EXERGY

AND WORK POTENTIAL

OF ENERGY
Work Potential of Energy
Reversible Work
Second Law Efficiency
Exergy Change of Systems
Exergy Destruction
Exergy Balance
Work Potential of Energy
 When a new energy source is discovered, the first thing the
explorers do is estimate the amount of energy contained in the
source.
 This information alone, however, is of little value in deciding
whether to build a power plant on that site.
 What we really need to know is the work potential of the source,
 that is, the amount of energy we can extract as useful work.
 The rest of the energy will eventually be discarded as waste
energy and is not worthy of our consideration.
 Thus, it would be very desirable to have a property to enable us
to determine the useful work potential of a given amount of
energy at some specified state.
 This property is exergy, which is also called the availability or
available energy.
The work potential of energy
 The work potential of the energy contained in
a system at a specified state is simply the
maximum useful work that can be obtained
from the system.
 You will recall that the work done during a
process depends on the initial state, the final
state, and the process path
 Work = (initial state, process path,
final state)
In an exergy analysis
 The initial state is specified, and thus it is not a
variable.
 The work output is maximized when the process
between two specified states is reversible
 Therefore, all the irreversibilities are disregarded
in determining the work potential.
 Finally, the system must be in the dead state at
the end of the process to maximize the work
output.
Dead State

 A system is said to
be in the dead
Air
state when it is in T0 = 25 C
25 C P0 = 101 kPa
thermodynamic 101 kPa
equilibrium with the V=0
Z=0
environment it is in
At the dead state
 A system is at the temperature and pressure of its
environment (in thermal and mechanical equilibrium);
 it has no kinetic or potential energy relative to the
environment (zero velocity and zero elevation above a
reference level);
 it does not react with the environment (chemically inert).
 there are no unbalanced magnetic, electrical, and surface
tension effects between the system and its surroundings, if
these are relevant to the situation at hand.
 The properties of a system at the dead state are denoted
by subscript zero, for example, P0, T0, h0, u0, and S0.
 Unless specified otherwise, the dead-state temperature
and pressure are assumed to be T0 = 25 C and P0 = 1 atm
 A system has zero availability at the dead state
EXERGY
 a system will deliver the maximum possible
work as it undergoes a reversible process
from the specified initial state to the state of
its environment, that is, the dead state.
 This represents the useful work potential of
the system at the specified state and is called
exergy.
Important Notice
 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, large or small,
between exergy and the actual work delivered by a
device.
 This difference represents the room engineers have
for improvement
Exergy is not a system property

 the exergy of a system at a specified state

depends on the conditions of the environment
(the dead state) as well as the properties of
the system.
 Therefore, 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 it is definitely not an
easy alternative.
Nomenclature
 The term availability was made popular in the United
States by the M.I.T. School of Engineering in the
1940s.
 Today, an equivalent term, exergy, introduced in
Europe in the 1950s, has found global acceptance
partly because it is shorter, it rhymes with energy
and entropy, and it can be adapted without requiring
translation.
 In this course the preferred term is exergy X & x.
 You should be aware that some authors define
exergy and availability slightly differently
T

Dr. Emad Amer 14

Exergy (Work Potential)
Associated with Kinetic and
Potential Energy
 Kinetic energy is a form of mechanical
energy, and thus it can be converted to work
entirely.
 Therefore, the work potential or exergy of the
kinetic energy of a system is equal to the
kinetic energy itself regardless of the
temperature and pressure of the environment
2
V
x ke  ke 
2g c
 Potential energy is also a form of
mechanical energy,
 it can be converted to work entirely.
 Therefore, the exergy of the potential
energy of a system is equal to the
potential energy itself regardless of the
temperature and pressure of the
environment gZ
x pe  pe 
gc
u and h of a system are not entirely available for work
Surroundings Work
 Is the work done by or against the surroundings
during a process
 The work done by work-producing devices is not
always entirely in a usable form (part is not utilized)
 when a gas in a piston-cylinder device expands, part
of the work done by the gas is used to push the
atmospheric air out of the way of the piston
 This work, which cannot be recovered and utilized for
any useful purpose
 Atmospheric
Air Atmospheric
Air

P0

P0

System
V2
System
V1

Wsurr = P0(V2 - V1)

Wu =W —Wsurr
=W – P0(V2 – V1)
Wsurr !!! Loss or Gain ???
 When a system is expanding and doing work,
part of the work done is used to overcome
the atmospheric pressure, and thus Wsurr
represents a loss.
 When a system is compressed, the
atmospheric pressure helps the compression
process, and thus Wsurr represents a gain
 The work done by or against the atmospheric
pressure has significance only for systems whose
volume changes during the process
 (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
 (turbines, compressors, nozzles, heat exchangers)

Rigid tank
Steady

device
flow

Wsurr = 0
Reversible Work and Irreversibility
(new terms, Why)
 The property exergy serves as a valuable tool in
determining the quality of energy and comparing the
work potentials of different energy sources or systems.
 The evaluation of exergy alone is not sufficient for
studying engineering devices operating between two
fixed states.
 This is because when evaluating exergy, the final state is
always assumed to be the dead state, which is hardly
ever the case for actual engineering systems.
 The isentropic efficiencies of devices are also of limited
use because the exit state of the model (isentropic)
process is not the same as the actual exit state.
Reversible work Wrev
 The maximum amount of useful work that can
be produced (or the minimum work that
needs to be supplied) as a system undergoes
a process between the specified initial and
final states.
 This is the useful work output (or input)
obtained (or expended) when the process
between the initial and final states is
executed in a totally reversible manner.
 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.
 For convenience in presentation, the term work
is used to denote both work and power
 Any difference between the reversible work Wrev
and the useful work Wu is due to the
irreversibilities present during the process, and
this difference is called irreversibility I

 I=Wrev out – Wu,out or I=Wu,in - Wrev in

Irreversibility=Exergy destroyed
 For a totally reversible process, Wu = WRev & I=0
 This is expected since totally reversible processes generate
no entropy.
 Irreversibility is a positive quantity for all actual (irreversible)
processes since Wrev  Wu for work-producing devices and
Wrev  Wu for work-consuming devices.
 Irreversibility can be viewed as the wasted work potential or
the lost opportunity to do work.
 It represents the energy that could have been converted to
work but was not.
 The smaller the irreversibility associated with a process, the
greater the work that will be produced (or the smaller the
work that will be consumed).
 The performance of a system can be improved by
minimizing the irreversibility associated with it
Second-Law Efficiency, II

 The first law efficiency makes no reference to

the best possible performance, and thus it may
be misleading.
 Consider two heat engines, both having =
30%. One of the engines (engine A) is supplied
with heat from a source at 600 K, and the other
one (engine B) from a source at 1000 K.
 Both engines reject heat to a medium at 300 K.
 Source Source
600 K 1000 K

A B
th=30% th=30%

Sink 300 K

A = B Engines are Equal ? Best Performance when reversible

 T  300  TL  300
 rev , A  1  L   1   50%  rev , B  1    1   70%
 H T  600  TH  1000
 th= 0.3
II 0.6
rev=0.5

 th
 II 
 th ,rev
0.30 0.30
 II , A   0.60 and  II , B   0.43
0.50 0.70
engine A is converting 60 % of the available work potential to
useful work. This ratio is only 43 % for engine B
Expressions for II
Wu
For work producing devices  II 
Wrev
Source TH=1000 K

th =70 %
II 100 %
rev =70 %

Sink TL=300 K

II  100 % th < 100 %

 Expressions for II
For work consuming devices
Wrev
 II 
Wu

For Reversed Engines (Refrigerators & Heat Pumps)

COP
 II 
COPrev
 General Expression for II
For devices not producing or consuming work
II is a measure of approximation to reversible
operation its value should range from
zero in the worst case (complete destruction of
exergy) to
one in the best case (no destruction of exergy)
Exergy recovered Exergy destroyed
 II   1
Exergy supplied Exergy supplied
Examples are given when change of exergy is calculated
Lecture 2

Exergy Change of A System

 REMEMBER
 Exergy is the work potential of a system in a
specified environment and represents the
maximum amount of useful work that can be
obtained as the system is brought to equilibrium
with the environment
 Exergy 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 environment is zero
Dr. Emad Amer 31
 Exergy of a Fixed Mass:
(Closed System) Exergy
 internal energy consists of sensible, latent,
chemical, and nuclear energies.
 in the absence of any chemical or nuclear
reactions, the chemical and nuclear energies
can be disregarded
 internal energy can be considered to consist
of only sensible and latent energies that can
be transferred to or from a system as heat
whenever there is a temperature difference
across the system boundary.
Dr. Emad Amer 32
 The second law of thermodynamics states
that
 Heat cannot be converted to work entirely,
 Thus the work potential of internal energy
must be less than the internal energy itself.
 But how much less?
 Consider a stationary closed system at a
specified state that undergoes a reversible
process to the state of the environment (the
final temperature and pressure of the system
should be T0 and P0, respectively)
Dr. Emad Amer 33
 System
P&T
Wb,useful
P0& T0

Q Wtotal, useful
Heat
=
WHE
Engine Wb,useful
+
WHE
Environment T0

Dr. Emad Amer 34

 System
P&T
Wb,useful
P0& T0

Q

 Net energy transfer by   Change in total energy 

    
 heat , work and mass   of the system 

Ein - Eout = dEsystem -Q - W = dU

W = P dV
= (P - P0) dV + P0 dV
= Wb useful + P0 dV
Dr. Emad Amer 35
 WHE T0 System T
 HE   1
Q T Q

 T0 
WHE  1  Q Heat
 T WHE
Engine
 QT0 
WHE  Q 
 T 

Q Environment T0
WHE  Q  T0
T
Q
dS 
T
Q  WHE  T0 dS
WHE  Q  (T0 dS )
Dr. Emad Amer 36
First Law
-Q - W = dU

W = Wb useful + P0 dV

Q  WHE  T0 dS
Wtotal, useful = WHE + Wb,useful
0
= - dU – P0 dV + T0 dS 
1
Wtotal, useful = (U-U0) + P0 (V-V0) – T0 (S-S0)
Dr. Emad Amer 37
X = (U-U0) + P0 (V-V0) – T0 (S-S0)

+ m V2/2gc + mgZ/gc

 = (u-u0) + P0 (v-v0) – T0 (s-s0)

+ V2/2gc + gZ/gc
X = X2 - X1
= m(2 - 1)
= (E2-E1) + P0(V2-V1) – T0(S2-S1)
Dr. Emad Amer 38
Exergy of a Flow Stream:
Flow (or Stream) Exergy
 flowing fluid has an additional form of energy, called
the flow work
 Wflow = Pv
 The flow work is essentially the boundary work done
by a fluid on the fluid downstream
 the exergy of flow work is equivalent to the exergy of
the boundary work, which is the boundary work in
excess of the work done against the atmospheric air
at P0 to displace it by a volume v
 Xflow = P v – P0 v = (P – P0) v
Dr. Emad Amer 39
x flowing fluid  x nonflowing fluid  x flow
V 2 gZ
 (u  u 0 )  P0 (v  v0 )  T0 ( s  s 0 )    ( P  P0 )v
2g c g c
V 2 gZ
 (u  Pv)  (u 0  P0 v0 )  T0 ( s  s 0 )  
2gc gc
2
V gZ
  (h  h0 )  T0 ( s  s 0 )  
2g c gc
   2   1
V2  V1 2 g ( Z 2  Z1 )
2

 (h2  h1 )  T0 ( s 2  s1 )  
2g c gc
Dr. Emad Amer 40
Example
 A 200-m3 rigid tank contains compressed air at 1
MPa and 300 K. Determine how much work can
be obtained from this air if the environment
conditions are 100 kPa and 300 K.

Dr. Emad Amer 41

Dr. Emad Amer 42
 L3 Refrigerant-134a

determine the exergy change of the refrigerant during

this process and the minimum work input that needs to be
supplied to the compressor per unit mass of the refrigerant.
Exergy Transfer by Heat
Transfer, Q
 T0 
X heat  1  Q
 T 
 T0 
T = T0 X=0 X heat   1  Q
 T 
T > T0 Q is + ve X increases
Q is – ve X decreses

T < T0 Q is + ve X decreases
Q is – ve X increses
Dr. Emad Amer 44
Exergy Transfer by Work, W

W  Wsurr For boundary work

X work 
W Other forms of work

Exergy Transfer by Mass, m

Xmass = m 

 = (h - h0) - T0(s – s0) + V2/2gc + gZ/gc

Dr. Emad Amer 45
 Medium 1 Wall Medium 2
T1
T2
Heat transfer
Q Q
Entropy generated
Entropy transfer
Q/T1 Q/T2

Exergy destroyed
Exergy transfer
[1-(T0/T1)Q] [1-(T0/T2)Q]

Dr. Emad Amer 46

The Decrease of Exergy Principle
and Exergy Destruction
 energy cannot be created or destroyed
 entropy can be created but cannot be destroyed
 entropy generation Sgen must be positive (actual
processes) or zero (reversible processes), but it
cannot be negative
 decrease of exergy principle, which is the
counterpart of the increase of entropy principle
 exergy can be destroyed but cannot it be
created
Dr. Emad Amer 47
 Isolated system

Xisolated  0

Xdestroyed  0

 Consider an isolated system

 no heat, work, or mass can cross the boundaries
 there is no energy and entropy transfer
 Apply the energy and entropy balances for
the isolated system

Dr. Emad Amer 48

Energy balance:

Ein – Eout = Esystem

0 = E2 – E1 J (1)
Entropy balance:

Sin – Sout + Sgen = Ssystem

Sgen = S2 – S1 J/K  T0

T0 Sgen =T0 (S2 – S1) (2)

Dr. Emad Amer 49

 0 = E2 – E1 (1)

T0 Sgen =T0 (S2 – S1) (2)

Subtract

- T0 Sgen = (E2 – E1) – T0(S2 – S1) (3)

Change of exergy of the system

X2 – X1 = (E2 – E1) + P0(V2 – V1) – T0 (S2 – S1)

X2 – X1 = (E2 – E1) – T0 (S2 – S1) (4)
Dr. Emad Amer 50
- T0 Sgen = (E2 – E1) – T0(S2 – S1) (3)

X2 – X1 = (E2 – E1) – T0 (S2 – S1) (4)

- T0 Sgen = X2 – X1

Sgen  0 -Sgen  0

- T0 Sgen = X2 – X1  0
Dr. Emad Amer 51
Xisolated = X2 – X1  0

The decrease in exergy equals exergy destroyed

Exergy destroyed = T0 Sgen  0

 0 irreversib le process

X destroyed   0 reversible process
 0
 imposible process
Dr. Emad Amer 52
Exergy Balance of Closed
Systems
 The nature of exergy is opposite to that of
entropy
 Exergy can be destroyed, but it cannot be
created.
 Therefore, the exergy change of a system during
a process is less than the exergy transfer by an
amount equal to the exergy destroyed during the
process within the system boundaries.
 Then the decrease of exergy principle can be
expressed as
Dr. Emad Amer 53
 Mass System Mass

Xin Work Xsystem Work Xout

Heat Heat
Xdestroyed

 Total   Total   Total   Change in the 

       
 exergy    exergy    exergy    total exergy 
 entering   leaving   destroyed  of the system 
       

Xin – Xout – Xdestroyed = Xsystem

Dr. Emad Amer 54
 Net exergy   Total   Change in the 
     
 transfer by heat,    exergy    total exergy 
 work and mass   destroyed  of the system 
     

Xin – Xout – Xdestroyed = Xsystem (J)

X in  X out  X destroyed  X system W

xin – xout – xdestroyed = xsystem (J/kg)

Xdestroyed = T0 Sgen
Dr. Emad Amer 56
 W
Xwork

XSystem
Xdestroyed

Q
Xheat
Xheat – Xwork – Xdestroyed = Xsystem
 T0 
 1  T Qk  W  P0 (V2  V1 )  T0 S gen  X 2  X 1
 k 
 T0    dVsystem  dX
 T  k 
        system
1 Q W P0  0 gen
T S
 k   dt 
Dr. Emad Amer
dt
57
 Exergy Balance of Control
Volumes
Surroundings T0
me
W Control e
Xwork Volume
XCV
mi Q
T Xheat
i

Xheat – Xwork + Xmass,in – Xmass,out - Xdestroyed = (X2 – X1)CV

 
Qk  W  P0 (V2  V1 )   mi i   me e
T0
 1  T
 k 
Dr. Emad Amer
 X destroyed  ( X 2  X 158 ) CV
Exergy Balance for Steady-
Flow Systems
 Control volumes such as :
 turbines, compressors, nozzles, diffusers, heat
exchangers, pipes, and ducts
 operate steadily
 they experience no changes in their mass,
energy, entropy, and exergy contents as well as
their volumes.
 Therefore, (dV/dt)cv = 0 and (dX/dt)CV = 0
 the amount of exergy entering a steady-flow
system in all forms (heat, work, mass transfer)
must be equal to the amount of exergy leaving
plus the exergy destroyed.
Dr. Emad Amer 59
 System
Exergy destroyed
Exergy transfer
Xin Xout

Steady flow
system
Heat Heat
Xin Work Work Xout
Mass Xdestroyed Mass

 T0 
 1  T Qk  W   m i i   m e e  X destroyed  0
 k  Dr. Emad Amer 60
For a single-stream (one-inlet, one-exit)

 T0 
 1  T Qk  W  m ( 1   2 )  X destroyed  0
 k 
V1  V2 g ( Z1  Z 2 )
2 2

 1   2  (h1  h2 )  T0 ( s1  s 2 )  
2g c gc

 T0 
 1  T q k  w  ( 1   2 )  x destroyed  0
 k 

Dr. Emad Amer 61

 For an adiabatic single-stream
device with no work interactions

 (1  2 )
X destroyed  m
the specific exergy of the fluid must decrease as it flows
through a work-free adiabatic device or remain the same
(2 = 1) in the limiting case of a reversible process
regardless of the changes in other properties of the fluid
Dr. Emad Amer 62
Reversible Work, Wrev
 The exergy balance relations can be used to
determine the reversible work Wrev by setting
the exergy destroyed equal to zero.
 The work in that case becomes the reversible
work
 W = Wrev when Xdestroyed = 0

Dr. Emad Amer 63

the reversible power for a single-
stream steady-flow device is
 T0 
 1  T Qk  W  m ( 1   2 )  X destroyed  0
 k  REV

 T0 
W rev   1  Qk  m ( 1   2 )
 Tk 

Adiabatic Q = 0

 ( 1   2 )
W rev  m Dr. Emad Amer 64
Second-Law Efficiency of
Steady-Flow Devices, II
Exergy recovered Exergy destroyed
 II   1
Exergy supplied Exergy supplied

adiabatic turbine

W h1  h2  II  1 
T0 S gen
 II  
Wrev  1   2  1  2

When KE  PE  0 Sgen = s2 – s1

Dr. Emad Amer 65
 adiabatic compressor

Exergy recovered Exergy destroyed

 II   1
Exergy supplied Exergy supplied

 2  1 T0 S gen
 II 
Wrev ,in
  II  1 
W h2  h1 h2  h1

When KE  PE  0 Sgen = s2 – s1

Dr. Emad Amer 66

 Adiabatic heat exchanger

T0
Hot 1 2
stream
4 3 Cold stream

the exergy supplied = decrease in the exergy of the hot stream,

the exergy recovered = increase in the exergy of the cold stream

m cold ( 4   3 ) T0 S gen
 II   II  1 
m hot ( 1   2 ) m hot ( 1   2 )

S gen  m hot ( s2  s1 )  m cold ( s4  s3 )

Dr. Emad Amer 67
adiabatic mixing chamber

 11
m m 3 3
 22
m
m 3 3 T0 S gen
 II   II  1 
m 1 1  m 2 2 m 1 1  m 2 2

m 3  m 1  m 2 S gen  m 3 s3  m 2 s 2  m 1 s1
Dr. Emad Amer 68
Dr. Emad Amer 70
 Steam enters a turbine steadily at 3 MPa and
450°C at a rate of 8 kg/s and exits at 0.2 MPa and
150°C.
 The steam is losing heat to the surrounding air at
100 kPa and 25°C at a rate of 300 kW
 The kinetic and potential energy changes are
negligible.
 Determine (a) the actual power output,
(b) the maximum possible power output,
(c) the second-law efficiency,
(d) the exergy destroyed, and
(e) the exergyDr.of the steam at the inlet.
Emad Amer 71
 This is a steady-flow process since there is no change
with time at any point and thus mCV = 0, ECV = 0, and
XCV = 0.
 The kinetic and potential energies are negligible
 only one inlet and one exit and thus m1 = m2 = m
 At P1 = 3 MPa & T1 = 450°C
h1 = 3344.9 kJ/kg & s1 = 7.0856 kJ/kgK
 At P2 = 0.2 MPa &T2 = 150°C
h2 = 2769.1 kJ/kg & s2 = 7.2810 kJ/kgK
 At P0 = 100 kPa &T0 = 25 °C
h0 = hf @ 25°C = 104.83 kJ/kg &
s0 =sf @ 25°C = 0.3672 kJ/kgK

72
1) Wact 2)Wmax
 Ein –Eout = dEsystem/dt = 0
 Ein=Eout W=m(hin-hout)-Q
 =8(13344.9-2769.12)-300=4306 kW
 Xin-Xout-Xdestroyed=dXsystem/dt
 For max power Xdestroyed=0 no heat loss & Xin=Xout

 ( 1   2 )
W rev  m
= m(h1 – h2) - T0(s1 – s2)
= 8*(3344.9 - 2769.12)- 298(7.0856-7.2810) *8
=4665 kW
=5072.07 KW Dr. Emad Amer 73
 W 4306 85%
 II    0.923  92.3%
Wrev 4665

 Xdestroyed = Wrev,out - Wout

=766 KW
 = 4665 – 4306 = 359 kW
 The exergy (maximum work potential) of the
steam at the inlet

 = (h - h0) - T0(s – s0) + V2/2gc + gZ/gc

=1238 kJ/kg

Dr. Emad Amer 74