Energy and exergy analyses of space heating in buildings

In the present study, energy and exergy analyses are presented for the whole process of space heating in buildings. This study is based on a pre-design analysis tool, which has been produced during ongoing work for the International Energy Agency (IEA) formed within the Energy Conservation in Buildings and Community Systems Programme (ECBCSP) Annex 37. Throughout this paper, in all of the calculations such as heat losses and gains were taken according to Turkish Standards Institution TSE, which is in accordance with the European Standard TS EN ISO 13789. In the analysis, heating load is taken account but cooling load is neglected and the calculations presented here are done using steady state conditions. The analysis is applied to an office in Izmir with a volume of 720 m³ and a net floor area of 240 m² as an example of application. Indoor and exterior air temperatures are 20 °C and 0 °C, respectively. It is assumed that the office is heated by a liquid natural gas (LNG) fired conventional boiler, an LNG condensing boiler and an external air–air heat pump. With this study, energy and exergy flows are investigated. Energy and exergy losses in the whole system are quantified and illustrated. The highest efficiency values in terms of energy and exergy were found to be 80.9% for external air–air heat pump and 8.69% for LNG condensing boiler, respectively.     

Energy and exergy analyses of electrolytic hydrogen production with molybdenum-oxo catalysts

This paper analyzes a new low-temperature electrolysis hydrogen production system using molybdenum-oxo catalysts in the cathode and a platinum based anode. A thermodynamic model is developed for the electrolysis process in order to predict and analyze the energy and exergy efficiencies. The new electrolysis system with molybdenum-oxo catalysts consists of two half cells of PEM (proton exchange membrane) and alkaline electrolysis. The effects of temperature and membrane thickness are reported at varying current densities. The results are presented and compared with previous studies to demonstrate the promising performance of the system.     

Energy and exergy analyses of integrated hybrid sulfur isobutane system for hydrogen production

This paper analyzes an integrated HyS cycle (hybrid sulfur cycle), isobutane cycle and electrolyzer for hydrogen production. The operating parameters such as concentration, pressure and temperature are varied to investigate their effects on the energy and exergy efficiencies of the system with/without heat recovery and integration, as well as the decomposer and rate of hydrogen produced. A new heat exchanger network is also developed to recover heat within the HyS cycle in the most efficient manner. The exergy destruction rate in each component is analyzed and discussed. From the results, increasing the pressure is beneficial up to 3222 kPa, after which the performance remains constant. The exergy efficiency varies more significantly with operating parameters than the energy efficiency. The maximum exergy destruction occurs in the heat exchanger so this component should be the focus to enhance the overall performance of the system.     

Energy and exergy analyses of magnesium-chlorine (Mg-Cl) thermochemical cycle

In this paper, we conduct energy and exergy analyses of the magnesium-chlorine (Mg-Cl) thermochemical cycle for hydrogen production and examine the respective cycle energy and exergy efficiencies. We also undertake a parametric study to investigate how the overall cycle performance is affected by changing the reference environment temperature and operating conditions. The results show that Mg-Cl cycle offers a good potential due to its high energy and exergy efficiencies as 63.63% and 34.86%, respectively, based upon the conditions and parameters considered. In this regard, Mg-Cl cycle appears to be a promising low temperature thermochemical cycle. It may, therefore, compete with other low temperature thermochemical and hybrid cycles such as the copper–chlorine cycle.     

Energy and exergy analyses of a hybrid molten carbonate fuel cell system

This study deals with the energy and exergy analysis of a molten carbonate fuel cell hybrid system to determine the efficiencies, irreversibilities and performance of the system. The analysis includes the operation of each component of the system by mass, energy and exergy balance equations. A parametric study is performed to examine the effect of varying operating pressure, temperature and current density on the performance of the system. Furthermore, thermodynamic irreversibilities in each component of the system are determined. An overall energy efficiency of 57.4%, exergy efficiency of 56.2%, bottoming cycle energy efficiency of 24.7% and stack energy efficiency of 43.4% are achieved. The results demonstrate that increasing the stack pressure decreases the overpotential losses and, therefore, increases the stack efficiency. However, this increase is limited by the remaining operating conditions and the material selection of the stack. The fuel cell and the other components in which chemical reactions occur, show the highest exergy destruction in this system. The compressor and turbine on the other hand, have the lowest entropy generation and, thus, the lowest exergy destruction.     

Energy and exergy analyses of a combined molten carbonate fuel cell - Gas turbine system

This study deals with the thermodynamic analysis of molten carbonate fuel cell combined with a gas turbine, based on the first- and second-law of thermodynamics. The mass, energy, entropy and exergy balance equations are written and applied to the system and its components. Some parametric studies are performed to investigate the change of system performance through energy and exergy efficiencies with the change of operating conditions. The irreversibilities occuring in different devices of the integrated system are also investigated through the exergy destruction analysis in these devices. The maximum output work of the MCFC is estimated to be 314.3 kW for an operating temperature of 650 °C. The overall energy and exergy efficiencies achieved for this system are 42.89% and 37.75%, respectively.     

Energy and exergy analyses and optimization study of an integrated solar heliostat field system for hydrogen production

In this paper, we propose an integrated system, consisting of a heliostat field, a steam cycle, an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) and an electrolyzer for hydrogen production. Some parameters, such as the heliostat field area and the solar flux are varied to investigate their effect on the power output, the rate of hydrogen produced, and energy and exergy efficiencies of the individual systems and the overall system. An optimization study using direct search method is also carried out to obtain the highest energy and exergy efficiencies and rate of hydrogen produced by choosing several independent variables. The results show that the power and rate of hydrogen produced increase with increase in the heliostat field area and the solar flux. The rate of hydrogen produced increases from 0.006 kg/s to 0.063 kg/s with increase in the heliostat field area from 8000 m² to 50,000 m². Moreover, when the solar flux is increased from 400 W/m² to 1200 W/m², the rate of hydrogen produced increases from 0.005 kg/s to 0.018 kg/s. The optimization study yields maximum energy and exergy efficiencies and the rate of hydrogen produced of 18.74%, 39.55% and 1571 L/s, respectively.     

Energy and exergy analyses of an integrated SOFC and coal gasification system

This paper examines an integrated gasification and solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system with a gas turbine and steam cycle that uses heat recovery of the gas turbine exhaust. Energy and exergy analyses are performed with two different types of coal. For the two different cases, the energy efficiency of the overall system is 38.1% and 36.7%, while the exergy efficiency is 27% and 23.2%, respectively. The effects of changing the reference temperature on the exergy destruction and exergy efficiency of different components are also reported. A parametric study on the effects of changing the pressure ratio on the component performance is presented.     

Energy and exergy analyses of a combined ammonia-fed solid oxide fuel cell system for vehicular applications

In this study, both energetic and exergetic performances of a combined heat and power (CHP) system for vehicular applications are evaluated. This system proposes ammonia-fed solid oxide fuel cells based on proton conducting electrolyte (SOFC-H⁺) with a heat recovery option. Fuel consumption of combined fuel cell and energy storage system is investigated for several cases. The performance of the portable SOFC system is studied in a wide range of the cell’s average current densities and fuel utilization ratios. Considering a heat recovery option, the system exergy efficiency is calculated to be 60-90% as a function of current density, whereas energy efficiency varies between 60 and 40%, respectively. The largest exergy destructions take place in the SOFC stack, micro-turbine, and first heat exchanger. The entropy generation rate in the CHP system shows a 25% decrease for every 100 °C increase in average operating temperature.     

Energy and exergy analyses of a solar based hydrogen production and compression system

In this study, a solar thermal based integrated system with a supercritical-CO₂ (sCO₂) gas turbine (GT) cycle, a four-step Mg–Cl cycle and a five-stage hydrogen compression plant is developed, proposed for applications and analyzed thermodynamically. The solar data for the considered solar plant are taken for Greater Toronto Area (GTA) by considering both daily and yearly data. A molten salt storage is considered for the system in order to work without interruption when the sun is out. The power and heat from the solar and sCO₂-GT subsystems are introduced to the Mg–Cl cycle to produce hydrogen at four consecutive steps. After the internal heat recovery is accomplished, the heating process at required temperature level is supplied by the heat exchanger of the solar plant. The hydrogen produced from the Mg–Cl cycle is compressed up to 700 bar by using a five-stage compression with intercooling and required compression power is compensated by the sCO₂-GT cycle. The total energy and exergy inputs to the integrated system are found to be 1535 MW and 1454 MW, respectively, for a 1 kmol/s hydrogen producing plant. Both energy and exergy efficiencies of the overall system are calculated as 16.31% and 17.6%, respectively. When the energy and exergy loads of the receiver are taken into account as the main inputs, energy and exergy efficiencies become 25.1%, and 39.8%, respectively. The total exergy destruction within the system is found to be 1265 MW where the solar field contains almost 64% of the total irreversibility with a value of ～811 MW.     

Energy and exergy analyses of thin layer drying of mulberry in a forced solar dryer

This paper is concerned with the energy and exergy analyses of the thin layer drying process of mulberry via forced solar dryer. Using the first law of thermodynamics, energy analysis was carried out to estimate the ratios of energy utilization and the amounts of energy gain from the solar air collector. However, exergy analysis was accomplished to determine exergy losses during the drying process by applying the second law of thermodynamics. The drying experiments were conducted at different five drying mass flow rate varied between 0.014 kg/s and 0.036 kg/s. The effects of inlet air velocity and drying time on both energy and exergy were studied. The main values of energy utilization ratio were found to be as 55.2%, 32.19%, 29.2%, 21.5% and 20.5% for the five different drying mass flow rate ranged between 0.014 kg/s and 0.036 kg/s. The main values of exergy loss were found to be as 10.82 W, 6.41 W, 4.92 W, 4.06 W and 2.65 W with the drying mass flow rate varied between 0.014 kg/s and 0.036 kg/s. It was concluded that both energy utilization ratio and exergy loss decreased with increasing drying mass flow rate while the exergetic efficiency increased.     

Energy analysis and exergy utilization in the transportation sector of Jordan

The transport sector is responsible for about 37% of total final energy demand in Jordan, and thus it is considered an important driver for determining future national energy needs. This paper presents energy analysis and exergy utilization in the transportation sector of Jordan by considering the sectoral energy and exergy flows for the last two decades. The transportation sector, in Jordan, is a two-mode system, namely, road, which covers almost all domestic passenger and freight transport and airways. The latter is mainly used for international flights. The average estimated overall energy and exergy efficiencies were found as 23.2% and 22.8%, respectively. This simply indicates that there is large potential for improvement and efficiency enhancement. It is believed that the present technique is practical and useful for analyzing sectoral energy and exergy utilization to determine how efficiently energy and exergy are used in the transportation sector. It is also helpful to establish standards, based on exergy, to facilitate applications in different planning processes such as energy planning. A comparison with other countries showed that energy and exergy efficiencies of the Jordanian transport sector are slightly lower than that of Turkey, and higher than those incurred in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Norway. Such difference is inevitable due to dissimilar structure of the transport sector in these countries.     

Energy,exergy and economic analyses and multiobjective optimization of a novel solar multi-generation system for production of green hydrogen and other utilities

Renewable energy based multi-generation systems can help solving energy-related environmental problems. For this purpose, a novel solar tower-based multi-generation system is proposed for the green hydrogen production as the main product. A solar-driven open Brayton cycle with intercooling, regeneration and reheat is coupled with a regenerative Rankine cycle and a Kalina cycle-11 as a unique series of power cycles. Significant portion of the produced electricity is utilized to produce green hydrogen in an electrolyzer. A thermal energy storage, a single-effect absorption refrigeration cycle and two domestic hot water heaters are also integrated. Energy, exergy and economic analyses are performed to examine the performance of the proposed system, and a detailed parametric analysis is conducted. Multiobjective optimization is carried out to determine the optimum performance. Optimum energy and exergy efficiencies, unit exergy product cost and total cost rate are calculated as 39.81%, 34.44%, 0.0798 $/kWh and 182.16 $/h, respectively. Products are 22.48 kg/h hydrogen, 1478 kW power, 225.5 kW cooling and 7.63 kg/s domestic hot water. Electrolyzer power size is found as one of the most critical decision variables. Solar subsystem has the largest exergy destruction. Regenerative Rankine cycle operates at the highest energy and exergy efficiencies among power cycles.     

Understanding energy and exergy efficiencies for improved energy management in power plants

An extensive overview is provided of various energy- and exergy-based efficiencies used in the analysis of power cycles. Vapor and gas power cycles, cogeneration cycles and geothermal power cycles are examined, and consideration is given to different cycle designs. The many approaches that can be used to define efficiencies are provided and their implications discussed. Improvements of the management of energy in power plants that stem from understanding the efficiencies better are described. Examples are given to illustrate the efficiencies and their differences, with the results presented using combined energy and exergy diagrams. It is anticipated that the results will provide a convenient and practical tool for engineers and researchers dealing with the analysis, design, optimization and improvement of power cycles.     

Energy and exergy analysis of a turbocharged hydrogen internal combustion engine

This paper has analyzed the energy and exergy distribution of a 2.3 L turbocharged hydrogen engine by mapping characteristics experiment. The energy loss during fuel energy conversion mainly includes: exhaust energy (23.5–34.7%), cooling medium (coolant and oil) energy (21.3–34.8%), intercooler energy (0.5–3.6%) and uncounted energy (5.8–14.1%), while the proportion of effective work ranges from 25.7% to 35.1%. Results show that all kinds of energies increase with engine speeds and they are not sensitive to the loads. However, the proportions of different kind of energy exhibit different characteristics. Moreover, the turbocharger can increase the brake thermal efficiency and the maximum can be increased by 4.8%. Exergy analysis shows exergy efficiency of the coolant energy does not exceed 5%, while the exergy efficiency of the exhaust energy can reach up to 23%. And the total hydrogen fuel thermal efficiency limit is theoretically above 59%.     

Energy and exergy analyses in drying process of porous media using hot air

In this paper the energy and exergy analyses in drying process of porous media using hot air was investigated. Drying experiments were conducted to find the effects of particle size and thermodynamics conditions on energy and exergy profiles. An energy analyses was performed to estimate the energy utilization by applying the first law of thermodynamics. An exergy analyses was performed to determine the exergy inlet, exergy outlet, exergy losses and efficiency during the drying process by applying the second law of thermodynamics. The results show that energy utilization ratio (EUR) and exergy efficiency depend on the particle size as well as hydrodynamic properties. Furthermore, the results of energy and exergy presented here can be applied to other porous drying processes which concern effect of porosity as well as grain size.     

Energy and exergy analyses of hydrogen production via solar-boosted ocean thermal energy conversion and PEM electrolysis

Energy and exergy analyses are reported of hydrogen production via an ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) system coupled with a solar-enhanced proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer. This system is composed of a turbine, an evaporator, a condenser, a pump, a solar collector and a PEM electrolyzer. Electricity is generated in the turbine, which is used by the PEM electrolyzer to produce hydrogen. A simulation program using Matlab software is developed to model the PEM electrolyzer and OTEC system. The simulation model for the PEM electrolyzer used in this study is validated with experimental data from the literature. The amount of hydrogen produced, the exergy destruction of each component and the overall system, and the exergy efficiency of the system are calculated. To better understand the effect of various parameters on system performance, a parametric analysis is carried out. The energy and exergy efficiencies of the integrated OTEC system are 3.6% and 22.7% respectively, and the exergy efficiency of the PEM electrolyzer is about 56.5% while the amount of hydrogen produced by it is 1.2 kg/h.     

Energy and exergy analyses in convective drying process of multi-layered porous packed bed

This paper is concerned with the investigation of the energy and exergy analyses in convective drying process of multi-layered porous media. The drying experiments were conducted to find the effects of multi-layered porous particle size and thermodynamics conditions on energy and exergy profiles. An energy analysis was performed to estimate the energy utilization by applying the first law of thermodynamics. An exergy analysis was performed to determine the exergy inlet, exergy outlet, exergy losses during the drying process by applying the second law of thermodynamics. The results show that the energy utilization ratio (EUR) and the exergy efficiency depend on the particle size as well as the hydrodynamic properties and the layered structure, by considering the interference between capillary flow and vapor diffusion in the multi-layered packed bed.     

Energy and exergy utilizations of the U.S. manufacturing sector

The energy and exergy utilizations in the U.S. manufacturing sector are analyzed by considering the energy and exergy flows for the year 2002. Detailed end-use models for fourteen intensive industries are established using scattered data from the Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey (MECS). Since the MECS data exhibit many gaps, data from other sources are used, as well as a number of assumptions are made to complete the models. The methodology applied and the assumptions made are clearly described so that the methods can be readily modified to fit different needs. The end-use models provide a starting point to estimate the site and embodied energy and exergy efficiencies. The average site energy and exergy efficiencies of the manufacturing sector are estimated as 63.5% and 38.8% respectively, while the embodied energy and exergy efficiencies are estimated as 52.7% and 32.1% respectively. The low efficiency values suggest that many opportunities for better industrial energy utilization still exist.     

Energy and exergy performance assessment of a novel solar-based integrated system with hydrogen production

In this study, a new solar power assisted multigeneration system designed and thermodynamically analyzed. In this system, it is designed to perform heating, cooling, drying, hydrogen and power generation with a single energy input. The proposed study consists of seven sub-parts which are namely parabolic dish solar collector, Rankine cycle, organic Rankine cycle, PEM-electrolyzer, double effect absorption cooling, dryer and heat pump. The effects of varying reference temperature, solar irradiation, input and output pressure of high-pressure turbine and pinch point temperature heat recovery steam generator are investigated on the energetic and exergetic performance of integration system. Thermodynamic analysis result outputs show that the energy and exergy performance of overall study are computed as 48.19% and 43.57%, respectively. Moreover, the highest rate of irreversibility has the parabolic dish collector with 24,750 kW, while the lowest rate of irreversibility is calculated as 5745 kW in dryer. In addition, the main contribution of this study is that the solar-assisted multi-generation systems have good potential in terms of energy and exergy efficiency.