Title: Exergy cost analysis of soil-plant system

Authors: Masoomeh Bararzadeh Ledari; Yadollah Saboohi; Antonio Valero; Sara Azamian

Addresses: Department of Energy Engineering of Sharif, University of Technology, Tehran 11365-8639, Iran ' Department of Energy Engineering of Sharif, University of Technology, Tehran 11365-8639, Iran ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Zaragoza, ETSII, 50015 Zaragoza, Spain ' Department of Energy Engineering of Sharif, University of Technology, Tehran 11365-8639, Iran

Abstract: In this paper, inspired by a gas turbine power plant, the interaction between plant-soil processes has been simulated. It is aimed to indicate that solar energy in the photosynthesis process is equivalent to the fuel in combustion chambers. In the glucose production process, when solar exergy is considered as a fuel, 99.4% of total exergy cost is supplied by solar exergy and only 0.6% of the exergy cost is provided by nutrients' content. In general, 30% of the total exergy entering the Calvin cycle is consumed in glucose production and the remaining 70% is related to biomass generation (as flue gas in the gas turbine). Moreover, 98% of the total exergy cost of the soil box is related to nutrient supply (due to the decomposition process), and only 2% is due to soil nutrition. This happens because the decomposing processes include numerous energy-intensive chemical reactions, and therefore, a high level of exergy cost.

Keywords: plant-soil process; exergy; thermoeconomic analysis; exergy cost.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEX.2022.124174

International Journal of Exergy, 2022 Vol.38 No.3, pp.293 - 319

Received: 24 Mar 2021
Accepted: 05 Sep 2021
Published online: 15 Jul 2022 *

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