Thermodynamic and economic evaluation of a new cogeneration system based on a combination of multi-effect desalination and compressed air energy storage

In this study, thermodynamic evaluation and regional analysis of a new cogeneration system based on a combination of multi-effect desalination and compressed air energy storage were performed. The study system consists of heliostat subsystems, gas turbine, multi-effect desalination plant and compressed air energy storage system. Thermodynamic software for solving EES engineering equations has been used to model the studied system and also to obtain the results of system analysis. In this study, 8 different scenarios were studied, taking into account the charging time, discharge time, number of sunny hours and the number of different desalination effects, and finally the best scenario was selected for the study. Also, at the end of the parametric study, it should be said that the best scenario, scenario number 5, in which there were 7, was selected. Because in this scenario, the best performance of the system, ie the amount of reciprocal exergy efficiency (ERTE), reciprocal efficiency (RTE), the amount of system power and the rate of fresh water produced by the system were at their highest rate. According to the studies performed on the parameters affecting the system outputs, the number of heliostat, turbine efficiency and compressor efficiency can be mentioned. Also, the exergy analysis of the system showed that the most exergy degradation was related to the CAES unit and the solar unit, respectively.