The combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) system has attracted increasing attention due to its potential outstanding performance in thermodynamics, economics, and the environment. However, the conventional CCHP systems are carbon-intensive. To solve this issue, a low-carbon-emission CCHP system (LC-CCHP) is firstly proposed in this work by integrating a sorption-enhanced steam methane reforming (SE-SMR) process. In the LC-CCHP system, CO₂ is continuously captured by the calcium loop so that low-carbon energy can be generated. Then, the LC-CCHP system thermodynamic model, mainly consisting of a dual fluidized bed reactor which includes the SE-SMR reactor and a CaCO₃ calcination reactor, a hydrogen gas turbine, a CO₂ reheater, and a lithium bromide absorption chiller, is built. To prove that the LC-CCHP model is reliable, the system major sub-unit model predictions are compared against data from the literature in terms of thermodynamics and economics. Finally, the effects of reforming temperature (T_ref), the steam-to-carbon mole ratio (S/C), the calcium-to-carbon mole ratio (R_CC), the equivalent ratio for gas turbine (R_AE), and the hydrogen separation ratio (S_fg) on total energy efficiency (${\eta }_{ten}$), total exergy efficiency (${\eta }_{tex}$), and carbon capture capability ($R_{cm}$) are detected. It is found that the minimum exergy efficiency of 64.5% exists at the calciner unit, while the maximum exergy efficiency of 78.7% appears at the gas turbine unit. The maximum energy efficiency and coefficient of performance of the absorption chiller are 0.52 and 1.33, respectively. When $T_{ref}=600$ °C, $S/C=4.0$, $R_{CC}=7.62$, $R_{AE}=1.20,$ and $S_{fg}=0.27$, the ${\eta }_{ten}$, ${\eta }_{tex,}$ and $R_{cm}$ of the system can be ~61%, ~68%, and ~96%, and the average specific cost of the system is 0.024 USD/kWh, which is advanced compared with the parallel CCHP systems.

To continuously produce blue hydrogen from methane efficiently, a dual fluidized bed reactor was designed, and the corresponding kinetic model was built with the commercial Aspen Plus software v2006 and user-defined FORTRAN routine. To prove the reliability and accuracy of the kinetic model in this work, the model predictions were compared against reported experimental data from similar devices. Then, sensitivity analyses were implemented to fully investigate the characteristics of the designed reactor. The effects of reforming temperature (T_REF), calcination temperature (T_CAL), steam to carbon mole ratio (R_S/C), calcium to carbon mole ratio (R_C/C), catalyst to sorbent mass ratio (m_C/S) and the residence time (t_R) on the produced H₂ dry mole fraction (F_H2), CH₄ conversion rate (C_CH4), carbon capture rate (C_CO2), and the reactor efficiency (E_R) were comprehensively analyzed. It was found that, at the optimal operating conditions (T_REF = 650 °C, R_S/C = 5.0, R_C/C = 3.0, t_R = 60 s, and m_C/S = 3.0), C_CH4 can reach 96%, C_CO2 can reach 77.4%, F_H2 can reach 94.3%, and E_R can reach 67% without heat recover.

Utilization of bioenergy with carbon capture can realize carbon-negative syngas production. The quadruple fluidized bed gasifier (QFBG) integrates a chemical looping oxygen generation process and a dual fluidized bed gasifier with limestone as bed material. It is one promising device that can convert biomass to H₂-rich syngas whilst capturing CO₂ with little energy penalty. However, experimental or numerical simulation of QFBG is rarely reported on due to its complex structure, hindering the further commercialization and deployment of QFBG. In this work, a new computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver is proposed to predict the complex physicochemical processes in QFBG based on the multi-phase particle in cell (MPPIC) methodology with the assistance of the open source software, OpenFOAM. The solver is first validated against experimental data in terms of hydrodynamics and reaction kinetics. Then, the solver is used to investigate the QFBG property. It is found that the QFBG can operate stably. The cold gas efficiency, H₂ molar fraction, and CO₂ capture rate of the QFBG are predicted to be 87.2%, 93.3%, and 90.5%, respectively, which is promising. It is believed that the solver can give reliable predictions for similar fluidized bed reactors.

Combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) tri-generation systems can greatly improve comprehensive energy utilization efficiency thanks to their energy-cascade utilization concept. However, traditional fossil-fuel-based CCHP systems still suffer from intensive carbon emissions, hindering their further development in the current low-carbon scenario. To solve this issue, a new low-carbon CCHP system (LC-CCHP) integrating a calcium-looping, sorption-enhanced steam methane reforming (CL-SE-SMR) unit, a lithium bromide absorption chiller, and a hydrogen gas turbine is proposed in this work, and the corresponding system model is built to evaluate its performance. The proposed system features an innovative architecture that integrates carbon capture directly into the reforming process, which simultaneously enables a high hydrogen yield and low carbon-capture penalty. Moreover, instead of the widely used thermodynamic equilibrium assumption, a detailed kinetic model is employed for the CL-SE-SMR unit, which provides more realistic predictions and greater reference value for practical engineering applications. Then, multi-objective optimization is conducted using a particle swarm optimization algorithm to identify the optimal operating conditions. It is found that the proposed system performs best at a steam-to-carbon molar ratio of 4.37, a calcium-to-carbon mass ratio of 6.23, an air-equivalency molar ratio of 1.39 for a hydrogen gas turbine and a reaction temperature of 600 °C for SE-SMR. Under these operating conditions, the system can achieve a carbon-capture rate of 89.2%, an exergy efficiency of 45.7%, an energy efficiency of 95.4%, and a levelized cost of exergy of 0.109 $/kWh.