Feasibility of Hybrid Desalination Plants Coupled with Small Gas Turbine CHP Systems

Ekaterina Sokolova, Khashayar Sadeghi, Seyed Hadi Ghazaie, Dario Barsi, Francesca Satta and Pietro Zunino
Additional contact information
Ekaterina Sokolova: Department of Atomic and Heat- and -Power Engineering, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, 195251 Saint Petersburg, Russia
Khashayar Sadeghi: Department of Atomic and Heat- and -Power Engineering, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, 195251 Saint Petersburg, Russia
Seyed Hadi Ghazaie: Department of Atomic and Heat- and -Power Engineering, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, 195251 Saint Petersburg, Russia
Dario Barsi: Department of Mechanical, Energy, Management and Transport Engineering, University of Genova, I-16145 Genova, Italy
Francesca Satta: Department of Mechanical, Energy, Management and Transport Engineering, University of Genova, I-16145 Genova, Italy
Pietro Zunino: Department of Mechanical, Energy, Management and Transport Engineering, University of Genova, I-16145 Genova, Italy

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 10, 1-13

Abstract: Nowadays, several technologies for desalination processes are available and widely employed. However, they consume a considerable amount of energy and involve high capital and operating costs. Therefore, the techno-economic analysis of a system coupling different energy sources with the desalination processes is of value. The possibility of coupling a small gas turbine combined heat and power system (GT CHP) with hybrid desalination plants (HDPs) has been assessed in this study. The proposed gas turbine power generation system, based on a single-stage centrifugal compressor and an uncooled centripetal turbine, provides design simplicity and reasonable installation costs for the power generating plant. The hybrid desalination technique, based on the use of two different desalination technologies, i.e., Reverse Osmosis (RO) and a thermal desalination process, has been chosen to better exploit the electrical and thermal energy produced by the mini CHP plant. The proposed solution is numerically investigated from both thermodynamic and economic points of view, and the results of the thermodynamic analysis of the cycle are used as input for the evaluation of the amount of freshwater produced and of costs. The economic assessment of standalone desalination systems is also shown for the comparison with the hybrid solutions here proposed. Results show that the total cost of the water produced by MED + RO was less than the total cost of the water obtained by MSF + RO, and that the energy cost of MED + RO hybrid desalination system was about 15% less than that for stand-alone RO desalination technology. Thus, the MED + RO hybrid desalination system can be considered a promising solution for the coupling with the proposed mini GT CHP plant, which, due to the small size and cost, as well as the easy installation, can be easily applied in off-grid or remote areas.

Keywords: hybrid water desalination; gas turbine CHP system; thermal and membrane desalination; cost estimation; cogeneration system; mini gas turbine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/10/3618/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/10/3618/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:10:p:3618-:d:816055

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().