Thermoeconomic evaluation of drinking water production by using different prime mover on combined production of cooling, heating, power, and freshwater

In this study, thermal modeling and optimization of combined production of cooling, heating, power (CCHP) and desalinated water system are carried out. Desalination system is coupled with CCHP plant which is supplied its required energy by prime mover and an auxiliary boiler. Three types of prime mover including gas turbine, gas engine and diesel engine are studied separately, to provide some of the power and heat required. Optimization is performed for each prime mover considering total annual cost as objective function. Developed code for modeling and optimization is written in MATLAB and optimized by genetic algorithm to reduce annual costs. The optimum results show that the diesel engine with total annual cost of 1.552271×106 $/year is the optimum prime mover compared with other studied prime mover. On the other hand gas turbine and gas engine are in the next ranking respectively with the 1.89904×106 $/year and 1.931765×106 $/year as annual cost. In other words, the annual cost of the system with diesel engine prime mover compared to gas engine and gas turbine engine have decreased by 19.64% and 18.26%, respectively.