An Analysis of the Energy and Exergy of a Trigeneration System That Uses Solar Energy to Make Electricity, Hydrogen, and Cooling

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-750-7_81How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Solar energy; trigeneration system; Hydrogen production; Energy and exergy analysis; Parametric analysis

Abstract

This work provides a thermodynamic analysis of a solar-powered trigeneration system for the generation of hydrogen, electricity, and cooling. The proposed system incorporates a water electrolyzer, an organic Rankine cycle (ORC), a vapor compression refrigeration (VCR) system, and a parabolic trough solar collector. Direct normal irradiation (DNI) is converted into thermal energy by the solar collector and utilized to produce electricity in the ORC. The effective utilization of solar energy is facilitated by the generated power being employed for cooling and hydrogen production. Energy and exergy studies are conducted to analyze the system’s performance under diverse operating conditions. The effect of turbine inlet pressure, evaporator temperature, and direct normal irradiation are examined. The result demonstrate that raising the evaporator temperature from 5 ℃ to 10 ℃ considerably improves the system’s total energy efficiency, which rises from around 50% to 70% as a result of less compressor effort and an enhanced coefficient of performance. However, the reduced thermodynamic quality of the cooling output results in a minor fall in the exergy efficiency. The system output and energy efficiency are improved by the DNI modification from 600 to 1000 W/m². However, because of prevailing irreversibilities, the energy efficiency shows only minor changes. Additionally, system performance is significantly impacted by the turbine input pressure; an ideal pressure range of 14–18 MPa is found for increased energy and exergy efficiency. For decentralized energy supply, green hydrogen production, and cooling applications in distant and residential regions, the suggested solar-based multigeneration system offers a viable and sustainable alternative.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - M. Faieq Rashid Kamal
AU  - M. Yusuf Ansari
AU  - Faizan Khalid
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/31
TI  - An Analysis of the Energy and Exergy of a Trigeneration System That Uses Solar Energy to Make Electricity, Hydrogen, and Cooling
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Advanced Design, Manufacturing, and Sustainable Energy Systems (ICADMSES 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 1122
EP  - 1137
SN  - 2589-4943
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-750-7_81
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-750-7_81
ID  - Kamal2026
ER  -