Energy Conversion and Management 58 (2012) 76–83

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Energy Conversion and Management

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Determination of insulation thickness by means of exergy analysis in pipe insulation

Ali Keçebasß ⇑
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technology Faculty, Afyon Kocatepe University, TR-03200 Afyonkarahisar, Turkey

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Energy consumptions in buildings can be reduced considerably using insulation materials. Even in
Received 31 October 2011 well-insulated buildings energy consumption can be reduced further by insulating transmission pipes.
Received in revised form 10 January 2012 For this reason, the energy savings can be obtained by using proper thickness of insulation in these areas.
Accepted 10 January 2012
In this study, insulation thickness has been optimized by using exergy method and life-cycle cost concept
Available online 8 February 2012
for the case of using various fuels such as coal, natural gas and fuel–oil. This analysis is based on the exer-
getic cost of insulation materials and fuel. As a result, combustion parameters such as excess air, stack gas
Keywords:
temperature, and combustion chamber parameters are much more effective on optimum insulation
Pipe insulation
Combustion parameters
thickness. The optimum insulation thickness decreases with the increasing of inlet temperature of fuel,
Exergoeconomic analysis and with the decreasing of excess air coefficient, temperatures of stack gases and combustion chamber.
Optimum insulation thickness Under this effects, the optimum insulation thicknesses determine as 0.065, 0.071, 0.099 m with a rate of
Exergetic savings 68.27%, 71.54% and 77.85% in the exergetic saving for natural gas, coal and fuel–oil fuels, respectively. The
optimum insulation thickness, total annual exergetic cost, exergy saving, and exergy losses depending on
heat transfer increase with the increase of heating degree-days, while they decrease by increasing the
temperature of outside air (reference state). In addition, the optimum insulation thickness for the
exergoeconomic optimization is higher than that of energoeconomic optimization.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction applications and industrial and chemical processing plants contain

The focus on energy efficiency and savings has increased glob-
ally. Because of the limited energy resources and environmental
pollution arising from the use of fuels, the European Union energy
policy gives high priority to energy savings and use of renewable
energy. In our world, 40% of all energy consumption takes place
in buildings (residential/commercial), so this is one of the main
target areas [1]. In the United States, the energy consumption used
to buildings constitutes 48% of the total energy use [2]. According
to the sources of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, in
Turkey, 31% of the energy is also consumed by buildings, 85% of
which is consumed for heating [3]. In buildings, most of the energy
is used for heating and cooling; therefore, regulations are targeting
the improvement of heat insulation systems. Most of this energy is
used for heating in the boreal climate zone, for cooling in the trop-
ical territories, and for both heating and cooling in the temperate
zone.
Energy consumptions from space heating/cooling can be re-
duced considerably using insulation materials. Even in well-insulated
buildings energy consumption can be reduced further by insulating
heating/cooling pipes. Especially, district heating–cooling
⇑ Tel.: +90 272 2281311x370 (O); fax: +90 272 2281319.
E-mail addresses: alikecebas@aku.edu.tr, alikecebas@gmail.com
intricate and costly piping configurations. Un-insulated distribu-
tion and return pipelines are a constant source of wasted energy.
Through optimum pipe insulation of space heating/cooling
distribution pipelines or pipes further energy savings accompanied
by a reduction in emission are possible.
Effective thermal insulation of piping system plays an impor-
tant role in the reduction of heat loss and energy consumption
for transmission and distribution of heat in district heating/cool-
ing. The selection of insulation material is based on the thermal
conductivity and price, the lower the thermal conductivity and
price are, the higher the economical efficiency of insulation mate-
rial is. The increase of insulation thickness will decrease the energy
consumption for heating/cooling, however, the investment for the
insulation will increase as well, and then there must be an opti-
mum point where the total investment cost for the insulation
and energy consumption can be minimized over the lifetime.
Therefore, the selection of proper insulation material, as well as
the determination of optimum insulation thickness is very critical
for the economic analysis.
For insulation economic, life-cycle cost analysis is often applied
to insulation technologies and projects. A life-cycle cost analysis
can show that spending more initially on additional insulation
can produce a net savings (due to reduced heating/cooling costs)
over the lifetime of a system or project. The concept of life-cycle
cost is used to determine the optimum insulation thickness in

0196-8904/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2012.01.009
 A. Keçebasß / Energy Conversion and Management 58 (2012) 76–83 77

Nomenclature

A surface area of pipe or insulation (m2) y mole fraction

C cost ($/m) ZCI capital investment cost ($)
cF unit cost of fuel ($/kg) ZOM operating and maintenance costs ($)
cI cost of insulation thickness ($/m3) d thickness of the insulation material (m)
E energy, annual energy requirement (kJ/m) gs efficiency of the heating system
Ex exergy (kJ/m)
HDD heating degree-days Subscripts
h enthalpy (kJ/kmol, kJ/kg) atm atmosphere
k thermal conductivity (W/m K) cc combustion chamber
L length of pipe (m) F fuel
n mole (kmol) i indoor
N lifetime (year) ins insulation
P pressure (Pa) in inlet
PWF present worth factor loss,Q losses due to heat transfer
q heat flux (W/m2) loss,S losses due to stack gases
Q heat (W) o outdoor, outside, ambience
r radius of pipe (m) out outlet
Rp,ins total internal resistance of insulated pipe (m2 K/W) p pipe
Rp,un-ins total thermal resistance of un-insulated pipe (m2 K/W) rt heating circuit return temperature
Ru universal gas constant (kJ/kmol K) t total
s entropy (kJ/kmol K, kJ/kg K) 0,1,2 layers of pipe system
S exergy saving ($/m-year)
T temperature (°C) Superscripts
U overall heat transfer coefficient (W/m K) o values at 25 °C and 101.325 kPa
V unit volume of insulation material (m3)  molar values
W work (kJ/m)

order to take into account the change in interest and inflation that
directly affect both the cost of insulation materials and fuels [4].
The use of insulation materials to decrease heat transfer to/from
surfaces has been in practice for many years. Because of the large
potential for energy savings, most of the available studies focus
on the optimum insulation thickness for buildings (e.g., [5–9]),
refrigeration applications (e.g., [10–14]), stores (e.g., [15–17]) and
others (e.g., [18–20]). In all these studies, optimization has been
based on the energetic costs. In recent years, exergy methods have
became more popular than the energy methods, since the exergy
methods are the best way to get the ideality in the processes.
The exergy method can be suitable for furthering the goal of more
efficient energy-resource use, for it enables the locations, types,
and true magnitudes of wastes and losses to be determined. There-
fore, exergy analysis can be very useful whether or not and by how
much it is possible to design more efficient energy systems by
reducing the inefficiencies in existing systems [21]. Then, combin-
ing the second law of thermodynamics with economics (i.e.,
exergoeconomics) using energy or available energy (i.e., exergy)
for cost purposes provides a powerful tool for systematic study
and optimization of complex energy systems. Its goal is to mathe-
matically combine in a single model, the first or second law of
thermodynamic analysis with the economic factors [22]. There
are few studies such as [23–26] that the different thermo-
economic techniques for optimum design of hot water piping sys-
tems were presented. But, in this study a different analysis is used
for thermo-economic evaluation of a system between the distribu-
tion/return pipes of hot water with the combustion process. For
this reason, optimization of insulation thickness in pipe by using
the combination of the exergy analysis and life-cycle cost analysis
(the concept of the exergetic life-cycle cost) is performed for the
case of using different fuels. This analysis is based on the exergetic
cost of insulation materials and fuel. To this aim, a formula is
developed for the economically optimum thickness determination
of insulation and it is solved for the excess air coefficient, the
temperatures of inlet and combustion chamber, and the tempera-
ture of stack gases of fuels used in the city of Afyonkarahisar/Tur-
key, using Matlab optimization Toolbox. Finally, the results
obtained from analysis have been evaluated according to economic
and air pollution aspects.
2. Description of system and analysis
The hot water piping system considered in this study is a long
straight conduit segment, installed in an environment at tempera-
ture and pressure, which are also identical to those of the dead
state. The assumptions are a constant environmental temperature
and constant thermodynamic properties at an appropriate mean
temperature. Besides, the hot water for a district heating system
is pumped through the pipe with a constant velocity under stea-
dy-state steady-flow control volume conditions. Pressure drops
due to the liquid flow friction and hot water fluid of intermingling
molecules of different species through molecular diffusion are ne-
glected in this study. Thus, in the exergy calculations, a reference
state is required. In this study, a new approach has been applied
in which different parameters have been chosen for combustion.
In the combustion process, fuel enter to the boiler at the tempera-
ture of boiler room (10–20 °C) and at the atmospheric pressure and
exit at the temperature of stack gases (130–190 °C) and at the
atmospheric pressure, consequently, the exergy obtained from
the fuel is transferred to hot water in the boiler which is at the
heating circuit return temperature (70 °C).
2.1. The exergy losses in pipe
Since heat is in a tendency of transition from high temperature
to low temperature, heat losses is formed in a heat transmission,
hence, exergy losses depending on heat losses occur. Exergy
destruction takes place because of the transport of hot water
through pipes which occurred depending on the temperature
78 A. Keçebasß / Energy Conversion and Management 58 (2012) 76–83

difference between indoor and outdoor. For a pipe, heat loss from a When the second law of thermodynamics is applied to combus-
unit length of pipe is given by tion process, the exergy losses due to stack gases can be calculated as
X 
q ¼ UðT i  T o Þ ¼ U DT ð1Þ Exloss;S ¼ T out nout ðso ðT; PÞÞ  Ru ln yPatm
out
X 
where To is the temperature of outside air (reference state), Ti is the  T in nin ðso ðT; PÞÞ  Ru ln yP atm ð10Þ
in
average design temperature of inside fluid, and U is the overall heat
transfer coefficient. The annual heat loss in unit length of pipe, q, Fuel has energy as much as QF. However, some of this energy is
can be determined using the heating degree-days, one of the proper transferred to water which surrounds the combustion chamber.
methods to use in order to forecast energy consumption of heating/ Thus, the exergy of fuel can be determined as given in the literature
cooling [26], HDD, as given by such as [29]
 
q ¼ 86; 400 HDD U ð2Þ T rt
ExF ¼ Q F 1  ð11Þ
The annual energy requirement for heat losses in pipe, E, can be T cc
calculated by dividing annual heat loss to the efficiency of the heat- where Tcc is the temperature of combustion chamber.
ing system, gs,
86; 400 HDD U 2.3. Exergoeconomic optimization of insulation thickness
E¼ ð3Þ
gs
The cost balance is given in Ref. [29] for the thermo-economic
In here, the total internal resistance of un-insulated pipe is optimization as
 
ln rr10 C t ¼ C F þ Z CI þ Z OM ð12Þ
1 1
Rp;unins ¼ þ þ ð4Þ
hi Ai 2pLkp ho Ao CI
where Ct is the total exergetic cost, CF is the cost of fuel, Z is cost of
investment, and ZOM is the operating and maintenance costs. Since
and the total internal resistance of insulated pipe is there is no cost of operating and maintenance means a new insula-
    tion, ZOM is equal to zero. Thus, Eq. (12) is rewritten as
1 ln rr10 ln rr21 1
Rp;ins ¼ þ þ þ ð5Þ C t ¼ C F þ Z CI ð13Þ
hi Ai 2pLkp 2pLkins ho A0o
If the fuel cost per unit is cF in $/kg, then CF is given by
where Ai = 2pLr0 is the inside surface area of pipe while Ao = 2pLrn is Exloss;Q
the outside surface area of the last layer of pipe for un-insulated C F ¼ cF ð14Þ
ExF  Exloss;S
pipe. Also, A0o ¼ 2pLr 2 is the outside surface area of the last layer
of pipe in insulated pipe. And, hi and ho are the convection heat The total fuel cost over a lifetime is evaluated using the present
transfer coefficients for the inside and outside surfaces of pipe, worth factor (PWF), according to the concept of LCC [6,9,30]. The
respectively. PWF depended on the inflation rate, g, and interest rate, i, and is
The pipe conductance U for investigated pipe that includes a adjusted for inflation as follows.
layer of insulation can be written as ( ig
 1þg
; i>g
1 i ¼ gi
ð15Þ
U¼ ð6Þ 1þi
; i<g
Rp;ins
and then
The annual exergy losses depending on heat transfer, Exloss,Q,
(
can be calculated by following equation [27] 1ð1þi ÞN
; i–g
  PWF ¼ i ð16Þ
86:4 HDD U To 1
ð1 þ iÞ ; i ¼ g
Exloss;Q ¼ 1 ð7Þ
gs T rt
where i⁄ is the interest rate adjusted for inflation rate and N is
where Trt is assumed to be the temperature of heating circuit return. lifetime of insulation material.
All these exergy losses, exergy destructions and heat require- So the total fuel cost can be arranged as
ments for needed pipe indoor conditions are met with the exergy
of fuel. But a part of this exergy is lost because of the stack gases Exloss;Q
C F ¼ PWF cF ð17Þ
in the nature of the combustion process. The combustion exergy ExF  Exloss;S
is used to heat the water surrounding the combustion chamber. The total cost of insulation depending on the cost of insulation
material per unit volume can be calculated as
2.2. Exergy losses occurred from fuel and stack gases
C ins ¼ cI V ð18Þ
The conservation of energy relation for chemically reacting where cI is the cost of insulation material and V ¼ p4 ðr 22  r21 ÞL is the
steady-flow systems according to the first law of thermodynamic
volume of material used in insulation.
can be expressed per unit mole of fuel as follows [28] Substituting CF from Eq. (17) and Cins from Eq. (18) into Eq. (13),
X   X
QF  W ¼ nout ho þ h
h
o  o þ h
nin ðh h
o Þ ð8Þ the annual total exergetic cost is obtained from
f f in
out
Exloss;Q
where nout and nin are the number of moles exiting from combustion C t ¼ PWF cF þ cI V ð19Þ
ExF  Exloss;S
process of or entering into combustion process for per mole of fuel,
respectively. The maximum work can be occurred during a process The outside radius of insulated pipe can be determined by min-
as defined by imizing Eq. (19). So the differential of Ct with respect to r2 is taken
X X and set equal to zero, then the optimum insulation thickness,
W¼ o þ h
nin ðh h
o  T osÞ  o þ h
nout ðh h
 o  T osÞ ð9Þ
f in f out dins = r2  r1, is obtained using MATLAB optimization toolbox.
 A. Keçebasß / Energy Conversion and Management 58 (2012) 76–83 79

3. Results and discussion Table 2

Parameters and their values used in calculation.

This study deals with optimization of insulation thickness by Parameters Values

using the exergy analysis and life-cycle cost analysis for the case
of using different fuels. The concept of the exergetic life-cycle cost
in pipe insulation are investigated for the excess air coefficient, the
temperatures of inlet and combustion chamber of fuels, and the
temperature of stack gases in the city of Afyonkarahisar/Turkey
by using the parameters shown in Tables 1 and 2. Here, the
degree-days method is also used for the determination of the re-
quired energy consumption for heating loads. The flowchart of
optimization process is shown in Fig. 1. Also, the optimum insula-
tion thickness for a piping system is determined by considering the
cost and heat conductivity of insulation material, heating
degree-days, present worth factor (PWF) and thermal resistance
of pipe excluding the insulation, and is influenced some uncertain
parameters such as the fuel cost, insulation cost, interest rate and
inflation rate. As seen in Fig. 2, a sensitivity analysis of the total
cost for variations in four uncertain factors is performed which is
very useful for practical use to estimate the optimum thickness
of insulation material. Results indicate that the effects of fuel cost
and interest rate on total cost are much more sensitive than insu-
lation cost and inflation rate.
Energy of fuel varies depending on the excess air coefficient, the
inlet temperature of fuel connected with temperature of room in
which boiler is existing and the temperature of stack gases. Fig. 3
shows the effect of temperature of combustion chamber on the
rate of heat transfer transferred from the combustion chamber
for various fuels at excess air coefficient of 1.1. It is seen from
the figure that this energy of fuels increases with increasing the
temperature of combustion chamber. For instance, the energy of
fuel is 38,610 kJ/kg for the temperature of combustion chamber
of 500 °C and 40,530 kJ/kg for the temperature of combustion
chamber of 600 °C for fuel–oil when the inlet temperature of fuel
and the temperature of stack gases is 10 °C and 190 °C, respec-
tively. Furthermore, the highest values of energy of fuel are
reached for the fuel–oil, whereas its lowest values are obtained
for the coal.
The effect of exergy of fuel on temperature of combustion
chamber for various fuels is given in Table 3. From this table, it is
observed that the exergy of fuel decreases with increasing temper-
ature of combustion chamber while it increases with increasing the
inlet temperature of fuel.
Energy of fuel is only the part of energy which could be used in
heating the water in boiler and cannot be completely transferred to
the operating water in the boiler. Depending on the temperature of
combustion chamber and heating circuit, some of this energy,
named exergy, can be transferred. In Fig. 4, the variation of the an-
nual exergy losses depending on heat transfer with insulation
thickness is shown. It appears that the exergy losses due to heat
transfer decrease with the increasing the thickness of insulation
material. The results show that the exergy losses vary between
24,050 and 209,480 kJ/kg depending on the fuels. In case of 10 °C
inlet temperature and the temperature of stack gases of 190 °C,
the exergy losses due to heat transfer for 0.10 m insulation thick-
ness are 45,040 kJ/kg for coal, 36,590 kJ/kg for fuel–oil and
31,480 kJ/kg for natural gas.
Heating degree-days (HDD) 2828 °C-days
Fuels See Table 1
Nominal diameter of pipe 50 mm
(stainless steel pipes (ANSI B 36.10)
used in heating pipelines)
The heat conductivity of pipe (kp) 54 W/m K
Insulation material Rock wool
Conductivity (kins) 0.040 W/m K
Cost (cI) 95 $/m3
Excess air coefficient 0.9–1.1
Inlet temperature (°C) 10–20
Temperature of stack gasses (°C) 130–190
Temperatures of heating circuit (°C) 90/70
Temperature of combustion chamber (°C) 500–600
Interest rate 4%
Inflation rate 5%
Lifetime (N) 10 years
In this study, the fuel exergy does not include exergy of stack gases
as in the energy of fuel. Therefore, these values must be added to en-
ergy and exergy values of fuel to calculate the real heating value of
fuel. Here, the exergy losses due to stack gases vary depending on
the temperature of stack gases and the temperature of room in which
boiler is situated. The variation of exergy losses due to stack gases for
various fuels at inlet temperature of 10 and 20 °C is shown in Fig. 5. In
the contrast of the fuel exergy, the exergy losses due to stack gases
increase with the increasing of the temperature of stack gases. When
the inlet temperature of fuel is 10 °C, the exergy loss for natural gas is
2250.53 kJ/kg for the temperature of stack gases of 130 °C and
2899.74 kJ/kg for 170 °C and it is relatively too high in a value of
3227.53 kJ/kg for 190 °C. It also decreases with the increasing of tem-
perature of its inlet temperature. For coal at the temperature of
190 °C in the stack gases, the exergy loss is 2038.20 kJ/kg for the inlet
temperature of 10 °C, when it is 1941.67 kJ/kg for the inlet tempera-
ture of 20 °C. And, the highest exergy loss is from the natural gas,
followed by the fuel–oil and coal.
As shown in Fig. 6, the exergy losses due to stack gases are sim-
ilar with Fig. 5. Here, the effect of various values of excess air coef-
ficient on exergy losses at 10 °C inlet temperature of fuels is,
however, shown. It is seen that the exergy losses due to stack gases
decreases with increasing excess air coefficient.
The effect of insulation thickness on the annual total exergetic
cost over the lifetime of 10 years in Afyonkarahisar/Turkey is
shown in Fig. 7 for (a) coal, (b) natural gas, and (c) fuel–oil fuels.
From Fig. 7, it is seen that the cost of the fuel decreases with
increasing insulation thickness. The annual total exergetic cost is
the sum of the cost of fuel and insulation material. On the other
hand, the insulation cost increases non-linearly with insulation
thickness due to cylindrical geometry in pipe insulation applica-
tions. The insulation thickness at the minimum annual total
exergetic cost is taken as the optimum insulation thickness. The
optimum insulation thicknesses are respectively 0.065, 0. 071
and 0.099 m for natural gas, coal and fuel–oil fuels at 1.1, 10 °C,
190 °C and 600 °C values of excess air coefficient, inlet temperature
of fuel, temperatures of stack gases and combustion chamber. By

Table 1
Some properties of fuels used in calculation.

Fuels Pricea Hu g (%) Chemical formulas [31]

Coal 0.3926 ($/kg) 29.260  106 J/kg 65 C7.078H5.149O0.517S0.01N0.086
Natural gas 0.5022 ($/m3) 34.485  106 J/m3 93 C1.05H4O0.034N0.022
Fuel–oil 1.3202 ($/kg) 41.278  106 J/kg 80 C7.3125H10.407O0.04S0.026N0.02
a
Assuming 1$ = 1.5170 Turkish Liras (TL) as of April 2011.
80 A. Keçebasß / Energy Conversion and Management 58 (2012) 76–83

Fig. 3. Variation of fuel energy according to the temperature of combustion

chamber for various fuels at 1.1 value of excess air coefficient.

Table 3
The exergy variation of fuels according to various parameters.

10a 20a
b b b
500 550 600 500b 550b 600b
Coal
0.9c 37647.17 37190.65 36580.60 37817.68 37364.12 36756.53
1c 44088.99 43634.87 43004.02 44278.44 43827.61 43199.49
1.1c 43127.79 42551.58 41797.38 43336.20 42763.60 42012.40
Natural gas
0.9c 43530.34 42620.69 41517.60 43774.77 42869.35 41769.79
1c 52764.58 51858.37 50725.46 53036.17 52134.67 51005.67
1.1c 45386.72 44305.50 42995.76 45685.47 44609.42 43303.99
Fuel–oil
0.9c 44593.21 44003.05 43228.95 44801.55 44215.00 43443.91
1c 52464.16 51876.93 51077.41 52695.65 52112.43 51316.25
1.1c 51289.72 50553.32 49603.07 51544.36 50812.37 49865.80
a
Inlet temperature of fuel (°C).
b
Temperature of combustion chamber (°C).
c
Excess air coefficient.

Fig. 1. The flowchart of optimization process (toi: thickness of insulation, tec: total
exergetic cost, oit: optimum insulation thickness).

Fig. 4. Effect on exergy losses depending on heat transfer of insulation thickness for
various fuels.

Fig. 8 shows the effect of insulation thickness on exergetic sav-

Fig. 2. A sensitivity analysis of the total cost for variations in four uncertain factors.
applying optimum insulation thicknesses; the annual total
exergetic cost will be decreased by 67.60%, 69.50% and 73.40%
for natural gas, coal and fuel–oil fuels, respectively.
ings for various fuel types. Here, the optimum insulation thickness
is achieved when the exergetic savings start to decrease as the
thickness of insulation material is increased. The exergetic savings
is maximum at optimum insulation thickness. It is seen that the
highest values of exergetic savings are reached for the fuel–oil,
whereas its lowest values are obtained for the natural gas. On
the other hand, the exergetic savings for the natural gas, coal and
 A. Keçebasß / Energy Conversion and Management 58 (2012) 76–83 81

Fig. 5. Variation of exergy losses due to stack gases for various fuels at inlet
temperature of 10 and 20 °C.

Fig. 6. Variation of exergy losses due to stack gases for various values of excess air
coefficient at 10 °C inlet temperature of fuels.

fuel–oil fuels reach maximum, which is 30.80, 34.60 and 68.90 $/

m, at the optimum insulation thickness, respectively. It is so clear
that there is a linear relation between exergetic saving and com-
bustion products. The combustion products which include the air
pollutants such as CO2 and SO2 will decrease in related to exergetic
saving. As a result of this, air pollution do not reach to serious de-
grees in the cities where winter conditions are hard.
This analysis is performed for the city of Afyonkarahisar which
is the coldest city in Turkey. However, the parameters used study
can also be used in other countries having different climatic zones Fig. 7. Variation of annual exergy cost on insulation thickness for (a) coal, (b)
(degree-days), and temperature of outside air (reference state). natural gas, and (c) fuel–oil fuels.
Therefore, analysis results are extended, and the variation of some
parameters on the heating degree-days (HDD) and temperature of
outside air for coal fuel is shown in Table 4. It is observed from this
table that the optimum insulation thickness, total annual exergetic
cost, exergy saving, and exergy losses depending on heat transfer
increase with the increase of HDD values. In addition, the optimum
insulation thicknesses of the larger degree-days are very close va-
lue to each other. In this case, an insulation material with the same
optimum thickness can be used for all larger degree-days. Consid-
ering the temperature of outside air (reference state), while
increasing that temperature, these parameters reduce due to the
decrease of the heat losses.
Consequently, the variation of optimum insulation thickness by
means of various parameters such as excess air coefficient, inlet
temperature of fuel, temperatures of stack gases and combustion
chamber for coal is shown in Table 5. From here, the optimum insu-
lation thickness decreases with the increasing of inlet temperature Fig. 8. Effect of insulation thickness on exergetic saving for various fuels.
82 A. Keçebasß / Energy Conversion and Management 58 (2012) 76–83

Table 4
Variation of some parameters on the heating degree-days and temperature of outside air for coal fuel.

HDD Parameters Temperature of outside air (reference state) (°C)

10 5 0 5 10 15 20
1000 dopt 0.042 0.042 0.039 0.039 0.037 0.036 0.034
Ct 5.581 5.346 5.108 4.865 4.620 4.370 4.116
S 7.609 7.112 6.627 6.137 5.655 5.174 4.699
Exloss,Q 30031.590 28363.165 27620.090 25893.830 24760.490 23283.846 22065.980
2000 dopt 0.058 0.057 0.055 0.054 0.052 0.050 0.049
Ct 9.463 9.056 8.645 8.228 7.805 7.376 6.940
S 16.807 15.761 14.724 13.686 12.658 11.635 10.613
Exloss,Q 51859.380 49362.699 47212.900 44630.540 42373.270 40053.958 37314.540
3000 dopt 0.071 0.069 0.067 0.065 0.063 0.061 0.058
Ct 12.948 12.385 11.816 11.240 10.656 10.064 9.463
S 26.340 24.736 23.138 21.544 19.956 18.375 16.807
Exloss,Q 71108.330 68006.170 64841.410 61609.730 58306.390 54926.132 51859.380
4000 dopt 0.080 0.077 0.075 0.073 0.071 0.069 0.066
Ct 16.210 15.500 14.782 14.055 13.319 12.573 11.816
S 36.070 33.911 31.742 29.579 27.424 25.276 23.145
Exloss,Q 90016.570 86431.898 82282.810 78054.520 73741.970 69339.625 65274.030
5000 dopt 0.088 0.086 0.084 0.081 0.079 0.076 0.068
Ct 19.321 18.470 17.609 16.738 15.856 14.962 14.087
S 45.934 43.184 40.440 37.716 34.988 32.279 29.595
Exloss,Q 108024.800 103026.000 97944.750 93267.010 87992.340 83088.670 80523.480
6000 dopt 0.095 0.092 0.090 0.088 0.085 0.082 0.079
Ct 22.320 21.332 20.332 19.321 18.298 17.262 16.210
S 55.885 52.569 49.248 45.934 42.642 39.359 36.086
Exloss,Q 125510.900 120147.520 114134.300 108024.800 102323.200 96487.504 90506.400

Table 5 be reduced further by insulating pipes. In this study, the

Variation of optimum insulation thickness by means of various parameters for coal thermo-economic evaluation is performed for optimization of pipe
fuel. insulation thickness by using exergoeconomic analysis. This analy-
10a 20a sis is a combination of the second law of thermodynamics and eco-
nomics (i.e., exergoeconomics) using exergy and life-cycle cost
130b 150b 170b 190b 130b 150b 170b 190b
analyses. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis shows that economic
500c
parameters such as insulation cost, exergy cost, inflation rate and
0.9d 0.065 0.067 0.071 0.073 0.060 0.063 0.065 0.067
1d 0.059 0.061 0.063 0.066 0.055 0.057 0.058 0.060 interest rate, and combustion parameters such as excess air coeffi-
1.1d 0.062 0.063 0.066 0.068 0.056 0.058 0.061 0.063 cient, stack gas temperature, and combustion chamber parameters
550c have a noticeable effect on optimum insulation and exergetic sav-
0.9d 0.066 0.069 0.072 0.075 0.061 0.065 0.067 0.068 ings. The results obtained this study have shown that the optimum
1d 0.060 0.062 0.065 0.067 0.056 0.058 0.061 0.062 insulation thickness determined as 0.065, 0.071, 0.099 m with a
1.1d 0.062 0.065 0.068 0.070 0.057 0.059 0.064 0.064 rate of 68.27%, 71.54% and 77.85% in the exergetic saving for natu-
600c ral gas, coal and fuel–oil fuels at 1.1, 10 °C, 190 °C and 600 °C val-
0.9d 0.069 0.070 0.072 0.074 0.063 0.066 0.068 0.069 ues of excess air coefficient, inlet temperature of fuel, temperatures
1d 0.061 0.063 0.067 0.068 0.057 0.059 0.062 0.064
1.1d 0.063 0.066 0.069 0.071 0.058 0.061 0.065 0.065
of stack gases and combustion chamber. Therefore, a decreasing in
the air pollutants about at same rates has been obtained. The opti-
a
Inlet temperature of fuel (°C). mum insulation thickness decreases with the increasing of inlet
b
Temperature of stack gasses (°C).
c temperature of fuel, and with the decreasing of excess air coeffi-
Temperature of combustion chamber (°C).
d
Excess air coefficient. cient, temperatures of stack gases and combustion chamber. Fur-
thermore, the optimum insulation thickness, total annual
of fuel. On the contrary of this, it increases with the increasing of ex- exergetic cost, exergy saving, and exergy losses depending on heat
cess air coefficient, temperatures of stack gases and combustion transfer increase with the increase of HDD values, while they de-
chamber. As a result, the optimum insulation thickness for the ther- crease by increasing the temperature of outside air (reference
mo-economic optimization based on the second law of thermody- state). Finally, the optimum insulation thickness for the exergoeco-
namic is higher than that of optimization method based on the nomic optimization is higher than that of energoeconomic
first law of thermodynamic. And, combustion parameters such as optimization.
excess air coefficient, stack gas temperature, and combustion cham-
ber parameters are much more effective on optimum insulation Acknowledgements
thickness.
The author is very grateful to the editor and the reviewers for
4. Conclusion their valuable and constructive comments, which have been uti-
lized in improving the quality of the paper. He would like to ex-
Applying the optimum insulation thickness in building enve- press his appreciation to his wife Pınar Keçebasß and his daughter
lope, the economic loss can be decreased or the energy consump- Günesß Su Keçebasß for their continued patience, understanding
tion can be improved. Even in well-insulated buildings they can and full support throughout the preparation of this paper.
 A. Keçebasß / Energy Conversion and Management 58 (2012) 76–83 83

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