Exergy analysis and performance enhancement of isopropanol-acetone-hydrogen chemical heat pump

Exergy loss analysis was conducted to identify the irreversibility in each component of the isopropanolacetone-hydrogen chemical heat pump (IAH-CHP). The results indicate that the highest irreversibility on a system basis occurs in the distillation column. Moreover, the effect of operating parameters on thermodynamic performances of the IAH-CHP was studied and the optimal conditions were obtained. Finally, the potential methods to reduce the irreversibility of the IAH-CHP system were investigated. It is found that reactive distillation is apromising alternative. The enthalpy and exergy efficiency of the IAH-CHP with reactive distillation increases by 24.1% and 23.2%, respectively.