A detailed thermodynamic assessment and exergetic performance analysis of an industrial-scale orange juice production plant

In the present work, detailed exergy analysis was conducted on an industrial-scale orange juice production plant located in the north-west part of Iran. The plant consisted of four main lines including steam generation, above-zero refrigeration, mixing and pasteurisation lines. The overall rate of destructed exergy in the whole plant was 17.7 MW. The majority (76.2%) of it was observed in the steam generation in which boiler and compressor had the highest contribution (12,073.09 kW/89%) in exergy destruction. In the above-zero refrigeration line, the ice-water tank possessed the highest exergy destruction (2,802.36 kW) accounted for 71% of total exergy destruction, which could be improved by thermal insulation. The mixing and pasteurisation lines had the lowest overall exergy destruction (1.5%). The exergetic efficiencies of all the pumps were in a poor range that strongly are suggested to employ the Variable Speed Drive.