Techno-Economic evaluation and multi-objective optimization of a filter equipped solar chimney system

Urban air pollution has recently become a pressing challenge, and innovative solutions are needed to reduce it. The current study proposes and investigates the performance of integrating a solar chimney system with an air filtration unit to mitigate urban air pollution and generate electricity simultaneously. A comprehensive computational fluid dynamics model coupled with optimization techniques is proposed to analyze and optimize the design parameters from system performance and cost perspectives. A multi-objective optimization is performed to determine the optimal placements of the air filter and geometric parameters of the hybrid solar chimney to maximize power output and filtration efficiency while minimizing the capital cost. Results indicated that placing the filter in the middle of the chimney resulted in optimal configuration with a power output of 18.83 kW, and filter efficiency of 53.73 % at a cost of $ 4.83 million, whereas placing the filter close to the inlet of the collector achieved the highest output power of 100.4 kW, a filter efficiency of 89.67 % at a capital cost of $ 7.35 million. It is concluded that placing the filter on the collector side is more beneficial in terms of performance and cost per unit of power produced.