Integration of desalination with cold-heat-power production in the agro-food industry Original Research Article

Several configurations of polygeneration systems, conceived for a dairy industry requiring cold, heat, power and water for its operation, are presented. For these systems, a single fuel is used to produce cold, steam (heat), electricity and water from a combined cycle integrated and optimized with heaters, absorption units and desalination plants. The proposed systems are the result of minimizing a multi-objective function of energy (cold, heat and power) and water consumption in order to reach a more efficient and sustainable management of the installation. The industry covers its internal demand for energy and water and reaches important overall energy savings thanks to the integration of all the systems. Different configurations are analyzed in which, depending on the required demands, thermal desalination or reverse osmosis are considered. An economic analysis was also performed. The overall system was modeled by means of data provided by manufacturers and also by means of efficiency curves available in the literature.