Application of Thermoeconomics for CO2 Allocation for Net Power and Useful Heat in a Gas Turbine Cogeneration System

Thermoeconomics is a discipline that connects Thermodynamics and Economics concepts, usually used for rational cost assessment of the final products of a thermal plant, by means of a model which describes the cost formation process of the overall system. Generally, exergy or monetary costs of the external resources are distributed to the final products. However, environmental consideration can be incorporated in the models to calculate the environmental costs, such as specific CO2 emission of each final product. This work aims at demonstrating how the thermoeconomic models can be adapted or modified in order to allocate the overall CO2 emission of a gas turbine cogeneration system to the final products (net power and useful heat), in order to determine the specific CO2 emission (g/kWh) of each product. This subject is an important step in the applications of Life Cycle Assessment in plants with two or more products and also to quantify the environmental cogeneration advantage. It also reveals that any thermoeconomic model can be adapted for allocation of the overall CO2 emissions or any other pollutant to the final products of a multi-product plant.