Opportunities and limits for exergy analysis in cryogenics

Exergy analysis is an excellent tool for locating weak spots in a process. Purposefully applied, it improves our insight and allows us to design processes systematically. Yet for many engineers exergy remains a difficult subject. To make analysis easier and the results easier to interpret, therefore, we need the best possible exergy analysis tools. The commercial performance of both plant suppliers and operating companies depends heavily on optimization to reduce plant costs (in the widest sense) to a minimum. As an optimization tool in plant design, exergy analysis has to compete with parametric studies and, increasingly, with equation-based optimization programs.