Exergoeconomic analysis of a solar assisted tea drying system

Abstract

In this study, an integrated system which consists of a batch type tea dryer and a PV/T unit is developed and analyzed through the exergoeconomic approach. The EXCEM method based on mass, energy, exergy, and cost balances is performed to find out the exergoeconomic performance of the drying system. The parametric studies are used to see the effect of changing properties utilized in the system on performance. The results of the present study show that the capital cost and the capital productivity of the system are $5953 and 1.54, respectively. The energetic and exergetic loss ratios are calculated as 76.45?MJ/$ and 72.63?MJ/$, respectively. The exergy efficiency and exergy destruction for the whole system are found to be 74% and 201.6?GJ, respectively.     

A Comparative Study on Exergetic Performance Assessment for Drying of Broccoli Florets in Three Different Drying Systems

This article deals with the exergy analysis and evaluation of broccoli in three different drying systems. The effects of drying air temperature on the exergy destruction, exergy efficiency, and exergetic improvement potential of the drying process were investigated. The exergy destruction rate for the drying chamber increased with the rise in the drying air temperature at 1.5 m/s, both in the tray and the heat pump dryer. The highest exergy efficiency value was obtained as 90.86% in the fluid bed dryer in comparison to the other two drying systems and the improvement potential rate was the highest in the heat pump dryer during drying of broccoli at the drying air temperature of 45°C and the drying air velocity of 1.0 m/s.     

Energy and Exergy Evaluation of an Air Separation Facility: A Case Study

In this study, an air separation plant working according to the principle of separation of two columns and producing argon, nitrogen, and oxygen with a daily capacity of 250 tons was analyzed in detail with respect to the first and second laws of thermodynamics and the results were evaluated. The energy and exergy values for each point defined in the system were obtained. By using these values, thermodynamic evaluations for both the whole system and also its components were made. The efficiency values of energy and exergy, the values of energy losses and exergy destruction rates, the EIP (energetic improvement potential rate), ExIP (exergetic improvement potential rate), and the production of entropy values were found as 0.453, 0.79, 4368.475 kW, 10535.875 kW, 2391.535 kW, 3800.485 kW, and 35.347 kW/K, respectively. The energy and exergy efficiencies of the plant were found to be 45.3% and 13.1% respectively.     

Exergetic Analysis of Textile Convective Drying with Stenters by Subsystem Models: Part 1—Exergetic Modeling and Evaluation

This study, which consists of two parts, deals with the exergy analyses and assessments of the direct gas–heated (DGHS) and hot oil–heated (HOHS) stenters. In the first part, a new model for the exergetic analysis of the convective drying of textiles at stenters was presented and the variations of exergetic parameters for each chamber of the stenter were examined. It was emphasized that the exergy efficiency of the last chambers decreased drastically due to the lower evaporation rate of the falling rate period of drying. Additionally, the subsystems of the chambers were analyzed. For this purpose, the detailed control volume models were conducted for the stenters. It was determined that the combustion chamber and mixing unit of the DGHS and the hot oil boiler of the HOHS led to higher exergy destruction rates. Furthermore, total exergy destruction and loss rates of the HOHS were higher compared to those with the DGHS. The exergy efficiency values of each chamber of the DGHS were calculated to be 10.9, 14.9, 15.3, 12.2, 9.8, and 5.3%, respectively.     

Exergy analysis of a spray dryer: Methods and interpretations

Exergy analysis has been used to assess the intrinsic exergy efficiency of a spray drying system modeled to produce 1.25?kg s^?1 of skim milk powder. From an exergy perspective, the dryer has a low exergy efficiency of 38% (on an evaporation basis), while the efficiencies associated with the mass transfer and heat transfer are 94% (thermomechanical efficiency) and 30% (transiting exergy efficiency), respectively. The improvement potential of 575?kW, of the 722?kW energy flow in the feed, also shows that the exergy efficiencies of spray dryers are intrinsically small. Reviewing exergy efficiency factors, there appears to be no universal efficiency factor for an exergy analysis. The inevitable (INE) exergy loss method is a potential shortcut technique based on the Carnot efficiency and first law analysis. There are some limitations on using the INE method for processes that are not exclusively thermal; in those cases, an entropy balance (second law property) is more appropriate. The INE method still shows potential as a starting basis of comparison because it shows the scale and the efficiency together, which is important for targeting areas for process improvement without doing a full exergy analysis. This work is a short review of the work on dryer exergy efficiency, mainly focusing on the various factors which are used, followed by a discussion and case study testing each factor to find a potential optimization method and a discussion on each factors merits.     

Energy,exergy and economic analyses on heat pump drying of lignite

Abstract

Evaporative drying of lignite is an energy intensive process. In this study, the heat pump is integrated with a lignite drying system to decrease the energy consumption rate of lignite drying. The performance of heat pump drying is energetically and exergetically evaluated with developed models. Results show that the power consumption rates to dehydrate 1?kg of water from raw lignite in the heat pump drying system without and with lignite preheater are 660.82 and 585.62?kJ (kg H₂O)^?1, respectively. Exergetic analysis indicates that most exergy is destructed in the condenser and the evaporator in the heat pump drying. The case of lignite-to-electricity process (i.e., a lignite-fired power plant integrated with heat pump drying) is studied to examine additional benefits of heat pump drying to the downstream industrial processes that consume dried lignite. Thermodynamic and economic models are developed. Net efficiency of the lignite-to-electricity process can be increased by 1.4 and 1.57 percentage points for heat pump drying without and with lignite preheater, respectively. Preliminary economic analysis shows that the integration of heat pump drying without and with lignite preheater can earn additional 1.42 and 1.73 million USD, respectively. The influences of drying system and heat pump parameters are also analyzed.     

Exergetic Analysis of Textile Convective Drying with Stenters by Subsystem Models: Part 2—Parametric Study on Exergy Analysis

In this study, the effects of exhaust air humidity ratio, the residual moisture content of fabric outlet, and the temperature of the drying air on the exergy destruction and efficiency of stenters were investigated. The exergy efficiencies of the direct gas heated stenter (DGHS) and hot oil heated stenter (HOHS) were calculated to be varying from 8.5 to 17.5% and from 6.8 to 14.0%, depending on the exhaust air humidity ratio, respectively. The increase in the drying air temperature led to an increase in the exergy efficiency, especially in the constant rate and second rate period of the drying. On the other hand, the application of the gradual temperature method caused the highest total exergy efficiency due to the highest drying rates in the first chambers where considerably high air temperatures were set. Overdrying resulted in the higher irreversibility due to the increase in the fuel consumption in the falling rate period of drying. Thus, the exergy efficiency decreased drastically.     

Exergetic and engineering analyses of sulphuric acid decomposition process

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the exergetic efficiency of the sulphuric acid decomposition process, which occurs in hydrogen producing thermochemical cycles and chemical energy storage systems. It is a process in which sulphuric acid is decomposed to a gaseous mixture consisting of water, sulphur dioxide and oxygen, using high temperature thermal energy, oxygen as a vector and mostly adiabatic equipment. Parts of the basic process with excessive exergy losses have been identified and a modified flow sheet has been developed and analyzed from thermodynamic and engineering points of view. Thermodynamic analysis of the modified flow sheet indicates that the overall exergetic efficiency of the decomposition process is 79.86%, which represents an improvement of 14.17% over the basic process. Engineering analysis of a plant producing 10⁶ mol of SO₂ per hour shows that the typical levelized cost of chemical exergy production was $ 2.25/GJ exergy from the basic process and $ 1.79/GJ exergy from the modified process.     

A new energy efficient single-stage flash drying system integrated with heat recovery applications in industry

Abstract

A new system developed here conducts the thermal management of the flue gas from the cement industry and employs this heat for the drying of raw materials before reaching to the preheating section. As of now, an additional amount of heat is used to provide the drying section with hot air while this proposed configuration recovers the heat from the same plant and employs it for drying purpose. This approach also results in cost saving as this configuration decreases the cost of heating the ambient air to provide the drying section with hot air. The entire system is simulated using the Aspen Plus industrial software. A comprehensive thermodynamic analysis is conducted for each component of the proposed system keeping more focus on the drying section. Numerous parametric and sensitivity studies are conducted to investigate the system performance, pressure drop and raw materials drying. The energy and exergy efficiencies of the drying process are found to be 55.6% and 24.17%. On the basis of the present results achieved, one can say that this novel configuration can be proved as a benchmark for the cement industry and has the capability to reduce the cost as well.     

OPTIMIZATION OF OPERATING CONDITIONS IN TUNNEL DRYING OF FOOD

ABSTRACT

Food drying process in tunnel dryer was modeled from Keey's drying model and experimental drying curve, and optimized in operating conditions consisting of inlet air temperature, air recycle ratio and air flow rate. Radish was chosen as a typical food material to be dried, because it has a typical drying characteristics of food and quality indexes of ascorbic acid destruction and browning in the drying. Stricter quality retention constraint required higher energy consumption in minimizing the objective function of energy consumption under constraints of dried food quality. Optimization results of cocurrent and counter current tunnel drying showed higher inlet air temperature, lower recycle ratio and higher air flow rate with shorter total drying time. Compared with cocurrent operation counter current drying used lower air temperature, lower recycle ratio and lower air flow rate, and appeared to be more efficient in energy usage. Most of consumed energy was analyzed to be used for air heating and then escape from the dryer in form of exhaust air.     

Performance Assessment of a Potato Crisp Frying Process

Frying is a common and popular cooking method, which has been widely used in food manufacturing, though it is a very energy-intensive process. Energy analysis has been commonly used to assess the performance of fryers. In this study, we attempted to exergetically assess the performance of a potato crisp frying system, which consists of three main components, a combustor, a heat exchanger, and a fryer. In the analysis, we utilized the actual operational data obtained from the literature. We determined exergy destruction in each system component and the whole system. We calculated universal and functional exergy efficiency values for the system components and compared them with each other. We also undertook a parametric study to investigate how the overall cycle performance was affected by changing the reference environment temperature and some operating conditions. We illustrated the exergy results through the Grassmann (exergy loss and flow) diagram. We calculated the universal exergetic efficiency values of 58, 82, and 77% for the combustor, heat exchanger, and fryer, respectively, with a universal exergetic efficiency value of 4% for the whole frying system. We found that the fryer had the highest functional exergetic efficiency value of 74%, followed by the heat exchanger with 47% and the combustor with 0.08%.     

Energy and Exergy Analyses of Thin-Layer Drying of Potato Slices in a Semi-Industrial Continuous Band Dryer

This article is concerned with the energy and exergy analyses of the continuous-convection drying of potato slices. The first and second laws of thermodynamics were used to calculate the energy and exergy. A semi-industrial continuous-band dryer has been designed and used for drying experiments. The equipment has a drying chamber of 2 m length and the inlet air used for drying is heated by gas power. The experiments were conducted on potato slices with thickness of 5 mm at three different air temperatures of 50, 60 and 70°C, drying air mass flow rates of 0.61, 1.22, and 1.83 kg/s and feeding rates of 2.31 × 10^?4, 2.78 × 10^?4, and 3.48 × 10^?4 kg/s. The energy utilization and energy utilization ratio were found to vary between 3.75 and 24.04 kJ/s and 0.1513 and 0.3700, respectively. These values show that only a small proportion of the supplied energy by the heater was used for drying. The exergy loss and exergy efficiency were found to be in the range of 0.5987 to 13.71 kJ/s and 0.5713 to 0.9405, respectively, indicating that the drying process was thermodynamically inefficient and much energy was vented in the exhaust air. In addition, the results showed that the feeding rate and the temperature and flow rate of the drying air had an important effect on energy and exergy use. This knowledge will provide insights into the optimization of a continuous dryer and the operating parameters that causes reduction of energy consumption and losses in continuous drying.     

液化天然气过程的热力学分析

利用R K S方程建立了天然气和液化天然气焓火用计算的热力学模型;对 2×104 m3 /d液化天然气液化过程进行了模拟计算;计算了各设备的火用损失和液化过程的火用效率;热力学计算分析结果表明,装置的最大火用损环节是循环压缩机,其次是透平膨胀机和气波制冷机。本装置利用自身所产尾气作为燃气发动机的燃料,进而利用燃气发动机带动循环压缩机,节省了大量电能,回收了排放尾气的能源,有效地解决了压缩机的高能耗问题。     

真空闪蒸制取冰浆系统(火用)分析

采用已有的计算冷量以及损失的公式,对实验室用真空闪蒸制取冰浆系统进行了(火用)分析。利用EES软件,对真空闪蒸法冰浆制备系统中的4个关键环节(冷水冰水混合、真空室内喷雾闪蒸、捕水器内蒸汽凝结成霜、制冷机制备低温盐水)进行计算,得出各个环节(火用)损失以及整个系统的(火用)效率。结果表明:实验用真空室内喷雾闪蒸环节的(火用)效率较高,捕水器内蒸汽凝结成霜的(火用)效率较低,制冷机组制备低温盐水(火用)效率最低,(火用)损最大,导致整个系统的效率相对较低。为了改善真空闪蒸制取冰浆系统的能耗,应对低温盐水制备环节进行优化或采用其他方式替代该环节。     

Energy and exergy efficiencies as design criteria for grain dryers

We devised a novel methodology for optimizing cereal grain dryers grounded on the transient spatial–temporal first and second laws of thermodynamics and associated balance equations. Model equations were solved using a special time-adaptive radial basis function. Comprehensive sensitivity tests show the quantitative effects of initial moisture content, air velocity, and drying air temperature on the temporal profiles of outlet air temperature and moisture content and temporally integrated energy and exergy efficiencies. Drying temperature is the most efficacious parameter in the drying range of 50–90°C. Finally, selected examples show optimized dryer operation points under unrestrained and restrained conditions. Second law efficiency is well suited for expressing drying performance, portraying time, noble energy expenditure, and intrinsic sustainability. Three decision tables, based on simulation results, can be used to define dryer design under normal technical choice. First law efficiency and the specific moisture extraction rate are concepts more adequate for designing in-bin low-temperature dryers. Second law efficiency is indicated when exergy recuperation is at stake: higher drying temperatures, shorter drying times, recirculation drying, and other processes.     

升华干燥过程的(火用)损失分析

通过对物料在升华干燥过程中的Yong损失分析，建立了升华干燥过程的Yong损失分析模型。结合升华干燥动力学模型和Yong损失分析模型，以牛肉为冷冻干燥过程的模型物料，计算了物料表面加热温度、干燥室压力和物料厚度等操作条件的变化对升华干燥过程Yong损失的影响。计算结果表明：随着干燥室压力的增大，物料的Yong损失减小;随着物料表面加热温度的降低，Yong损失减小：随着物料厚度的减小，Yong损失逐渐减小；在冷冻干燥过程中，Yong损失主要集中在升华干燥阶段，在解析干燥阶段，物料表面加热温度的升高不会引起Yong损失的大幅度增加。     

Waste Heat Integration of Coating Paper Machine Drying Process

The paper sheet drying process consumes about 70% of the total energy required in coated papermaking, and almost all the thermal energy used in the process can be found in the exhaust air; thus, it has significant potential to recover the heat. With the aim of saving energy, the recovered energy is usually used to heat different process streams instead of steam.

This article examines the drying process of an operating coating paper machine to demonstrate an optimization method. To study the possibility of improving energy efficiency, thermodynamic analysis was conducted. The reasons why there is so much heat lost during drying were investigated. Based on the results of the energy and exergy analysis, a new waste heat integration scheme is presented. Furthermore, the performance of the proposed scheme has been evaluated. The results of the case study show an energy efficiency improvement of 7.3% and a specific energy consumption reduction of 4.6% with profitable investments.     

溶液除湿冷却系统的火用分析

基于热力学第二定律建立了针对溶液除湿系统的火用分析模型,重点分析了空气和溶液进口参数对溶液除湿器性能（除湿器火用效率）的影响,并且对采用LiCl的溶液除湿冷却系统进行了部件分析。结果表明：（1）除湿器的火用效率影响因素中,空气速度和空气湿度影响最大,其次是溶液的温度和浓度,而空气进口温度和溶液流速的影响基本可以忽略;（2）在整个系统中,溶液-热水换热器的火用损失最大,占24.5%,其次是溶液-溶液热回收器和冷水-溶液换热器,分别占24.4%和22.8%,可见减小换热器的火用损是提高系统火用效率的关键。此研究对于明确改进溶液除湿空调的方向有重要意义。     

室温磁制冷机性能评测及能效分析

为建立磁制冷机能效统一评价指标,弥补采用温跨和制冷量作为磁制冷系统性能评价标准的不足,在现有评价方法的基础上提出了新的室温磁制冷样机能效指标-(火用)效率。为了验证新评价指标的可行性,分别对2011年维多利亚大学公布的样机数据和2012年丹麦理工大学公布的样机数据进行分析计算,将以温跨-热源温度和温跨-制冷量形式给出的测试数据统一转换为温跨-冷量(火用)的形式,以实现对不同样机的能效进行客观评价;同时搭建测试平台对四川大学旋转式室温磁制冷样机在25、27及30℃工况下进行冷量(火用)、(火用)效率指标测试。实验结果表明,该室温磁制冷样机在25℃工况下,磁制冷机转速6 r·min^-1时,制冷量为240 W,最大冷量(火用)为3.26 W。在剔除电机损失、机械损失、磁滞损失及涡流损失等因素的影响后,最大(火用)效率为0.039。     

Exergy analysis of C2 recovery plants refrigeration cycles

This paper provides an exergy analysis of the multistage refrigeration cycle used for Ethane and heavier hydrocarbons (C₂⁺) recovery plant. The behavior of an industrial refrigeration cycle with propane refrigerant has been investigated by the exergy method. The equations of exergy destruction and exergetic efficiency for the main cycle components such as evaporators, condensers, compressors, and expansion valves are developed. The relations for the total exergy destruction in the cycle and the cycle exergetic efficiency are obtained. An ethane recovery unit with its refrigeration cycle has been simulated to prepare the exergy analysis. Using a typical actual work input value; the exergetic efficiency of the refrigeration cycle is determined to be 43.45% indicating a great potential for improvements. The simulation results reveal that the exergetic efficiencies of the heat exchanger and expansion sections get the lowest rank among the other compartments of refrigeration cycle. Refrigeration calculations have been carried out through the analysis of temperature-entropy (T-S) and pressure-enthalpy (P-H) diagrams where coefficient of performance (COP) was obtained as 1.87. The novelty of this article includes the effect and sensitivity analysis of pressure drop and temperature on the exergy efficiency and coefficient of performance of the cycle.