Examination of a new solar-based integrated system for desalination, electricity generation and hydrogen production

In this study, we design and analyze a new solar tower based integrated system for desalination, electricity generation and hydrogen production. A reverse osmosis desalination system is incorporated into this integrated system. A proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer is also used for hydrogen production. A thermodynamic analysis through energy and exergy approaches is conducted to examine and assess the integrated system and its performance. The overall system energy efficiency is obtained as 23.2%. The overall system exergy efficiency is obtained to be 6.2%. In addition, the maximum energy and exergy efficiencies of the reverse osmosis desalination system are 60.3% and 30% respectively. The effects of changing system operating conditions and state properties on the efficiencies of system components and the overall system are also studied. The results of this study provide important inferences about the performance of the solar-based integrated system and the reverse osmosis desalination system.