Inspection of Exergy usage under a Sustainability Framework: A Case of Application for Internal Combustion

Abstract

Due to the climate crisis that is being experienced today worldwide and to propose more efficient and sustainable systems that contribute to the fulfillment of the SDGs proposed by the UN, this article seeks to propose a reference framework based on exergetic analysis for evaluating the efficiency and level of sustainability of a system, specifically the case of internal combustion engines (ICM). As a context, state of the art on exergy and main recent contributions for improving exergy-based ICMs are provided. The necessary equations are defined to carry out an exergy analysis for a Diesel cycle, considering the combustion and heat transfer processes as sources of entropy generation. Similarly, a sustainability indicator was established based on the exergy balance for a system. These equations were applied to a case study of an ICM, and tests were carried out with various types of fuels to compare their efficiency. Ethane (C2H6) turned out to be the most efficient fuel and with the highest sustainability level compared to others. However, it was found that chemical reactions, in general, represent a large percentage of quality losses, as well as a threat to the sustainability of the system.