Lesson 7 - Exergy Analysis
Lesson 7 - Exergy Analysis
Definitions
◦ Exergy (also called Availability or Work Potential): the
maximum useful work that can be obtained from a
system at a given state in a given environment; in other
words, the most work you can get out of a system
◦ Surroundings: outside the system boundaries
◦ Environment: the area of the surroundings not affected
by the process at any point (For example, if you have a
hot turbine, the air next to the turbine is warm. The
environment is the area of the surroundings far enough
away that the temperature isn’t affected.)
◦ Dead State: when a system is in thermodynamic
equilibrium with the environment, denoted by a
subscript zero; at this point no more work can be done
Example
◦ A coal-fired furnace is used in a power plant. It delivers
5000 kW at 1000 K. The environment is at 300 K. What
is the exergy of the added heat? You can use two steps
to solve this problem.
◦ Determine the maximum percentage of the heat that can be
converted to work.
◦ Using your answer from the first part, determine the
maximum work possible.
◦ This is the maximum work output possible between the
given state and the dead state, i.e., the heat’s exergy. In
this case, 30% of the 5000 kW is unavailable energy—it
can’t be converted to work.
Why Study Exergy?
◦ In the last several decades, exergy analysis has
begun to be used for system optimization.
◦ By analyzing the exergy destroyed by each
component in a process, we can see where we
should be focusing our efforts to improve system
efficiency.
◦ It can also be used to compare components or
systems to help make informed design decisions.
Reversible Work
◦ Wrev (reversible work): the maximum amount of
work it’s possible to produce (or minimum
necessary to input) in a process between given
initial and final states. Note that this is different
from an isentropic process where we were given
an inlet state and solved for the exit state using
s2=s1. Since the exit and inlet states are both
fixed, the process is not necessarily isentropic.
◦ What two conditions will cause a process to be
isentropic?
Irreversibilities
◦ Irreversibility, I: exergy destroyed;
wasted work potential. It represents
energy that could have been converted
into work but was instead wasted
◦ What are some sources of I?
◦ To have high system efficiency, we want I
to be as small as possible.
I, cont.
◦ I=Wrev, out –Wu, out (work output device, like a
turbine) OR
◦ I=Wu, in –Wrev, in (work input device, like a
pump)
◦ Wu: useful work; the amount of work done that
can actually be used for something desirable
◦ Wu=W-Wsurr where W=actual work done
Surroundings Work, Wsurr
Here some work is used to push the
atmospheric air (the surroundings) out of
the way; that work can’t be used for other
purposes.
◦ What =P
Wsurris W 0 (V
surr for 1 ) negative
2 −aVcontrol volume?
Second Law Efficiency, hII
◦ Thermal efficiency tells us what we get
out compared to what we put in.
◦ The second law efficiency tells us how
much we get out compared to the
maximum possible we could get out, given
the inlet and exit conditions.
Second Law Efficiency, cont.
◦ hth,max=1-TL/TH=1-
300/800=0.635
◦ Say hth=0.45
◦ hII=0.45/0.625=0.72
◦ We want a high hth and hII
◦ Another way to look at this:
for a work output device
hII=Wu/Wrev
Second Law Efficiency, cont.
◦ A general definition:
exergy recovered (what's available after the process)
h II =
exergy supplied (what's available at the beginning)
exergy destroyed (I)
= 1−
exergy supplied
Three Efficiency Definitions
◦ The second two are defined for work OUTPUT
devices
Wnet
Thermal h th =
Qin
Wactual
Isentropich s =
Wisentropic
Wu
2 nd
Law h II =
Wrev
Example
◦ A freezer is maintained at 20°F by
removing heat from it at a rate of 75
Btu/min. The power input to the freezer is
0.70 hp, and the surrounding air is 75°F.
Determine a) the reversible power, b) the
irreversibility, an c) the second-law
efficiency of this freezer.
Ref: Cengel & Boles, Thermodynamics, An Engineering Approach, 4th edition, Mc-Graw Hill, 2002.):
Exergy
◦ We can calculate the exergy, X (work potential) at a
given state. The work potential is a function of the total
energy of the system.
◦ X = X KE + X PE + X internal energy + X flow work
◦ (remember that in a control mass, there will be no flow work)
◦ XKE (exergy due to kinetic energy): V2/2 (on a per unit
mass basis
◦ XPE: gZ
◦ Xinternal energy: u-uo+Po(v-vo)-To(s-s0)
◦ To see a derivation of this last equation, see the
appendices on the web site. The “o” stands for the dead
state (atmospheric conditions). If a piston is at
atmospheric pressure and temperature (the dead state),
it can’t do any work.
Exergy of a Closed System
◦ Exergy of a closed system, per unit mass j, can be found
be adding all the terms 2
V
= ( u − uo ) + Po ( v − vo ) − To ( s − so ) + + gZ
2
◦ This gives us the maximum work we could possibly get
out of a system.
◦ Usually we will be more interested in the change in
exergy from the beginning to end of a process.
◦ For a closed system,
2 − 1 = = ?
For a control volume
◦ Xcv=Xclosed+Xflow work
◦ y=Xcv/m (exergy per unit mass)
◦ Xflow work=Wflow-Wagainst atmosphere=Pv-P
2
ov
y cv = (u − uo ) + Po v − Po vo − To (s − so ) +
V
+ gz + Pv − Po vo
2
Qk
S gen = S 2 − S1 −
Tk
I = To S gen
for a component :
Q
S gen = m (se − si ) −
Tk
S = S
gen gen , pump + S gen ,boiler + S gen,turbine + S gen,cond .
Q pump Qboiler Q Q
= m s 2 − s1 − + s3 − s 2 −
+ s 4 − s3 − turbine
+ s1 − s 4 − cond .,in
To Tcomb.chamber To Tlake
Qout Qin
I = To m −
Tk ,out Tk ,in
Second Law Efficiency for a Cycle
W net,actual W net,actual
h II = =
Wnet,reversible W net, actual + I