Assessing energy technologies and environmental impacts with the principles of thermodynamics

Many suggest that the environmental impact of energy resource use and the achievement of increased efficiency are best addressed by considering the thermodynamic property exergy. This paper reports on the use of the principles of thermodynamics via exergy to evaluate energy systems and technologies as well as environmental impact. Exergy is described and its use as a tool to improve efficiency illustrated. The environmental implications of exergy are discussed, and the ties between exergy and economics described. It is concluded that thermodynamics, and particularly exergy, has a significant role to play in evaluating energy technologies and environmental impact. The results indicate that exergy methods should prove useful to engineers and scientists, as well as decision and policy makers. To increase the acceptance of exergy, further research is needed to better define its role in the area of environmental impact.     

Framework for analysis of solar energy systems in the built environment from an exergy perspective

Exergy analysis is a more powerful tool than mere energy analysis for showing the improvement potential of energy systems. Direct use of solar radiation instead of degrading other high quality energy resources found in nature is advantageous. Yet, due to physical inconsistencies present in the exergy analysis framework for assessing direct-solar systems commonly found in literature, high exergy losses arise in the conversion process of solar radiation in direct-solar systems. However, these losses are disregarded in indirect-solar systems.In this paper, contradictions and physical inconsistencies which result from including the conversion of solar radiation only for direct-solar systems are shown. An evaluation framework physically coherent for systems making direct and indirect use of solar radiation is derived and its physical correctness is thoroughly discussed. Results from case studies using the proposed framework are presented and compared with the conventional approach, enabling their direct comparison and better understanding of the benefits and correctness of the proposed method. The new method allows recognizing clearly the suitability of direct-solar systems, being appropriate for highlighting more sustainable energy supply systems.Although this paper focuses on building systems, the framework might be used for exergy analysis of direct-solar systems in the context of other energy uses.     

Exergy analysis of a pulp and paper mill

Different energy and exergy concepts and methods are presented and applied to a Swedish pulp and paper mill. Flow diagrams show that the exergy content is mostly much less than the energy content of the flows. The largest exergy losses appear in the boilers. Heating processes are highly exergy inefficient. A limited Life Cycle Exergy Analysis (LCEA) shows that the exergy output amounts to over 3 times the spent exergy as non‐sustainable resources. By replacing the present use of non‐sustainable resources, mostly fuel oil, the mill could move towards a truly sustainable process. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Second-law analysis of aquifer thermal energy storage systems

The application of exergy (second-law) analysis to aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) systems is investigated in order to facilitate proper assessments of overall system performances. An elementary ATES model is created, and the corresponding expressions are developed for efficiencies and for the quantities of energy and exergy that are injected and recovered. It is demonstrated that ATES performance measures based on exergy often are more useful and meaningful than those based on energy. Exergy efficiencies account for the temperatures associated with energy transfers to and from an ATES, as well as the quantities of energy transferred, and consequently provide a measure of how nearly ATES systems approach ideal thermodynamic performance. Energy efficiencies do not provide a measure of approach to ideal performance and, in fact, are often misleadingly high because some of the energy recovered can be at too low a temperature to be available for a useful purpose.     

On exergy and sustainable development—Part 1: Conditions and concepts

The future of life on our planet is a matter of great concern. This paper is based on a vision of sustainable development. It is divided into two parts. The first part introduces conditions and concepts that are of importance for sustainable development. Environmental conditions in terms of causes and effects of emissions, the concept of exergy as a physical measure of difference or contrast and a number of different exergy forms common in nature are presented. Emissions and pollutants are differences in the environment, thus effecting the environment. Exergy is a suitable measure of these differences. The concept of sustainability is examined with relation to exergy flows on the earth. Part 2 of this paper introduces methods based on presented concepts and applies these to real systems. Exergy is applied to emissions to the environment by case studies in order to describe and evaluate its values and limitations as an ecological indicator. Exergy is considered as a useful ecological indicator by reference to the literature in the field.     

Exergy analysis of a MSF distillation plant

In this paper, a large MSF distillation plant in the gulf area is analyzed thermodynamically using actual plant operation data. Exergy flow rates are evaluated throughout the plant, and the exergy flow diagram is prepared. The rates of exergy destruction and their percentages are indicated on the diagram so that the locations of highest exergy destruction can easily be identified. The highest exergy destruction (77.7%) occurs within the MSF unit, as expected, and this can be reduced by increasing the number of flashing stages. The exergy destruction in the pumps and motors account for 5.3% of the total, and this also can be reduced by using high efficiency motors and pumps. The plant is determined to have a second law efficiency of just 4.2%, which is very low. This indicates that there are major opportunities in the plant to reduce exergy destruction and, thus, the amount of electric and thermal energy supplied, making the operation of the plant more cost effective.     

An exergy analysis of a traditional compressed air energy storage system

压缩空气储能技术是具有较大发展前景的大规模储能技术之一,具有广阔的发展前景。使用Aspen Plus软件以传统压缩空气储能系统为例进行流程模拟,运用分析方法对模拟结果进行热力性能分析。分析结果表明,燃烧室的损失是系统各设备损失中最大的。同时还对压缩空气储能系统各个组成部件的运行效率与储能系统的损失之间的关系进行了敏感性分析,分析结果表明,对系统效率影响最大的参数为燃烧室效率,最小的参数为膨胀透平绝热效率。     

Energetic and exergetic aspects of cotton stalk production in establishing energy policies

Exergy analysis is important for energy resource utilization, because exergy, which is a way to a sustainable future, is a part of the energy analysis. Exergy analysis starts to play a role in several countries in developing energy policy. This paper deals with the exergetic assessment of the cotton stalk (CS) production. In this regard, Turkey, which is one of the eight countries producing 85% of the world's cotton, is given as an application country first. Energy and exergy relations used in the analysis are then presented. Finally, the Turkish CS production in 2003 is evaluated using energy and exergy analyses method, while the results obtained are discussed. The values for the net energy and exergy gained are obtained to be about 49,146 and 59,395 MJ/ha, respectively. Turkey's total energy and exergy are estimated to be 75.45 and 81.87 PJ. It may be concluded that this amount of energy is equal to 7.77% and 2.38% of Turkey's primary energy production and consumption in the same year, respectively. The overall mean energy and exergy efficiencies of the cotton production in the year studied are found to be 33.06% and 33.12%, respectively. It is also expected that the results of this study will be helpful in developing highly applicable and productive planning for energy policies.     

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.     

Exergoecology: A thermodynamic approach for accounting the Earth's mineral capital. The case of bauxite–aluminium and limestone–lime chains

As man extracts minerals, the natural deposits become depleted in quantity and concentration, and hence the mineral wealth of the Earth decreases. This paper explains the exergoecological method used for calculating the mineral exergy bonus that Nature gives us for free for providing minerals concentrated in mines and not dispersed in the Earth's crust. The method is based on two concepts: Exergy and the Exergy cost. Exergy measures the minimum (reversible) work required to extract and concentrate the materials from a Reference Environment (RE) to the conditions found in Nature. This RE can be approximated to a completely degraded crepuscular planet with the absence of fossil fuels and mineral deposits. And the exergy cost accounts for the actual exergy required for accomplishing the same process with available technologies. These costs are complementary to the conventional extraction, land-recovering, processing and refining costs. The case studies of two industrial chains: bauxite–alumina–aluminium, and limestone–calcite–lime are presented and discussed. As the method provides values in energy units, the annual exergy decrease in the mineral endowment of the planet due to the extraction of minerals can now take into account the fossil fuel's exergy as well as the non-fuel mineral exergy costs.     

Classification of geothermal resources in Turkey by exergy analysis

The investigations have been directed to technology development in the usage of natural resources as a result of increase in the world energy demand associated with environmental factors. It has also sparked interest in the scientific community to take a closer look at the energy conversion devices and develop the new techniques to better utilise the existing limited sources. Geothermal resources have a great importance for the energy potential in Turkey. Exergy of a system is the capability of doing work and exergy values of geothermal resources are the strongest criterion for determining the system efficiency. In this study, geothermal resources in Turkey have been classified based on specific exergy rates (SER). The computed results of exergy analysis can be used as a tool for evaluating the characteristics of resources, and the optimum application area of geothermal resources can also be defined.     

Analysis of an evaporator-condenser-separated mechanical vapor compression system

An evaporator-condenser-separated mechanical vapor compression (MVC) system was presented. The better effect of descaling and antiscaling was obtained by the new system. This study focused on the method of thermodynamic analysis, and the energy and exergy flow diagrams were established by using the first and second law of thermodynamics analysis. The results show that the energy utilization rate is very high and the specific power consumption is low. Exergy analysis indicates that the exergy efficiency is low, and the largest exergy loss occurs within the evaporator -condenser and the compressor.     

Quantifying global exergy resources

Exergy is used as a common currency to assess and compare the reservoirs of theoretically extractable work we call energy resources. Resources consist of matter or energy with properties different from the predominant conditions in the environment. These differences can be classified as physical, chemical, or nuclear exergy. This paper identifies the primary exergy reservoirs that supply exergy to the biosphere and quantifies the intensive and extensive exergy of their derivative secondary reservoirs, or resources. The interconnecting accumulations and flows among these reservoirs are illustrated to show the path of exergy through the terrestrial system from input to its eventual natural or anthropogenic destruction. The results are intended to assist in evaluation of current resource utilization, help guide fundamental research to enable promising new energy technologies, and provide a basis for comparing the resource potential of future energy options that is independent of technology and cost.     

Performance of the Dutch Energy Sector based on energy, exergy and Extended Exergy Accounting

The performance of the Dutch Energy Sector is analyzed using the Standard Exergy Analysis as well as Extended Exergy Accounting (EEA) method. Performance indicators based on energy, exergy and cumulative exergy consumption (CExC) are evaluated for three subsectors: exploitation, transformation, and distribution of energy. It is shown that performance indicators based on CExC are much lower than those based on energy and exergy concepts. The EEA method is applied for analysis of four branches: cokeries and refineries, refineries, central electricity production, and distribution and decentral electricity production. The EEA method originally proposed by Sciubba is modified by evaluating the cost-to-exergy conversion factor from the monetary value and CExC of the feedstock. It was found that the monetary equivalent of extended exergy is higher than the respective product sales. Finally, it is shown that performance indicators of selected energy branches based on extended exergy are much lower than those based on the CExC.     

太阳能驱动的固体氧化物电解池制氢系统性能研究

采用太阳能驱动电解水制氢是实现将太阳能转换为氢能来存储的最佳方式。该文提出一种采用光伏、光热协同驱动固体氧化物电解池（SOEC）进行高温蒸汽电解的制氢系统。建立各子系统数学模型,选取北京地区夏至日气象参数,分析太阳辐照度对制氢系统的性能影响,最后对整个系统进行能量及火用分析。结果表明,电流密度和温度是影响SOEC工作的重要因素。在电流密度较大的情况下升高温度,将有利于提高电解效率。耦合太阳能后系统最大能量及火用效率分别达到19.1%和20.3%。火用分析结果表明系统最大有用功损失发生在光电转换过程,火用损比例为87%。提升光电效率,将成为提高太阳能-氢能转换效率的关键。     

A review and assessment of the energy utilization efficiency in the Turkish industrial sector using energy and exergy analysis method

Exergy has been seen a key component for a sustainable society, and in the recent years exergy analysis has been widely used in the design, simulation and performance evaluation of thermal and thermo chemical systems. A particular thermo dynamical system is the society of a country, while the energy utilization of a country can be assessed using exergy analysis to gain insights into its efficiency and potential for improvements.Energy and exergy utilization efficiencies in the Turkish industrial sector (TIS) over the period from 1990 to 2003 are reviewed and evaluated in this study. Energy and exergy analyses are performed for eight industrial modes, namely iron–steel, chemical–petrochemical, petrochemical–feedstock, cement, fertilizer, sugar, non-metal industry, other industry, while in the analysis the actual data are used. Sectoral energy and exergy analyses are conducted to study the variations of energy and exergy efficiencies for each subsector throughout the years studied, and these heating and overall energy and exergy efficiencies are compared for the eight subsectors. The chemical and petrochemical subsector, and the iron and steel subsector appear to be the most energy and exergy efficient sectors, respectively. The energy utilization efficiencies for the Turkish overall industrial sector range from 63.45% to 70.11%, while the exergy utilization efficiencies vary from 29.72% to 33.23% in the analyzed years. Exergetic improvement potential for this sector is also determined to be 681 PJ in 2003, with an average increase rate of 9.5% annually for the analyzed years. It may be concluded that the methodology used in this study is practical and useful for analyzing sectoral and subsectoral energy and exergy utilization to determine how efficient energy and exergy are used in the sector studied. It is also expected that this study will be helpful in developing highly applicable and productive planning for energy policies.     

Exergy accounting of energy and materials flows in steel production systems

A life-cycle inventory (LCI) of steel based on exergy values is presented. Exergy accounting of energy and materials flows for distinct steel production processes — conventional integrated, semi-integrated and new integrated with smelt reduction — is used to calculate and compare exergy losses and efficiencies for each case. The exergy LCI provides an integrated measure of resources, products and wastes at different aggregation levels, from single unit operations and upstream production steps to steel plants and production routes. Exergy values for pollution and wastes are presented and discussed. A sensitivity analysis is performed in order to test how variations in some parameters affect the results of the total exergy accounting for the different steel production routes.     

Component exergy analysis of solar powered transcritical CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> rankine cycle system

In this paper,exergy analysis method is developed to assess a Rankine cycle system,by using supercritical CO2 as working fluid and powered by solar energy.The proposed system consists of evacuated solar collectors,throttling valve,high-temperature heat exchanger,low-temperature heat exchanger,and feed pump.The system is designed for utilize evacuated solar collectors to convert solar energy into mechanical energy and hence electricity.In order to investigate and estimate exergy performance of this system,the energy,entropy,exergy balances are developed for the components.The exergy destructions and exergy efficiency values of the system components are also determined.The results indicate that solar collector and high temperature heat exchanger which have low exergy efficiencies contribute the largest share to system irreversibility and should be the optimization design focus to improve system exergy effectiveness.Further,exergy analysis is a useful tool in this regard as it permits the performance of each process to be assessed and losses to be quantified.Exergy analysis results can be used in design,optimization,and improvement efforts.     

Thermodynamic modeling of an integrated biomass gasification and solid oxide fuel cell system

An integrated process of biomass gasification and solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) is investigated using energy and exergy analyses. The performance of the system is assessed by calculating several parameters such as electrical efficiency, combined heat and power efficiency, power to heat ratio, exergy destruction ratio, and exergy efficiency. A performance comparison of power systems for different gasification agents is given by thermodynamic analysis. Exergy analysis is applied to investigate exergy destruction in components in the power systems. When using oxygen-enriched air as gasification agent, the gasifier reactor causes the greatest exergy destruction. About 29% of the chemical energy of the biomass is converted into net electric power, while about 17% of it is used to for producing hot water for district heating purposes. The total exergy efficiency of combined heat and power is 29%. For the case in which steam as the gasification agent, the highest exergy destruction lies in the air preheater due to the great temperature difference between the hot and cold side. The net electrical efficiency is about 40%. The exergy combined heat and power efficiency is above 36%, which is higher than that when air or oxygen-enriched air as gasification agent.