Development and assessment of an integrated biomass-based multi-generation energy system

• A new multi-generation system with six outputs is proposed.
• Energy, exergy and environmental impact assessments of the multi-generation system are carried out.
• CO2 emission reduction for this multi-generation system appears to be about 2500 t/MWh compared to single power generation system.
• Increasing the number of outputs from one to six increases the exergy efficiency by about 14%.

A new multi-generation system based on a biomass combustor, an organic Rankine cycle (ORC), an absorption chiller and a proton exchange membrane electrolyzer to produce hydrogen, and a domestic water heater for hot water production, is proposed and thermodynamically assessed. Exergy analysis is conducted to determine the irreversibilities in each component and the system performance. In addition, an environmental impact assessment of the multi-generation system is performed, and the potential reduction in CO2 emissions when the system shifts from power generation to multi-generation are investigated. To understand system performance more comprehensively, a parametric study is performed to investigate the effects of several important design parameters on the energy and exergy efficiencies of the system.