University of Hail

Faculty of Engineering

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

ME 204 - Thermodynamics II

Course Notes

Chapter 8: Measure of Work Potential: Exergy and Irreversibility

Prepared by Pr. Noureddine Ait Messaoudene

Based on : Yunus A. Cengel and Michael A. Boles

Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach, 6th Edition, McGraw Hill, 2007.

Important note:

THESE COURSE NOTES ARE PREPARED BASED ON THE TEXTBOOK

th
Yunus A. Cengel and Michael A. Boles “Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach”; 6 Edition,
McGraw Hill, 2007.

THEY ARE IN NO WAY A REPLACEMENT OF THE TEXTBOOK. STUDYING AND READING THE
TEXTBOOK REMAINS ESSENTIAL. THIS IS PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT FOR THE EXAMPLES.
 Thermodynamics 2- ME204 Prepared by Pr. Noureddine Ait Messaoudene

Chapter 8

Exergy: A Measure of Work Potential

Increased awareness that the world’s energy resources are limited

 many countries : to reexamine their energy policies and take drastic measures in eliminating waste
 scientific community : to take a closer look at the energy conversion devices and to develop new
techniques to better utilize the existing limited resources

 The first law of thermodynamics deals with the quantity of energy and asserts that energy cannot be
created or destroyed
 The second law deals with the quality of energy

Objectives of the chapter

 Examine the performance of engineering devices in light of the second law of thermodynamics.
 Define exergy, which is the maximum useful work that could be obtained from the system at a given
state in a specified environment.
 Define reversible work, which is the maximum useful work that can be obtained as a system
undergoes a process between two specified states.
 Define the exergy destruction, which is the wasted work potential during a process as a result of
irreversibilities.
 Define the second-law efficiency.

Based on Y. A. Cengel and M. A. Boles “Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach” 6th Ed., McGraw Hill, 2007.
 Thermodynamics 2- ME204 Prepared by Pr. Noureddine Ait Messaoudene

8–1 EXERGY: WORK POTENTIAL OF ENERGY

Energy source estimate the amount of energy contained in the source. This information alone,

More important: the work potential of the source—that is, the amount of energy we can extract as useful
work.

The rest of the energy is eventually discarded as waste energy.

Very desirable: a property to enable us to determine the useful work potential of a given amount of energy at
some specified state.

Exergy also called availability or available energy.

The work potential of the energy contained in a system at a specified state is simply the maximum useful
work that can be obtained from the system.

Recall that the work done during a process depends on the initial state, the final state, and the process path.
That is,

Work = f (initial state, process path, final state )

Based on Y. A. Cengel and M. A. Boles “Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach” 6th Ed., McGraw Hill, 2007.
 Thermodynamics 2- ME204 Prepared by Pr. Noureddine Ait Messaoudene

In an exergy analysis:

 The initial state is specified.

 The work output is maximized when the process between two specified states is executed in a
reversible manner.
 The system must be in the dead state (in thermodynamic equilibrium with the environment)at the
end of the process to maximize the work output.

The properties of a system at the dead state are denoted by subscript zero, for example, P0, T0, h0, u0, and
s 0.
Unless specified otherwise, the dead-state temperature and pressure are taken to be T0 =25°C (77°F) and
P0 = 1 atm (101.325 kPa or 14.7 psia).
A system has zero exergy at the dead state (Fig. 8–2).

By definition, surroundings are everything outside the system boundaries. The immediate surroundings
refer to the portion of the surroundings that is affected by the process, and environment refers to the region
beyond the immediate surroundings whose properties are not affected by the process at any point.

Based on Y. A. Cengel and M. A. Boles “Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach” 6th Ed., McGraw Hill, 2007.
 Thermodynamics 2- ME204 Prepared by Pr. Noureddine Ait Messaoudene

Exergy (Work Potential) Associated with Kinetic and Potential Energy

Exergy of kinetic energy: (8–1)

where V is the velocity of the system relative to the environment.

Exergy of potential energy: (8–2)

where g is the gravitational acceleration and z is the elevation of the system relative to a reference level in
the environment.

8–2 REVERSIBLE WORK AND IRREVERSIBILITY

Exergy and isentropic efficiency are not enough to study useful work potential of an engineering device in
actual conditions:
Exergy supposes final state to be dead state
Isentropic efficiency compares actual process to an isentropic process (with a different exit state)
Two quantities related to the actual initial and final state can serve for the analysis of a system:
 Reversible work
 Irreversibility (or exergy destruction)

Let’s first examine the surroundings work. The work done by work-producing devices is not always entirely in
a usable form. Part of the work is done by or against the surroundings.

For example, when a gas in a piston–cylinder device expands, part of the work done by the gas is used to
push the atmospheric air out of the way of the piston (Fig. 8–8). This work, which cannot be recovered and
utilized for any useful purpose, is equal to the atmospheric pressure P0 times the volume change of the
system,

Based on Y. A. Cengel and M. A. Boles “Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach” 6th Ed., McGraw Hill, 2007.
 Thermodynamics 2- ME204 Prepared by Pr. Noureddine Ait Messaoudene

(8–3)

The difference between the actual work W and the surroundings work Wsurr is called the useful work Wu:

(8–4)

Note that Wsurr represents a loss during an expansion process and a gain during a compression process and
that it has no significance for cyclic devices or control volumes.

Reversible work Wrev is defined as the maximum amount of useful work that can be produced (or the
minimum work that needs to be supplied) as a system undergoes a process between the specified initial and
final states. This is the useful work output (or input) obtained (or expended) when the process between the
initial and final states is executed in a totally reversible manner.

Any difference between the reversible work Wrev and the useful work Wu is due to the irreversibilities present
during the process. This difference is called irreversibility I:

(8–5)

Note: Irreversibility is zero for any reversible process and a positive quantity for all actual (irreversible)
processes since Wrev ≥ Wu for work-producing devices and Wrev ≥ Wu for work-consuming devices.

Based on Y. A. Cengel and M. A. Boles “Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach” 6th Ed., McGraw Hill, 2007.
 Thermodynamics 2- ME204 Prepared by Pr. Noureddine Ait Messaoudene

8–3 SECOND-LAW EFFICIENCY, ηII

In Chap. 6 we defined the thermal efficiency and the coefficient of performance for devices as a measure of
their performance.
They make no reference to the best possible performance, and thus may be misleading. Consider two heat
engines, both having a thermal efficiency of 30 percent,

At first glance, both engines seem to convert to work the same fraction of heat that they receive; thus they
are performing equally well.
In light of the second law of thermodynamics, however, we see a totally different picture. These engines, at
best, can perform as reversible engines, in which case their efficiencies would be

We can say that engine B is performing poorly relative to engine A even though both have the same thermal
efficiency.

Based on Y. A. Cengel and M. A. Boles “Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach” 6th Ed., McGraw Hill, 2007.
 Thermodynamics 2- ME204 Prepared by Pr. Noureddine Ait Messaoudene

To overcome this deficiency, we define a second-law efficiency ηII as the ratio of the actual thermal
efficiency to the maximum possible (reversible) thermal efficiency under the same conditions

(8–6)

Based on this definition, the second-law efficiencies of the two heat engines discussed above are

The second-law efficiency can also be expressed as the ratio of the useful work output and the maximum
possible (reversible) work output:

(8–7)

We can also define a second-law efficiency for work-consuming noncyclic (such as compressors) and cyclic
(such as refrigerators) devices as the ratio of the minimum (reversible) work input to the useful work input:

(8–8)

For cyclic devices such as refrigerators and heat pumps, it can also be expressed in terms of the coefficients
of performance as

(8–9)

In the above relations, the reversible work Wrev should be determined by using the same initial and final
states as in the actual process.

The definitions above for the second-law efficiency do not apply to devices that are not intended to produce
or consume work. Therefore, we need a more general definition, but there is no consensus on such a
definition.

Based on Y. A. Cengel and M. A. Boles “Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach” 6th Ed., McGraw Hill, 2007.
 Thermodynamics 2- ME204 Prepared by Pr. Noureddine Ait Messaoudene

A definition of the second-law efficiency of a system during a process is given as:

(8–10)

Note: Exergy can be supplied or recovered at various amounts in various forms such as heat, work, kinetic
energy, potential energy, internal energy, and enthalpy. Sometimes there are differing (though valid)
opinions on what constitutes supplied exergy, and this causes differing definitions for second-law efficiency.

 For a heat engine, the exergy supplied is the decrease in the exergy of the heat transferred to the
engine, which is the difference between the exergy of the heat supplied and the exergy of the heat
rejected. (The exergy of the heat rejected at the temperature of the surroundings is zero.) The net
work output is the recovered exergy.
 For a refrigerator, the exergy supplied is the work input since the work supplied to a cyclic device is
entirely available. The recovered exergy is the exergy of the heat transferred from the low-
temperature medium.
 For a heat pump, the exergy supplied is the work input. The recovered exergy is the exergy of the
heat transferred to the high-temperature medium (which is the reversible work) for a heat pump.
 For a heat exchanger with two unmixed fluid streams, normally the exergy supplied is the decrease
in the exergy of the higher-temperature fluid stream, and the exergy recovered is the increase in the
exergy of the lower temperature fluid stream.

Based on Y. A. Cengel and M. A. Boles “Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach” 6th Ed., McGraw Hill, 2007.
 Thermodynamics 2- ME204 Prepared by Pr. Noureddine Ait Messaoudene

SUMMARY

The energy content of the universe is constant, just as its mass content is. Yet at times of crisis we are
bombarded with speeches and articles on how to ―conserve‖ energy. As engineers, we know that energy is
already conserved. What is not conserved is exergy, which is the useful work potential of the energy.

The useful work potential of a system at the specified state is called exergy. Exergy is a property and is
associated with the state of the system and the environment. A system that is in equilibrium with its
surroundings has zero exergy and is said to be at the dead state. The exergy of heat supplied by thermal
energy reservoirs is equivalent to the work output of a Carnot heat engine operating between the reservoir
and the environment.

Once the exergy is wasted, it can never be recovered. When we use energy (to heat our homes for
example), we are not destroying any energy; we are merely converting it to a less useful form, a form of less
exergy.

Reversible work Wrev is defined as the maximum amount of useful work that can be produced (or the
minimum work that needs to be supplied) as a system undergoes a process between the specified initial and
final states. This is the useful work output (or input) obtained when the process between the initial and final
states is executed in a totally reversible manner. The difference between the reversible work Wrev and the
useful work Wu is due to the irreversibilities present during the process and is called the irreversibility I. It is
equivalent to the exergy destroyed and is expressed as

where Sgen is the entropy generated during the process. For a totally reversible process, the useful and
reversible work terms are identical and thus exergy destruction is zero. Exergy destroyed represents the lost
work potential and is also called the wasted work or lost work.

The second-law efficiency is a measure of the performance of a device relative to the performance under
reversible conditions for the same end states. For heat engines and other work-producing devices it is given
by:

Based on Y. A. Cengel and M. A. Boles “Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach” 6th Ed., McGraw Hill, 2007.
 Thermodynamics 2- ME204 Prepared by Pr. Noureddine Ait Messaoudene

For refrigerators, heat pumps, and other work-consuming device, it is given by:

In general, the second-law efficiency is expressed as:

SUGGESTED READINGS
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS
 J. E. Ahern. The Exergy Method of Energy Systems Analysis. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1980.

Based on Y. A. Cengel and M. A. Boles “Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach” 6th Ed., McGraw Hill, 2007.