Energy, Exergy, Environmental, and Economic Assessment of a Solar‐Assisted Heat Pump System for Sustainable Essential‐Oil Distillation

ABSTRACT

This study presents a thermodynamic and techno‐environmental assessment of a solar‐assisted heat pump system for essential‐oil distillation, aiming to reduce purchased high‐grade energy consumption and operational greenhouse‐gas emissions. The proposed configuration integrates solar thermal energy with heat‐pump‐assisted thermal upgrading and is evaluated through energy, exergy, environmental, parametric, and economic analyses. Under baseline conditions, the distillation process requires 100 kWh/batch of useful thermal energy, of which 65 kWh/batch is supplied by solar energy, corresponding to a solar fraction of 0.65. The heat pump supplies the remaining 35 kWh/batch with a heating COP of 3.0 and compressor electricity consumption of 11.7 kWh/batch. The total specific energy consumption (SEC) is 5.40 MJ/kg oil, whereas the specific external energy consumption () is limited to 0.63 MJ/kg oil. The overall exergy efficiency, sustainability index, and exergy destruction ratio are 58%, 2.38, and 0.42, respectively. The suggested system lowers GHG emissions by about 0.25 kg CO ₂ ‐eq/kg oil, according to the findings. The parameter examination shows better results obtained as solar radiation, the efficiency of collectors, and heating pump COP grow. The calculation of the economic model shows that the simple payback time is about 7.9 years.