Thermo-economic analysis of a novel integrated structure for liquefied natural gas production using photovoltaic panels

Thermo-economic analysis of a novel integrated structure for liquefied natural gas production using photovoltaic panels

Liquefied natural gas

Pipelines

Sensitivity analysis

Solar energy

Exergy

Economic analysis

Energy utilization

Gas industry

Costs

Investments

Cost benefit analysis

Solar power generation

Gases

Gas fuel purification

Refrigeration

Geographical regions

Natural gas well production

Photovoltaic cells

Solar cell arrays

As natural gas is not uniformly distributed in different regions of the world, and gas tanks are concentrated in specific geographical areas, gas transfer is a key gas-related industry that greatly contributes to the expansion of this energy carrier's use. For long distances, the use of pipeline transport is uneconomical in practice, and alternative methods should be adopted. From among alternative methods to pipeline transport, natural gas liquefaction is the best and most economic one. A major challenge to the expansion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) use is the energy-consuming process of its production. The liquid gas production process, like other liquefaction processes, consumes considerable amounts of energy. In this paper, a solar energy and natural gas storage method was developed for transfer to far-away regions for demand response by using the DMR compression refrigeration cycle, Kalina power production cycle, and photovoltaic solar panels for the climate of Chabahar coastal city in Southern Iran. The dissipated heat from the DMR compression refrigeration cycle was used as the heat source for the Kalina cycle. The coefficient of performance, specific energy consumption, and exergy yield of the developed integrated structure were 3.201, 0.2293 kWh kg1 LNG, and 42.77%, respectively. The exergy analysis of this integrated structure showed that the largest shares of exergy destruction belonged to solar panels (86.29%) and heat exchangers (6.51%), respectively. The economic analysis of the integrated structure revealed that the payback period, the prime cost of product, and additive value equaled 2.061years, 0.2500 US$ kg1 LNG, and 0.1156 US$ kg1 LNG, respectively. The results of sensitivity analysis demonstrated that, for the capital cost of 2100 MMUS$ and less, the payback period is 4years. 2021, Akademiai Kiado, Budapest, Hungary.

1509-1536

3

145

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry

2021

Afrouzy, Zahra Alizadeh

Taghavi, Masoud

journalArticle

13886150

10.1007/s10973-021-10769-4