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Akpan, U. E.
Topfaith University, Mkpatak, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.
Abam, F. I.
Mechanical Engineering, University of Calabar, Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria
Kadurumba, H. C.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria
Ntunde, I. D.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
The study is focused on energy, exergy, and
exergoeconomic evaluation of a BioThermoGen-cogeneration plant, which utilizes
a Kalina cycle and an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) technologies with cassava
peel as the heat source to produce electricity, cooling, hot water and hydrogen
simultaneously. The system has been modeled using Engineering Equation Solver
(EES) which is based on first and second law thermodynamic principles under
steady-state conditions. Energy, exergy and exergoeconomic analyses were
performed to evaluate the system performance, irreversibility distribution and
economic viability. The results show thatÂ
Kalina subsystem generated 179.7.2 kW of turbine power with 1757 kW for
cooling capacity, whereas ORC subsystem
generated another 25.25 kW of power due to the waste heat harvesting. Although
the energy and exergy efficiencies were moderate, the overall energy and exergy
efficiencies of the integrated plant were 60.73% and 20.21%, respectively,
which showed effective energy use. The cost formation was evaluated by exergoeconomic
analysis, and it was found that the combustion chamber, heat exchangers, and
turbine were the major sources of exergy destruction due to thermodynamic
irreversibilities and energy conversion losses and are the ones which
contribute more into the cost formation, viz. combustor and heat recovery
units. The electricity generation cost of the system was however competitive
and was calculated as 0.0592 $/kWh, thus proving the economic feasibility of
the system. The results of parametric analysis also revealed that the
performance of the system increased with increasing ambient temperature,
turbine inlet temperature and ammonia mass fraction. The Kalina cycle has shown
better low-grade heat recovery performance, and the ORC subsystem has improved
the utilisation of the waste heat and power. Future research should explore
experimental validation, multi-objective optimization, and integration with
energy storage systems for improved reliability and practicality.
Keywords: Biomass energy, Organic Rankine Cycle, Kalina cycle, Exergy analysis, Exergoeconomic analysis, Cassava peel, Cogeneration, Hydrogen production.
https://doi.org/10.33922/j.ujet_v12i3_1
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Published
Friday, August 21, 2026
Issue
Vol. 12, No. 3 Sept 2026
Article Section
GENERAL
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