Energy, exergy, exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental analysis and optimization of combined solar, SRC cycles with compressed air energy storage (CAES) and methane production system

The study introduces a new system setup comprising parabolic solar dish collectors, an absorption chiller, a steam Rankine cycle to harness energy from turbine exhaust gas, and a compressed air energy storage unit for combined power, cooling, and heating production. Additionally, a carbon-amine adsorption system is employed to capture and store carbon dioxide from exhaust gases, transforming it into methane. A comprehensive set of analyses is performed to evaluate the proposed system's thermodynamic and economic performance. Moreover, the system is optimized using the NSGA-II algorithm. Under base case conditions, the system achieves an exergy round trip efficiency of 62.69 % and a levelized cost of the product of 24.23 US$/GJ. Exergy analysis demonstrates that the total exergy destruction is significantly influenced by the solar dish collectors and the combustion chamber. Furthermore, a parametric study is carried out to enhance understanding of system performance concerning various cycle parameters. The system illustrates the capability to produce 5510 kW and 7593 kW of electricity during charging and discharging times, respectively, alongside the annual mitigation and conversion of 3810 tons of carbon dioxide into methane fuel using the carbon capture unit.