Second law analysis of reverse osmosis desalination plants: An alternative design using pressure retarded osmosis

A second law analysis of a reverse osmosis desalination plant is carried out using reliable seawater exergy formulation instead of a common model in literature that represents seawater as an ideal mixture of liquid water and solid sodium chloride. The analysis is performed using reverse osmosis desalination plant data and compared with results previously published using the ideal mixture model. It is demonstrated that the previous model has serious shortcomings, particularly with regard to calculation of the seawater flow exergy, the minimum work of separation, and the second law efficiency. The most up-to-date thermodynamic properties of seawater, as needed to conduct an exergy analysis, are given as correlations in this paper. From this new analysis, it is found that the studied reverse osmosis desalination plant has very low second law efficiency (<2%) even when using the available energy recovery systems. Therefore, an energy recovery system is proposed using the (PRO) pressure retarded osmotic method. The proposed alternative design has a second law efficiency of 20%, and the input power is reduced by 38% relative to original reverse osmosis system.     

Exergy analysis of solar assisted double effect absorption refrigeration system

Exergy or the available energy is based on the second law of thermodynamics and goes back to Maxwell and Gibbs. It is the exergy content and not the energy content, that truly represents the potential of the substance to cause change. Exergy is the only rational basis for evaluating the system performance. The aim of this project is to study in detail the exergy variation in the solar assisted absorption system. The influence of the cycle parameters are analysed on the basis of first law and second law effectiveness and the results indicated various ways of improving system performance by better design. Also a better quality of the evaporator has more effect on the system performance than the better quality of other components. It was shown that second law analysis quantitatively visualizes losses within a system and gives clear trends for optimization.     

SECOND LAW ANALYSIS OF A SOLAR THERMAL POWER SYSTEM

This communication presents second law analysis based on exergy concept for a solar thermal power system. Basic energy and exergy analysis for the system components (viz. parabolic trough collector/receiver and Rankine heat engine etc.) are carried out for evaluating the energy and exergy losses as well as exergetic efficiency for typical solar thermal power system under given operating conditions. Relevant energy flow and exergy flow diagrams are drawn to show the various thermodynamic and thermal losses. It is found that the main energy loss takes place at the condenser of the heat engine part whereas the exergy analysis shows that the collector-receiver assembly is the part where the losses are maximum. The analysis and results can be used for evaluating the component irreversibilities which can also explain the deviation between the actual efficiency and ideal efficiency of solar thermal power system.     

The second law of thermodynamics as applied to energy conversion processes

The definition of the ‘second law efficiency’ presents certain ambiguities, which are reflected in its applications. It is attempted here to define another figure of merit for energy conversion processes. This incorporates the second law limitations, is based on a state function of the systems considered, exergy, and may be universally applied without ambiguities. A general thermodynamic system is adopted here, which is applicable to all processes, and the utilization factor is used in terms of exergy balances.     

Thermodynamic analysis and utilisation of wet ethanol in homogeneous charge compression ignition engine

In this study, our objective is to computationally analyse the wet ethanol operated homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine to evaluate its first and second law efficiency and observe these results by varying effectiveness of regenerator. The paper concludes that the first and second law efficiency decreases due to the increase in the effectiveness of regenerator. This increase in effectiveness leads to an increase in the temperature of air coming out of the regenerator. It further results in increase of the fuel air mixture intake temperature which finally reduces the work output and efficiency of the engine. Furthermore, the method of exergy analysis has been applied and evaluated. This study indicates that due to domination of chemical exergy destruction in combustion reaction in these systems, maximum exergy is destroyed in HCCI engine and to a lesser extent in catalytic converter. These findings will help in the design of such system for optimum result.     

Performance analysis of gas liquefaction cycles

Relations are developed for first‐ and second‐law analyses of the simple Linde–Hampson cycle used in gas liquefaction systems. An expression for the minimum work requirement, which is applicable to any gas liquefaction system, is developed with the help of a Carnot refrigerator. It is shown that the minimum work depends only on the properties of the incoming and outgoing gas streams and the environment temperature. Numerical calculations are performed to obtain the performance parameters of different gases while parametric studies are done to investigate the effects of liquefaction and inlet gas temperatures on various first‐ and second‐law performance parameters. As the liquefaction temperature increases and the inlet gas temperature decreases, the liquefied mass fraction, the coefficient of performance (COP) and the exergy efficiency increase while actual and reversible work consumptions decrease. The exergy efficiency values appear to be low, indicating significant potential exists for improving efficiency and thus decreasing the required work consumption for a specified amount of liquefaction. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparison of the theoretical performance potential of fuel cells and heat engines

Fuel cells have decided advantages including compatibility with renewable fuels such as hydrogen, methanol and methane. It is often claimed that they have greater potential for efficient operation than heat engines because they are not restricted by the Carnot limitation. However, in this paper a generalized (exergy analysis) approach is utilized to clarify the comparison of the theoretical performance potential of heat engines and fuel cells, in particular, to show that fuel cell conversion is restricted by the second law of thermodynamics in the same way as heat engines. The Carnot efficiency is simply a manifestation of the second law for the heat engine excluding the combustion process. It is shown that the maximum work obtainable from the conversion device is related to the change in flow exergy between reactants and products, that is in general, not equivalent to the change in Gibbs free energy. For equivalent reactant and product temperatures, the difference between the change in Gibbs free energy and the change in flow exergy is equal to the exergy flux of heat transfer that must be rejected by the device due to absorption of entropy from the reactant-product flow. The importance of exergetic (second-law) efficiencies for evaluating performance is demonstrated. Also, exergy analysis is utilized to resolve a number of efficiency related issues for endothermic reactions.     

电站锅炉传递描述

能量的传递和转换必然伴随其"质"--(火用)的传递和转换.能量在传递和转换过程中其量守恒,而炯在传递和转换过程中其量不守恒,因此(火用)必有其独特的传递和转换规律.常规(火用)平衡分析综合热力学第一定律和第二定律,以(火用)效率为评价指标,属于静态热力学研究.参照工程(火用)传递评价准则,提出了堋传递系数、(火用)流密度、(火用)损率等评价指标,并针对某台锅炉机组进行了(火用)传递分析,通过与常规的传热及(火用)平衡分析比较,提供了一些新的技术评价信息.     

Thermodynamic assessment of photovoltaic systems

In this paper, an attempt is made to investigate the performance characteristics of a photovoltaic (PV) and photovoltaic-thermal (PV/T) system based on energy and exergy efficiencies, respectively. The PV system converts solar energy into DC electrical energy where as, the PV/T system also utilizes the thermal energy of the solar radiation along with electrical energy generation. Exergy efficiency for PV and PV/T systems is developed that is useful in studying the PV and PV/T performance and possible improvements. Exergy analysis is applied to a PV system and its components, in order to evaluate the exergy flow, losses and various efficiencies namely energy, exergy and power conversion efficiency. Energy efficiency of the system is calculated based on the first law of thermodynamics and the exergy efficiency, which incorporates the second law of thermodynamics and solar irradiation exergy values, is also calculated and found that the latter is lower for the electricity generation using the considered PV system. The values of “fill factor” are also determined for the system and the effect of the fill factor on the efficiencies is also evaluated. The experimental data for a typical day of March (27th March 2006) for New Delhi are used for the calculation of the energy and exergy efficiencies of the PV and PV/T systems. It is found that the energy efficiency varies from a minimum of 33% to a maximum of 45% respectively, the corresponding exergy efficiency (PV/T) varies from a minimum of 11.3% to a maximum of 16% and exergy efficiency (PV) varies from a minimum of 7.8% to a maximum of 13.8%, respectively.     

Exergetic analysis of a solar thermal power system

This communication presents a second law analysis based on an exergy concept for a solar thermal power system. Basic energy and exergy analysis for the system components (viz. parabolic trough collector/receiver and Rankine heat engine, etc.) are carried out for evaluating the respective losses as well as exergetic efficiency for typical solar thermal power systems under given operating conditions. It is found that the main energy loss takes place at the condenser of the heat engine part, whereas the exergy analysis shows that the collector–receiver assembly is the part where the losses are maximum. The analysis and results can be used for evaluating the component irreversibilities which can also explain the deviation between the actual efficiency and ideal efficiency of a solar thermal power system.     

机械压汽蒸馏海水淡化系统的可用能分析

为获得更加节能高效的海水淡化技术,用热力学第二定律分析机械压汽蒸馏(MVC)海水淡化实验系统的(火用)效率.实验测得MVC海水淡化过程的炯效率为2.8%;其中蒸发.冷凝器、压缩机、水泵和预热器的炯损分别占34.6%、35.5%、16.9%和10.2%.利用数学模型分析了压缩比、蒸发温度和盐水浓度等不可逆参数对实验系统(火用)效率的影响.MVC技术虽然充分回收利用了余热,具有较高的热效率,但实验结果表明该技术的(火用)效率仍然较低.从降低损失的角度来看,应用MVC技术的重点是选用高性能低压缩比的压缩机、经济且耐腐蚀的换热管和适当的蒸发温度.     

Thermodynamic analysis of waste heat recovery of molten blast furnace slag

Based on the first law of thermodynamics and second law of thermodynamics, using enthalpy–exergy compass, the thermodynamic analysis of the waste heat recovery system using different methods to recover the sensible heat of molten BF slag was studied. The results show that the heat efficiency of physical methods is 76.9%, and the exergy efficiency of recovery as steam is 34.2%; the heat efficiency of combined methods is 92.2%, and the exergy efficiency is above 60%. The heat efficiency and exergy efficiency of combined methods are higher than that of physical methods. On the promise of making comprehensive consideration for the exergy efficiency and the reaction condition, whether or not to consider the use of catalyst, the consumption of reactant and the amount of product, the C-CO₂/H₂O reaction are selected as the best reaction.     

Performance improvement of a single-flash geothermal power plant in Dieng,Indonesia, upon conversion to a double-flash system using thermodynamic analysis

We investigated proposed design of a double-flash system and compared it to the existing single-flash power plant in Dieng, Indonesia, which uses waste brine from a high pressure separator. The performance of the double-flash system was evaluated using the second law of thermodynamics, and this was based on energy and exergy analyses. The Engineering Equation Solver (EES) was used to solve the relevant mathematical equations.Our results indicate that the double-flash design is interesting for application in Dieng since the power output would increase by 19.97%. Moreover, the precipitation system to avoid silica deposition in the injection well does not have to change much. Therefore, the building costs associated with the new double-flash system would be minimal. The available exergy from the reservoir is 66,204 kW based on the enthalpy determined by TFT (Tracer Flow Test) measurements. The single-flash power plant has a net power output of 23,400 kW with a second law efficiency of 36.7%. In the double-flash design, components such as a LPS, a second purifier and an HPT would be added to the plant. Furthermore, our calculations indicate that the power plant's output and second law efficiency would increase to 29,155 kW and 44.04%, respectively. The waste brine disposed of using this precipitation system would decrease by 8.22% at 5443 kW.     

Second law analysis of two‐stage compression transcritical CO2 heat pump cycle

Because of the global warming impact of hydro fluorocarbons, the uses of natural refrigerants in automotive and HVAC industries have received worldwide attention. CO₂ is the most promising refrigerant in these industries, especially the transcritical CO₂ refrigeration cycle. The objective of this work is to identify the main factors that affect two‐stage compression transcritical CO₂ system efficiency. A second law of thermodynamic analysis on the entire two‐stage CO₂ cycle is conducted so that the exergy destruction of each system component can be deduced and ranked, allowing future efforts to focus on improving the components that have the highest potential for advancement. The inter‐stage pressure is used as a variable parameter in the analysis study. The second law efficiency, coefficient of cooling performance and total exergy destruction of the system variations with the inter‐stage pressure are presented graphically. It was concluded that there is an optimum inter‐stage pressure that maximizes both first law and second law efficiencies. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Second law-based thermodynamic analysis of ammonia/sodium thiocyanate absorption system

In this study, the first and second law of thermodynamics are used to analyze the performance of a novel absorption system for cooling and heating applications. The active component of the sorbent used in this study is sodium thiocyanate (NaSCN). Ammonia (NH₃) is chosen as sorptive. A mathematic model based on exergy analysis is introduced to analyze the system performance. Enthalpy, entropy, temperature, mass flow rate and exergy loss of each component and the total exergy loss of the system are evaluated. Furthermore, the coefficient of performance (COP) and exergetic efficiency of the absorption system for cooling and heating processes are calculated from the thermodynamic properties of the working fluids under different operating conditions. The results show that the COP of cooling and heating increases with the heat source temperature and decreases with the cooling water inlet temperature, but the system exergetic efficiency does not show the same trends for both cooling and heating applications. The simulation results can be used for the thermodynamic optimization of the current system.     

Thermodynamic analysis of solar photovoltaic cell systems

The thermodynamic characteristics of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells are investigated from a perspective based on exergy. A new efficiency is developed that is useful in studying PV performance and possible improvements. Exergy analysis is applied to a PV system and its components, and exergy flows, losses and efficiencies are evaluated. Energy efficiency is seen to vary between 7% and 12% during the day. In contrast, exergy efficiencies, which incorporate the second law of thermodynamics and account for solar irradiation exergy values, are lower for electricity generation using the considered PV system, ranging from 2% to 8%. Values of “fill factors” are determined for the system and observed to be similar to values of exergy efficiency.     

金属镁还原系统的(火用)分析

从热力学原理出发,首次采用分析法研究了金属镁还原系统的损失部位与大小。结果表明:金属镁还原炉的效率很低,排烟损失和绝热燃烧损失都比较大,还原产物带走损失和还原炉体内部损失居次。据此提出了一些提高效率的措施。     

Thermodynamic analysis of an integrated power generation system driven by solid oxide fuel cell

A new integrated power generation system driven by the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is proposed to improve the conversion efficiency of conventional energy by using a Kalina cycle to recover the waste heat of exhaust from the SOFC-GT. The system using methane as main fuel consists an internal reforming SOFC, an after-burner, a gas turbine, preheaters, compressors and a Kalina cycle. The proposed system is simulated based on the developed mathematical models, and the overall system performance has been evaluated by the first and second law of thermodynamics. Exergy analysis is conducted to indicate the thermodynamic losses in each components. A parametric analysis is also carried out to examine the effects of some key thermodynamic parameters on the system performance. Results indicate that as compressor pressure ratio increases, SOFC electrical efficiency increases and there is an optimal compressor pressure ratio to reach the maximum overall electrical efficiency and exergy efficiency. It is also found that SOFC electrical efficiency, overall electrical efficiency and exergy efficiency can be improved by increasing air flow rate. Also, the largest exergy destruction occurs in the SOFC followed by the after-burner, the waste heat boiler, the gas turbine. The compressor pressure ratio and air flow rate have significant effects on the exergy destruction in some main components of system.     

Exergy Analysis of Solar Still with Sand Heat Energy Storage

This paper studies the experimental and exergy analysis of solar still with the sand heat energy storage system. The cumulative yield from solar still with and without energy storage material is found to be 3.3 and 1.89 kg/m², respectively for 8-h operation. Results show that the exergy efficiency of the system is higher with the least water depth of 0.02 m (m_w = 20 kg). Competitive analysis of second law efficiency shows that the exergy efficiency improves the system by 30% than conventional single slope solar still without any heat storage. The maximum exergy efficiency with energy storage material is found as 13.2% and it is less than the conventional solar still without any material inside the basin.     

Hydrogen enrichment effects on the second law analysis of a lean burn natural gas engine

This paper presents a computational work aimed at investigating the effects of hydrogen addition on the exergy (or availability) balance in a lean burn natural gas spark ignition (SI) engine. A thermodynamic engine cycle simulation was extended to perform the exergy analysis. A zero dimensional, two-zone computational model of the engine operation was used for the closed part of the cycle. The results of the model were compared with experimental data to demonstrate the validation of the model. Exergetic terms, such as exergy transfer with heat, exergy transfer with work, irreversibilities, fuel chemical exergy, and total exergy, were computed based on principles of the second law. The exergetic (the second law) efficiency was also calculated. The results of exergy analysis show that increasing hydrogen content and lean burn have considerably affected the exergy transfers, irreversibilities and second law efficiency. With increasing hydrogen content, the irreversibility produced during combustion decreases, and the second-law efficiency sharply increases at near the lean limit.