Sensitivity analysis and thermodynamic evaluation of a combined cooling, heating and power system utilizing exhaust gases of smelting furnace

Exhaust gases from the smelting furnace have high temperature and mass flow rate, and there is huge potential to use them for energy-related purposes such as electricity generation, cooling and heating. Utilization of the gases for energy-related purposes would lead to fuel savings and emissions reduction. To use this potential, it is necessary to design proper systems and cycles and apply a heat recovery unit. Several technologies are useable for heat recovery depending on the characteristics of exhaust gases, such as their mass flow rate, temperature and compositions. Due to the higher potential of combined heating, cooling and power (CCHP) generation systems compared with the systems with a single output, a CCHP is designed and investigated in the present study by consideration of the specifications of the exhaust gases. The applied system in this study comprises a Supercritical CO₂ (SCO₂) cycle, heat exchanger and single-stage absorption chiller for simultaneous heating, cooling and power production. Engineering Equation Solver (EES) is employed to model the proposed system by considering the properties of the flows and characteristics of the components. To get deep insight into the effective parameters on the outputs of the designed system, the impact of three factors, namely the mass flow rate of the gases, the effectiveness of heat exchanger and temperature of exhaust gases, are analyzed and investigated by the implementation of sensitivity analysis. As one of the main conclusions, it is found that an increment in the mass flow rate of exhaust gases from 30 kg/s to 70 kg/s causes augmentation in the power generation from 2037 kW to 4754 kW. Furthermore, exergy analysis is carried out, and it is found that an increase in the temperature or mass flow rate of exhaust gases or a decrease in the effectiveness of heat exchangers would lead to decrement in the exergy efficiency of the system. According to the performed sensitivity analysis, the mass flow rate of exhaust gases has the most remarkable influence on the heating and cycle-generated power among the considered factors.