Thermodynamic optimization analysis of a combined cooling and power system integrating a chemical looping combustion with a dual-throttle self-condensing transcritical CO₂ cycle

The ways of utilizing waste heat from chemical looping combustion (CLC) power generation systems warrant further exploration. In this study, a dual-throttle self-condensing transcritical CO₂ cycle is proposed to recover the waste heat from a copper-based CLC-driven power system, aiming to realize flexible combined cooling and power generation. After establishing the mathematical model, the performance comparisons, exergy analysis, and parametric studies are performed to elucidate the thermodynamic characteristics of the system. Subsequently, a multi-objective optimization is executed for the system to evaluate the cogeneration capacity and determine the optimal design boundary. The results show that the dual-throttle configuration reduces the system's electrical and exergy efficiencies by only 1.25 and 1.15 percentage points, respectively, compared to the power generation-only single-throttle configuration. Among the components, the reactors and regenerators exhibit the highest exergy destruction. Optimization findings reveal that the system's power generation capacity ranges from 24374.36 kW to 26473.26 kW, corresponding to a cooling capacity range of 1386.02 kW to 187.69 kW. Under the optimal trade-off conditions, the system achieves an electrical efficiency of 52.02 %, an exergy efficiency of 50.17 %, and a cooling power output of 1169.08 kW.