Exergy analysis of the Kalina cycle

To reduce thermal irreversibility a thermodynamic cycle was conceptualized for the bottoming part of a combined cycle by Kalina, which uses NH3-H2O mixture as the working substance. In this paper, the Kalina cycle has been analysed thermodynamically For which a general code has been developed for the calculation of thermodynamic properties of the mixture. The effect of key parameters on the cycle performance has been studied. One of these parameters, mixture concentration at turbine inlet, appears to have an optimum value with respect to second law efficiency. The effects of these parameters on the exergy loss of each component have also been studied. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.