Potential of Integrating Solar Energy into Systems of Thermal Power Generation, Cooling-Refrigeration, Hydrogen Production, and Carbon Capture

Global warming due to the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere has directed global attention toward the adaptation of renewable energies and the use of renewable energy resources, like solar energy. Solar energy utilization could contribute to clean energy production, which is continuously needed due to increased population and industrialization. Recent increasing anxieties over energy sustainability and the preservation of the falling global ecosystem have renewed the expedition for extra efficient and economical processes for the utilization of renewable energy. Various approaches have been developed for the effective utilization of solar energy in different fields, which are highlighted in this work. In power generation, solar energy is utilized in preheating the air upstream of the combustion chamber in gas turbines and in waste heat recovery for combined-cogeneration cycles. It can also be used in Rankine cycles of thermal power plants utilizing low critical temperature gases such as CO2. In cooling and refrigeration systems, solar energy is utilized in reboilers, absorption, and mechanical cooling systems. Solar energy can also be utilized to produce clean fuels such as H2 production either from water splitting or from light and heavy fuels via fuel reforming and membrane separation. In addition, solar systems can be integrated to carbon capture applications in each of its three technologies of precombustion, oxyfuel combustion, and post-combustion. Integration of solar energy in these processes is reviewed comprehensively in this work. Thus, the solar energy in power generation, cooling-refrigeration, hydrogen production-storage, and carbon capture technologies are analyzed and evaluated.