Exergy, Economic and Environmental Analysis for Simple and Combined Heat and Power IC Engines

This study reports the results of exergy, economic and environmental analyses of simple and combined heat and power internal combustion engines. Values of entropy production, second law efficiency are calculated, and an objective function, including initial, operation, maintenance and fuel costs, as well as the external costs of environmental pollutants, such as CO2, CO and NOx, are presented for the flue gas of the internal combustion engine. The results show that entropy generation in the combined heat and power mode is 30% lower than that in the simple internal combustion engine. Also, by excessively increasing the air ratio, the system entropy generation decreases in both cases of simple and combined heat and power IC engines. The greatest portion of entropy generation is related to the combined heat and power internal combustion engine. The gas heat exchanger generates more entropy than the jacket heat exchanger. Lower values of electricity cost and external costs of air pollution are provided by higher values of molar air to fuel ratio. The environmental aspects depend on location of the system and time of engine operation.