Cumulative Degree Of Perfection Research Articles

Evaluating ecological sustainability of mechanized and traditional systems of damaskrose production using extended exergy analysis

Environmental resource efficiency is a major challenge in the management of agroecosystems and their sustainability. The Extended Exergy Analysis (EEA) is a novel approach that assesses the total amount of resources extracted from the environment to produce agroecosystem products. This study applied the EEA to compare the sustainable development of Damask rose flower production in two mechanized and traditional systems in Nehbandan County, South Khorasan province, using the data of 2021–2022. The EEA calculated the flows of labor, capital, and environmental costs in the systems based on the first and second thermodynamic laws. The results showed that the traditional system had lower cumulative exergy consumption (CExC) and environmental modification cost than the mechanized system, indicating higher ecological sustainability. The extended exergy indices, such as the special capital conversion of energy and material input (kcap), the special capital conversion of product sale (KCAPEEA), extended exergy cost (eec) and the cumulative degree of perfection (CDP), also revealed that the traditional system was more cost-effective, economical, technologically efficient, and closer to the optimal conditions than the mechanized system. To achieve a sustainable agricultural crop production system, new patterns and models for selecting inputs and reducing environmental costs are recommended.

Assessment of Whole Milk Powder Production by a Cumulative Exergy Consumption Approach

The production of food is a sector that consumes a significant amount of energy and encompasses both agricultural and industrial processes. In this study, the energy consumption of whole milk powder production, which is known to be particularly energy-intensive, was examined. The study used a cumulative exergy consumption approach to evaluate the overall production process of whole milk powder, including the dairy farm (raw milk production) and dairy factory (powder production) stages. The results showed that raw milk production dominated energy and exergy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. An amount of 68.3% of the total net cumulative exergy consumption in the system was calculated for raw milk production. In the dairy factory process, the highest energy/exergy consumption occurred during spray drying, followed by evaporation and pasteurization. In these three processes, 98.3% of the total energy consumption, 94.6% of the total exergy consumption, and 95.7% of the total carbon dioxide emissions in powder production were realized. To investigate the improvement potentials in the system, replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources and using pasture feeding in animal husbandry were evaluated. While using alternative energy sources highly influenced powder production, pasture feeding had a high impact on consumption in raw milk production. By using renewable energy and pasture feeding, the exergy efficiency, cumulative degree of perfection, renewability index, and exergetic sustainability index values for the overall process increased from 40.5%, 0.282, −0.22, and 0.68 to 68.9%, 0.433, 0.65, and 2.21, respectively.

Sustainability assessment of sugarcane and sugar beet production systems by energy and exergy approaches: a case study

This study aims to determine cumulative energy and exergy consumption in sugarcane and sugar beet production systems in Iran and evaluate their environmental performance. Cumulative energy and exergy consumption, cumulative degree of perfection, and renewability index for sugarcane production were 66,500 MJ/ha, 82,561 MJ/ha, 6.21, and 0.86, respectively, and these values were 48,267 MJ/ha, 67,984 MJ/ha, 165,831 MJ/ha, 6.42, and 0.84 for sugar beet production, respectively. The GHG emissions for sugarcane and sugar beet production were 4,785 kg CCO2-eq/ha and 2,851 kg CCO2-eq/ha, respectively, of which about 90% is due to direct and indirect energy consumption for irrigation.

Exergoenvironmental damages assessment in a desert‐based agricultural system: A case study of date production

AbstractDeveloping countries, especially those in hot and dry areas, need more attention to achieve sustainable development as they apply excessive inputs in production processes. The present study aims to quantify the amount of environmental emissions and determine the most appropriate pattern of energy use in the date (Phoenix dactylifera L.) production process using thermodynamic analysis. The information was gathered through questionnaires and face‐to‐face interviews. From the results, cumulative exergy and energy demand for one Mg of date fruit production were calculated as 697 and 1640 MJ, respectively. Carbon dioxide emission was also measured at 197 kg Mg–1. Moreover, cumulative exergy consumption illustrated that manure and diesel fuel consumption is high, though diesel fuel and N consumption are given the most cumulative energy demand. Renewability indicator, cumulative degree of perfection, and the recoverable exergy ratio value of the date fruit production process were calculated as 0.62, 2.68, and 4.32, respectively. The date's chemical exergy value was calculated to be 14.96 MJ kg–1. Dates have a high chemical exergy value because of their high carbohydrate content and low water content. As a result, crop chemical combinations have a direct impact on the production process. The total direct greenhouse gas emissions induced by the inputs consumption were 310.02 kg Mg–1. Emissions to air, soil, and water were 308.76, 5.60 × 10−1 and 6.96 × 10−1 kg Mg–1. In general, date production in Khuzestan province is partially renewable.

Evaluation of Sustainability of Wheat-Bread Chain Based on the Second Law of Thermodynamics: A Case Study

Wheat flour, bread, and bakery products are an important source of macronutrients, micronutrients, dietary fibers, and antioxidants. Considering that Iran’s bread industry is the second highest bread-consuming industry in the world, this research is focused on the main operations of the bread production chain (wheat cultivation, milling, dough processing, and bread production). Investigating the sustainability and improvement strategies and farm-to-fork approach for the wheat-bread production chain was the aim of this work. Exergy analysis is a powerful tool in designing, optimizing, and evaluating the performance of energy systems to determine energy quality, compare different energy sources, and achieve maximum system performance. In this research, the cumulative degree of perfection, renewability index, and sustainability index of Iranian traditional loaves of bread (Sangak, Lavash, Barbari) and Baguette bread as a semi-industrial bread were estimated. Considering the functional unit of the weight of the produced bread, Baguette and Sangak breads had the highest and lowest sustainability, respectively. Considering the functional unit of energy of the produced bread, Baguette bread has the lowest exergy consumption per 100 cal of the embedded energy of bread. According to the obtained results, the bakery consumes the most exergy in the wheat-bread chain. Natural gas input is the most important indicator of unsustainability in bakeries. Meanwhile, in the entire wheat-bread chain, human labor and natural gas consumption were factors of unsustainability. By using renewable sources, the renewable index increased by 76–89%. Additionally, the use of renewable resources increased the sustainability index of bread production by 7.6 to 1.9 times.

Modeling and optimizing the exergy flow of tropical crop production in Iran

Agriculture is one of the major energy consumers in food supply chain. In this regard, exergy analysis can be used as a decision support tool toward evaluation of the energy flow of the production system, identification of energy hotspots, and development of new energy management scenarios. This study applied a hybrid exergy analysis + artificial neural networks + genetic algorithm to optimize five tropical crop production systems i.e., banana, mango, jujube, guava, and sapodilla. Cumulative Degree of Perfection and Renewability Index were used for evaluating the exergy flows of the fruit production systems. The results revealed that both indices were higher for banana and equaled 1.21 and 0.68, respectively, implying that the studied banana production system had lower exergy loss and thus it was more exergy-efficient. The optimization results showed that both investigated indices noticeably enhanced in the optimized mode. More specifically, Cumulative Degree of Perfection was increased in banana, mango, jujube, guava, and sapodilla production systems to 2.72, 0.42, 0.56, 0.41, 0.53, respectively. In conclusion, the results approved that managing the inputs consumption would lead to reducing the consumption of non-renewable and chemical inputs in line with improving the energy and exergy use efficiency in tropical crops production systems.

Evaluation of Sustainability of a Prune Production Process from Farm to Fork Approach based on Thermodynamic Principles and Actual Operational Data.

The main objective of the present study is to investigate energy consumption, exergy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from prune production in both the garden and plant sectors. Both energy and exergy analysis methods are used while some sustainability indicators such as the cumulative degree of perfection (CDP) and the renewability indicator (RI) as well environmental aspects are considered. The analysis is based on the actual operational data. The high energy consumption, exergy and GHG emissions are related to the post‐harvest and the factory operations. Natural gas is determined to be the most effective input to energy consumption, exergy and GHG emissions in the whole process of producing prunes. Based on the sustainability indicators used, the agricultural operation of the plum production process is partially renewable while the factory operation of the prune production process is highly non‐renewable. In cases where the production process of prunes includes the use of renewable energy and plum waste, CDP increases from 0.32 to 2.88 and RI from ‐2.16 to 0.65. The use of renewable sources in producing one ton of prune annually reduces GHG emissions by 362.55 tons and energy consumption by 7.45 TJ worldwide. The use of plum waste would also produce 402.8 TJ of energy per year.

Optimization of rapeseed production using exergy analysis methodology

The exergy analysis helps to determine the energy losses of different inputs through identifying the actual amount of energy consumed in a process. In this regard, a new approach was applied in this study to predict and optimize the rainfed production systems (RPS) and irrigated production systems (IPS) of rapeseed in the north of Iran, by using exergy analysis methodology. Two indices of cumulative degree of perfection (CDP) and renewability index (RI) were used to evaluate the sustainability of systems. The Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA) were also employed to predict and optimize the rapeseed production systems, respectively. In the study of conventional system, CDP and RI were determined to be 2.19 and 0.72, on average, respectively, in which, the values of both indices were higher in the RPS than IPS. Optimization results indicated that by reducing the consumption of irrigation water, electricity and biocides as well as increasing the use of chemical fertilizers, farmyard manure and diesel fuel, the yield increased by 24.55%. Sustainability assessment in optimal scenario revealed that CDP and RI increased to 2.75 and 0.81, respectively. As a result, under optimal conditions, the production process becomes more environmentally friendly.

Renewable energy utilization in apple production process: A thermodynamic approach

Horticultural inputs have various potential environmental impacts which can be simultaneously evaluated by input–output energy methods. This technique is considered as an appropriate evaluation method to analyze ecosystems through recognizing, quantifying, and appraising resources depleted and released within the environment. This study aims to apply the thermodynamic approach to maximize the decision-making information on the environmental impacts of energy consumption in the apple production process. In this case, two different scenarios of energy and exergy flow during the apple production process are assessed thermodynamically and the environmental effects of these scenarios are evaluated. The first scenario is based on conventional agriculture carried out by using almost no renewable energy source, while in the second scenario, renewable energy sources including hydroelectricity, biodiesel, and microbial fertilizers are employed. The results indicated that in the second scenario, the Cumulative Exergy Consumption (CECx) and exergy loss are decreased by more than 93% and 74%, respectively (584.5 and 3023 MJ.ton−1), while the Cumulative Degree of Perfection (CDP) and Renewability Index (RI) are increased by 6.01 and 0.83, respectively. Additionally, in this scenario, the Cumulative Carbon Dioxide emission (CCO2) was decreased to 11.23 kg.ton−1. The results also indicated that the application of microbial fertilizers along with improving the irrigation system can decrease the total energy-exergy loss and total input costs of the apple production process. The results of the present study pointed a direction for the invention and development of new technologies or methodologies in agricultural productions to improve the energy-exergy flow and mitigate CO2 emission in the future.

Environmental and exergetic life cycle assessment of incineration- and gasification-based waste to energy systems in China

The clean and efficient energy production from municipal solid waste (MSW) is highly desirable due to increasing energy demand and environmental concerns. In this study, four incineration- (S1) and gasification-based (S2 with combustion boiler, S3 with gas turbine/combined cycle and S4 with internal combustion engine) MSW treatments were compared using methods of environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) and exergetic life cycle assessment (ELCA). LCA was applied to measure the environmental performances and ELCA was supplemented to reflect the thermodynamics efficiencies. Afterwards, cumulative degree of perfection (CDP) and abatement exergy (AbatCExC) efficiency of the considered systems were also calculated to determine the imperfection and environmental sustainability of the processes. Results showed that gasification-based systems were effective to mitigate the environmental impacts of acidification, nutrient enrichment, and photochemical ozone formation potential, but caused higher global warming impacts. The S3 system exhibited the best performance from both environmental and exergetic perspective, due to its high net efficiency of electricity generation and low exhaust emission into air. Results from ELCA indicated that the rest two gasification-based systems (S2 and S4) were inefficient as compared to MSW direct incineration, mainly due to auxiliary energy consumption for MSW pretreatment and more conversion steps. The CDP and AbatCExC of the systems in descending order was expressed as S3 system > S1 system > S2 system > S4 system.

Extended exergy analysis (EAA) of two canola farming systems in Khorramabad, Iran

Extended exergy analysis (EEA) is a novel method in evaluation of agricultural ecosystems. In this study, a comprehensive analysis of the sustainability of an agricultural system was carried out using this method. Specifically, we looked for sustainable patterns of canola production by performing EEAs of two canola production systems, commercial and traditional, located in Khorramabd, Iran using data from the 2017–2018 crop year. The EEA of these two systems showed that the exergy of the environmental remediation cost (EEE) for the traditional system was less than that of the commercial system by 2.69 × 104 MJ ha−1. Accordingly, the ecological sustainability of the traditional system was found to be two times higher than the commercial system. In contrast, the values of thermodynamic indicators such as the capital conversion factor of the annual monetary value of product sales (KcapEEA), the extended exergy efficiency (ŊEEA), and the cumulative degree of perfection (CDP), respectively, indicate the higher economic value, the higher thermodynamic efficiency, and the greater optimality of the commercial system compared to the traditional system. The high consumption of inputs led to increased cumulative exergy consumption (CExC) in the traditional system. The high amount of CExC in the traditional system caused its thermodynamic indices to decrease. On the other hand, the high consumption of resources such as chemical fertilizers caused the EEE of the commercial system to increase. Therefore, based on the results of the EEAs performed in this study, we recommend designing new patterns for managing agricultural production systems, whereby through choosing the appropriate type and amount of inputs for each production system and by employing the required knowledge and technology for optimum production, the costs of environmental remediation will be reduced, and the thermodynamic-economic indexes will be improved.

Application of cumulative exergy consumption approach to assess the sustainability of rapeseed production in two different farming systems

The study aimed to assess the sustainability of mechanised production system (MPS) and semi-mechanised production system (SMPS) in the rapeseed agroecosystem in northern Iran. The study was conducted through the cumulative exergy consumption (CExC) approach, including the two sustainability indices of cumulative degree of perfection (CDP) and renewability index (RI). The CDP was higher in the MPS (4.36) than SMPS (4.29). The RI was determined to be 0.712 for MPS and 0.731 for SMPS. The results highlighted that CDP and RI could significantly be improved through the consumption of renewable-based energy resources, including biofuel and solar energy.

Evaluation of the Water–Energy–Land Nexus (WELN) Using Exergy-Based Indicators: The Chilean Electricity System Case

The competition and interlinkages between energy, water, and land resources are increasing globally and are exacerbated by climate change and a rapid increase in the world population. The nexus concept has emerged for a comprehensive understanding related to the management and efficiency of resource use. This paper assesses water–energy–land nexus (WELN) efficiency through integration of the principles of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and exergy analysis, using the Chilean energy sector (CES) as a study case. The cumulative exergy consumption (CExC) and cumulative degree of perfection (CDP) are used as indicators for WELN efficiency. The results show the production of 1 MWh of electricity required 17.3 GJex, with the energy component of WELN (fossil and renewable energy sources) being the main contributor (99%). Furthermore, the renewable energy technologies depicted higher CDP of the water–energy–land nexus due to lower CExC and higher technology efficiency concerning non-renewables. The water and land resources contributed slightly to total exergy flow due to low quality in comparison with the energy component. Nevertheless, water availability and competition for land occupation constitute important issues for reducing environmental pressures and local conflicts. This study demonstrated the feasibility of exergy analysis for the evaluation of WELN efficiency through a single indicator, which could facilitate the comparison and integration with different processes and multi-scales.

The Renewability Indicator and Cumulative Degree of Perfection for Gamboeng Tea; Part.2, Exergy Calculation of Tea Factory

Renewability Indicator (RI) and Cumulative Degree of Perfection (CDP) were used to observe sustainability of Gamboeng Tea. The assessment then compared with black tea process in Black Sea Region in Turkey from the previous study. Calculation of exergy for Gamboeng fresh tea leaf had already described in Part.1. Since the main process for both production was drying, then tropical humid climate in Gamboeng is the main challenge to increase efficiency, and thus, renewability. This second part described the significant improvement of renewability had applied in Gamboeng by using wood pellet in rotary pannier. Further recommended improvement were by installing better humidity detector and connected to the process control so the process can adapt the ambient change which the relative humidity can be varied from 65% and up to 92%.

Sustainable management and conservation of resources for different wheat production processes; cumulative exergy consumption approach

One of the new methods for evaluate the exergy-energy and share of agricultural productions, is cumulative exergy consumption (CEXC) analysis. CExC approach ensures that crop production processes can evaluate in the context of sustainable management and conservation of resources. In this research, wheat production processes (dry and wet) was investigated by CEXC approach. Cumulative degree of perfection (CDP) calculated 2.9 and 6.48 for wet and dry wheat production, respectively. The Renewability Indicator (RI) in this research were obtained 0.65 and 0.84 for wet and dry wheat production, respectively. In this research, electricity and diesel fuel had the highest consumption in all wheat production process. For a new case, it was assumed that the electricity and diesel fuel are produced by solar energy and biodiesel, respectively. In the new case, the CDP factor of wet and dry wheat production were 16.70 and 13.92 and RI values were 0.94 and 0.92, respectively.

Evaluation the sustainable energy applications for fruit and vegetable productions processes; case study: Greenhouse cucumber production

Reducing fossil fuel application and also CO2 emissions are two main purposes of global energy politics. In this context, the provision of sustainable energy practices in vegetable productions is a very important subject in terms of food safety. Fruits and vegetables are called crops in agricultural activities. In this study, greenhouse cucumber production was assessment to determine the energy saving direction and also to find the interactions of the cucumber chemical structure with energy using and the impact of solar energy potential absorbed in photosynthesis on the performance of the cucumber production process with thermodynamic concept by using advanced exergy-based methods. It is also the first attempt to investigate the crop production processes with renewable and non-renewable energy sources. Data were collected from 30 cucumber greenhouses in Golshan city, Isfahan province of Iran (located within 51° 39′ north latitude and 31° 56′ east longitude) using face to face questionnaire method. According to the results of this study, cumulative degree of perfection (CDP) increased from 0.23 to 0.47, exergy efficiency from 0.18 to 0.30 and renewability indicator (RI) from −3.32 to −1.09 when the greenhouse cucumber production process was included renewable energies. The loss of exergy, however, decreased from 4809.18 MJ to 2415.41 MJ. The advantages of the presented applied method were compared with the conventional methods. The results showed that the advanced exergy-based analysis is more meaningful and effective tool for performance evaluation of vegetables than conventional approaches. Based on the guideline of this study, performance can be improved with respect to energy use in vegetable production processes.

Waste generation, product yield evaluation and exergy analysis during bisphosphonate synthesis and medical drug production processes

Abstract Introduction of the waste of the pharmaceutical industry to the biosphere creates unusual potential disease patterns. Achieving the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production by utilizing the minimum energy and generating as little waste as possible are among the reasonable cleaner production practices. Zoledronic acid is the API of some bone-disease drugs. It is synthesized via the reaction of 1h-imidazole-1-yl- acetic acid hydrochloride with phosphorous acid and phosphorous halogen at moderate temperatures. The product is later separated by crystallization in water. Since the concentration of API is very low in the finished product, generally 50 g of API satisfies the annual market demand. Chemical processes are generally investigated to determine the most convenient production procedures and equipment. In the studies performed in small scale set up, it is important to foresee an upscale design. Exergy utilization is among the considerations in process design and there is almost no information available in the literature yet, regarding the exergy analysis of the production processes of pharmaceuticals. “Cradle to grave” exergy analyses, beginning with the raw materials and ending with retail packaging of a pharmaceutical product is studied here by referring to bisphosphonate production. Although the synthesis stage of this study refers to the production of a single API, the packaging stage of the process refers to the entire pharmaceutical industry, where similar practices are employed. During the chemical synthesis of zoledronic acid under GMP (good manufacturing practice) conditions, the most energy consuming step was found to be crystallization. On the other hand, the most energy consuming step during sterile finished product manufacturing was filling, followed by sterilization of the primary packaging equipment and the materials, and the operation of the HVAC system. The initial cumulative degree of perfection (CDP) was calculated to be 1.47 × 10−2% for the API synthesis, however exergy efficiency of the synthesis process to 2.29 × 10−2% with increasing the yield through process optimization. The CDP of the finished product was 17% and 75% before and after packaging of the finished product, respectively. Synthesis at the maximum attainable conversion ratio and the highest exergy efficiency assures minimum waste generation.

Assessment of tomato production process by cumulative exergy consumption approach in greenhouse and open field conditions: Case study of Turkey

Cumulative exergy consumption is an innovative method that can help to evaluate different energy use problems in crop production process. In this study, cumulative exergy approach was applied for evaluate the tomato production process. In this context, open field productions in South Marmara and Tokat, and also greenhouse structures in Antalya were assessed by cumulative exergy consumption for tomato production in Turkey. The results showed that, Tokat is the best region for tomato production in open field. Cumulative degree of perfection and renewability indicator for tomato production in this region were 1.62 and 0.38, respectively. In this study, cumulative exergy consumption showed that water consumption in open field and also electricity consumption in greenhouse conditions are high. Fossil fuel is the main sources in these regions for pumpping water and also electricity generation. As a new case, hydroelectricity energy supply is provided instead of fossil energy source for irrigation system and electricity generation. The results showed that when the hydroelectricity source was applied for irrigation system and electricity generation, the best region based on renewability indicator is Antalya (greenhouse condition). As a result, the cumulative exergy consumption approach is an effective method for increasing the renewability of crop production processes.

The renewability indicator and cumulative degree of perfection for gamboeng tea; part.1, exergy calculation of fresh tea leaf

Renewability Indicator (RI) and Cumulative Degree of Perfection (CDP) are employed as tools to assess sustainability of Gamboeng Tea. The assessment then compared with black tea process in Black Sea Region in Turkey from the previous study. Exergy analysis for Gamboeng tea was decribed in two part of articles. This first part was desribing the energy and exergy calculation for producing fresh tea leaf in Gamboeng tea plantation. The energy and exergy utilization for black sea fresh tea leaves was calculated to be 807.83 MJ/t of fresh leaf, 273.43MJ/t of fresh leaf, respectively. For the Gamboeng green tea, the energy and exergy utilization were 1496.38 MJ/ t of fresh leaf and 821.86 MJ/t of fresh leaf, respectively.The second part desribed cooperation of wood pellet with ambient-adapting controller uin tea factorywas a contribution from Gamboeng Tea for achieving Sustainable Development Goal which is affordable and clean energy and also an applicable climate action.

Assessment of energy and exergy efficiencies and renewability of black tea, instant tea and ice tea production and waste valorization processes

Cumulative degree of perfection (CDP), cumulative carbon dioxide emission (CCO2E) and renewability indicator (RI) are employed as tools to assess sustainability of packaged black tea, instant tea and ice tea production processes and valorization of their waste. The black tea production process, when there is no waste, had the highest CDP and the renewability indicator RI, with CDP =0.425 and RI = −1.35. The CDP was 0.013 and RI was −31.30 with the instant, and CDP =0, RI = −610,668 with the ice tea production processes. When activated carbon, hydrogen and adsorbent material were produced from the waste of the instant tea, the CDP increased to 0.087, 0.035 and 0.172, respectively; in these cases, the RI increased to −10.53, −27.90 and −4.83, respectively. The negative RI values indicate non-renewability of the processes. Increase in the positive CDP and the decrease in the negative RI values show that when adsorbent material production from waste was done together with instant tea production, substantial improvement may be achieved. Similar improvements may also be achieved in the case of ice tea production when the waste is subject to valorization.