Emergy evaluation of an open cycle gas cogeneration system

Abstract

The development of this work aimed the emergy evaluation of an open cycle gas cogeneration power plant. This study also sought to assess the emergy efficiency of the cogeneration process in question, and, in addition to the energy flows, the quantification of the flows of matter, services and information involved in the production of steam and electrical power. The obtained emergy table shows that the non-renewable resources are the main contributors to the total flow of emergy required by the system, and renewable resources are the ones that contribute the least to the emergy of the system. Results indicate that the process has a considerable dependence on economic resources and the energy producer is harmed when selling energy because he gives more emergy than that he receives from money. Results also show that the process has a large dependence on the non-renewable resources, and therefore is not sustainable in the long term, from the standpoint of emergy.