Exergetic and exergoeconomic analyses of a large-scale industrial beer processing system

Abstract

This research evaluated the performance of components and sections involved in industrial beer production using exergetic and exergoeconomics methodologies. The system was segmented into five production sections, and three energy input types were considered. The exergetic studies showed an operational exergetic efficiency of 3.33%, with an overall exergetic destruction rate of 5.54 MW and a specific destruction rate of 9.72 kW/hl for beer production. The overall improvement potential and sustainability index were estimated at 4.98 MW and 1.03, respectively. The brewhouse and packaging hall were identified as the sections with the highest production inefficiency, 58.73% and 30.40%, respectively. The exergoeconomic studies revealed a cost rate of 0.1704 USD/s for beer production, with the wort kettle, filling and cocking machine, Kieselguhr candle filter, whirlpool, and brite beer tank identified as the top five significant components in descending order. The efficiency of the system was critically affected by the activities in the packaging hall, particularly those involving energy inputs that cannot be recovered or attributed to the processed stream, beer. Further research is required to determine the cost savings of optimization measures identified from additional steam throttling, downsizing of some main pumps, and exergy loss during heating of wort and beer chilling processes.