masood dehghan - Department of Mechanical Engineering, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin, Iran
Ghasem Akbari - Department of Mechanical Engineering, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin, Iran
Nader Montazerin - Mechanical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
arman maroufi - Department of Mechanical Engineering, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin, Iran

Solar heat transfer fluid (HTF) plays a crucial role in the performance of parabolic trough solar collectors (PTSC) and the energy systems integrated with them. In this study, a multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) analysis is employed to prioritize the HTFs for three solar-driven multi-generation energy systems. These systems are based on a direct-fed organic Rankine cycle (ORC) and bottom-cycle arrangement of a double-effect absorption refrigeration cycle and a Kalina cycle system. The ORC configurations include simple, regenerative, and ORC integrated with an internal heat exchanger. The MADM analysis shows that the optimal HTF for all systems is Therminol ۶۶ for which ORC based system demonstrates the best performance in both energy (۸۰.۱۷ %) and exergy (۳۳.۲۱ %) viewpoints. Additionally, this system exhibits the highest performance in terms of net present value (۸۲.۶ M), dynamic payback period (۲.۱۹ years), and cost of energy (۰.۰۱۸ /kWh).

MADM, CCHP, Parabolic Trough Solar Collector, Organic Rankine Cycle, Net Present Value