The integration of parabolic trough solar collectors and evacuated tube collectors to geothermal resource for electricity and hydrogen production

Abstract

In this study, electricity and hydrogen production of an integrated system with energy and exergy analyses are investigated. The system also produces clean water for the water electrolysis system. The proposed system comprises evacuated tube solar collectors (ETSCs), parabolic trough solar collectors (PTSCs), flash turbine, organic Rankine cycles (ORC), a reverse osmosis unit (RO), a water electrolysis unit (PEM), a greenhouse and a medium temperature level geothermal resource. The surface area of each collector is 500 m2. The thermodynamics analysis of the integrated system is carried out under daily solar radiation for a day in August. The fluid temperature of the medium temperature level geothermal resource is upgraded by ETSCs and PTSCs to operate the flash turbine and the ORCs. The temperature of the geothermal fluid is upgraded from 130 °C to 323.6 °C by the ETSCs and PTSCs. As a result, it is found that the integrated system generates 162 kg clean water, 1215.63 g hydrogen, and total electrical energy of 2111.04 MJ. The maximum energy and exergy efficiencies of the overall system are found as 10.43% and 9.35%, respectively. © 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC