Multi-effect distillation with thermal vapor compression (MED-TVC) is a highly energy-efficient desalination technology that can provide a reliable and sustainable source of high-quality water, particularly in areas with limited energy infrastructure and water resources. In this study, a numerical model based on exergoeconomic approach is developed to analyze the economic performance of a MED-TVC system for seawater desalination. A parallel/cross feed configuration is considered because of its high energy efficiency. In addition, a parametric study is performed to evaluate the effects of some operational parameters on the total water price, such as the top brine temperature, seawater temperature, motive steam flow rate, and number of effects. The obtained results indicate that the total water price is in the range of 1.73 USD/m³ for a distilled water production of 55.20 kg/s. Furthermore, the exergy destructions in the effects account for 45.8% of the total exergy destruction. The MED effects are also identified to be the most relevant component from an exergoeconomic viewpoint. Careful attention should be paid to these components. Of the total cost associated with the effects, 75.1% is due to its high thermodynamic inefficiency. Finally, the parametric study indicates that adjusting the top brine temperature, the cooling seawater temperature, the motive steam flow rate, and the number of effects has a significant impact on the TWP, which varies between 1.42 USD/m³ and 2.85 USD/m³.

In this paper, the performance of an organic Rankine cycle with a zeotropic mixture as a working fluid was evaluated using exergy-based methods: exergy, exergoeconomic, and exergoenvironmental analyses. The effect of system operation parameters and mixtures on the organic Rankine cycle’s performance was evaluated as well. The considered performances were the following: exergy efficiency, specific cost, and specific environmental effect of the net power generation. A multi-objective optimization approach was applied for parametric optimization. The approach was based on the particle swarm algorithm to find a set of Pareto optimal solutions. One final optimal solution was selected using a decision-making method. The optimization results indicated that the zeotropic mixture of cyclohexane/toluene had a higher thermodynamic and economic performance, while the benzene/toluene zeotropic mixture had the highest environmental performance. Finally, a comparative analysis of zeotropic mixtures and pure fluids was conducted. The organic Rankine cycle with the mixtures as working fluids showed significant improvement in energetic, economic, and environmental performances.

In this study, advanced exergy and exergoeconomic analysis are applied to an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) for waste heat recovery to identify the potential for thermodynamic and economic improvement of the system (splitting the decision variables into avoidable/unavoidable parts) and the interdependencies between the components (endogenous and exogenous parts). For the first time, the advanced analysis has been applied under different conditions: constant heat rate supplied to the ORC or constant power generated by the ORC. The system simulation was performed in Matlab. The results show that the interactions among components of the ORC system are not strong; therefore, the approach of component-by-component optimization can be applied. The evaporator and condenser are important components to be improved from both thermodynamic and cost perspectives. The advanced exergoeconomic (graphical) optimization of these components indicates that the minimum temperature difference in the evaporator should be increased while the minimum temperature difference in the condenser should be decreased. The optimization results show that the exergetic efficiency of the ORC system can be improved from 27.1% to 27.7%, while the cost of generated electricity decreased from 18.14 USD/GJ to 18.09 USD/GJ.

This study investigates the performance of a solar-powered organic Rankine cycle (ORC) coupled with a vapor compression cycle (VCC) for simultaneous power generation and cooling applications in the region of Ghardaïa (Southern Algeria). The analysis focuses on the energy and exergy performance of five low-GWP refrigerants: R134a, R1234ze(E), R600a (isobutane), R152a, and R1234yf, under realistic operating conditions. In addition, key parameters such as turbine inlet temperature and pressure, VCC condensing and evaporation temperatures, and the VCC/ORC mass flow rate ratio were analyzed to evaluate their impact on net power output, cooling capacity, coefficient of performance (COP), and exergy efficiency. Results indicate that R600a provides the highest net power output (7.08 kW) and exergy efficiency (9.87%), making it ideal for power-dominant applications. R152a, on the other hand, excels in cooling performance, achieving a COP of 6.10. R1234ze(E) emerges as the most environmentally sustainable option, offering a balanced performance with 8.02% exergy efficiency and a negligible GWP of 7. Exergy analysis reveals that the solar collector is the primary source of irreversibility, with 58 kW of exergy destruction, followed by the ORC and VCC subsystems. These findings offer valuable insights for designing sustainable cogeneration systems in arid regions, highlighting the trade-off between thermodynamic performance and environmental impact when selecting the optimal working fluid for ORC-VCC applications.