Exergy analysis of network temperature levels in Swedish and Danish district heating systems

Mei Gong and Sven Werner

Renewable Energy, 2015, vol. 84, issue C, 106-113

Abstract: Exergy concept is applied on district heating systems with different network temperature levels in their distribution networks. These district heating systems use a combination of renewables and heat recovery from other primary processes. The aim is to show simplicity and value of using exergy concept when comparing current and future temperature levels. Both the traditional exergy factor and the novel exergy utilisation rate are used in these analyses. Exergy utilisation rate expresses the ratio between the exergy delivered to customer heating systems and the exergy content in heat supply input to the distribution network. The analyses are performed on four different generations of district heating technologies, two national groups of district heating systems in Denmark and Sweden for revealing variations among systems, and two municipal systems for revealing variations within systems. The main conclusions are simplifications can be introduced in order to analyse the network temperature levels, current exergy factors reveal that current temperature levels can be reduced, and that almost two thirds of the exergy content in heat supply input are lost in the heat distribution chain. These conclusion will be vital input in developing the future fourth generation of district heating systems using both renewables and heat recovery.

Keywords: Exergy factor; Exergy utilisation rate; District heating; 4GDH (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (27)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:84:y:2015:i:c:p:106-113

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2015.06.001

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