Advanced exergy analysis of a trigeneration system with a diesel–gas engine operating in a refrigerator plant building

• Analyzing a trigeneration system for a plant building with advanced exergy method.
• Investigating exergy destruction rates comprehensively.
• Giving a high priority improvement to Turbo Air Compressor.
• Deducting inefficiencies of the system components for possible improvements.

In this paper, a trigeneration system is analyzed using an advanced exergy analysis. The trigeneration system is located in the Eskisehir Industry Estate Zone in Turkey. The exergy efficiency of the system was found to be 0.354, while the total exergy destruction rate of the system was 16.695 MW. The purpose of this study is to determine the improvement potential of the system. The exergy destruction within the components of the facility is divided into four parts: endogenous, exogenous, avoidable and unavoidable exergy destruction. The components of the trigeneration system have strong relationships with each other since the endogenous exergy destruction of the components is smaller than the exogenous exergy destruction. The avoidable exergy destruction rates are generally greater than the unavoidable ones. Thus, the trigeneration system possesses a high potential for improvement. This analysis indicates that from a thermodynamic perspective, the turbo air compressor is the most important component in the system. Through the advanced exergy analysis, information about the relationships among the system components as well as the potential for further improvements may be provided in more detail.