Fig. 9. Heat flow diagram for the NCCP system.
poor performance on PES. To sum up, when the NCCP system
operates with two subsystems, although the system im-
Table 12
proves in efficiencies and environmental performance Exergy results for the components of the NCCP system.
compared with the single subsystem, there are still short-
comings of too low performance indicator. Subsystem Component DEx (kW) ui (%)
(c) When all the subsystems operate simultaneously, the NCCP CCS HEX-1 4570.67 7.22
system could output 31.67 MW of power, 24.92 MW data HEX-7 3049.87 4.82
CP-1 1033.13 1.63
center cooling capacity, and 29.97 t/h of carbon capture. The T-3 1369.89 2.16
cold energy utilization efficiency, the energy efficiency, and S-1 0.00 0.00
the cold exergy efficiency are 43.20%, 19.08%, and 29.28%, Subtotal 10023.55 15.84
respectively. The PES, U, and j are 117.98 MWh, 48.86 t/h, and ORC HEX-2 30217.91 47.74
HEX-6 10174.89 16.08
29.47 t/h, respectively. Compared with other scenarios, in
T-2 7817.55 12.35
this scenario, the energy output forms are varied, energy P-2 498.69 0.79
efficiency and cold exergy efficiency are higher and envi- Subtotal 48709.05 76.96
ronmental performance is better. Detailed thermodynamic DCC HEX-3 2569.30 4.06
data for the streams in this scenario are summarized in HEX-5 701.61 1.11
Subtotal 3270.91 5.17
Table A1.
DEX HEX-4 387.44 0.61
T-1 901.09 1.42
According to the input parameters, the performance parameters Subtotal 1288.54 2.04
and simulation results of the NCCP system under steady state Total 63292.05 100.00

12
Z. Tian, Z. Qi, W. Gan et al. Energy 257 (2022) 124528

NCCP system. By applying the NCCP system, the LNG cold energy is
recovered in four cascades. As could be observed, the ORC subsys-
tem occupies the largest heat flow of the whole process, followed
by the DCC, CCS, and DEX. To avoid the temperature cross and
guarantee the process implementation, the pinch point, which is
the lowest temperature difference between the hot and cold
streams, is checked. In most cases, the pinch point is located on the
inlet or outlet of the heat exchangers (HEX-1, HEX-2, HEX-3, and
HEX-4). The minimum pinch point for all the heat exchangers is
8  C.
Table 12 shows the exergy destruction of each subsystem and
component. The ORC subsystem shows the highest exergy
destruction of 48709.05 kW in the NCCP system, which accounts
for 76.96% of the system exergy destruction. This is because of the
large temperature span between the LNG and R290. The total
exergy destruction of the condensers (HEX-1 and HEX-3) that use
LNG heat sinks is considerable, while the HEX-2 occupies nearly
half of the total exergy destruction. The contribution of pumps and
compressors to the total exergy destruction is only 2.42%, and that
of seawater heaters HEX-4 is only 0.61%.
Fig. 10 displays how exergy is utilized by the system during the
process of LNG flowing out of the storage tank to the NG state. The

Fig. 10. Sankey diagram of exergy flows in the proposed NCCP system.

Fig. 11. Cost distribution of the NCCP system.

13
Z. Tian, Z. Qi, W. Gan et al. Energy 257 (2022) 124528

NCCP system recovered 42.45% of the LNG cold energy. The ORC
system utilized most of it and produced 29,379 kW of work.
Fig. 11 shows the cost distribution of the NCCP system. From this
figure, the total investment of the system is 153.28  106 $, of which
34% comes from the cost of equipment acquisition. 49.9% of the cost
of equipment acquisition is attributable to the ORC subsystem,
which is the ORC, CCS, and DEX subsystems, the cost of turbine is
the highest among all the equipment. In the DCC subsystem, the
cost of the heat exchanger accounts for 71%. The results of economic
calculations also show, the LEC of the NCCP system is 0.071 $/kWh
and the PBP of the investment is 7.9 years. The rapid investment
recovery indicates that the system has good economic benefits and
high practical feasibility.
Table 13 shows the environmental impact indicators of each
subsystem. Among them, the CCS subsystem has the largest
amount ofj of 29.60 t/h, which makes the NCCP system a negative
Table 13
Impact of the NCCP system on the environment.
carbon emission system.The ORC system not only recovers most of
the LNG cold energy but also produces a large amount of net output
power. The net output power of the ORC system is 27.83 MW,
equaling to 98.62 kWhofPESand 15.79 t/h ofU.Continuous cold
energy supply for the data center saves 11.98 kWhprimary energy
and avoids 48.86 t/h of CO2emission. This indicates that through the
cooperation of all subsystems and the step-by-step utilization of
LNG cold energy, a large amount of primary energy could be saved
and negative carbon emission could be achieved, which makes a
great contribution to the realization of carbon neutrality and
environment-friendly industrial industry.
5. Discussion
For further analysis of the NCCP system, the parametric study is
carried out with all the subsystems operating. The pressure of LNG,
the mass flow rate of the flue gas, and the temperature of medium
temperature shift gas are selected as the variables.

Subsystem zCCS (t/h) PES (MWh) U (t/h) j (t/h) 5.1. The effect of LNG pressure
CCS 29.97 1.86 30.27 29.60
ORC 0.00 98.62 15.79
0.13 Considering the practical NG supply pressure, the LNG pressure
DCC 0.00 11.98 1.92 0.00 varies in the range of 7000e21,000 kPa. The system performances
DEX 0.00 5.50 0.88 0.00 are shown in Fig. 12.
Total 29.97 117.98 48.86 29.47
With the increase of LNG pressure, the applicable LNG cold

Fig. 12. Variation of (a) Wnet and zCCS, (b) QDCC and QORC, (c) hsys and hEx,sys, (d) PES and U with the LNG pressure.

14
Z. Tian, Z. Qi, W. Gan et al.
energy is decreased. As demonstrated in Fig. 12(a), the Wnet of the
ORC subsystem decreases from 34.43 MW to 24.98 MW. The zCCS of
the CCS subsystem is almost linearly decreased from 30.7 t/h to
20.4 t/h. The reason is ascribed to the increased LNG pressure will
lead to a decrease in the amount of cold carried by the LNG per unit
flow, this leads to a reduction in the amount of cold flowing into the
CCS subsystem. As shown inFig. 12(b),the cold energy supplied by
the LNG is decreased with the increasing LNG pressure, which re-
sults in the decrease of the QORC, but the rate of decline gradually
slows down. With regard to the QDCC, it firstly increases with the
increase of LNG pressure and then decreases after reaching the
maximum value. This is because of the variation of the LNG cold
energy utilization zone. The outlet temperature of HEX-2 is firstly
decreased and then increased (
31.41 /-35.34 /-30.89 ), which
leads to the change of the cold energy available zone. The energy
efficiency and cold exergy efficiency of the NCCP system decrease
first and then increase, and the maximum value appears at
7000 kPa, as displayed in Fig. 12(c). This is explained as the relative
variation rate between the net output work and the release of cold
energy. The results demonstrate two things. First, when the LNG
delivery pressure increases, the net power drop rate of the system
changes from fast to slow. Second, the amount of cold energy
released by LNG and the loss of cold exergy by LNG will decrease
with the increase of LNG transportation pressure. Even though the
cooling capacity could be increased with increasing LNG pressure, it
Fig. 13. Variation of (a) Wnet and zCCS, (b) QDCC and QORC, (c) hsys and hEx,sys, (d) PES and U with the flue gas mass flow rate.
15
Energy 257 (2022) 124528
contributes much less to energy saving and carbon neutrality than
the decrease of the net power output and carbon capture. As a
result, the PES and U are linearly decreased with the LNG pressure
increase, as shown in Fig. 12(d). Therefore, the supply pressure of
LNG should be reduced as far as possible to ensure the energy
utilization efficiency of the system.
5.2. The effect of flue gas mass flow rate
The effects of the flue gas mass flow rate on the NCCP system
performances are demonstrated in Fig. 13. When the flue gas mass
flow rate increases from 100 to 1000 kg/s, the amount of CO2
required for liquefaction is increased, thus the U and zCCS is linearly
increasing Meanwhile, the cooling capacity required by the CCS
subsystem would be increased while the cold energy recovered by
the ORC subsystem would be suppressed, resulting in the net power
output decreasing from 33.51 MW to 23.58 MW. Because the effect
of the Wnet is huge, it leads to the rapid decrease of the hsys, hEx,sys.
Due to the decrease of Wnet and QORC, the PES value showed a trend
of rapid decrease. Although the QDCC increased with the flue gas,
the single increase of QDCC could not offset the double decrease of
Wnet and QORC. In summary, when the flue gas flow increases, the
NCCP system shows better environmental performance. However,
at the same time, the economic benefits of the system are sacri-
ficed. This requires decision-makers to make choices based on
Z. Tian, Z. Qi, W. Gan et al.
Fig. 14. Variation of (a) Wnet and zCCS, (b) QDCC and QORC, (c) hsys and hEx,sys, (d) PES and U with the medium temperature shift gas temperature.
actual conditions. In general, the factory still takes economic ben-
efits as the first goal, so the flue gas flow into the system should not
be too high.
5.3. The effect of medium temperature shift gas temperature
Fig. 14 illustrates the effect of the medium temperature shift gas
temperature on the NCCP performance. The temperature of the
medium temperature shift gas varying in the range of 140e300  C
works as the heat source for the ORC subsystem. With the increase
of the heat source temperature, the evaporation temperature of
R290 would accordingly rise, which leads to an upward trend of the
output power of the ORC subsystem. Because the output work of
the ORC subsystem is the largest source of the total output work of
the system, Wnet of the system will also increase. However, the
increase of evaporation temperature makes the ORC subsystem
need more cooling capacity to cool the circulating working me-
dium. Therefore, the cooling capacity of the DCC subsystem will be
reduced. Accordingly, the cold supply to the data center becomes
less. Since the mass flow rate of the flue gas is not changed, the zCCS
is kept as a constant.
As demonstrated in Fig. 14(c), increasing the medium temper-
ature shift gas brings profits for the system energy efficiency,
16
Energy 257 (2022) 124528
exergy efficiency. This is because the thermodynamic performance
of the system is determined by the net output work. In Fig. 14(d),
the PES and U increase rapidly with the increase of the medium
temperature shift gas temperature. This shows that the environ-
mental performance of the system is also improved. Although the
cooling capacity for the DCC subsystem is reduced, the increase of
net power output leads to better system performance. Therefore,
the temperature of the heat source should be increased as far as
possible within the allowable range.
6. Conclusions
In this paper, a negative carbon, cooling, and power generation
(NCCP) system that integrated the carbon capture system (CCS), the
organic Rankine cycle (ORC), the data center cooling (DCC), and the
direct expansion cycle (DEX) subsystems by utilizing LNG cold
energy was proposed for power and zero carbon emission. Seven
different operating scenarios of the NCCP system were evaluated in
terms of energy, exergy, economic, and environment (4 E) aspects.
Additionally, parametric studies were carried out with the variation
of the LNG pressure, flue gas mass flow rate, and the medium
temperature shift gas temperature. The following conclusions
could be drawn from the analysis:
Z. Tian, Z. Qi, W. Gan et al. Energy 257 (2022) 124528

(1) The NCCP system could achieve zero or even negative carbon improve the NCCP system overall thermo-economic performances.
emission and generate extra power and cooling.
(2) The proposed NCCP system could operate under seven sce- Credit author statement
narios. The seven scenarios showed their unique advantages.
When all the subsystems were running simultaneously, the Zhen Tian: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing-
NCCP system could produce liquid CO2, cold energy, and Reviewing and Editing, Funding acquisition. Zhixin Qi: Data
electric energy. This scenario had the best thermodynamic Curation, Software, Writing-Original draft preparation. Wanlong
and environmental performance. Gan: Visualization, Investigation. Molin Tian: Visualization, Vali-
(3) Under the basic conditions, the NCCP net power output of the dation. Wenzhong Gao: Conceptualization, Supervision.
system was 31.67 MW. The CO2 capture rate could reach
29.97 t/h. LNG cold energy utilization efficiency, system en-
Declaration of competing interest
ergy efficiency, and exergy efficiency were 43.20%, 19.08%,
and 29.28%, respectively. The LEC of the NCCP system was
The authors declare that they have no known competing
0.071 $/kWh and the PBP of the investment was 7.9 years,
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
which proved the high practical feasibility.
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(4) The LNG pressure, flue gas mass flow rate, and the medium
temperature shift gas temperature had noticeable effects on
the system performances. For the best performance of the Acknowledgements
NCCP system, the lowest LNG pressure and flue gas flow, as
well as the highest temperature of medium temperature gas, This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of
should be adopted within the allowable range in actual Shanghai Municipality (22ZR1426900) and Shanghai Municipal
operation. Science and Technology Commission (18040501800,
20DZ2252300). The authors would also like to thank the support
The present study has significant and applied values to from the Shanghai Frontiers Science Center of Full Penetration Far-
strengthen the energy conservation and emission reduction in the reaching Offshore Ocean Energy and Power.
LNG-powered plants. At present, efforts are being made to achieve
experimental verification of the constructed model. Future works Appendix A
are expected regarding the subsystem configurations, dynamic
characteristics, and operation parameter optimization to further

Table A1
Thermophysical properties of each state point of the NCCP system.

No Fluid Temperature/ C Pressure/kPa m/(kg/s) h/(kJ/kg) s/(kJ/(kg$K) DEx/kW

L1 LNG
162 130 190.13
5172.42 4.23 183603.98
L2 LNG
158 8000 190.13
5150.99 4.28 184584.34
L3 LNG
140 8000 190.13
5093.84 4.75 169293.68
L4 LNG
33 8000 190.13
4589.07 7.40 114596.82
L5 NG
2 8000 190.13
4467.96 7.88 110625.96
L6 NG 12 8000 190.13
4424.26 8.04 110028.19
L7 NG 4 7000 190.13
4438.79 8.06 106258.25
F1 N2, O2, CO2 79 101 130.33
392.25 5.44 589.06
F2 N2, O2, CO2
129 101 130.33
602.81 4.54 8190.10
F3 N2, O2, CO2
89 203 130.33
563.10 4.58 11658.75
F4 N2, O2, CO2
150 203 130.33
646.48 4.02 22545.75
F5 CO2（99%）
150 203 6.33
9504.56 0.75 2276.98
F6 N2, O2
150 203 124.00
194.21 4.19 18758.24
F7 N2, O2 66 203 124.00 27.10 5.23 64860.03
F8 N2, O2 20 101 124.00
20.05 5.28 56980.99
R1 R290 25 110 183.59
2389.14 6.31 865.17
R2 R290
41 110 183.59
2911.88 4.11 24907.24
R3 R290
38 4000 183.59
2902.92 4.12 25924.23
R4 R290 140 4000 183.59
2239.03 6.13 38098.38
R5 H2, CO2, CH4, CO, N2 148 200 390.65
6457.07 13.65 84192.89
R6 H2, CO2, CH4, CO, N2 40 200 390.65
6769.07 12.80 61885.85
D1 Water 14 200 761.80
15935.19 2.82 754.12
D2 Water 7 200 761.80
15965.41 2.71 1920.25
D3 Ethylene glycol 6 200 1285.09
8444.09
1.99 2234.58
D4 Ethylene glycol 6 200 1285.09
8444.09
1.99 2234.58
D5 Ethylene glycol
1 200 1285.09
8462.01
2.06 4102.27
W1 Water 25 101 385.15
15909.39 2.91 66.21
W2 Water 15 101 183.59
15930.96 2.83 276.54

17
Z. Tian, Z. Qi, W. Gan et al. Energy 257 (2022) 124528

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