EXERGY (AVAILABILITY)

Exergy

A property that determines the useful work potential of a given amount of energy at some
specified state. Also known as availability or available energy

The work potential of the energy contained in a system at a specified state is the maximum
useful work that can be obtained from the system.

Work = f(initial state, process path, final state)

Work output is maximized when the process between two specified states is executed in a
reversible manner.

The system must be in the dead state at the end of the process to maximize the work output.

A system that is in equilibrium with its environment is said to be at the dead state.

At the dead state, the useful work potential (exergy) of a system is zero.

Exergy does not represent the amount of work that a work-producing device will actually deliver
upon installation.

It represents the upper limit on the amount of work a device can deliver without violating any
thermodynamic laws.

There will always be a difference between exergy and the actual work delivered by a device.

This difference represents the room engineers have for improvement.

Exergy is a property of the system– environment combination and not of the system alone.

Altering the environment is another way of increasing exergy, but not easy

The atmosphere contains a tremendous amount of energy, but no exergy.

Unavailable energy is the portion of energy that cannot be converted to work by even a
reversible heat engine.

Reversible work and Irreversibility

The evaluation of exergy alone is not sufficient for studying engineering devices operating
between two fixed states.

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The final state is always assumed to be the dead state; not the case in actual applications.

Surroundings work: the work done by or against the surroundings during a process.

Useful work: The difference between the actual work W and the surroundings work Wsurr.

Surroundings work, Wsurr = Po(V2 – V1)

Useful work, Wu = W – Wsurr = W - Po(V2 – V1)

Wsurr represents a loss during expansion process and gain during compression.

The work done by or against the atmospheric pressure has significance only for systems that
involve moving boundary work.

It has no significance for cyclic devices and systems whose boundaries remain fixed during a
process such as rigid tanks and steady-flow devices.

Reversible work, Wrev: the maximum amount of useful work that can be produced as a system
undergoes a process between the specified initial and final states.

When the final state is the dead state, the reversible work equals exergy.

For processes that require work, reversible work represents the minimum amount of work
necessary to carry out that process.

Difference between the reversible work, Wrev, and the useful work, Wu, is due to the
irreversibilities: Irreversibility, I

The irreversibility is equivalent to the exergy destroyed.

For a totally reversible process, the actual and reversible work terms are identical, and thus the
irreversibility is zero.

Irreversibility represents the energy that could have been converted to work but was not.

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 Irreversibility = Reversible work – Useful work

I = Wrev - Wu

Efficiency and Effectiveness

First Law Efficiency (Thermal Efficiency)

𝑛𝑒𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑊𝑛𝑒𝑡

𝜂= =
𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑄𝑖𝑛

Carnot cycle

𝑄𝐻 − 𝑄𝐿 𝑇𝐿
𝜂= = 1−
𝑄𝐻 𝑇𝐻

Second Law Efficiency (Effectiveness)

The ratio of the actual thermal efficiency to the maximum possible (reversible) thermal
efficiency under the same conditions: Second law efficiency, ηII

The second law efficiency is expressed in different forms depending upon the type of device
under consideration.
𝜂𝑡ℎ
For heat engines, 𝜂𝐼𝐼 = 𝜂𝑡ℎ,𝑟𝑒𝑣

𝑊𝑢
For work producing devices, 𝜂𝐼𝐼 = 𝑊𝑟𝑒𝑣

𝑊𝑟𝑒𝑣
For work consuming devices, 𝜂𝐼𝐼 = 𝑊𝑢

𝐶𝑂𝑃
For refrigerators and heat pumps, 𝜂𝐼𝐼 = 𝐶𝑂𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑣

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 Exergy recovered Exergy destroyed
In general, ηII = = 1−
Exergy supplied Exergy supplied

Second-law efficiency is a measure of the performance of a device relative to its performance

under reversible conditions.

Hence, second-law efficiency of all reversible devices is 100 percent.

Isentropic Efficiency (Process Efficiency)

1. Adiabatic turbine efficiency

work of actual adiabatic expansion 𝑊𝑎𝑐𝑡
ηT = =
work of reversible adiabatic expansion 𝑊𝑠
2. Adiabatic compressor efficiency
work of reversible adiabatic compression 𝑊𝑠
ηC = =
work of actual adiabatic compression 𝑊𝑎𝑐𝑡

For a heat engine,

The exergy supplied is the decrease in the exergy of the heat transferred to the engine, which is
the difference between the exergy of the heat supplied and the exergy of the heat rejected.

The exergy of the heat rejected at the temperature of the surroundings is zero.

The net work output is the recovered exergy.

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Exergy Change of a System

The value of exergy (unlike energy) depends on the state of the environment as well as the state
of the system.

The exergy of a system that is in equilibrium with its surroundings is zero.

This state of the system is referred to as a ″dead state″.

Exergy of a closed system

To derive an expression for exergy change of a closed system, we consider a piston cylinder
assembly.

The system undergoes a differential change of state.

Heat transfer from the system occurs through a reversible heat engine (to avoid any
irreversibilities).

The total work done = Work done (PdV) + the work done by the reversible heat engine.

From the first law of the system

-δQ – δW = dU

Here, δW = PdV = (P – Po)dV + PodV = δWb,useful + PodV

For the reversible heat engine,

To
dS = δQ/T and ηth = 1 - T

Therefore,

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 To To
δWHE = [1 - ] δQ = δQ - δQ = δQ – (-TodS)
T T

Or

δQ = δWHE - TodS

δWtotal, useful = δWHE + δWHE + δWb, useful = -dU – PodV + TodS

Integrating from given state to the dead state (0),

Wtotal, useful = (U – Uo) + Po(V-Vo) – To(S-So)

A closed system may possess KE and PE

Therefore the exergy of a closed system is:

Since KE and PE are themselves forms of exergy,

For unit mass,

Exergy change of a system is the difference between the initial and final exergies of the system

Or, per unit mass,

Exergy change of a flow system consist of enthalpy (h = u + Pv)

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This is also known as the flow exergy, ψ or ψ (per unit mass)

Exergy Change of a flow system

Flow exergy change,

Flow exergy per unit mass,

Exergy Destruction

Irreversibilities always cause increase in entropy

Increase in entropy leads to destruction of exergy

Exergy destroyed is proportional to entropy generated

For actual processes, exergy destroyed is always a positive quantity

Exergy destroyed represents the lost work potential and is also called the irreversibility or lost
work.

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Decrease in Exergy Principle

The exergy of an isolated system during a process always decreases or, in the limiting case of a
reversible process, remains constant.

Exergy never increases and exergy is destroyed during an actual process.

From the energy and entropy balances, we can show that:

Since ToSgen ≥ 0, it follows that for an isolated system

Exergy Balance

The exergy change of a system during a process is equal to the difference between the net exergy
transfer through the system boundary and the exergy destroyed within the system boundaries as a
result of irreversibilities.

This can also be expressed in the rate form as,

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Example 1

Steam expands adiabatically in turbine from 20 bar, 400 oC to 4 bar, 250 oC. Calculate:

a) The isentropic efficiency of the process

b) Loss of exergy of the system assuming atmospheric temperature of 15 oC
c) Effectiveness of the process

Solution

Steam is superheated at 20 bars, 400 oC hence from tables. (State 1)

h1 = 3248 kJ/kg, S1 = 7.126 kJ/kgK

State 2 (superheated steam)

h2 = 2965 kJ/kg, S2 = 7.379 kJ/kgK

(a)

Given,

s1 = s2s = 7.126 kJ/kgK

Therefore by interpolation at 4 bar and S2 = 7.379 kJ/kgK

7.126 − 6.929
h2 = 2753 + ( ) (2862 − 2753) = 2841.4 kJ/kg
7.172 − 6.929
actual work output
(b) Isentropic efficiency = isentropic work

h1 − h2 3248 − 2965
= = = 69.6 %
h1 − h2s 3248 − 2841.4

Loss of exergy = b1 – b2 = h1 – h2 + To (s2 – s1) = 283 + 298(7.379 – 7.126) = 358.4 kJ/kg

W h1 − h2 283
(c) ε = = = = 78.96 %
b1 − b2 b1 − b2 358.4

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The effectiveness is greater than the isentropic efficiency; this is because the steam at state 2 has
a higher exergy than that at state 2s due to heating effect of the irreversibilities in the expansion
process.

Example 2

A liquid of specific heat 6.3 kJ/kgK is heated at approximately constant pressure from 15 to 70
o
C by passing it through tubes which are immersed in a furnace. The furnace temperature is
constant at 1400 oC. Calculate the effectiveness of the heating process when the atmospheric
pressure is 10 oC.

Solution
343
Increase of exergy of the liquid is b1 – b2 = h1 – h2 + To (s2 – s1) = 6.3(70-15) -283 x 6.3 ln (288)
= 34.7kJ/kg

Now the heat rejected by the furnace is equal to the heat supplied to the liquid (h1 – h2). If this
quantity of heat were supplied to a heat engine operating on the Carnot cycle its thermal
To
efficiency would be (1 − )
1400+273

283
Possible work of a heat engine = (h2 − h1 )(1 − 1673) [measure of loss of exergy of the furnace]

283
Loss of exergy of surroundings = 6.3(70 – 15) (1 - 1673) = 288 kJ/kg

34.7
Effectiveness = = 0.121 (12.1 %)
288

The very low value of effectiveness reflects the irreversibility of the transfer of heat through a
large temperature difference.

If the temperature of the furnace were much lower, the process would be more effective,
although the heat transferred to the liquid would remain the same.

Question

2kg of air in a piston-cylinder device is expanded reversibly and isothermally from 700 kpa and
250 oC to a pressure of 125kPa. During the process, heat is added from a thermal energy
reservoir at 250oC. Assume the dead state conditions to be To = 25 oC and Po = 101.325 kPa.
Determine:
a) The amount of work transfer to the piston and the amount of heat transfer from the
source.
b) The availability transfer due to work and heat
c) The increase in availability of the air in the cylinder

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