Exergetic and thermoeconomic analyses of a coal-fired power plant

Abstract Exergetic and thermoeconomic analyses of a coal-fired power plant with 160 MW capacity where located in Turkey were performed. Specific Exergy Costing (SPECO) and Modified Productive Structure Analysis (MOPSA) methods were separately applied to the system to determine the unit exergy cost of electricity generated by the coal-fired plant. The differences of these methods were discussed. As a result, the exergy efficiency of coal-fired power plant is found to be 39.89%. The equipment having the highest improvement potential is determined as boiler. The unit specific exergy cost of electricity generated by the system obtained for SPECO and MOPSA thermoeconomic analysis methods are 12.14 US$/GJ and 14.06 US$/GJ, respectively. The unit specific exergy cost of electricity obtained by using MOPSA thermoeconomic method is the same as the one obtained by the overall cost-balance equation for the coal-fired power plant.