Techno-economic and environmental assessment of a novel co-generation system integrating heat pump with Allam cycle

Allam cycle is known as a promising alternative cycle for power generation, which combines the advantage of both oxygen-enriched combustion technology and supercritical carbon dioxide technology. In this study, an integrated energy system consisting of an Allam cycle and a heat pump is proposed to co-generate power and heat. The heat of carbon dioxide in the compression train of the Allam cycle is recovered by the heat pump system, which is used for space heating. The techno-economic and environmental performances of the co-generation system are analyzed and compared with those of the single systems. The results show that the net electrical efficiency of the Allam cycle is improved by 1.56 %, and the coefficient of performance of the heat pump in the combined system is increased by 42.02 %. The lowest and highest investment-increment payback periods are 0.26 and 5.80 years, which indicates the proposed integrated system is economically feasible. Meanwhile, the sensitivity analysis of key economic parameters is also conducted. Finally, the carbon emission of different generation configurations are compared and the results indicate that the integration of the heat pump with the Allam cycle can effectively reduce system carbon emission. The proposed concept provides a new approach to efficient utilization of the heat from the carbon dioxide mixture cooling process for heat and power generation with nearly zero emission, and it would be a better choice for cold regions.