Splitting the exergy destructions of an olive oil refining plant into avoidable and unavoidable parts based on actual operational data

Abstract

This study focused on assessing the performance of an olive oil refinery plant (with an oil capacity of 5595 kg/h) located in Izmir, Turkey. The analysis was performed with the use of actual operational data of the system components while an advanced exergy analysis method was used. By this way, unavoidable and avoidable destructions of olive oil refinery plant components were obtained. The results indicated that the greater part of the exergy destructions detected in the system were avoidable and could be minimised by improvements in the design. The highest exergy destruction rate (217.96 kW) was determined owing to the distillation unit of the system with a markedly high unavoidable exergy destruction ratio of 50.92%. In addition, the efficiencies of the components in the plant varied from 5.67% to 90.7% while their corresponding modified exergetic efficiencies were in the range of 8.74% and 92.48%.