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Comparative Environmental Impact and Sustainability Assessments of Hydrogen and Cooling Production Systems

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Causes, Impacts and Solutions to Global Warming

Abstract

In this chapter, we study two integrated systems for hydrogen and cooling productions. The first system is a combination of solar PV/T, quadruple effect absorption cooling system, and an electrolyzer, while the other is a combination of solar PV/T, quadruple effect absorption cooling system, and a steam methane reformer. Detailed exergetic, environmental impact and sustainability assessments are conducted to investigate which one of these integrated systems is more environmentally benign. It is noted that the month of July in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is most beneficial from both exergetic and environmental impact point of views for both systems. For the month of July, the environmental impact factor, environmental impact coefficient, environmental impact index, environmental impact improvement, exergetic stability factor, and exergetic sustainability factor for the first system are obtained to be 0.78, 4.65, 3.65, 0.27, 0.21, and 0.058, respectively. However for the second system for the month of July environmental impact factor, environmental impact coefficient, environmental impact index, environmental impact improvement, exergetic stability factor, and exergetic sustainability factor are found to be 0.93, 14.96, 13.96, 0.07, 0.06, and 0.004, respectively. The results show that the first system performs much better than the second one from both exergetic and environmental impact perspectives.

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Abbreviations

A:

Area of PV module (m2)

b:

Breadth of PV module (m)

\( \dot{\mathrm{E}} \) :

Energy rate (kW)

\( \dot{\mathrm{E}}\mathrm{x} \) :

Exergy rate (kW)

h:

Specific enthalpy (kJ/kg)

hba :

Heat transfer coefficient from black surface to air (W/m2 K)

ht :

Heat transfer coefficient from back surface to air through glass (W/m2 K)

hp1G :

Penalty factor due to presence of solar cell material, glass and EVA for glass to glass PV/T system (W/m2 K)

hp2G :

Penalty factor due to presence of interface between glass and working fluid through absorber plate for glass to glass PV/T system (W/m2 K)

\( \dot{\mathrm{I}} \) :

Incident solar intensity (W/m2)

L:

Length of the PV module (m)

LHV:

Lower heating value

\( \dot{\mathrm{m}} \) :

Mass flow rate (kg/s)

MW:

Molecular weight (kg/kmol)

P:

Power produced by PV/T

\( \dot{\mathrm{Q}} \) :

Heat transfer rate (kW)

T:

Temperature (K)

Ub :

Overall heat transfer coefficient from bottom to ambient (W/m2 K)

UL :

Overall heat transfer coefficient from solar cell to ambient through top and back surface of insulation (W/m2 K)

Ut :

Overall heat transfer coefficient from solar cell to ambient through glass cover (W/m2 K)

Utb :

Overall heat transfer coefficient from glass to black surface through solar cell (W/m2 K)

\( \dot{\mathrm{W}} \) :

Work rate (kW)

x:

Concentration of ammonia–water

αc :

Absorptivity of solar cell

αb :

Absorptivity of black surface

βc :

Packing factor of solar cell

η:

Efficiency

Ï„g :

Transitivity of glass

θ:

Index

a:

Air

ai:

Air inlet

abs:

Absorber

bs:

Back surface of PV/T

c:

Solar cell

C:

coefficient

ch:

Chemical

CHX:

Condenser heat exchanger

con:

Condenser

f:

Factor

elec:

Electrolyzer

ei:

Exergetic impact

eii:

Exergetic impact improvement

en:

Energy

es:

Exergetic stability

est:

Exergetic sustainability

ex:

Exergy

eva:

Evaporator

G:

Subscript for glass to glass PV/T system

geo:

Geothermal

HTG:

High temperature generator

HHX:

High temperature heat exchanger

H2 :

Hydrogen

LHX:

Low temperature heat exchanger

LTG:

Low temperature generator

MTG:

Medium temperature generator

MHX:

Medium temperature heat exchanger

ph:

Physical

sys:

System

V.HTG:

Very high temperature generator

V.HHX:

Very high temperature heat exchanger

1…33:

State numbers

0:

Ambient or reference condition

QEAS:

Quadruple effect absorption system

SMR:

Steam methane reforming

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, 2000 Simcoe Street North, Oshawa, ON, Canada, L1H 7K4

    Tahir A. H. Ratlamwala & Ibrahim Dincer

  2. College of Engineering, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE

    Mohamed A. Gadalla

Authors
  1. Tahir A. H. Ratlamwala
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  2. Ibrahim Dincer
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  3. Mohamed A. Gadalla
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tahir A. H. Ratlamwala .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada

    Ibrahim Dincer

  2. Makina Muhendisligi Bolumu, Dokuz Eylul University, Buca, Izmir, Turkey

    Can Ozgur Colpan

  3. Faculty of Civil Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Maslak, Istanbul, Turkey

    Fethi Kadioglu

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Ratlamwala, T.A.H., Dincer, I., Gadalla, M.A. (2013). Comparative Environmental Impact and Sustainability Assessments of Hydrogen and Cooling Production Systems. In: Dincer, I., Colpan, C., Kadioglu, F. (eds) Causes, Impacts and Solutions to Global Warming. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7588-0_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7588-0_24

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