Second law analysis of a waste heat recovery steam generator

In recent years a great deal of attention is focussed on the efficient utilization of energy resources with minimum heat loss. There is a growing interest on second law analysis to minimize the entropy generation in various thermal units and thereby to improve and optimize the design and performance. In the present work, a waste heat recovery steam generator is considered, which consists of an economizer, an evaporator and a super heater. The unit produces superheated steam by absorbing heat from the hot flue gases. A general equation for the entropy generation has been proposed, which incorporates all the irreversibilities associated with the process. By using suitable non-dimensional operating parameters, an equation for entropy generation number is derived. The effect of various non-dimensional operating parameters, on the entropy generation number are investigated. The role of gas specific heat, non-dimensional inlet gas temperature difference ratio (τ), heat exchanger unit sizes (NTUB, NTUS, NTUE) on entropy generation number are also reported. The results will help to understand the influence of different non-dimensional operating parameters on entropy generation number, which in turn will be useful to optimize the performance of the unit.