Title: Comparative exergo-environmental assessments of solar-based hydrogen production systems

Authors: Tahir Abdul Hussain Ratlamwala; Ibrahim Dincer

Addresses: Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, 2000 Simcoe Street North, Oshawa, Ontario, L1H 7K4, Canada; Department of Sustainable and Renewable Energy Engineering, Univeristy of Sharjah, University City Road, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates ' Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, 2000 Simcoe Street North, Oshawa, Ontario, L1H 7K4, Canada; Center of Research Excellence in Renewable Energy, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia

Abstract: The present study focuses on a comparative exergo-environmental analysis of two solar-based integrated systems for hydrogen production. Two integrated systems, namely: a) solar heliostat field system integrated with Cu-Cl cycle and Kalina cycle (as system 1); b) solar heliostat field system integrated with Cu-Cl cycle, Kalina cycle and photocatalytic reactor (as system 2) are considered. A parametric study is carried out to investigate the effects of varying the selected operating parameters, such as solar light intensity and ambient air temperature on the exergo-environmental performances of these integrated systems. The results show that the environmental impact factors of systems 1 and 2 vary from 0.54 to 0.52 and 0.45 to 0.44, respectively with an increase in solar light intensity. The environmental impact indexes of systems 1 and 2 are obtained to be varying from 1.2 to 1.1 and 0.8 to 0.78, respectively, with a rise in ambient temperature. Furthermore, system 2 performs better than system 1 from an exergo-environmental perspective due to better utilisation of solar light intensity.

Keywords: exergo-environmental analysis; environmental impact; Cu-Cl cycle; copper; chlorine; photocatalytic reactors; hydrogen production; solar energy; solar power; Kalina cycle; solar light intensity; ambient air temperature.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGW.2016.079771

International Journal of Global Warming, 2016 Vol.10 No.4, pp.373 - 391

Received: 22 Aug 2014
Accepted: 22 Dec 2014
Published online: 14 Oct 2016 *

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