Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 34 (2022) 102024

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Case Studies in Thermal Engineering

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Thermodynamic analysis of a renewable energy-water-food nexus:

A trade-off analysis of integrated desalination, gasification and
food systems
Jamileh Fouladi, Ahmed AlNouss, Yusuf Bicer, Tareq Al-Ansari *
College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar Foundation, Doha, Qatar

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Today, the global demand for food, energy, and water resources continues to increase. As such,
Biomass this study proposes a solar energy-based system integrated with a utility unit to produce fresh
Efficiency water from seawater desalination, power, ammonia/urea, and syngas from biomass gasification.
Exergy The objective is to study the dependence of the energy-water-food nexus performance over the
EWF Nexus solar capacity and to capture the trade-offs among different resources. The key components of the
Solar
integrated system include solar thermal collectors, Rankine cycle, reverse osmosis desalination
unit, food/agriculture unit, biomass gasification process, ammonia and urea production units.
Furthermore, the beneficial uses of reverse osmosis brines streams in agriculture sector are
considered. The syngas produced from gasification process is used for ammonia/urea production
and a Rankine cycle for electricity production. A comprehensive thermodynamic model and
energy and exergy balances are used to evaluate the performance of the proposed system.
Moreover, the effects of different parameters on the system efficiencies are investigated. The
overall energy and exergy efficiencies of the proposed system are 45.77% and 18.92%, respec­
tively. The outcomes demonstrate that by using the solar collectors, the system is able to produce
almost 78 MW electricity, 28 kg/s freshwater, and 7 kg/s ammonia/urea fertilizer for agricultural
purposes.

1. Introduction
The population is estimated to rise to 9.7 billion in 2050 [1], leading to an increase in the demand for energy, water and food
resources. It is expected that by 2050, the water and food demand will rise by more than 50%, while the energy demand will nearly
double [1], noting that agriculture activities account for almost 70% of the total global freshwater consumption. Moreover, the food
sector consumes approximately 30% of the total energy utilized, concluding that the food sector is energy and water intensive.
Therefore, the utilization of these resources across various technology driven sub-systems, which result in environmental burdens is
receiving widespread attention [2]. In order to manage the interdependency of energy, water and food (EWF) resources, the EWF nexus
concept was first presented at the Bonn Nexus Conference in 2011, where the inter-linkages between different resource sectors were
identified to capture the trade-offs and synergies amongst resources in the system to support more intricate resource management [3].
In the literature, there has been an array of ‘nexus’ studies, one of which is the exploration of multi-generation systems and ther­
modynamic approaches [4,5]. Such studies analyze the potential of different renewable energy sources for more sustainable system

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (T. Al-Ansari).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csite.2022.102024
Received 3 October 2021; Received in revised form 22 March 2022; Accepted 6 April 2022
Available online 9 April 2022
2214-157X/© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
J. Fouladi et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 34 (2022) 102024

configurations. Multigeneration systems are able to produce more than three outputs simultaneously, such as electricity, cool­
ing/heating, and freshwater. Considering that stringent environmental regulations restrict waste disposal, while there is an impetus to
convert waste into value added products, biomass produced from the food sector can be incorporated into the multi-generation system
to enhance overall system efficiency, improve resource management and reduce environmental impacts.
In the literature, numerous multigeneration systems have been developed to produce multiple products that serve pre-defined
requirements. For instance, Luqman et al. [6] presented a multigeneration system that explores the thermodynamics of
oxy-hydrogen combustor based wind and solar energy. The useful products of the developed system are freshwater, power, hydrogen,
cooling, and domestic water heating. Energy and exergy balances are used to evaluate the performance, where the overall respective
efficiencies of the system were calculated as 50% and 34%, respectively. Panchal et al. [7] designed a solar-based multigeneration
system, which consists of Rankine cycle, chillers and dryer units. The study demonstrated that the multigeneration system is almost
five times more efficient than a single system in terms of energy. Nazari et al. [8] developed a multi-generation system that integrates
solar energy and a biomass utilization unit in order to generate heating, cooling, freshwater, and electricity. The thermodynamic and
economic model of the system was conducted which demonstrates that through biomass integration an exergy efficiency of 21.48% can
be achieved. Moreover, a multi-objective optimization problem considering second law efficiency maximization and total product cost
minimization was solved. The cost of the optimum solution is decreased by 10% while the exergy efficiency is 0.2% higher than the
base case results. Ghasemi et al. [9] analyzed a multi-generation system driven by solar-biomass energy using the thermodynamic and
thermo-economic approach. The energy system includes both the desalination process and a natural gas liquefaction unit. The results
demonstrated that the proposed system has energy and exergy efficiencies of almost 46% and 11%. Kerme et al. [10] presented a
poly-generation system operated by parabolic trough solar collectors using solar energy. The system contained a multiple effect
distillation desalination unit, organic Rankine cycle, and a chiller unit. Different scenarios were solved such as power generation,
power/cooling, power/desalination, and poly-generation. Their results demonstrated that the overall exergy efficiency of the system
was almost 64.8%, and that the greatest exergy destruction can be attributed to the solar collectors and the desalination process.
Similarly, Abdelhay et al. [11] studied the thermodynamics of a poly-generation systems, which includes multi-effect distillation,
solar power unit, and absorption refrigeration system. The highest exergetic efficiency was found to be 23.95%. Khanmohammadi
et al. [12] studied a multi-objective optimization model for a biomass feed multi-generation system, which is integrated with a
desalination unit. To study the effect of different decision variables, the economic and exergy analysis is used. The solution demon­
strated that the combustion and gasifier have the maximum destruction rate (84% of the total). The multi-objective optimization
results demonstrated that the overall exergy efficiency can vary between 20% and 42% depending on the operational conditions.
Bezadi et al. [13] proposed a multi-generation system for the purpose of power generation, water production, and cooling. The system
consists of reverse osmosis desalination, an absorption chiller, and a biomass-based solid oxide fuel cell combined with a gas turbine.
The environmental emission is controlled by canting CO2 and recycling it into the gasifier. The analysis of the exergy and
exergo-economic of the system revealed that gasifier is the main cause of irreversibility. Moreover, multi-objective optimization results
implied that the optimum working condition results in an exergy efficiency of 38.16%, while the total product unit cost is 69.47 $/GJ.
Khalid et al. [14] assessed a solar-biomass integrated multi-generation system using energy and exergy analysis. Their results
demonstrated that the hybrid systems are more optimum with an energy and exergy efficiency of 91% and 34.9%, respectively. In the
context of the energy-water-carbon nexus, Ifaei et al. [15] studied and formulated a water and energy system that includes a fuel cycle
and reverse osmosis unit. Non-renewable and renewable sources are considered and compared from both environmental and economic
perspectives. The results demonstrated that sustainable production can be achieved by renewable energy options when the
energy-water-carbon nexus is considered. Jiang et al. [16] integrated a thermodynamic model of a combined power and cool­
ing/heating system with energy storage. The thermodynamic and economic analysis were conducted to compare between the proposed
system and conventional system. The results demonstrated that the performance of the integrated system is higher by having a primary
energy rate of 85.57%.
Al-Obaidli et al. [17] presented an alternative renewable energy-based poly-generation system integrated with solar and biomass
energy. A comparison of the system against the reference case was conducted using the thermodynamic approach and ener­
getic/exergetic efficiencies. The obtained results indicated that the alternative system for poly-generation has significant benefits with
calculated energy and exergy efficiencies of almost 63% and 42%, respectively. Ahmadi et al. [18,19] developed a novel biomass-based
multigeneration system with the outputs of power, hydrogen, cooling, and hot water. As to assess the potential of decreasing the CO2
emission, the thermodynamic and environmental assessment of the system was conducted. Furthermore, a multi-objective algorithm
analyzed a solar-based multigeneration system. The objective of the proposed algorithm was to maximize the exergy efficiency and
minimize the total cost of the production system. Bamisile et al. [20] modeled a new energy system driven by wind turbines, solar
energy and biogas which produces electricity, hydrogen, freshwater, and hot air. Using energy-exergy approaches and multiple sce­
narios, the system was analyzed. Thermal energy storage was combined with the proposed model, which conserves energy and can be
used during nights without solar radiation. From the overall results, the best energetic efficiency of the system was found to be 71.06%,
while the exergetic efficiency reached 53.81%.
Yilmaz et al. [21] analyzed the thermodynamic and economic performance of a renewable power-assisted multigeneration with
biomass utilization. The designed system consists of gas turbine cycle, Kalina cycle, biomass gasifier unit, electrolyzer, a cooling cycle,
and a dryer. Their results indicated that the overall system energy and exergy efficiencies were 63.84% and 59.26%, correspondingly.
Recently, within the EWF nexus, Farhat et al. [22] proposed a solar powered self-sustainable greenhouse system with the aim of
improving the food security. The proposed system includes an absorption cooling system, parabolic trough collector, thermal energy
storage, and organic Rankine cycle. The results determined that the integrated system provides enough electricity, freshwater and
cooling for farming and agriculture throughout the year. Table 1 summarizes recent renewable multi-generation systems.

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J. Fouladi et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 34 (2022) 102024

Evidently, there are various multigeneration systems that consider the reuse of continuous waste streams indicating that renewable
resources can increase the resilience of remote systems. However, there is a further need to investigate and integrate the EWF nexus
concept with multigeneration systems that generate useful outputs considering food production systems and energy-water integration
[23]. In this context, most food production studies are constrained as they mainly consider biomass utilization processes alone without
a holistic appreciation for broader EWF nexus attributes driven by multiple sustainable technology options [24]. As such, the novelty of
this study is an integrated renewable energy driven EWF nexus based on solar-biomass coupled with a fertilizer production sub-system.
Moreover, a detailed trade-offs analysis between resources has been applied to the EWF nexus optimization, which leads to reduced
resource consumption. In this regard, the main objectives of this work are to:
• Design an integrated renewable energy-water-food nexus system (solar/biomass system);
• Study the dependence of the EWF nexus performance over the solar capacity;
• Capture the trade-offs among different resources and explore the optimum EWF interlinkages;
• Conduct detailed dynamic modeling of the proposed system to evaluate the performance;
• Compute the energy and exergy efficiencies of the proposed system;
• Investigate the profile over the load change such as freshwater, fertilizer, and biomass rates.

2. System description
Fig. 1 demonstrates a schematic design of the proposed integrated EWF multigeneration system. The sub-systems are integrated
such that specific trade-offs occur among unit operations in order to fulfil the designed outputs. In this polygeneration system, solar
energy and syngas produced from biomass utilization unit (state points 28 and 12) are the sources of energy. A Rankine cycle (with a
pressure ratio of 100) is added to the system to generate electricity for use within the energy sinks. Solar energy is integrated within the
system using parabolic trough collectors (PTCs). A Reverse Osmosis (RO) desalination plant for producing freshwater (state point 4),
an agriculture sector, a biomass gasification unit used for syngas production, an ammonia/urea process for fertilizer usage (state point

Table 1
Summary of the recent renewable multi-generation systems.

Author and year Energy Components Outputs Analysis

Source

Luqman et al. [6] Solar-Wind- Energy storage, Rankine cycle, food drying, Electricity, hydrogen, Energy/Exergy efficiency
(2020) Hydrogen desalination, water electrolyze, energy storage, freshwater, heating,
H2–O2 combustor unit, vapor compression oxygen, hot air
Nazari et al. [8] (2020) Solar- Organic/steam Rankine cycle, gas turbine, multi- Electricity, freshwater, Multi-objective optimization,
Biomass effect desalination, single-effect absorption chiller, cooling, heating and exergoeconomic
biomass combustion chamber assessment
Ghasemi et al. [9] Solar- Rankine cycle, absorption chiller, multi-effect Electricity, heating, Thermodynamic and
(2018) Biomass desalination, parabolic Trough solar collector, cooling, freshwater thermoeconomic optimization
biomass combustor, a Linde-Hampson cycle
Kerme et al. [10] Solar Organic Rankine cycle, distillation, an absorption electric power, water and Energy/Exergy efficiency
(2020) cooling system cooling
Abdelhay et al. [11] Solar Solar power system, multi-effect desalination, Power, cooling, Energy/Exergy efficiency and
(2020) absorption refrigeration freshwater economic assessment
Khanmohammadi et al. Biomass Biomass gasifier, gas turbine, organic Rankine cycle, Electricity, freshwater, Exergy and Economic analysis
[12] (2018) multi-effect desalination, domestic water heater hot water
Behzadi et al. [13] Solar Biomass gasifier, gas turbine, reverse osmosis power generation, fresh energy, exergy,
(2019) desalination, double-effect absorption chiller water, cooling exergoeconomic, and
environmental assessment
Khalid et al. [14] Solar- Concentrated solar collector, biomass cycle, gas Power generation, hot Energy/Exergy efficiency and
(2017) Biomass turbine, organic Rankine cycle, absorption chiller air, hot water, cooling Economic analysis
Ifaei et al. [15] (2019) Solar Fuel cycle, desalination, solar system Power generation, techno-economic and life cycle
freshwater analyses
Jiang et al. [16] (2018) Solar Gas turbine, absorption chiller, trigenerative Electricity, heating, Energy analysis
compressed air energy storage cooling
Al-Obaidli et al. [17] Solar- Combined gas Brayton and steam Rankine cycles, a Electricity, freshwater, Energy/Exergy efficiency
(2020) Biomass solar thermal cycle, an absorption refrigeration cycle, hot water
RO desalination
Ahmadi et al. [18,19] Biomass Biomass combustor, organic Rankine cycle, an Domestic water heater Exergy analysis
(2013, 2014) Solar absorption chiller, electrolyzer for hot water production,
hydrogen
Bamisile et al. [20] Solar-Wind- Solar unit, wind turbine, biogas unit, thermal energy Power, hot water, hot air, Energy/Exergy approach
(2020) Biogas storage, gas and steam cycle, desalination, hot water hydrogen, cooling,
and air chambers, absorption cycle, electrolyzer freshwater
Yilmaz et al. [21] Solar- Biomass gasifier, gas turbine cycle, Kalina cycle, Power, hydrogen, water, Energy/Exergy efficiency and
(2019) Biomass reverse osmosis desalination, dryer, electrolyzer, heating, cooling, drying techno-economic assessment
absorption cooling cycle
Luqman et al. [25] Solar- Rankine cycle, biomass combustor, concentrated Power, fresh water, Energy/Exergy efficiency
(2020) Biomass solar power, absorption cooling system, desalination HVAC, hot air
unit

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J. Fouladi et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 34 (2022) 102024

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of an integrated renewable energy driven EWF nexus.

21), and a greenhouse system are the main components of the proposed design. The feasibility and beneficial uses of treating brine
stream from the RO desalination unit for the agriculture/food purposes is also integrated. Finally, to improve the environmental
emissions of the overall system, the potential for CO2 reduction through CO2 capture from the Rankine cycle for reuse within urea
production is considered. Details of each unit is given in the next sections.

2.1. Reverse osmosis (RO) desalination unit

The state properties of the seawater streams (such as enthalpy, entropy, and exergy) at a specific pressure, salinity, and temperature
were taken from the MIT EES library module [26]. In this work, the RO desalination is operating at a pressure of 4000 kPa with a
recovery ratio of 40 % which provides a product water salinity of 450 ppm. The unit is operating at a pressure of almost 40 bar and
temperature 25 ◦ C.

2.2. Biomass gasification unit

In this study, the biomass gasification unit is used to assess the energy-food nexus performance using the syngas produced to offset
the natural gas needs. In the proposed system, an air-stream gasification model is applied, which has been previously modeled in
ASPEN to generate H2-rich syngas [27]. In this work, multiple feedstocks available in the State of Qatar is considered to produce
H2-rich syngas (Table 2).
The syngas produced from biomass gasifier (state point 12) is then used for ammonia/urea production. The process simulation for
ammonia/area plant is conducted in Aspen Hysis [27] and results are added within the integrated system developed in Engineering
Equations Solver (EES).

2.3. Solar energy in PTC

The solar energy by PTC is calculated by the equations below [29].

Table 2
Biomass feedstocks in Qatar [28].

Dried Sewage Sludge Manure Food Waste Date pit waste

4 5 3
Mass Flowrate (t/y) 3.65 × 10 5.27 × 10 7.0 × 10 7.60 × 103
Ultimate analyses (wt %)
N 1.1 3.7 3.1 4.5
H 2.3 5.1 6.9 6.8
C 19.1 37.1 46.4 49.8
O 5.7 31.4 37.4 37.9
Cl 0 1 0 0
S 0.1 0.5 0 0
Ash 71.8 21.4 6.2 1
LHV (dry basis) (MJ/kg) 20.5 19.4 19.12 34.07

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J. Fouladi et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 34 (2022) 102024

Q̇in, ​ PTC = ηPTC .Q̇Solar (1)

Q̇Solar = ncp ncs FR [SAa − Ar UL (Tri − T0 ) ] (2)

The following equations show the analysis equations used for PTC:
[ ( ′)
mc Cp,c U L Ar F
FR = 1 − exp − (3)
Ar UL mc Cp,c

S = Gt τcover τPTC αr γ (4)

( )
Aa = w − Do,r L (5)

Table 3 summarizes the parameters used in the PTC model equations.

2.4. Ammonia/urea production unit

The ammonia/urea production process is adopted from literature [27], where it was simulated in ASPEN HYSIS. In this work, a
simplified version is integrated by combining elements and representing the unit. In the ammonia loop, the N2 conversion and NH3
separation percentages are 19% and 75%, respectively. The urea loop is modeled and simulated with 80% CO2. The ammonia loop
reactions occur under an operating temperature of nearly 450 ◦ C and pressure of 350 bar. Finally, the ammonia product is refrigerated
to almost − 5 ◦ C to be separated and used as an input to the urea loop.

3. Thermodynamic modeling & analysis

The thermodynamic analysis of the proposed system is conducted using the quantitative energetic and exergetic analyses. In order
to evaluate the performance, different assumptions and technologies are considered which are summarized below:
⁃ pressure drops and heat loss are assumed to be negligible;
⁃ air is treated as an ideal gas;
⁃ kinetic and potential energy and exergy are ignored;
⁃ the reference temperature and pressure for all types of fluid are selected at 25 ◦ C and 101 kPa (ambient conditions); and
⁃ the PTCs working fluid is selected to be water.

Furthermore, there are different required input data for the proposed system, which are extracted from literature. Table 4 sum­
marizes the main parameters used in this study.

3.1. Energy and exergy analysis

Based on the first and second laws of thermodynamic detailed mass, energy, entropy, and exergy balances are presented in the next
sub-section. The mass balance of each component is:
∑ ∑
ṁin = ṁout

The energy, exergy, and entropy balance equations are modeled in Engineering Equations Solver (EES) which is commonly used
within multigeneration systems analysis [30]. The overall system is integrated using defined and calculated state points that are driven
from balance equations for all the components (Table 5).

3.2. Efficiency calculations

To assess the performance of all components and overall system, the energy and exergy efficiencies of the multigeneration system
are calculated using the equations below.

Ẇout, net, RC − ẆP1 − ẆP3 + ṁ4 h4 + ṁ7 h7 + ṁ21 h21

ηoverall =
Q̇E + Q̇in, PTC + Q̇S + Q̇BG + Q̇CR + Q̇net, ​ UL

Table 3
Parameters definition used in PTC model.

ncp number of collectors in parallel mc mass flowrate of the working fluid

ncs number of collectors in series Cp,c specific heat of the working fluid
FR heat removal factor Gt total solar radiation
S heat absorbed τcover transmissivity of the cover glazing
Aa aperture area τPTC effective transmissivity of the PTC
Ar receiver area αr absorptivity of the receiver
UL collector overall heat loss coefficient γ correction factor for diffuse radiation
Tri receiver temperatures w single collector width
T0 ambient temperatures L single collector length

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J. Fouladi et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 34 (2022) 102024

Table 4
Input parameters of the proposed system.

Parameters Value

Reference state conditions, T0 and P0 25 ◦ C and 101 kPa

Biomass gasifier T and P 888 ◦ C and 101 kPa
RO recovery ratio 0.4
ZLD evaporator ratio 0.8
Seawater salinity 35000 ppm
Fresh water salinity 450 ppm
Isentropic efficiencies of pump and turbine 85%
Rankine cycle pressure ratio 100
Surface temperature of the Sun 5600 ◦ C

Table 5
Energy and exergy balances for the proposed system components.

Components Energy balance Exergy balance

Pump I ṁ2 h2 + ẆP1 = ṁ3 h3 ṁ2 ex2 + ẆP1 = ṁ3 ex3+ Ex ˙ d,P1
RO ṁ3 h3 = ṁ4 h4 + ṁ5 h5 ṁ3 ex3 = ṁ4 ex4 + ṁ5 ex5 + Ex ˙ d,RO
)
Evaporator ṁ5 h5 + Q̇E = ṁ6 h6 + ṁ7 h7
( T0
ṁ5 ex5 + Q̇E 1 − = ṁ6 ex6 + ṁ7 ex7 + Ex ˙ d,E
Ts,E
Heat exchanger ṁ26 h26 + ṁ28 h28 = ṁ22 h22 + ṁh29 ṁ26 ex26 + ṁ28 ex28 = ṁ22 ex22 + ṁ29 ex29 + Ex ˙ d,HE
)
PTC ṁ28 h28 + Q̇in, PTC = ṁ29 h29
( T0
ṁ28 ex28 + Q̇in, PTC 1 − = ṁ29 ex29 + Exd,PTC
˙
Tsun
Turbine ṁ22 h22 = ṁ24 h24 + ẆT ṁ22 ex22 = ṁ24 ex24 + ẆT + Ex ˙ d,T
Condenser ( ( T ))
ṁ24 h24 = ṁ25 h25 + Q̇C 0
ṁ24 ex24 = ṁ25 ex25 + Q̇C 1 − + Ex
˙ d,C
Ts,C
Pump II ṁ25 h25 + ẆP2 = ṁ26 h26 ṁ25 ex25 + ẆP2 = ṁ26 ex26 + Ex ˙ d,P2
Decomposition Unit ṁ8 h8 = ṁ9 h9 ṁ8 ex8 = ṁ9 ex9 + Ex˙ d,DU
)
Separator ṁ9 h9 + Q̇S = ṁ11 h11 + ṁ10 h10
( T0
ṁ9 ex9 + Q̇S 1 − = ṁ11 ex11 + ṁ10 ex10 + Ex ˙ d,S
Ts,S
Biomass Gasifier ( ( T )) ( ( T ))
ṁh11 + ṁ13 h13 + Q̇BG = ṁ12 h12 + Q̇Loss 0 0
ṁ11 ex11 + ṁ13 ex13 + Q̇BG 1 − = Q̇Loss 1 − + ṁ12 ex12 + Ex
˙ d,BG
Ts,BG Ts,BG
)
Water Removal Unit ṁ12 h12 = ṁ14 h14 + ṁ16 h16 + Q̇WR
( T0
ṁ12 ex12 = ṁ14 ex14 + ṁ16 ex16 + Q̇WR 1 − + Ex ˙ d,WR
Ts,WR
)
CO2 Removal ṁ16 h16 + Q̇CR = ṁ17 h17 + ṁ18 h18
( T0
ṁ16 ex16 + Q̇CR 1 − = ṁ17 ex17 + ṁ18 ex18 + Ex ˙ d,CR
Ts,CR
)
NH3 Loop ṁ17 h17 + ṁ14 h14 + Ẇnet, ​ NL
( T0
ṁ17 ex17 + ṁ14 ex14 + Ẇnet, ​ NL = ṁ19 ex19 + Q̇net,NL 1 − + Ex
˙ d,NL
= ṁ19 h19 + Q̇net, ​ NL Ts,NL
Pump III ṁ19 h19 + ẆP3 = ṁ20 h20 ṁ19 ex19 + ẆP3 = ṁ20 ex20+ Ex ˙ d,P3
)
Urea Loop ṁ20 h20 + ṁ18 h18 + Q̇net, ​ UL + Ẇnet, ​ UL = ṁ21 h21
( T0
ṁ20 ex20 + ṁ18 ex18 + Q̇net,UL 1 − + Ẇnet, ​ UL = ṁ21 ex21 + Ex
˙ d,UL
Ts,UL

Ẇout, net, RC − ẆP1 − ẆP3 + ṁ4 ex4 + ṁ7 ex7 + ṁ21 ex21
φoverall = ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
T0 T0
Q̇E 1 − Ts, ​ E
+ Q̇in, PTC 1 − Ts,PTC + Q̇S 1 − TTs,S0 + Q̇BG 1 − TTs,BG
0
+ Q̇CR 1 − T0
Ts,CR
+ Q̇net, ​ UL 1 − T0
Ts,UL

Table 6 below details the single components efficiencies.

4. Results and discussion

The Engineering Equation Solver (EES) Software is used to perform the assessment of the system. In the analysis of the proposed
integrated system, by using the balances as illustrated in the previous section, values of design conditions such as pressure, temper­
ature, mass flow rates, specific enthalpy, specific exergy, and specific entropy are specified for all the defined state points in the system.
Table 7 tabulates these properties values.
The values obtained for different outputs such as freshwater, electricity, and fertilizer for the system are summarized in Table 8.
Additionally, both energy and exergy efficiencies of all components and units in the proposed system are illustrated in Table 9.
The overall energy and exergy efficiency values of the proposed system are 45.77% and 18.92%, respectively. Furthermore, the rate
of exergy destruction provides an indication as to which unit requires optimization to enhance the overall efficiency. As such, the
exergy destruction rates for all units and components in the proposed system are compared as illustrated in Fig. 2. It is found that a
large amount of exergy is destroyed in units such as the gasification, water removal, and the decomposition unit. Based on the findings
it is concluded that the biomass gasification process and ammonia/urea production units could be further optimized in order to
enhance the overall efficiency of the system. The exergy destruction is due to entropy produced during mass, heat transfer and
chemical reactions. Therefore, the main sources of irreversibility in the gasifier and ammonia process are the spontaneous chemical

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J. Fouladi et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 34 (2022) 102024

Table 6
Energy and exergy efficiencies for the proposed system components.

Components Energy Efficiency Exergy Efficiency

Pump I ṁ3 h3 − ṁ2 h2 ṁ3 ex3 − ṁ2 ex2

ηP1 = φP1 =
ẆP1 ẆP1
RO ṁ h ṁ4 ex4
ηRO = 4 4 φRO =
ṁ3 h3 ṁ3 ex3
Evaporator ṁ h + ṁ6 h6 ṁ7 ex7 + ṁ6 ex6
ηE = 7 7 φE = )
ṁ5 h5 + Q̇E
( T0
ṁ5 ex5 + Q̇E 1 −
Ts,E
Heat exchanger ṁ22 h22 − ṁ26 h26 ṁ22 ex22 − ṁ26 ex26
ηHE = φHE =
ṁ28 h28 − ṁ29 h29 ṁ28 ex28 − ṁ29 ex29
PTC ṁ29 h29 − ṁ28 h28 ṁ29 ex29 − ṁ28 ex28
ηPTC = φPTC =
Q̇in, PTC
( T0 )
Q̇in, PTC 1 −
Tsun
Turbine ẆT ẆT
ηT = φT =
ṁ22 h22 − ṁ24 h24 ṁ22 ex22 − ṁ24 ex24
Condenser ( ( T ))
Q̇C 0
ηC = Q̇C 1 −
ṁ24 h24 − ṁ25 h25 Ts,C
φC =
ṁ24 ex24 − ṁ25 ex25
Pump II ṁ26 h26 − ṁ25 h25 ṁ26 ex26 − ṁ25 ex25
ηP2 = φP2 =
ẆP2 ẆP2
Decomposition Unit ṁ h ṁ9 ex9
ηDU = 9 9 φDU =
ṁ8 h8 ṁ8 ex8
Separator ṁ h + ṁ10 h10 ṁ11 ex11 + ṁ10 ex10
ηS = 11 11 φS = )
ṁ9 h9 + Q̇S
( T0
ṁ9 ex9 + Q̇S 1 −
Ts,S
Gasifier ṁh12 − (ṁ11 h11 + ṁ13 h13 ) ṁ12 ex12 − (ṁ11 ex11 + ṁ13 ex13 )
ηBG = φBG = )
Q̇BG
( T0
Q̇BG 1 −
Ts,BG
Water Removal Unit ṁ14 h14 + ṁ16 h16 ṁ14 ex14 + ṁ16 ex16
ηWR = φWR =
ṁ12 h12 ṁ12 ex12
CO2 Removal ṁ18 h18 + ṁ17 h17 − ṁ16 h16 ṁ18 ex18 + ṁ17 ex17 − ṁ16 ex16
ηCR = φCR = )
Q̇CR
( T0
Q̇CR 1 −
Ts,CR
NH3 Loop (ṁ19 h19 − ṁ17 h17 ) (ṁ19 ex19 − ṁ17 ex17 )
ηNL = φNL =
ẆNL ẆNL
Pump III ṁ20 h20 − ṁ19 h19 ṁ20 ex20 − ṁ19 ex19
ηP3 = φP3 =
ẆP3 ẆP3
Urea Loop ṁ21 h21 − (ṁ20 h20 + ṁ18 h18 ) ṁ21 ex21 − (ṁ20 ex20 + ṁ18 ex18 )
ηUL = φUL = )
ẆUL + Q̇net,UL
( T0
ẆUL + Q̇net,UL 1 −
Ts,UL

reactions and the heat transfer through finite temperature difference. Additionally, for the biomass gasifier, inelastic deformation for
solids can be another source of irreversibility. Intensive expansions and compressions in the ammonia production process are another
reason for the high irreversibility. The sensitivity analysis can further investigate the optimum operation condition, which can
consequently decrease the exergy loss during the reaction [28].
Using the trade-offs between different resources consumption and the exergy analysis results, it is found that the syngas produced
from gasification process offsets the natural gas needed for the other units leading to a reduction in energy consumption. However, by
optimizing the Energy-Food nexus, the overall exergy efficiency of the proposed system is decreased due to the large exergy destruction
of these processes. In the following section, it is determined that as the biomass flow rate increases, the overall exergy efficiency
reduces.

5. Parametric studies
In order to validate the flexibility of the proposed system, key parameters are studied under different design and operating con­
ditions. In this study, the effects of ambient pressure, temperature, DSR, pressure ratio, solar radiation, and biomass rate are studied to
demonstrate the impact on the components and total efficiencies.
As illustrated in Fig. 3, as the pressure increases, both exergy and energy efficiencies of the overall system decrease slightly. The
energy and exergy efficiencies are reduced from 42.24% and 24.11% to 42.19% and 23.4%, respectively. Moreover, seasonal variation
in temperature might affect the performance of different units such as desalination and consequently the overall system. Fig. 4 il­
lustrates the exergy and energy efficiencies as the ambient reference temperature range changes from 18 ◦ C to 35 ◦ C . It is shown that as
the temperature rises, both efficiencies are slightly increasing too.
Moving further to the stream Rankine cycle, a higher pressure ratio would lead to more work produced by the turbine. Therefore,
the cycle efficiency will increase. Fig. 5 illustrates the impacts of the pressure ratio of the gas turbine cycle on the overall cycle energy
efficiency.
As the pressure ratio changes from 100 to 200, the work output rises by almost 2%. The efficiency of the cycle increases from 22.5%

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J. Fouladi et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 34 (2022) 102024

Table 7
State points properties.

T P h s ex m

( C)
◦
(kPa) (kJ/kg) (kJ/kg.K) (kJ/kg) (kg/s)

[0] 25 101 298.4 6.86

[1] 25 101 99.77 0.3498 0 70
[2] 25 101 99.77 0.3498 0 70
[3] 26.5 4040 109.2 0.3687 3.851 70
[4] 27.5 202 115.4 0.402 0.1442 28
[5] 27.5 3434 108.8 0.3614 3.221 42
[6] 35 3434 138 0.4572 4.016 25.2
[7] 25 3434 107.9 0.3663 3.334 16.8
[8] 25 101 7120 0 16466 14.8
[9] 25 101 − 4330 − 2.69 5818 14.8
[10] 25 101 − 153 1.67 8693 4.55
[11] 25 101 − 5580 2.92 2895 10.25
[12] 828 101 8450 2.25 18079 20.35
[13] 450 101 − 12600 − 73 9170 10.1
[14] – – – – – –
[15] 25 430 105.2 0.3671 0.3299 13.2
[16] 134 400 563.5 1.677 68.21 7.15
[17] 210 20000 6752 38.52 7253 0.25
[18] 132 20000 − 14.62 − 0.9343 707 6.9
[19] − 15 20000 146.4 0.6858 364.1 0.25
[20] 5.808 25000 243.2 1.018 361.8 0.25
[21] 25 110 1546 6.56 12.29 7.15
[22] 500 40000 2906 5.474 1279 120.5
[23] – – – – – –
[24] 143.6 400 2260 5.748 550.6 120.5
[25] 75.86 40 317.6 1.026 16.26 120.5
[26] 79.67 40000 365.5 1.046 58.04 120.5
[27] – – – – – 20
[28] 800 150 4160 9.381 1368 220.8
[29] 150 150 2773 7.421 564.9 220.8
[30] 25 101 104.9 0.3672 0 860.3
[31] 90 101 377.1 1.193 25.98 860.3
[32] 25 101 104.9 0.3672 0 8.191
[33] 4 101 16.91 0.0611 3.256 8.191

Table 8
Values of obtained outputs of the system.

Output Values

Total freshwater produced by RO (kg/s) 28

Total work produced by RC (MW) 77.94
Urea fertilizer production (kg/s) 7.15

Table 9
Efficiencies of different units in the proposed system.

Units Energy Efficiency (%) Exergy Efficiency (%)

Pump 1 100 40.61

RO Desalination 42.25 14.97
Evaporator 100 93.99
Decomposition 96.7 32.98
Separator 66.33 34.97
Gasifier 0.8 73.54
Water Removal 96.7 32.98
CO2 Removal 66.33 34.98
Ammonia Loop 68.58 71.52
Pump 2 100 29.87
Urea Loop 78.9 43.63
Rankine Cycle 23.56 40.72

to 26.61%.
Desalination unit has different environmental impacts such as the brine discharge and aquatic pollution. It is crucial to study the
impact of DSR, which is directly connected to desalination unit efficiency. Fig. 6 demonstrates the results of changing the DSR on the

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J. Fouladi et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 34 (2022) 102024

Fig. 2. Exergy destruction rates for different units and components of the proposed system.

Fig. 3. Effects of ambient pressure on the overall system efficiencies.

Fig. 4. Effects of ambient temperature on the overall system efficiencies.

unit and overall efficiencies of the system. As the ratio rises from 0.35 to 0.65, the energy and exergy efficiencies of the RO desalination
unit itself increase, as the exergy efficiency of RO slightly increases from 2 to 3.5%. An increase of almost 90% is obtained in the energy
efficiency of the desalination unit reaching 70% with a DSR value of 0.65.
Fig. 7 illustrates the impact of doubling the biomass mass flow rate into gasification process from 10 to 20 kg/s. The overall system
energy and exergy efficiencies reduce from 50% and 25.5% to 36.5% and 22.5%, respectively (19% reduction in the overall energy
efficiency of the system). Increasing the feed biomass flowrate would cause an increase in the input energy required for the gasification
process resulting in a lower overall efficiency of the system.
Fig. 8 demonstrates the effect of varying the biomass mass rate on the gasifiers destruction rate. As mentioned previously, there is a
trade-off between the energy consumption and the biomass rate. The figure indicates that by increasing the biomass flow feeding to the
process, the destruction rate of the gasifier increases, which is due to the sources of irreversibility. A reduction in the gasifier efficiency

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J. Fouladi et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 34 (2022) 102024

Fig. 5. Effect of steam turbine cycle pressure ratio on efficiency of the cycle.

Fig. 6. Effect of DSR on the RO efficiencies.

Fig. 7. Effect of biomass flow rates on the overall system efficiencies.

affects the overall system as well.

Furthermore, Fig. 9 indicates that by increasing the solar intensity from 500 to 1000 W/m2, energy and exergy efficiencies of the
solar unit increase. An increase in the solar radiation implies a higher temperature of the working fluid, thus enhancing the efficiency
of the system. However, as it is clear from the figure, there is a slight reduction (almost 2%) in the overall energy and exergy effi­
ciencies of the overall system. The cause of this reduction is mostly the losses, which occur in energy harvesting in the PTCs.

6. Conclusion
This study proposes an integrated renewable energy system of an EWF nexus that includes desalination, Ranking cycle, biomass

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J. Fouladi et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 34 (2022) 102024

Fig. 8. Effects of biomass flow rate on the gasifiers destruction rate.

Fig. 9. Effects of solar radiation rate on the overall system efficiencies.

gasification, ammonia/urea and a representative food system. There are three useful outputs within the integrated system, which
include freshwater, fertilizer and electricity. The thermodynamic models that consider mass, energy, entropy and exergy balances are
performed using EES. The corresponding exergy and energy efficiencies of all units and the overall system are calculated, where the
exergy destruction rates are used to provide an indication as to which units require further optimization to increase the overall ef­
ficiency. The parametric studies illustrate that variations in certain factors has a direct effect on the units and overall efficiency values.
The key findings of the study are summarized as following:
• The overall energy and exergy efficiencies of the proposed multigeneration system are 45.77% and 18.92%, respectively.
• The exergy destruction rates are the highest in the biomass gasification process and ammonia/urea production units, which are due
to the chemical reactions and can be further optimized by sensitivity analysis.
• The system generates net electrical power of almost 78 MW, 28 kg/s of freshwater, and approximately 7 kg/s of fertilizer.
• The biomass gasification unit produces almost 20 kg/s syngas.
The parametric studies observed that varying specific parameters has a direct effect on the overall efficiencies of the system. The
feed biomass flow rate affects the different outputs and the overall performance of the proposed system by increasing the energy
demand in the gasification unit. Moreover, the overall energy and exergy efficiencies is affected by variation in the ambient tem­
perature and pressure. For future studies, wind energy and cooling/heating demands can be integrated further into the system in order
to enhance envronmental performance and resilience.

Author statement
Jamileh Fouladi: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Modelling, Writing original Draft, Editing. Ahmed AlNouss:
Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing - Review & Editing. Yusuf Bicer: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing - Review &
Editing, Supervision Tareq Al-Ansari: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing, Review & Editing, Supervision, Project
Administration.

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J. Fouladi et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 34 (2022) 102024

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to
influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the support of Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation) provided by GSRA grants
no. GSRA6-1-0416-19014. Furthermore, this research is supported by the National Priorities Research Program (NPRP) grant No
NPRP11S-0107–180216. The findings herein reflect the work, and are solely the responsibility, of the authors.

Nomenclature

Aa Aperture area
Ar Receiver area
Cp,c Specific heat
Do,r Receiver outside diameter
ex Specific exergy
Ė Energy rate
Ėx Exergy rate
Exd Rate of exergy destruction
FR The heat removal factor
Gt The total solar radiation
h Specific enthalpy
ṁ Mass flow rate
ncs The number of collectors in series
ncp The number of collectors in series
P Pressure
Q̇ Heat transfer rate
Qin, ​ PTC Thermal energy input from the sun to the PTC
S Absorbed solar radiation
s Specific entropy
Sgen
˙ Entropy generation rate
T Temperature
Tri Receiver Temperature
T0 Ambient Temperature
UL Collector overall heat loss coefficient
Ẇ Work rate
w Collector width

Acronyms
EES Engineering Equation Solver
EWF Energy-Water-Food
GJ Giga Joules
LNG Liquified Natural Gas
MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology
PTC Parabolic Trough Collectors
RO Reverse Osmosis
ORC Organic Rankine Cycle

Subscripts
HX Heat Exchanger
UL Urea Loop
BG Biomass Gasifier
DU Decomposition Unit
S Separator
NL NH3 Loop
WR Water Removal
ORC Organic Rankine Cycle
E Evaporator

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J. Fouladi et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 34 (2022) 102024

T Turbine
C Condenser
CR CO2 Removal

Greek Letters
η Energy efficiency
φ Exergy efficiency

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