Thermoeconomic Optimisaton Of a Gas Turbine Cogeneration Power Plant

Availability is the maximum useful work that is obtainable in a process in which system comes to equilibrium with its surroundings.An exergy analysis identifies the location, cause and magnitude of the real thermodynamic losses. The second law of thermodynamics combined with economics represents a very powerful tool for the systematic study and optimization of energy systems. This combination forms the basis of the relatively new field of thermoeconomics (exergoeconomics). An exergoeconomic evaluation of an energy system consists of a detailed exergy analysis, an economic analysis conducted at the component level, calculation of the cost of each stream using an appropriate exergy-costing method, and a final evaluation at the component level conducted with the aid of some relevant exergoeconomic variables. The exergoeconomic techniques presented in this book provide a powerful and systematic tool for identifying all cost sources and for optimizing the design of complex energy systems. Since a rigorous design optimization of complex energy systems is practically impossible, the term optimization, in this context, implies improvement rather than calculation of the global optimum.