Thermoeconomic analysis of a low-temperature waste-energy assisted power and hydrogen plant at off-NG grid region

In this study, thermoeconomic analysis of a CO2 power cycle and PEM hydrogen system using ultra-low temperature waste heat from a milk production facility is conducted. In the transcritical CO2 cycle, low-temperature LNG evaporation is used for cooling the condenser to increase the temperature difference enabling low temperature waste heat use. In addition, a PEM electrolyzer produces hydrogen to reduce the LNG requirement at the plant. A CO2-water exchanger has been designed to recover the pasteurized water's excess heat and evaporate the CO2 using Simcenter-Flomaster software. The inlet mass flow rates and outlet temperatures of the heat exchanger were optimized by performing thermoecomic analysis, and the thermal and economic performance of the facility was examined. The power cycle has 14% higher efficiency when LNG is used as the heat sink compared to ambient temperature condensation with an electricity production cost range at 0.05–0.11 $/kWh, and the hydrogen generation cost is between $2.6–5.20 kg−1. It is found that the plant could only be economically feasible when less than 50% of the power produced is used for hydrogen generation. Consequently, the proposed system can co-generate power and on-demand hydrogen in off-NG grid regions with reasonable investment and product costs.