Applied Thermal Engineering 121 (2017) 380387

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Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Research Paper

Energy and exergy analyses of natural gas-fired boilers in a district

heating system
Meryem Terhan , Kemal Comakli
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Engineering and Architecture Faculty, Kafkas University, 36100 Kars, Turkey

h i g h l i g h t s

The combustion analysis is examinated for the boilers.

Energy and exergy efficiencies are obtained the boilers in a district heating system.

Standard molar chemical exergy of natural gas is calculated.

Irreversibilities are researched in the boiler.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this study, energy and exergy analyses of natural gas fired boilers in a district heating system are per-
Received 11 February 2017 formed. Mass, energy and exergy balance equations are formed for the boilers and its components. In the
Accepted 20 April 2017 boilers, energy or heat losses are examinated, and the biggest of these is identified as the heat loss of flue
Available online 22 April 2017
gases. Energy and exergy efficiencies of the heating system are researched, and the energy, exergy flow
diagrams are illustrated by specifying locations of irreversibilities. According to the results of the analy-
Keywords: ses, the ratio of flue gas energy and exergy losses in the boilers are 16.81% and 6.14%, respectively. The
Energy analysis
energy and exergy efficiencies of the boilers are found to be 82% and 32.78%. The location, where the
Exergy analysis
District heating system
maximum of the irreversibility in the boilers is noticed as combustion chamber, and adiabatic combus-
Boilers tion temperature is calculated as 1846 C.
Exergy efficiency 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Irreversibility

1. Introduction District heating system is widespread in many cold regions in

Energy consumption is the most important indicator that
demonstrates countrys development degree. As a result of popula-
tion growth, urbanization, industrialization and technological
developments, the energy consumption has been quickly
increased. The fast upward trend is emerged vital environmental
problems such as pollution and greenhouse effect. At the moment,
while eighty percent of electricity is generated from coal, petro-
leum, fuel oil and natural gas, twenty percent of its is just obtained
from different sources like hydraulic, nuclear, wind, solar, geother-
mal and biogas [1]. As the energy consumption with industrial
development is fastly increased, the energy sources especially like
fossil fuels are very quickly consumed. Optimum benefit from
these decreasing sources is an obligance to alive and continue life
in good quality [2].
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: meryembalcin83@hotmail.com (M. Terhan), kcomakli@hot-
mail.com (K. Comakli).
the world. It has been increasingly spread on the various coun-
tries such as Germany, Denmark, Holland, Sweden and Russia
since at the beginning of 20th century. The district heating sys-
tem is based space heating and hot water services in an extensive
area, which consists of many buildings and a Heating Plant. The
district heating is more efficiency in the use of the energy sources
than other heating systems [3,4]. In Turkey, 34% of the total the
energy consumption is used in building sector, and this percent
is great when compared to the other sectors such as transporta-
tion, industry, and agriculture. Therefore; energy efficiency sys-
tems are very important in the building sector for Turkey and
the other countries [5].
In optimum benefit from decreasing energy sources, waste
heat recovery is taken center stage. The advantages of the waste
heat recovery can be classified two categories as direct and in-
direct advantages. The direct advantages are reduction of con-
sumption and cost; the in-direct advantages are consist of
decreasing pollution and dimension equipments such as fan, stack
and air channels [6].

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.04.091
1359-4311/ 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 M. Terhan, K. Comakli / Applied Thermal Engineering 121 (2017) 380387 381

Nomenclature

Cp Specific heat, kJ/kg K Chemical symbols

Cep Exergetic specific heat, kJ/kmol K CH4 methane
E Energy, kJ/s C2H6 ethane
Ex Exergy, kJ/s C3H8 propane
G standard Gibbs function, kJ C4H10 butane
h standard specific enthalpy, kJ C5H12 pentane
hf standard specific enthalpy of formation, kJ C6H14 hexane
H standard enthalpy, kJ N2 nitrogen
Hu lower heating value of fuel, kJ/m3 CO2 carbon dioxide
l latent heat of water vapor, kJ/kg H2O water
Ma molecular mass, kg/kmol O2 oxygen
m _ mass flow rate, kg/s Ar argon
n mole number, kmol
n_ mole number per unit of time, kmol/s Subscripts
P pressure, kPa, atm a coefficient of stoichiometric combustion
R universal gas constant, kJ/kmol K fuel fuel
S standard entropy, kJ/K fg flue gases
Q heat transfer rate, kJ/s I component
T temperature, C I irreversibility
To environment temperature, C lat latent
Vfuel flow rate of fuel, m3/s O environment state
X mole fraction P products
xe mole fraction of gas in reference environmental model R reactants
S surface
Greek symbols Sen sensible
D used for a change in any parameter T total
ex standard chemical exergy, kJ/s w water
k excess air ratio wi inlet water
q density, kg/m3 wo outlet water
gI energy efficiency, % _
unit of mole
gII exergy efficiency, % .
unit of time

Recently, exergy analysis has been thought an important tool in
engineering field. For permanent of sustainable development, both
quality and quantity of the energy are required to evaluation
together. During a reversible process, when a system comes to
the balance with chemical composition, pressure and temperature
of reference environment, the maximum work can be produced.
What defined as the exergy it is this [7].
In real process, the some part of the exergy is always disappear,
and total energy input is always much more than total exergy out-
put. The cause of this imbalance is the exergy destruction, which
defines as irreversibility. As the size, type and location of the waste
or loss are facilitated to determine, the exergy method is a benefit
tool in use the more efficiently of the energy sources [3].
Saidur et al. [8] studied the energy and exergy analyses in the
industrial boilers. In their study, several energy saving methods
were investigated such as variable speed drive in boilers fan and
the heat recovery from flue gas. They have decided that combus-
tion chamber is the major contributor for the exergy destruction
followed by heat exchanger of a boiler system. In their study, the
boilers energy and exergy efficiencies were calculated as 72.46%
and 24.89%, respectively. Comakli and Yuksel [9] conducted a ther-
moeconomic analysis for the super-heated boilers in the district
heating system of Ataturk University. As a result of the analysis,
they calculated thermoeconomic variables for the boiler. Because
the exergy efficiency is low in the boiler, they obtained that big dif-
ferences between the variables such as fuel cost and product cost.
The energy and exergy analyses were done by Pattanayak and
Ayyagari [10] in a 500 MW coal-fired boiler. According to the
results of analyses, the heat loss ratio of flue gases, the energy
and exergy efficiencies in boiler were found as 13%, 85% and 41%,
respectively. They indicated that the more fifty percent of total
irreversibility in the boiler.
The physical and chemical exergetic analysis of the steam boil-
ers was conducted by Ohijeagbon et al. [11]. To do the mass, energy
and exergy analyses, they developed a methodology for evaluating
the thermodynamic properties, the energy and exergy input and
output resources in the industrial steam boilers. In their study,
the energy and exergy efficiencies obtained for the entire boiler
were 69.56% and 38.57% at standard reference state temperature
of 25 C for an evaporation ratio of 12. The energy and exergy anal-
yses of the boilers were investigated by Kumar et al. [12] in a
power plant. In their study, the boilers exergy efficiency and ratio
of the exergy destruction were found as 36.78% and 63.22%, respec-
tively. Yazici [13] examined the energy and exergy analyses of
Afyon Geothermal District Heating System in Turkey. According
to the results of the analyses, the energy and exergy efficiencies
were 46.17% and 60.63% in his study. For all of the system and each
component in the system, the balance and efficiency equations of
the energy and exergy were formed. In the study, the energy and
exergy flows diagrams were illustrated.
In this study, the energy and exergy analyses are investigated
the natural gas fired boilers in the district heating system of a uni-
versity. The balance equations of the mass, energy and exergy are
formed. Besides, the energy and exergy efficiencies are calculated.
Exergy Grassman diagrams and energy Sankey diagrams of the
boilers are illustrated. In the boilers, the locations of the
irreversibility are indicated. The closed formula of natural gas is
calculated to offset combustion reaction. The complete combustion
reaction of natural gas is formed with dry air in the boilers
combustor.
382 M. Terhan, K. Comakli / Applied Thermal Engineering 121 (2017) 380387
2. System description
In this study, the energy and exergy analyses are conducted for
the natural gas fired boilers in the district heating system of a uni-
versity, located in Erzurum, which is one of the coldest cities in
Turkey. In the district heating system, three natural gas fired
super-heated water boilers, which have 1,200,000.0 kcal/h equal
capacity of each one have existed. Produced super-heated water
in boilers has been used for space heating and domestic hot water
supply in buildings on the campus area. The average pressure in
primary network (180/110 C) is 15 bar, while in the secondary
network (90/70 C), the pressure depends on the atmosphere pres-
sure. In one season, approximately 12,024,262.0 m3/year natural
gas has been consumed in the heating system. The daily fuel con-
sumption measurements of the system have been taken for last
five years. The monthly fuel consumptions of the system are shown
in Fig. 1. To do combustion analysis, the measurements of fuel
chemical composition are taken from Regional Natural Gas
Company.
3. Theoretical analysis
For analyses of the boilers in the system, the following assump-
tions are done:
Fig. 1. Monthly fuel consumptions of the system.
Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of combustion chamber and heat exchanger in the boiler.
- The mass, energy and exergy balances equations at steady state
for the material flows in the boiler are obtained with negligible
potential and kinetic energy changes.
- In exergy analysis, the temperature and pressure of dead (envi-
ronmental) state are taken as Po = 1 atm and To = 25 C.
- The flue gases outside from the boiler are assumed to be ideal
gases.
- In the combustion analysis, the reaction of the combustion in
the boilers is complete combustion with dry air.
- In the energy and exergy analysis, the lower heating value
(LHV) of the fuel is used [11,14].
3.1. Energy analysis of boiler
A boiler can be divided into two components as combustion
chamber and heat exchanger. In the Fig. 2, these components are
shown. The balance equation of the energy in the boilers is given
as:
_ DE_W E_fg E_S
Efuel 1
where Efuel is fuel energy, and according to the lower heating value
of fuel can be calculated as:
E_ fuel V fuel
_  Hu 2
In Eq. (2), Hu is lower heating value of fuel.
 M. Terhan, K. Comakli / Applied Thermal Engineering 121 (2017) 380387 383

The equation of the energy transferred to water from the boiler The mole fraction and molar specific heat at constant pressure
is given as: of each component in flue gases such as carbon dioxide, water
vapor, nitrogen and oxygen can be obtained by using the following
DE_W m_W  C P;W  T WO  T WI 3 formulas [16].
In Eq. (1), ES = QS is indicated the heat loss from boilers out surfaces Carbon dioxide,
to environment. In his study, Comakli was taken as percent of 0.51 nCO2
the ratio of this heat loss of the input energy [15]. In Eq. (1), Efg is xCO2 14
nfg
shown transferred energy from boiler to flue gases. The heat energy
of the flue gases is consisted of sensible heat energy and latent heat cpCO2 22:26 5:981  102  T fg  3:501  105  T 2fg
energy, which occurs in the cause of water vapor in flue gases.
These heat energies can be obtained by using the following 7:469  109  T 3fg 15
formulas:
Water vapor,
E_ fgsen n_ fg  cpfg  T fg  T o 4 nH2 O
xH2 O 16
nfg
E_ fglat n_ fg  xH2 O  MaH2 O  l 5
In Eq. (4) and (5), To is temperature of environment and, l is latent cpH2 O 32:24 0:1923  102  T fg 1:055  105
evaporation heat of water vapor. The energy efficiency of the boiler  T 2fg  3:595  109  T 3fg 17
can be calculated as:
Nitrogen,
_ W  C P;W  T WO  T WI
m
gI _  Hu
6 nN2
V fuel xN2 18
nfg

3.2. Combustion analysis of natural gas as fuel in boiler cpN2 28:90  0:1571  102  T fg 0:8081  105

Natural gas consists of gas mixture such as methane, ethane,  T 2fg  2:873  109  T 3fg 19
propane, butane, nitrogen, etc. In Table 1, how to calculate closed and oxygen,
formula of the natural gas are shown according to gas mixtures
nO2
in fuel. The complete combustion reaction of natural gas with xO2 20
dry air in the boilers combustor is stated as: nfg

C x2y3z4t5u6df H4x6y8z10t12u14d O2f N 2e kaO2 3:76N2 cpO2 25:48 1:520  102  T fg  0:7155  105
|{z} |{z}
air
 T 2fg 1:312  109  T 3fg
fuel
21
! aCO2 bH2 O eN2 hO2 7
|{z} In the equations, Tfg is flue gases temperature. Average molar speci-
flue gases
fic heat of flue gases is expressed as:
The flue gases (products) consists of CO2, H2O, O2 and N2. In the Eq.
cpfg cpCO2  xCO2 cpO2  xO2 cpH2 O  xH2 O cpN2  xN2
(7), k is excess air ratio. Mole numbers of the products can be calcu-
lated as: 22
a nCO2 x 2y 3z 4t 5u 6d f 8
Mafg xCO2  MaCO2 xH2 O  MaH2 O xO2  MaO2 xN2  MaN2
b nH2 O 2x 3y 4z 5t 6u 7d 9 23
Based on the law of mass conversation, flue gases mass per unit
a 2x 3:5y 5z 6:5t 8u 9:5d 10 of time is equal to total of fuel and air masses per unit of time.
These equations are derived as [16]:
h nO2 k  1  2x 3:5y 5z 6:5t 8u 9:5d 11
m _ air m
_ fuel m _ fg 24
e nN2 k  7:52x 13:16y 18:8z 24:44t 30:08u 35:72d e Molecular mass of the fuel, air and flue gases are obtained as:
12
Mafuel x  MaCH4 y  MaC2 H6 z  MaC3 H8 t  MaC4 H10
Total mole number of flue gases is shown as:
u  MaC5 H12 d  MaC6 H14 e  MaN2 f  MaCO2
nfg nO2 nCO2 nH2 O nN2 13
25

Table 1
Calculation of natural gas closed formula.

Chemical formula Mole fraction Closed formula

Methane CH4 x C x + 2y + 3z + 4t + 5u + 6d + f
Ethane C2H6 y
Propane C3H8 z H 4x + 6y + 8z + 10t + 12u + 14d
Butane C4H10 t
Pentane C5H12 u O 2f
Hexane C6H14 d
Nitrogen N2 e N 2e
Carbon dioxide CO2 f
384 M. Terhan, K. Comakli / Applied Thermal Engineering 121 (2017) 380387

Maair MaO2  xO2 MaN2  xN2 26 where, Ts is surface temperature of boiler, and QS is heat loss energy
of boilers surface.
_ fuel  4:76  a  k  Maair
m As flue gases are assumed to be ideal gas, the exergy of flue
_ air
m 27
Mafuel gases consists of two parts as chemical and physical exergy. Total
exergy of flue gases can be calculated as:
_ fuel V_ fuel  qfuel
m 28 " !# " #
XN
xE   X
E_ X;fg n_ fg  R  T 0  xi  In i T fg  T 0  n_ i  C eP;i
i1
xi i
3.3. Exergy analysis of boiler
37

According to solid, liquid and gaseous fuels, standard chemical In the equation, xiE is mole fraction of gas composition in reference
exergy of fuel changes. The standard chemical exergy of gaseous environmental model, and according to gas type mole fractions are
fuel such as natural gas can be written as follows [2]: taken from Table 2. R is universal gas constant of 8.3145 kJ/kmol K.
X X In the Eq. (37), Cpe can be calculated following equation, and a,
nfuel  eX;fuel DG0 nP  eX;P  nR  eX;R 29 b, c and d constants are given Table 3 according to gas type.
P R
 
1
C eP  a  b  T 0  T  T 0 bcT 0
 T 2  T 20
DG0 DH0  T  DS0 30 T  T 0 2

! c  d  T0  3  d   T
X   X    T  T 30  T 4  T 40  a  T 0  In
0  0 3 4 T0
DG0 nP  h f nR  h f  T0
P
P
R
R 38
!
X X In the boiler, exergy transferred to water can be found by Eq.
 nP  s0P  nR  s0R 31
P R
(39).

In Eq. (31), h0f is the standard specific enthalpy of formation at ref- E_ X;WO  E_ X;WI m_ W  hWO  hWI  T 0  sWO  sWI 
h i 39
erence state temperature of 25 C and pressure of 1 atm. n and ex m _ W  C P  T WO  T WI  T 0  C P  In TTWO
WI
are shown as mole number and the standard chemical exergy,
respectively. In the boilers the other irreversibility emerges energy trans-
Fuel and air input to boiler at standard reference state temper- ferred to water in the heat exchanger. The irreversibility is given
ature of 25 C and pressure of 1 atm. In this state, the balance equa- as follows:
tion of the exergy in the boilers is given in Eq. (32). In the equation,  
EX,fuel is fuel exergy, EX,WO and EX,WI are exergies transferred to I2 I1  E_ X;WO  E_ X;WI  E_ X;S 40
water, EX,S is exergy destruction from boilers surface, EX,fg is exergy
X

loss or destruction of flue gases thrown from boiler to atmosphere;   X

P
and II_ is shown as total irreversibility in boiler. I 2 T A  T 0  n_ i  C eP;i  T fg  T 0  n_ i  C eP;i  Q_ S
X  
i

i

E_ X;fuel E_ X;WO  E_ X;WI E_ X;S E_ X;fg II_ 32 T0 T

 1 _ W  C P  T WO  T WI  T 0  C P  In WO
m
i TS T WI
Fuel exergy can be expressed as: 41
E_ X;fuel m
_ fuel =Mafuel  eX;fuel 33 Total irreversibility of entire boiler is derived as:
In the boilers the irreversibilities are consist of two kinds. One IT I1 I2 E_ X;S E_ X;fg 42
of those emerges in the course of the combustion of fuel and air
  
in the combustion chamber. The other arises energy transferred IT m_ fuel =Mafuel  eX;fuel  m
_W
to water in the heat exchanger. To find irreversibility, adiabatic

T WO
combustion temperature is required to know during combustion  C P  T WO  T WI  T 0  C P  In 43
T WI
[15]. Assuming that combustion is adiabatic, combustion tempera-
ture can be obtained in Eq. (34). In the equation, R, P are reactants
and products in the combustion reaction [17]. Table 2
X X Composition of a reference-environmental model (To = 25 C, Po = 1 atm) [11].
0 h
nP  h h
0 0
nR  h 34
f P f R Gaseous phase Mole fraction (xEi )

In the boiler, as a result of combustion irreversibility in the N2 0.7565

O2 0.2035
combustion chamber is shown as I1 and can be calculated the bal-
H2O 0.0303
ance equation of exergy in Eq. (35). In the equation TA is combus- Ar 0.0091
tion temperature. CO2 0.0003
  
I1 _ fuel =Mafuel  eX;fuel
m
" ! #
X N
xe
X
 n_ fg  R  T 0  xi  In xi T A  T 0  n_ i  C eP;i Table 3
i
i1 i Specific heat coefficient of some gases [15].
35
Gas a b c d

The exergy destruction from the boilers surface is given as: O2 25.48 0.0152 0.7155  105 1.312  109
  CO2 22.26 0.0598 3.501  105 7.469  109
T0 H2O 32.24 0.0019 1.055  105 3.595  109
E_ X;S Q_ S  1  36 N2 28.90 0.0016 0.8081  105 2.873  109
TS
 M. Terhan, K. Comakli / Applied Thermal Engineering 121 (2017) 380387 385

The exergy efficiency of the boiler can be calculated with fol- Tables 4 and 5, the natural gas closed formula is calculated as
lowing equation [15]. C1.0576H4.0526N0.046O0.0088. In the results of the calculations, the
molecular mass and density of the natural gas are found as 17.53
E_ X;WO  E_ X;WI IT and 0.74 kg/m3, respectively. The combustion equation of the nat-
gII 1 44
E_ X;fuel E_ X;fuel ural gas with dry air is given as:

C1:0576 H4:0526 O0:0088 N0:046 2:389O2 3:76N2

4. Results ! 1:058CO2 2:026H2 O 9:007N2 0:323O2 45

According to Regional Natural Gas Companys measurements The district heating system of the university has been con-
and the district heating system operation data, which shown in sumed yearly fuel consumption of about 12,024,261.0 m3. The
temperature of the flue gases output from the boilers are average
158 C. Fuel energy, mass flow rate, molecular mass of flue gases
Table 4 and heat losses of flue gases are calculated.
Average chemical composition of the natural gas taken
The heat losses from flue gases have the highest ratio of heat
from Regional Natural Gas Company.
losses in the boilers. There are two types of heat losses from flue
Chemical composition of natural gas by volume gases; sensible and latent heat losses. According to results of the
%Methane (CH4) 92.08 energy analysis, total heat losses ratio of flue gases is calculated
%Ethane (C2H6) 3.51 as about 16%. Total heat losses of flue gases consist of 6% of the sen-
%Propane (C3H8) 0.97 sible heat losses and 10% of the latent heat losses. In Table 6,
%Butane (C4H10) 0.45 according to the operation measurements taken from the heating
%Pentane (C5H12) 0.15 system, the results of energy analysis are shown.
%Hexane(C6H14) 0.08
%Nitrogen (N2) 2.32
The heat energy carried by flue gases is changes with flue gases
%Carbon dioxide (CO2) 0.44 temperature. As the flue gases temperature output from the boiler
is high, sensible heat loss of flue gases increases. Though sensible
energy is linearly increased, change of latent heat energy is con-
Table 5 stant until dew point temperature of water vapor in flue gas. In
Operation data of the district heating system. Fig. 3, the changes are indicated.
1. boiler 2. boiler 3. boiler In the energy analysis, the ratio of the boilers surface heat loss
is found as 1%, and the energy efficiency of the boiler is calculated
Excess air ratio, k 1.16 1.17 1.13
Flue gases temperature, C 161 157 158 as 82.21%. In Fig. 4, the energy flow diagram of the one boiler is
Fuel consumption, m3/year 4,008,087.0 4,008,087.0 4,008,087.0 shown.
Combustion air, temperature C 20 20 20 One of the important components of the system is the boiler,
and the large part of the irreversibilities emerges in the boiler.
According to results of the exergy analysis, the standard molar
Table 6
chemical exergy of the natural gas and the fuel exergy of the boil-
Results of the energy analysis according to the operation data. ers are calculated as 862,365.68 kJ/kmol and 14,133.0 kJ/s, respec-
tively. The exergy destruction of flue gases comprises of two parts
1. boiler 2. boiler 3. boiler
as the chemical and physical exergy. These destructions of flue
%Sensible heat loss of flue gases 6.82 6.65 6.48 gases for three boilers are found to be 529.14 kJ/s, and 339.09 kJ/
Mole fraction of H2O in flue gases 0.1619 0.1611 0.1668
s, respectively. Total exergy destruction ratio of flue gases is calcu-
%Latent heat loss of flue gases 10.16 10.16 10.16
%Total heat loss of flue gases 16.98 16.81 16.64 lated as 6.14%. The exergy destruction or loss of the boilers surface
Dew point temperature, C 51.16 51.05 51.78 is obtained as 10.32 kJ/s, and the ratio is 0.07%. To calculate irre-
Mass flow rate of fuel, kg/s 0.1 0.1 0.1 versibility in the combustion chamber of the boiler, adiabatic com-
Fuel energy, kJ/s 4,448.0 4,448.0 4,448.0
bustion temperature is required to know. As a result of the exergy
Mass flow rate of air, kg/s 1.81 1.82 1.75
Mass flow rate of flue gas, kg/s 1.90 1.92 1.85 analysis, the adiabatic combustion temperature in the combustion
chamber is calculated to be 1846 C.

Fig. 3. Heat energy carried by flue gases.

386 M. Terhan, K. Comakli / Applied Thermal Engineering 121 (2017) 380387

Fig. 4. Energy flow diagram of the one boiler.

Fig. 5. Exergy Grassman diagram of the boilers.

The ratio of total irreversibility and the exergy efficiency of the

entire boiler are found as 67.22% and 32.78%, respectively. The
exergy Grassman diagram of the boiler is given in Fig. 5. In the Table 7
Results of the exergy analysis for three boilers.
locations, which indicated in Fig. 5 the exergy and irreversibility
quantities are shown in Table 7. In the combustion chamber, the kJ/s
energy input, exergy destruction and exergy efficiency are calcu- Ex,fuel Fuel exergy 14,133.0
lated as 13,344.0 kJ/s, 4,395.9 kJ/s and 68.89% respectively. In the Ex,w Exergy of return water 11,124,0
heat exchanger, the some analysis results are found to be the Ex,2 Net exergy in combustion chamber 9,737.1
exergy destruction is 4,226.1 kJ/s and the energy and exergy effi- Ex,fg = I_3 Exergy destruction of flue gases 868.29

ciencies are 82.21% and 70.09%. Ex,s = I_4 Exergy destruction of boilers surface 10.32
Ex,wo Exergy of supply water 15,756.39
The energy and exergy efficiencies of entire boiler are found to
I_1 Irreversibility in combustion chamber 4,395.9
be 82.21% and 32.77%. In the boiler, the ratio of the total heat losses
I_2 Irreversibility in heat exchanger 4,226.1
is determined as 17.81%. In Table 8, the summary of the exergy
I_T Total irreversibility 9,500.7
analysis is indicated.
 M. Terhan, K. Comakli / Applied Thermal Engineering 121 (2017) 380387 387

Table 8 contributor for the exergy destruction in the boiler. The ratio of
Summary of exergy analysis of combustion chamber, heat exchanger and entire the total irreversibility and the exergy efficiency of the entire boiler
boilers.
are obtained to be 67.22% and 32.77%.
Combustion chamber
Energy input kJ/s 13,344.0 Acknowledgment
Energy efficiency % 100
Exergy destruction kJ/s 4,395.9
Exergy efficiency % 68.89 The authors gratefully acknowledge that this work was finan-
Heat exchanger
cially supported by TUBITAK-BIDEB.
Heat losses kJ/s 2,376.6
Energy efficiency % 82.21 References
Exergy destruction kJ/s 4,226.1
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power plants: a review, Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 15 (2011) 18571872.
Entire boiler
[2] S.C. Kaushik, O.K. Singh, Estimation of chemical exergy of solid, liquid and
Energy efficiency % 82.21
gaseous fuels used in thermal power plants, J. Therm. Anal. Calorim. 115
Overall exergy destruction kJ/s 9,500.7
(2014) 903908.
Overall exergy efficiency % 32.77 [3] M. Gong, S. Werner, Exergy analysis of network temperature levels in Swedish
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