Performance assessment and optimization of a novel geothermal combined cooling and power system integrating an organic flash cycle with an ammonia-water absorption refrigeration cycle

Abstract The organic flash cycle is an efficient low-grade energy conversion technology. However, a large space is left for the organic flash cycle to improve the useful energy output due to the throttling processes. To utilize the thermal energy before the low-pressure throttling process in the organic flash cycle driven by the geothermal energy, an ammonia-water absorption refrigeration cycle is adopted to generate cooling by using this part of heat, thereby forming a novel geothermal combined cooling and power (Geo-CCP) system. Eight different organic flash cycle working fluids are investigated, including n-Nonane, n-Octane, n-Heptane, Cyclopentane, i-Pentane, n-Pentane, R365mfc, and R245fa. Detailed thermodynamic modeling, thermoeconomic analysis, parametric analysis, system optimization, and exergy analysis are carried out for the proposed system. The results show that the total product unit cost and exergy efficiency of the proposed systems are 6.52–11.03% lower and 4.10–5.31%pt (percentage point) higher than those of the geothermal separate cooling and power systems. Among the eight considered organic fluids, the n-Nonane brings the lowest total product unit cost and highest exergy efficiency to the Geo-CCP system (11.20 $·GJ−1 and 37.58%). Exergy analysis indicates that the flasher and condenser-I have the first and second highest exergy destructions.