Exergy and exergoeconomic assessment of hydrogen and cooling production from concentrated PVT equipped with PEM electrolyzer and LiBr-H₂O absorption chiller

A novel solar based combined system is proposed to produce hydrogen and cooling. The presented cogeneration system is analyzed in detail from the viewpoints of exergy and exergoeconomic (exergy based economic analysis). The proposed system includes a concentrated PVT (CPVT), a single effect LiBr-H ₂O absorption chiller and proton exchange membrane electrolyzer (PEM). Produced electrical power is consumed in the PEM electrolyzer to split water into oxygen and pure hydrogen while heat removal from the CPVT is done by the absorption chiller to guarantee its better performance. Second law analysis showed that, among the three different parts of the system, the most part of exergy destruction refers to the CPVT followed by absorption chiller unit and PEM electrolyzer. Also, it is observed that, among the absorption units’ components, the highest percent of exergy destruction belongs to the generator which absorbs the heat from the CPVT. Moreover, exergoeconomic analysis revealed that the most important unit from the viewpoint of economic is the CPVT with the capital investment cost of 0.08946 $/h and an exergoeconomic factor of 28.82%.