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Thermodynamic and Thermo-Economic Optimization in Renewable Energy Systems

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A special issue of Entropy (ISSN 1099-4300). This special issue belongs to the section "Thermodynamics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2021) | Viewed by 11744

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Prof. Dr. Alejandro Medina

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Departamento de Física Aplicada, Universidad de Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
Interests: energy converters; brayton power plants; solar thermal energy; thermodynamic optimization

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Today, facts such as the intensification of energy consumption, the exhaustion of traditional fossil fuels, concerns with the reduction of pollutant emissions, and the mitigation of climate change make a new energy generation paradigm imperative. This should be associated with efficient and clean technologies using alternative energy sources. Some of these technologies require energy conversion procedures where heat is a key ingredient. Thus, research on thermodynamic or thermoeconomic optimization methods to propose alternatives within the mentioned new paradigm is especially valuable.

Accordingly, this Special Issue intends to collect different research works focused on theoretical or applied models for the efficient production of power from renewable sources. Thermodynamic optimization can be used, for instance, for thermosolar systems, from a theoretical or an applied perspective. Additionally, other renewable systems, such as wind or photovoltaic, for which energy storage (particularly thermal energy storage) is an open challenge for the coming years, can take advantage of thermoeconomic optimization.

Advanced efficient thermal cycles are required in all cases, for heat engines, heat pumps, refrigeration processes or combinations among them.

In this context, researchers are encouraged to submit works to this Special Issue related to the following topics or other close ones:

Renewable energy technologies;
Thermodynamic and thermoeconomic optimization
Entropy minimization;
Multiobjective multivariable optimization methods;
Theoretical models for solar applications;
Concentrated solar power;
Novel thermodynamic cycles;
Transcritical and supercritical cycles;
Thermal energy storage;
Heat pumps, refrigerators, and engines;
Pumped heat energy storage systems;
Materials and thermal properties.

Prof. Dr. Alejandro Medina
Guest Editor

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 2242 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Exergoeconomic Analysis of a Gas-Type Industrial Drying System of Black Tea

by Zhiheng Zeng, Bin Li, Chongyang Han, Weibin Wu, Xiaoming Wang, Jian Xu, Zefeng Zheng, Baoqi Ma and Zhibiao Hu

Entropy 2022, 24(5), 655; https://doi.org/10.3390/e24050655 - 6 May 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1936

Abstract

The performance evaluation and optimization of an energy conversion system design of an energy intensive drying system applied the method of combining exergy and economy is a theme of global concern. In this study, a gas-type industrial drying system of black tea with a capacity of 100 kg/h is used to investigate the exergetic and economic performance through the exergy and exergoeconomic methodology. The result shows that the drying rate of tea varies from the maximum value of 3.48 g_water/g_{dry matter} h to the minimum 0.18 g_water/g_{dry matter} h. The highest exergy destruction rate is found for the drying chamber (74.92 kW), followed by the combustion chamber (20.42 kW) in the initial drying system, and 51.83 kW and 21.15 kW in the redrying system. Similarly, the highest cost of the exergy destruction rate is found for the drying chamber (18.497 USD/h), followed by the combustion chamber (5.041 USD/h) in the initial drying system, and 12.796 USD/h and 5.222 USD/h in the redrying system. Furthermore, we analyzed the unit exergy rate consumed and the unit exergy cost of water removal in different drying sections of the drying system, and determined the optimal ordering of each component. These results mentioned above indicate that, whether from an energy or economic perspective, the component improvements should prioritize the drying chamber. Accordingly, minimizing exergy destruction and the cost of the exergy destruction rate can be considered as a strategy for improving the performance of energy and economy. Overall, the main results provide a more intuitive judgment for system improvement and optimization, and the exergy and exergoeconomic methodology can be commended as a method for agricultural product industrial drying from the perspective of exergoeconomics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamic and Thermo-Economic Optimization in Renewable Energy Systems)

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22 pages, 3820 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparison of the Parameters of the Exergoeconomic Environmental Analysis of Two Combined Cycles of Three Pressure Levels with and without Postcombustion

by Edgar Vicente Torres González, Sergio Castro Hernández, Helen Denise Lugo Méndez, Fernando Gabriel Arroyo Cabañas, Javier Valencia López and Raúl Lugo Leyte

Entropy 2022, 24(5), 636; https://doi.org/10.3390/e24050636 - 30 Apr 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1570

Abstract

Nowadays, in Mexico, most of the installed electricity generation capacity corresponds to combined cycles, representing 37.1%. For this reason, it is important to maintain these cycles in good operating conditions, with the least environmental impacts. An exergoeconomic and environmental analysis is realized to compare the operation of the combined cycle, with and without postcombustion, with the comparison of exergoeconomic and environmental indicators. With the productive structure of the energy system, the process of formation of the final products and the residues are identified, and an allocation criterion is also used to impute the formation cost of residue to the productive components related to its formation. This criterion considers the irreversibilities generated in each productive component that participates in the formation of a residue. The compositions of pollutant gases emitted are obtained, and their environmental impact is determined. The unit exergoeconomic cost of the power output in the gas turbine is lower in the combined cycle with postcombustion, indicating greater efficiency in the process of obtaining this energy stream, and the environmental indicators of global warming, smog formation and acid rain formation are higher in the combined cycle with postcombustion, these differences being 5.22%, 5.53% and 5.30%, respectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamic and Thermo-Economic Optimization in Renewable Energy Systems)

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22 pages, 4273 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Energy, Exergy, Exergoeconomic and Emergy-Based Exergoeconomic (Emergoeconomic) Analyses of a Biomass Combustion Waste Heat Recovery Organic Rankine Cycle

by Saeed Khojaste Effatpanah, Mohammad Hossein Ahmadi, Seyed Hamid Delbari and Giulio Lorenzini

Entropy 2022, 24(2), 209; https://doi.org/10.3390/e24020209 - 28 Jan 2022

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2905

Abstract

In recent decades, there has been an increasing trend toward the technical development of efficient energy system assessment tools owing to the growing energy demand and subsequent greenhouse gas emissions. Accordingly, in this paper, a comprehensive emergy-based exergoeconomic (emergoeconomic) method has been developed to study the biomass combustion waste heat recovery organic Rankine cycle (BCWHR-ORC), taking into account thermodynamics, economics, and sustainability aspects. To this end, the system was formulated in Engineering Equation Solver (EES) software, and then the exergy, exergoeconomic, and emergoeconomic analyses were conducted accordingly. The exergy analysis results revealed that the evaporator unit with 55.05 kilowatts and the turbine with 89.57% had the highest exergy destruction rate and exergy efficiency, respectively. Based on the exergoeconomic analysis, the cost per exergy unit

(c)

, and the cost rate

(\dot{C})

of the output power of the system were calculated to be 24.13 USD/GJ and 14.19 USD/h, respectively. Next, by applying the emergoeconomic approach, the monetary emergy content of the system components and the flows were calculated to evaluate the system’s sustainability. Accordingly, the turbine was found to have the highest monetary emergy rate of capital investment, equal to

5.43 \times 10^{12} sej / h

, and an output power monetary emergy of

4.77 \times 10^{4} sej / J

. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was performed to investigate the system’s overall performance characteristics from an exergoeconomic perspective, regarding the changes in the transformation coefficients (specific monetary emergy). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamic and Thermo-Economic Optimization in Renewable Energy Systems)

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20 pages, 13907 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Thermodynamic Performance of a Brayton Pumped Heat Energy Storage System: Influence of Internal and External Irreversibilities

by David Pérez-Gallego, Julian Gonzalez-Ayala, Antonio Calvo Hernández and Alejandro Medina

Entropy 2021, 23(12), 1564; https://doi.org/10.3390/e23121564 - 24 Nov 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2268

Abstract

A model for a pumped thermal energy storage system is presented. It is based on a Brayton cycle working successively as a heat pump and a heat engine. All the main irreversibility sources expected in real plants are considered: external losses arising from the heat transfer between the working fluid and the thermal reservoirs, internal losses coming from pressure decays, and losses in the turbomachinery. Temperatures considered for the numerical analysis are adequate for solid thermal reservoirs, such as a packed bed. Special emphasis is paid to the combination of parameters and variables that lead to physically acceptable configurations. Maximum values of efficiencies, including round-trip efficiency, are obtained and analyzed, and optimal design intervals are provided. Round-trip efficiencies of around 0.4, or even larger, are predicted. The analysis indicates that the physical region, where the coupled system can operate, strongly depends on the irreversibility parameters. In this way, maximum values of power output, efficiency, round-trip efficiency, and pumped heat might lay outside the physical region. In that case, the upper values are considered. The sensitivity analysis of these maxima shows that changes in the expander/turbine and the efficiencies of the compressors affect the most with respect to a selected design point. In the case of the expander, these drops are mostly due to a decrease in the area of the physical operation region. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamic and Thermo-Economic Optimization in Renewable Energy Systems)

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18 pages, 8133 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Performance Analysis and Four-Objective Optimization of an Irreversible Rectangular Cycle

by Qirui Gong, Yanlin Ge, Lingen Chen, Shuangshaung Shi and Huijun Feng

Entropy 2021, 23(9), 1203; https://doi.org/10.3390/e23091203 - 12 Sep 2021

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 2178

Abstract

Based on the established model of the irreversible rectangular cycle in the previous literature, in this paper, finite time thermodynamics theory is applied to analyze the performance characteristics of an irreversible rectangular cycle by firstly taking power density and effective power as the objective functions. Then, four performance indicators of the cycle, that is, the thermal efficiency, dimensionless power output, dimensionless effective power, and dimensionless power density, are optimized with the cycle expansion ratio as the optimization variable by applying the nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) and considering four-objective, three-objective, and two-objective optimization combinations. Finally, optimal results are selected through three decision-making methods. The results show that although the efficiency of the irreversible rectangular cycle under the maximum power density point is less than that at the maximum power output point, the cycle under the maximum power density point can acquire a smaller size parameter. The efficiency at the maximum effective power point is always larger than that at the maximum power output point. When multi-objective optimization is performed on dimensionless power output, dimensionless effective power, and dimensionless power density, the deviation index obtained from the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) decision-making method is the smallest value, which means the result is the best. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamic and Thermo-Economic Optimization in Renewable Energy Systems)

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