Formation of Environmental Impacts in Energy Conversion Processes Revealed by a Novel Exergoenvironmental Analysis

Abstract

An exergoenvironmental analysis has been developed that reveals to what extent each component of an energy conversion system is responsible for the overall environmental impact, and identifies the sources of the impact. The approach of the exergoeconomic analysis is modified to deal, instead with an economic problem, with an evaluation of the ecological impact. The basic idea is that exergy represents a proper basis for assigning both costs and environmental impact in energy conversion processes. As a case study, an energy conversion system consisting of a high-temperature solid oxide fuel cell integrated with an allothermal biomass gasification process has been analyzed. The exergoenvironmental analysis allows to identify the environmentally most relevant system components and provides information about possibilities for design improvements. A special focus is laid on the role of exergy destruction. It is shown that the location of the exergy destruction in the process has influence on the resulting environmental impacts. A certain amount of exergy destruction leads to a different extent to environmental impacts depending on the position of the component where the exergy destruction occurs. The exergoenvironmental analysis reveals the thermodynamic inefficiencies that have the greatest environmental impacts.