Cumulative exergy losses associated with the production of lead metal

Cumulative exergy losses result from the irreversibility of the links of a technological network leading from raw materials and fuels extracted from nature to the product under consideration. The sum of these losses can be apportioned into partial exergy losses (associated with particular links of the technological network) or into constituent exergy losses (associated with constituent subprocesses of the network). The methods of calculation of the partial and constituent exergy losses are presented, taking into account the useful byproducts substituting the major products of other processes. Analyses of partial and constituent exergy losses are made for the technological network of lead metal production.