Dynamic Advanced Exergetic, Exergoeconomic and Environmental Analyses of a Hybrid Solar City Gate Station
Abstract The use of solar energy to preheat natural gas before a city gate station (CGS) for reducing fuel consumption and environmental emissions is investigated in a real CGS. All analyses are conducted with a one-hour time step throughout the entire year so that seasonal climate changes are accounted for precisely. A thermodynamic analysis of the hybrid system is performed with TRNSYS and verified with THERMOFLEX to ensure reliability. In addition, dynamic exergetic, exergoeconomic, and exergoenvironmental evaluation for the integrated system are performed. A life cycle assessment based on Eco-indicator 99 is performed using SIMA PRO to compute the environmental impacts for each component of the system. The exergetic, exergoeconomic, and environmental analyses are performed in EES. To perform the transient exergetic, exergoeconomic, and environmental analyses, the results of the thermodynamic analysis from TRNSYS are automatically imported into the EES code. The advanced exergetic, exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental evaluation are done to better determine components that have high potentials for improving the system; potentials are considered based on the exergy destruction, exergetic cost of destruction, and environmental impacts associated with exergy destruction.