Applied Thermal Engineering 149 (2019) 312–324

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Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Research Paper

Energy and exergy analysis and multi-criteria optimization of an integrated T

city gate station with organic Rankine flash cycle and thermoelectric
generator
⁎
Morteza Saadat-Targhia, Shoaib Khanmohammadib,
a
Esfarayen University of Technology, Esfarayen, North Khorasan, Iran
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kermanshah University of Technology, Kermanshah, Iran

H I GH L IG H T S

• ARealnewoperating
integrated energy recovery system for pressure reduction station is proposed.
• The lowest exergy data of a CGS is used to validate the IWBH subsystem.
• Multi-objective optimization
efficiency of subsystem with 1.41% belongs to the IWBH.
• Thermal efficiency of integrated lead to decrease 337.62 kW exergy destruction rate.
• system increase about 8.57% in the optimum state.

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The current study deals with the thermodynamic modeling, and multi-objective optimization of a pressure re-
Exergy destruction rate duction station integrated with an organic Rankine flash cycle (ORFC) and a thermoelectric generator (TEG)
Decision variables waste heat recovery system (WHRS). Using the real operating data of a city gate station (CGS), a thermodynamic
Optimization simulation was developed using EES (Engineering Equation Solver). The exergy analysis as a rigorous method
Indirect water bath heater
was applied to find the exergy destructive components of the integrated system. Computations indicate that the
Burner
exergy efficiencies of the indirect water bath heater (IWBH), ORFC condenser and TEG modules are 1.41%,
30.45%, and 16.34%, respectively, which are the lowest asset values among all components.
Five main decision variables were defined as objective functions by the parametric study of the integrated
system. Results of multi-objective optimization offer a set of non-dominant optimization solutions. A criterion for
optimum state selection is carried out with the definition of an ideal point on the Pareto diagram, where point B
is picked as a favorable system state.
The scattered distribution of decision variables at points (offered by the Pareto solution) represents that ṁ NG
and TNG − 2 tend to be at the lower bound of their allowable range in all optimum states. Moreover, a comparison
between the non-optimal and optimal integrated system reveals that the total exergy destruction rate through
the system decreases 337.62 kW, and the thermal efficiency increases 8.57% in the optimal state.

1. Introduction
Energy plays an important role in all aspects of the human being.
The ever increasing demand for energy throughout the world has pu-
shed the scientists to seek new ways of energy saving. There are many
opportunities in industrial processes that can be employed smartly to
save considerable amounts of energy. The use of the natural gas (NG) as
a prime source of energy is growing steadily, and it is anticipated to
peak around the year 2030 [1]. The NG produces in the oil and natural
gas fields and it converts in the refinery to the sweet gas which ready
for end user consumption. Since the refinery is far from the consumers
using high-pressure pipelines the natural gas transmits to cities and
industrial plants. The pressure of transmission pipelines is much higher
than the pressure demanded by consumers; hence, near the cities, this
pressure reduces to a desirable value in the city gate stations (CGS).
According to the Joule-Thompson coefficient of NG in the pressure
reduction process the temperature of the NG will drop. To prevent the
hydrate formation and unfavorable icing effects an inline NG heater

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: sh.khanmohammadi@kut.ac.ir (S. Khanmohammadi).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2018.12.079
Received 6 September 2018; Received in revised form 23 November 2018; Accepted 12 December 2018
Available online 13 December 2018
1359-4311/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
M. Saadat-Targhi, S. Khanmohammadi
warms up the NG stream. The combustion products of the inline NG
heater leave at a high temperature of about 381–476 °C to the en-
vironment [2].
There are numerous studies in the literature focus on the energy
recovery in the CGSs. The reported research from the literature can be
categorized in different ways. A category of research employed the
high-pressure energy of the NG to produce useful work via a turboex-
pander. Cascio E.L. et al. [3], Tan H. et al. [4], Rahmatpour A. and
Shaibani M. J. [5], Khanmohammadi S. et al. [6], Neseli M.A. [7] and
Zabihi A. and Taghizadeh M. [8] examined the possibility of turboex-
pander installation in the natural gas pressure reduction station using
energy, exergy and economic analysis. In the aforementioned research
studies, different scenarios developed to achieve a suitable turboex-
pander configuration to recover maximum energy from the pressure
reduction process.
The combination of renewable energies with the inline NG heater in
a pressure reduction station is a new method can help to receive sus-
tainable and clean energy management in the CGSs. A variety of re-
newable energies are employed to enhance the performance of NG
heating with effective methods. Farzaneh Gord M. et al. [9] proposed a
parallel solar array with a storage tank to be employed in a CGS to
enhance the thermal performance and decrease the fuel consumption of
studied station. In another research, Arabkohsar A. et al. [10] in-
vestigated a combined system including a grid-connected photovoltaic
system (PV), a compressed air energy storage system (CAES) and a city
gate station (CGS). They also studied the feasibility of employing
evacuated tube collector solar thermal systems in their studied hybrid
system. Results showed that using 5200 evacuated tube solar collectors
is the most economically efficient and lead to 17.2% fuel saving.
Ghezlbash R. et al. [11] investigated a natural gas expansion plant
integrated with a vertical-coupled ground source heat pump. Their
analysis indicated that the potential annual energy saving is 45.8% and
the discounted payback time is about 6 years. More studies in the field
of the renewable-based NG pressure reduction station system can be
found in the refs [12,13].
Some researchers combined pressure reduction station with cooling,
heating and power generation unit and carried out an energy and ex-
ergy analysis of such systems [14–17]. Kostowski W. and Uson S. [17]
proposed a hybrid system to recover energy from high-pressure NG
stream and to preheat NG using waste thermal energy from a gas en-
gine. Their results revealed that the cost of electricity produced by
turboexpander is higher than the unit cost of generated electricity in the
CHP module.
Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) have been illustrated over the
past two decades for direct conversion of heat into power. TEGs in-
tegration with power generation systems is investigated in scientific
research in recent years [18–21]. Some special features like having a
long lifetime, having no moving parts, silent operation and being en-
vironmentally friendly to make TEGs a good alternative energy tech-
nology to decrease dependency on fossil fuels [22]. There has been a
significant amount of literature done examining the waste heat re-
covery system (WHRS) [23–25]. Compared to other waste heat re-
covery technologies, the use of TEGs in a WHRS has many desirable
attributes such as small size, silence, scalability and durability [26].
Although their efficiency is relatively low compared to a Rankine cycle
WHRS [27].
There has been a significant amount of literature done examining
TEGs could be used to WHRS from automobile exhaust [28–30]. TEGs
could be exploited for power plants to eliminate cooling water con-
sumption [31]. There are similar researches about the biomass-fired
thermal oil heater [32], and other heated components like wood-
burning stoves [33]. TEGs WHRS could be also used for energy har-
vesting in domestic applications and micro production units [34]. A
mathematical model of a concentrated photovoltaic-thermoelectric
hybrid system was developed based on the first and second laws of
thermodynamics by Lamba and Kaushik [35]. A numerical method was
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Applied Thermal Engineering 149 (2019) 312–324
exploited to determine the temperatures of the photovoltaic module
and cold and hot side of TEG by solving the energy balance equations.
Singh et al. [36] examined electric power generation from the solar
pond using combined thermosiphon and TEGs. In their work, design
and test result of the combined system of thermosiphon and TEGs for
the generation of power from the solar pond is discussed. In solar
ponds, temperature difference in the range 40–60 °C is available which
can be applied across the cold and hot sides of the TEGs. Yazawa et al.
[37] presented that TEGs can add 4–6% to the overall system efficiency
for advanced steam turbines (Rankine cycle) that nominally generate
power with 40–42% efficiency. The simulated TEGs are located inside a
boiler wall constructed of wet steam tubes. In their work, the topping
TEG employed non-toxic and readily available materials. A theoretical
model is developed to analyze the cascading TEGs and cooler for waste
heat recovery from solid oxide fuel cells by Zhang et al. [38]. They
presented that the efficiency and power density of the proposed system
allow 4.6% and 2.3% larger than that of the stand-alone solid oxide fuel
cells, respectively. In one of the last researches, an experimental set-up
of a TEG was made on air-flow and engine test bench by Eddine et al.
[39]. An analytical study on the effect of applied pressure on the heat
transfer coefficient had been made for tendency prediction by them.
They presented an optimum clamping pressure for the TEG device
corresponding to a compressive stress of 0.35 MPa.
The simulation results indicate that there is a significant potential at
the combustion products leaving the natural gas heater with tempera-
kg
ture of 339.8 °C and mass flow rate of 0.2693 s . This amount of heat is
released directly to the environment. Various approaches have been
proposed the WHRS. Compared to other WHRSs, the use of TEGs WHRS
has many desirable attributes such as small size, silence, scalability and
durability. According to the literature review, there is no research with
the use of TEG modules to harvest waste heat from the natural gas
CGSs. In addition, previous studies indicate that although different
parameters affect the performance of an integrated CGS system, there is
a lack of optimization of such systems. The present research, therefore,
aimed to conduct a performance assessment of the natural gas CGSs
integrated with the TEG waste heat recovery system. The unique fea-
ture of the integrated system reported in this research is a novel design
that facilitates the waste heat to be recovered to the power by using the
TEG WHRS. A parametric study from the viewpoints of the first and
second laws of thermodynamics is considered to investigate the effects
of important parameters on the system performance. Another innova-
tion of this work is the use of a genetic algorithm based multi-objective
optimization to determine the best optimum state of the proposed
system using energy and exergy concepts.
2. System description
Fig. 1 represents the conventional an inline natural gas heater of
No.1 Ilam CGS. Fig. 1(a) shows a photograph of the real system, and
Fig. 1(b) represents a schematic diagram of the combustion process and
natural gas streams.
The proposed system consists of an ORFC and a TEG module to
recover waste energy (Fig. 2). In the studied configuration, an ORFC
and a series of TEG modules are used to recover exhaust flue gases
energy.
3. Modeling and simulation
3.1. Inline NG heater
An atmospheric burner is employed in the inline NG heater to burn
the natural gas as the source of energy. It is assumed that the burner
operates at steady-state condition, and the combustion process is
complete. The general form of combustion reaction can be written as:
M. Saadat-Targhi, S. Khanmohammadi Applied Thermal Engineering 149 (2019) 312–324

Fuel

Burner
Air
Inline NG heater NG outlet

NG inlet To environment

(a) (b)
Fig. 1. Ilam No.1 city gate station inline NG heater (a) the photograph of the real system (b) the schematic diagram.

° ° ° °
(αCH 4 + βC2 H6) + (1 + e ) ∗ a ∗ [O2 + 3.76N2] → x N2 N2 + x O2 O2 (αh¯ f , CH4 + βh¯ f , C2 H6 ) + (1 + e ) ∗ a ∗ [(h¯ f , O2 + Δh¯ ) + 3.76 (h¯ f , N2 + Δh¯ )]
+ x CO2 CO2 + x H2 O H2 O (1)
= x N2 (h¯ f , N2 + Δh¯ ) + x O2 (h¯ f , O2 + Δh¯ )+x CO2 (h¯ f , CO2 + Δh¯ ⎞⎟
° ° °

where α and β are the molar fraction of methane and ethane in natural ⎠
gas, respectively and e denotes the excess air. Furthermore, a is the + x H2 O (h¯ f , H2 O + Δh¯ ⎞⎟
°

theoretical air necessary to complete combustion, which can be ob- ⎠ (6)

tained from the stoichiometric reaction. To obtain the exhaust gas
°
compositions an element balance is used: where is the molar enthalpy formation regarding kJ/kmol, an0064
h̄f
Δh¯ is enthalpy difference for the given state with reference state.
α + 2β = x CO2 (2) In the natural gas transmission pipeline, inline NG heater provides
the required energy for the main line before it expands in the expansion
valve. The combustion products at a high temperature enter a water
2α + 3β = xH 2O (3)
bath and give their energy to water. The combustion products in the
point exh_1 (Fig. 2) leave the heater. The energy efficiency for an in-
2(1 + e ) a = 2x O2 + 2x CO2 + x H2 O (4) direct water bath heater can be expressed as:

usefuloutputenergy Ė ̇ − (Estack
Efuel ̇ ̇
+ Esurface )
3.76 ∗ (1 + e ) a = xN 2 (5) ηIWBH = = NG =
inputenergy ̇
Efuel ̇
Efuel (7)
From the energy balance between reactant and product under ̇ , Estack
Here EFuel ̇ , and Esurface
̇ are energy of fuel, stack energy loss and
steady-state condition without energy loss, the required air for com- surface energy loss, respectively. Using energy balance for inlets and
bustion can be calculated as bellow: outlets stream for heater control volume (Fig. 2), the following equation
can be written:

Fig. 2. The schematic diagram of proposed systems (inline NG heater combined with OFC and TEG).

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M. Saadat-Targhi, S. Khanmohammadi Applied Thermal Engineering 149 (2019) 312–324

Table 1
Energy balance and required equations for ORFC thermal modeling.
Components Equations

Pump ṁ 4 h4 + ẇ p = ṁ 5 h5 ηis, p =
h5s − h 4
h5 − h 4

Evaporator ṁ ORC (h6 − h5) = ṁ fluegas (hexh2 − h exh1)

Turbine ṁ 1 h1 = ṁ 2 h2 + ẇtur ηis, tur =
h1 − h2
h1 − h2s

Throttle valve 1 h6 = h7
Flash vessel ṁ 7 h7 = ṁ 8 h8 + ṁ 1 h1
Throttle valve 2 h8 = h 9
Mixer ṁ 2 h2 = ṁ 9 h9 + ṁ 3 h3
Condenser ṁ 3 h3 + ṁ c1 hc1 = ṁ c2 hc2 + ṁ 4 h4

ṁ NG (hNG − 2 − hNG − 1) = ηIWBH [ṁ exh _1 (hf − hexh _1)] (8)

where hNG − 1 and hNG − 2 are enthalpy inlet of cold natural gas to heater
and enthalpy of hot natural gas outlet of heater, respectively. hf and
hexh_1 are the inlet and outlet enthalpy of combustion products, re-
spectively.

Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of TEG [41].

3.2. ORFC

by:
The considered ORFC in this study includes eight main parts. As can
be seen in Fig. 2, the organic working fluid at state 4 enters the organic ̇ p )gas × [Tgas (x + dx ) − Tgas (x )]
dQ (x )gas = (mc (9)
pump with the isentropic efficiency of ηis, p , and after an increase in its
pressure leaves the pump at state 5. The organic working fluid in the whereṁ and cp are the mass flow rate and heat capacity of the fluid,
saturated state leaves the evaporator, then in the flash vessel, with a respectively.
pressure drop in a throttle valve stream splits to two branches. The Total rate of energy transferred from the TEGs on the cold side of
saturated vapor enters the turbine and the saturated liquid adds to the the WHRS is calculated by:
turbine outlet stream after a pressure drop in a mixer. The saturated dQ (x )air = Cair × dA × [Tf (x ) − Tair ] (10)
vapor in the condenser exchanges its heat with the cooling medium and
converts to the saturated liquid. The governing equation can be ob- where Cair and Tf (x ) are free convection heat transfer coefficient and
tained using the steady state condition and assuming each component temperature of the heat sink, respectively. The output power generated
as a control volume. Table 1 shows the energy balance, and equations from TEG WHRS is the difference in the two energy rates in Eqns. (9)
required for ORFC thermal modeling are illustrated in Fig. 2. and (10):
dP (x )WHRS = dQ (x )gas − dQ (x )air (11)
3.3. TEG waste heat recovery
The heat fluxes absorbed from hot side QH and rejected to the cold
side QL for a TEG can be calculated by the following equations [42]:
A TEG converts thermal energy directly into electricity through a
temperature gradient using a phenomenon called the Seebeck’s effect. RG I 2
̂ H + K (TH − TL) −
QH = αIT
When a temperature gradient is applied between the sides of a material, 2 (13)
it causes movements of electrons from the region with a low energy
RG I 2
level and increases the concentration of positive ions in the other region ̂ L + K (TH − TL) +
QL = αIT
2 (14)
[40]. Generally, a TEG has several couples wired electrically in series
and thermally in parallel. The movement of electrons generates an where I denotes the generated current, α ̂ is Seebeck coefficient, K is the
electric voltage, which is proportional to the temperature difference. thermal conductivity, RG shows the internal resistance of the TEG, and
The working principle of the typical TEG consisting of a thermoelectric TL and TH are the cold and hot sides temperature of the TEG. The output
module, a cold side heat exchanger, and hot source from an external power generated from a TEG can be calculated by the following
load are shown in Fig. 3. equation:
Fig. 4 illustrates a schematic view of the TEG WHRS, in which the
Po = Vo × Io = QH − QL (15)
hot gas flows across one surface and fresh air flows to the other side of
the thermoelectric leg pairs. Two heat exchangers (heat sinks) are re- where Io and Vo are output current and output voltage, respectively. The
quired to recover the waste heat on the cold and hot sides. The heat output electrical power can be written as:
transfer model of the TEG WHRS can be discussed by the mathematical
Po = αÎ (TH − TL) − RG I 2 (16)
thermal resistance model illustrated in (Fig. 5) showing three sections
in the resistance model, cold side, hot side, and TEG. The cold side is in The output voltage is obtained:
the ambient air, and the hot side is in the combustion products.
Po
The TEG WHRS is modeled using the basic one-dimensional steady- Vo = = α ̂(TH − TL) − RG I
Io (17)
state method. Temperature distribution along the length of the WHRS
in hot gas fluid will change because energy is extracted from the hot Taking open circuit condition (I = 0 ), the output power generation
fluid and dumped to the ambient air. The temperatures of the hot and can be calculated by the following equation:
cold fluids are defined as T (x )gas and Tair , respectively. The total rate of
Vo = α ̂(TH − TL) (18)
energy transferred to all TEGs in the hot side of the WHRS is calculated

315
M. Saadat-Targhi, S. Khanmohammadi Applied Thermal Engineering 149 (2019) 312–324

hot side

Fig. 4. Schematic model of TEG waste heat recovery system.

The output electrical power can be expressed by the equation given Cp 2C (t f + W ) 2C

below: m= = ≅
kf t f kf t f W kf t f (26)
Po = RL × I 2 (19) where N , Hf , W , t f , b , p and kf represent the number of fins, fin height,
Here RL is the value of external resistance, the value of which is equal to fin width, fin thickness tunnel width, perimeter of fin tip and the
the TEG internal resistance to maximize the output electrical power thermal conductivity of the fin material, respectively. The calculation
[43]. The thermal efficiency of TEG can be calculated by: methods of convection heat transfer coefficientC for free convection
flow are presented in [44] and those for force convection are accessible
Po in Ref. [45]. The thermal resistance of a TEG can be determined by the
ηTEG =
QH (20) following equation:
As seen in Fig. 5, interface thermal resistance (Ri ), material thermal TH − TL
RTEG =
resistance (Rm ) and convectional thermal resistance (R conv ) form the QH − QL (27)
thermal resistance of cold and hot sides. The interface thermal re-
Overall, heat transfer coefficient can be presented by the following
sistance can be expressed as:
equations:
ti 1
Ri = UH =
ki Ac (21) Roverall, H AH (28)
where ti is thickness, ki is thermal conductivity, and Ac represents the 1
area of interface. Material thermal resistance (the thermal resistance in UL =
Roverall, L AL (29)
the base of the plate fin heat sink) can be presented by the following
equation: where Roverall , AH and AL are overall thermal resistance on hot and cold
sides, and effective heat transfer area on hot and cold sides, respec-
tb tb
Rm = = tively. The heat fluxes absorbed from hot side QH and rejected to the
kb Ab kb (Wb × Lb) (22)
cold side QL for a TEG can be expressed by the equations given below:
where tb , Wb , Lb and kb are thickness, width length of heat sink base and QH = UH AH (Tgas − TH ) (30)
thermal conductivity of the base material, respectively. The Newton’s
Law of cooling is used when there is a temperature difference between QL = UC AL (TL − Tair ) (31)
the fluid and solid surface, so:
To simplify, the heat transfer of the hot side of the WHRS to the
1 environment is negligible, so:
R conv =
CAeff (23) dQ (x ) gas = QH = CAh (Tgas (x ) − Tf (x )) (32)
Aeff is plate fin heat sink effective heat transfer area, and ηf is fin where Tf (x ) is the temperature of fins. By using Eqns. (9) and (32),
efficiency calculated by the following equations: temperature of hot fluids in the next node (Tgas (x + dx )) could be cal-
Aeff = ηf × (2NWHf ) + (N − 1) bW culated by the following relation:
(24)
̇ p )gas × [Tgas (x + dx ) − Tgas (x )] = CAh [Tgas (x ) − Tf (x )]
(mc (33)
tanh (mHf )
ηf = Eq. (33) is subject to the boundary condition Tgas (x = 0) = Tgas, i ,
mHf (25) which is the temperature of incoming waste heat fluid to WHRS. The

Fig. 5. Mathematical thermal resistance model of TEG waste heat recovery system.

316
M. Saadat-Targhi, S. Khanmohammadi
total electric power of WHRS could be presented as:
PWHRS = Qgas − Qair = NTEG × Po (34)
Here NTEG is the total number of TEG used to generate electricity.
The waste heat recovery system parameters including TEG proper-
ties, dimensions of duct where TEG is placed (WHRS), and dimensions
of the heat sink are given elsewhere [32].
3.4. Exergy analysis
Exergy is a useful tool that can be used to cover the energy analysis
defects. Energy analysis emphasizes on the quantity of energy while
exergy introduces a new definition related to the available part of en-
ergy or quality of energy. Based on the exergy definition, the exergy of a
system can be defined as the maximum obtainable work during a pro-
cess that bring the system to equilibrium with environmental conditions
(at a reference state with temperature T° and pressure P°) . The exergy
analysis can help find the locations of availability losses in a complex
system. The general form of exergy balance for a control volume at a
steady state can be written as:
Eẋ Q + ∑ ṁ i exi = ∑ ṁ e exe + Eẋ W + Eẋ D
i e (35)
where subscripts i and e refer to the inlet and outlet stream of control
volume, respectively. In addition, Eẋ Q is the exergy of heat transfer
(
T
)
calculated from Eẋ Q = 1 − ° ,and Eẋ W is equal to Ẇ .
Ti
Four main parts of exergy are chemical exergy, physical (thermo-
physical) exergy, potential exergy and kinetic exergy [46]. The two
latter parts are negligible in a large category of processes. Physical
exergy depends on the thermophysical properties of the system and its
related environment while chemical exergy is considered mainly when
there is a chemical reaction such as combustion.
ex = ex ph + ex ch + ex p + exk (36)
ex ph = (h − h°) − T° (s − s°) (37)
Here ° refers to the reference state, and T is the absolute temperature
(Kelvin). For a mixture of ideal gas such as combustion products, the
chemical exergy can be calculated as [47]:
n n
ex ch = ∑ x i ex chi + RT° ∑ x i Ln (xi)
i=1 i=1 (38)
where x i is mole fraction of components in the mixture, and ex chi is the
standard chemical energy of each component in the mixture, which can
be found in Ref. [48].
Sazrgut and Styrylska [49] assumed that the ratio of chemical ex-
ergy, ex f , to the net calorific value (NCV) for solid, liquid and gaseous
industrial fuels is the same as that for pure chemical substances having
the same ratios of constituent chemicals. This ratio is denoted by φ :
ex f
φ=
NCV (39)
Typical values of φ for some industrial fuels are presented in Ref.
[48]. The value of φ for natural gas is between 1.04 and 1.08
Fuel exergy, product exergy, exergy destruction rate, exergy effi-
ciency and other exergy parameters of each component are presented in
Table 2.
3.5. System assessment
Defining appropriate objective functions is a crucial stage in system
optimization process. The objective functions must be defined in a way
considering all aspects of a system. Here, the total exergy destruction
rate and thermal efficiency of the system are used as objectives for the
multi-criteria optimization process. Eqns. (40) and (41) represent two
defined objective functions as bellow:
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Applied Thermal Engineering 149 (2019) 312–324
Q̇IWBH + Wtur
̇ − Ẇ pump + PWHRS
η=
ṁ f NCVf (40)
Ex d, tot = Eẋ d, burnr + Eẋ d, IWBH + Eẋ d, ORCpump + Eẋ d, ORC , eva + Eẋ d, flashvessel
+ Eẋ d, ORCtur + Eẋ d, ORCcond + Eẋ d, TEG (41)
4. Results and discussion
After validation of simulation, this section represents the results of
modeling the integrated system of the gas pressure reducing station
integrated with a TEG module and also those of the system parametric
study. Moreover, results of the multi-objective optimization by the
energy and exergy based defined objective functions are described in
this section. The constant design parameters of the studied system are
reported in Table 3.
4.1. Validation
In order to validate the results of developed thermodynamic codes,
the data in literature and available operating data sheets for IWBH are
used. In the case of ORC the thermodynamic models is verified by
making use of the published data [51] as used previously by the authors
[52]. In addition the available operating data sheets of IWBH represents
that in the case that the excess air in combustion is 150% and ambient
temperature is 15 °C the outlet NG temperature form IWBH is 29.6 °C is
recorded which the prepared code predict it 30.3 °C. The results of
numerical modeling validation of the other subsystems of integrated
system, especially TEG module and combustion process, are presented
in this section.
4.1.1. TEG validation
The TEG simulation result of this research is compared against HZ-
20 TEG [53] under identical desired temperatures of cold and hot sides.
The HZ-20 TEG specifications are presented in the product data sheet
[53]. TEG is designed specifically for the generation of power and can
tolerate intermittent temperatures exceeding 630 K . Comparisons be-
tween numerical experimental data and simulation results for power
generation are presented in Table 4. According to Table 4, only small
differences exist between the results, indeed, the largest relative error is
lower than 1.5%.
4.1.2. Combustion process validation
A comparison between data obtained from mathematical modeling
and experimental results for the combustion process are presented in
Table 5. In the thermal modeling of the combustion process, except in
the case of calculating environmental impacts, because CO and NOx
molar fraction are very low, these components are not included in the
mathematical model. The results of numerical simulation have a good
agreement with experimental data obtained by Izaco [54].
4.2. Exergy analysis result
The thermodynamic properties of various points in the studied
system obtained by numerical modeling are given in Table 6. The ob-
tained results are related to the system before optimization.
Fig. 6 indicates the exergy destruction rate for each part of the
studied system. As shown in this figure, the maximum exergy destruc-
tion rate is related to the burner, water bath heater and evaporator. The
exergy destruction rate is high in the burner due to the occurrence of
the combustion chemical process, which is an intensely irreversible
process. A great amount of energy quality is lost, or there is an exergy
destruction rate in the water bath heater because the energy of com-
bustion products with a high temperature (high quality) is transferred
to the water at a low temperature (low quality). The reason for high
M. Saadat-Targhi, S. Khanmohammadi Applied Thermal Engineering 149 (2019) 312–324

Table 2
The exergy analysis parameters of the studied system.
Component Eẋ f Eẋ p Eẋ d ε yd yd∗

Burner Eẋ fuel + Eẋ air Eẋ f Eẋ fuel + Eẋ air − Eẋ f Eẋ f Eẋ d, ABurner Eẋ d, Burner
Eẋ fuel + Eẋ air Eẋ fuel + Eẋ air Eẋ d, tot

Inline NG heater Eẋ f − Eẋ exh − 1 Eẋ NG − 2 − Eẋ NG − 1 Eẋ f − Eẋ exh − 1 − Eẋ NG − 2 + Eẋ NG − 1 Eẋ NG − 2 − Eẋ NG − 1 Eẋ d, InlineNGheater Eẋ d, InlineNGheater
Eẋ f − Eẋ exh − 1 Eẋ f − Eẋ exh − 1 Eẋ d, tot
ORC evaporator Eẋ exh − 1 − Eẋ exh − 2 Eẋ 6 − Eẋ 5 Eẋ exh − 1 − Eẋ exh − 2 − Eẋ 6 + Eẋ 5 Eẋ 6 − Eẋ 5 Eẋ d, ORCeva Eẋ d, ORCeva
Eẋ exh − 1 − Eẋ exh − 2 Eẋ exh − 1 − Eẋ exh − 2 Eẋ d, tot
Flash vessel Eẋ 7 Eẋ 1 + Eẋ 8 Eẋ 7 − Eẋ 1 − Eẋ 8 Eẋ 1 + Eẋ 8 Eẋ d, flashvessel Eẋ d, flashvessel
Eẋ 7 Eẋ 7 Eẋ d, tot
ORC turbine Eẋ 1 − Eẋ 2 ̇
Wtur Eẋ 1 − Eẋ 2 − Wtur
̇ ̇
Wtur Eẋ d, ORCturb Eẋ d, ORCturb
Eẋ 1 − Eẋ 2 Eẋ 1 − Eẋ 2 Eẋ d, tot
ORC condenser Eẋ 3 − Eẋ 4 Eẋ C 2 − Eẋ C1 Eẋ 3 − Eẋ 4 − Eẋ C 2 + Eẋ C1 Eẋ C 2 − Eẋ C1 Eẋ d, ORCcond Eẋ d, ORCcond
Eẋ 3 − Eẋ 4 Eẋ 3 − Eẋ 4 Eẋ d, tot
ORC pump Ẇ pump Eẋ 5 − Eẋ 4 Ẇ pump − Eẋ 5 − Eẋ 4 Eẋ 5 − Eẋ 4 Eẋ d, ORCpump Eẋ d, ORCpump
Ẇ pump Ẇ pump Eẋ d, tot

Table 3 Table 6
Basic design parameters of the studied system. Thermodynamic properties of various points in the studied system.
Parameters Unit Values Stream No. P (kPa) x (−)
ṁ ( )
kg
s
T (°C)
h ( )
kJ
kg
s ( )kJ
kgK
ηis, pump (%) 0.85
ηis, tur (%) 0.9 NG-1 7.873 5442 10 – −94.28 −2.337
NG-2 7.873 5442 30 – −41.79 −2.157
Excess air (%) 150
fuel 0.0061 100 25 – – –
Natural gas outlet temperature (°C) 35
a 0.2631 100 25 – – –
Natural gas mass flow rate (kg s ) 3.38
f 0.2693 100 994.1 – −105.9 8.484
Pressure ratio (P7 P6 ) – 0.4
exh-1 0.2693 100 400 – −822.6 7.726
Inlet temperature to the TEG module () °C 122
exh-2 0.2693 100 339.8 – −890.4 7.620
Combustion flue temperature Texh1 (°C) 400
exh-3 0.2693 100 102 – −1150 7.086
Seebeck coefficient of a leg pair, α ̂ V K 350 × 10−6 , [50] 1 0.3159 1126 94.71 1 471 1.788
electrical resistance of a leg pair, RG Ωcm 3.5 × 10−3 , [50] 2 0.3159 281.5 55.16 – 448.1 1.796
thermal conductance of a leg pair, K W mK 2.6, [50] 3 0.5623 281.5 43.7 – 397 1.635
Duct length m 2, [32] 4 0.5623 281.5 43.7 – 257.6 1.195
Number of TEG in Duct, NTEG Number 150, [32] 5 0.5623 2815 44.98 – 259.9 1.196
Number of fin per TEG Number 8, [32] 6 0.5623 2815 140 – 409.9 1.605
Fin width, W mm 60, [32] 7 0.5623 1126 94.71 0.5617 409.9 1.622
Fin thickness, t mm 1.5, [32] 8 0.2465 1126 94.71 – 331.5 1.409
Fin height, Hf mm 40, [32] 9 0.2465 281.5 43.7 0.4133 331.5 1.428
Base width of heat sink (for 8 fin), Wb mm 29.5, [32]
Fin Spacing mm 2.5, [32]
160

Table 4
140
Comparison of power generation between the experimental data [53] and 120
modeling results for TEG.
100
Exd (kW)

Cold side Hot side Power- Power- Difference (%)

Temperature temperature experiment modeling 80
(K) (K) (W) (W)
60
1 313 613 38.05 38.1 0.13
2 333 533 20.1 20.2 0.49 40
3 353 655 32.05 32.12 0.21
20
6 393 593 18.1 18.16 0.33
0

exergy destruction rate in the evaporator can also be inferred by a si-

milar argument. Moreover, a considerable point of the results demon-
strated in this diagram is the exergy destruction rate of TEG modules
Fig. 6. The exergy destruction rate of different components of the studied
with an amount of 0.74 kW, which is a very low value compared to the
system.
other parts.

Table 5
Comparison between obtained data from experimental and mathematical model output for the combustion process.
Products mole fraction (%) Pollutant (ppm) Temperature(°C) Excess air (%)

O2 CO2 N2 CO NO Tair Tstack

Experimental data 13.27 4.28 – 9 29 23 131.4 150.1

Model output 13.67 4.03 74.94 – – 25 – 150

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M. Saadat-Targhi, S. Khanmohammadi Applied Thermal Engineering 149 (2019) 312–324

Table 7 350 65
Exergy parameters for studied system.
300 55
Components Exf Exp ηII yd yd∗
250
Pump 1.374 1.158 84.28 0.16 0.0007 45
Evaporator 37.78 16.39 43.38 0.53 0.0655
200

Ex_d (kW)

m (kg/h)
Flash vessel 20.42 20.42 100.00 0.00 0.0000
35

f
Turbine 8.051 7.316 90.87 0.09 0.0024
150
Mixer 9.374 9.295 99.16 0.01 0.0003 WBH
Condenser 4.818 1.467 30.45 0.70 0.0110 25
IWBH 137.1 1.933 1.41 0.99 0.4452 100 Burner
Burner 357.4 213.9 59.85 0.40 0.4726
50 15
TEG 0.808 0.132 16.34 0.84 0.0022 Fuel mass flow rate

The studied system can be better evaluated from exergy point of
view by comparing the exergy parameters of the system components.
Table 7 represents the fuel exergy, product exergy, thermodynamic
second law efficiency, the ratio of exergy destruction (based on the
exergy of the system fuel), and the relative exergy destruction. Ac-
cording to the results, the burner and water bath heater have maximum
input exergy but in contrast, the water bath heater has a very low
product exergy equal to 1.933 kW, which will reduce the exergy effi-
ciency of this part of the system. Generally, one of the important rea-
sons for a low exergy efficiency and a high exergy destruction rate in
this part is a remarkable difference between the temperatures of the
combustion products and the natural gas passing through the station
leading to a high loss in availability. Furthermore, according to the
results of the exergy destruction ratio, 91.78% of relative exergy de-
struction occurs in both parts of IWBH and the burner, implying that
these two parts require more focus to improve the system performance.
4.3. Parametric study
A parametric study on different variables is performed here in order
to determine the effectiveness of parameters affecting the present
system performance.
Fig. 7 shows changes in the first law efficiency of our system and the
total exergy destruction rate concerning the changes in the flow rate of
the natural gas passing through the station. The results demonstrate
that an increase in the flow rate of the natural gas passing through the
station increases the total exergy destruction rate of the entire system,
but it will not significantly influence the overall energy efficiency of the
system.
An increase in the overall exergy destruction of the system is due to
an increase in the exergy destruction of the water bath heater and
burner along with rising natural gas flow rate passing through the
station. As can be observed in Fig. 8, the fuel flow rate of the burner
0 5
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7
NG mass flow rate (kg/s)
Fig. 8. The effects of the natural gas flow rate passing though the station on the
exergy destruction rate of components and the fuel mass flow rate of the burner.
rises from 9.45 kg/h to 49.6 kg/h with increasing flow rate of the nat-
ural gas through the station, which simultaneously leads to elevated
exergy destruction of the water bath heater and burner. Moreover,
considering the equation defined for the thermal efficiency of the
system, an increase in the useful energy absorbed by the natural gas in
the fraction numerator is compensated by rising fuel flow rate in the
fraction denominator, and the total thermal efficiency remains con-
stant.
Fig. 9 shows the effect of changes in the excess air on the system
thermal efficiency and total exergy destruction rate. The combustion
excess air will have diverse effects on the system performance, but its
effects on the defined objective functions are investigated herein. It can
be deduced that an increase in this parameter will reduce energy effi-
ciency and raise the total exergy destruction rate.
Also, Fig. 10 represents the effect of discharging temperature of the
natural gas leaving the station (TNG − 2 ) on the two defined objective
functions. Increasing this parameter, i.e. TNG − 2, leads to an increase in
the total exergy destruction rate, which is an undesirable effect. The
thermal efficiency will be constant by changing this parameter.
Analysis of the results reveals that a relatively higher fuel flow rate
should be supplied to reach a specified temperature by increasing the
discharge temperature of the natural gas from the station, which may
occur due to improper adjustment of this temperature by the system
designer. This leads to an increase in the exergy destruction especially
in the burner and the water bath heater.
Fig. 11 demonstrates the effects of changing Texh − 2 on the defined
objective functions. The results imply that an increase in the input
temperature of TEG module decreases the energy efficiency of the

62 450 80 300

61 400 70
ȘI Ex_d,tot 250
350
60 60
300 200
59 50
Ex_d,tot (kW)

Ex_d,tot (kW)

250
ȘI (%)

58
ȘI (%)

40 150
200
57 30 ȘI Ex_d,tot
150 100
56 20
100
50
55 50 10

54 0 0 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225
NG mass flow rate (kg/s) Excess air (%)

Fig. 7. The effects of natural gas flow rate passing though station on the Fig. 9. The effect of combustion excess air on the thermal efficiency and total
thermal efficiency and exergy destruction rate. exergy destruction rate.

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M. Saadat-Targhi, S. Khanmohammadi Applied Thermal Engineering 149 (2019) 312–324

60 400 58.8

350
58.6
59
300 205.8
58.4
250

Ex_d,tot (kW)
58

Ex_d,tot (kW)

ȘI (%)
200 58.2 205.7
ȘI (%)

57 ȘI Ex_d,tot 150
58
100 ȘI Ex_d,tot 205.6
56 57.8
50

55 0 57.6 205.5
20 25 30 35 40 45 50 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
TNG-2 (°C) P7/P6 (-)

Fig. 10. The effect of the discharge temperature of the natural gas which leaves Fig. 12. The changes of the thermal efficiency and total exergy destruction rate
the station (TNG − 2 ) on the thermal efficiency and total exergy destruction rate. with respect to the changes at a pressure ratio of.P7 P6 .

59 210 490 0.45

485 0.4
209

Turbine mass flow rate (kg/s)

0.35

Turbine inlet enthalpy (kJ/kg)

58.8 480
208
0.3
475
207 0.25
Ex_d,tot (kW)

58.6
470
ȘI (%)

206 0.2
465
58.4 205 0.15
460
0.1
ȘI Ex_d,tot 204 Enthalpy
58.2 455 Mass flow rate 0.05
203
450 0
58 202 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
110 115 120 125 130 135 140 P7/P6 (-)
Texh-2 (°C)
Fig. 13. Effects of P7/P6 on the mass flow rate and inlet enthalpy of the tur-
Fig. 11. the effects of changing Texh − 2 on the the thermal efficiency and total bine.
exergy destruction rate.
0.8 3.28

Condenser exergy destruction rate (kW)

system and also the total exergy destruction rate. Considering that
Turbine exergy destruction rate (kW)

0.7 3.26
rising input temperature of the thermoelectric module means an in-
crease in the discharge temperature from the evaporator, this leads to a 0.6
Ex_d_tur 3.24
reduction in the output power of the ORFC. The efficiency of ORFC is
0.5 Ex_d_cond
reduced by a reduction in the output power of the ORFC. Additionally, 3.22
since this temperature change occurs in the downstream flow, it will 0.4
not lead to changes in the exergy destruction in the upstream sections of 3.2
0.3
the flow and only results in a reduction of the exergy destruction in the
evaporator and TEG module. Thus a decrease in the total exergy de- 3.18
0.2
struction is observed partially for the whole system.
0.1 3.16
Fig. 12 illustrates changes of the objective functions concerning the
changes at a pressure ratio of P7 P6 . As it can be observed, there is an 0 3.14
optimum point for the thermal efficiency of the system but total exergy 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
destruction rate has its highest value at this point. Furthermore, at the P7/P6 (-)
points before and after the peak of thermal efficiency, the objective
Fig. 14. The effect of NG mass flow rate on the turbine and condenser exergy
functions of total exergy destruction rate and thermal efficiency have a
destruction rate.
conflict, which necessitates the two-objective optimization.
Regarding Fig. 13, increasing the P7/P6 means that a larger part of
stream 6 pass through turbine section. On the other side increasing this decrement.
pressure ratio decrease enthalpy inlet to the turbine. Consequently with Results of the parametric study reveal that the selected decision
unchanging TEG output and fuel mass flow rate, the thermal efficiency making parameters have diverse effects on the system and the defined
represents a maximum value near 0.45 of P7/P6. objective functions. So a multi-objective optimization should be im-
With a similar analysis for exergy destruction rate it can be seen in plemented in the system in order to find the best parameters that lead to
Fig. 14, the two main components which their exergy destruction the optimum state of the system.
change with P7/P6 variation are turbine and condenser. With un-
changing exergy destruction of other components it can be seen near
the value of 0.7 for P7/P6 the exergy destruction experience a

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M. Saadat-Targhi, S. Khanmohammadi Applied Thermal Engineering 149 (2019) 312–324

Table 8 Fig. 16 demonstrates the distribution of decision making variables

Decision variables and the allowable range of variations. for the optimum points obtained from the Pareto solution. Fig. 16a
Parameter Unit lower bound higher bound represents the distribution of mass flow rate values of the natural gas
passing through the station. It can be observed that mass flow rate of
ṁ NG kg/s 1.2 6.3 the natural gas is at the initial points of the allowable domain for all
Excess air % 50 200
optimum points meaning that a decrease in the flow rate of the gas
TNG − 2 °C 25 45
Texh − 2 °C 115 135
passing through the station will increase the thermal efficiency and
P7 P6 – 0.2 0.8 decrease the total exergy destruction rate.
Analyzing the results of the combustion excess air percentages
shows that optimum values for this parameter lie in the range of 50% to
71 100%. This means that increasing excess air percentage does not in-
C fluence the heat absorbed in the water bath heater, which directly af-
70
Ideal point fects the thermal efficiency and also reduces total exergy destruction
rate, however, it raises the flow rate of the combustion products
Thermal efficiency (%)

69
68 B The distribution of the natural gas discharge temperature from the
67
66 Non-ideal point
A in the range of 155 to 122 °C.
65
64
40 42.2 44.4 46.6 48.8 51
Total exergy destruction rate (kW)
Fig. 15. Pareto front diagram for the optimization of the integrated studied
system.
4.4. Optimization
The optimization results of the studied system with a two-objective
function based on the genetic algorithm optimization are described in
this section. According to the results of the parametric study, five
parameters were selected as decision making variables. Table 8 shows
decision variables and the allowable range of variations.
Fig. 15 indicates the Pareto diagram for the studied system. The
points yielded by the Pareto solution are all optimum points of the
system based on the tradeoff of the objective functions [55]. Never-
theless, some points can be specified on the Pareto plane, which cor-
responds to special cases of optimization. The specified A and C points
for this optimization problem show a single-objective optimization. In
this case, it can be assumed that the objective functions are total exergy
destruction rate and thermal efficiency of the system for points A and C,
respectively. To specify an optimum point of the system, the definition
of an ideal point can be employed, which is an imaginary point on the
Pareto diagram. According to the presented definition, an ideal point is
a point at which both objective functions are at the most optimum state
[56]. A selected optimum state of the system among available cases is
point B, which has the least distance to the ideal point.
In addition, Table 9 shows specifications of the selected points on
the Pareto diagram.
As mentioned earlier, a single point cannot generally be selected as
the most optimum case in the multi-objective optimization problems.
However, an investigation of the obtained optimum points can sig-
nificantly help the system designer to select appropriate values for
decision making parameters.
(Fig. 16b).
station (Fig. 16c) shows a trend similar to the flow rate of the NG
passing through the station.
The scattered distribution of the input temperature of TEG module
(Fig. 16d) shows that optimum values of this parameter are distributed
Results related to the parametric analysis of the pressure ratio
variable of the ORFC revealed that an optimum point related to the
53.2 55.4 system energy efficiency occurs at a value of 0.45, which has been
obtained without considering total exergy destruction rate as the ob-
jective function. The scattered distribution of pressure ratio values at
the optimum points based on the Pareto solution shows that an op-
timum value of this parameter is around 0.5 with some changes by
considering both objective functions (Fig. 16e).
Analyzing the result of scattered distribution of decision variables in
optimum states obtained from multi-objective optimization gives a
better insight to the system designer to select these variables.
A comparison of the results before and after optimization is re-
presented in Table 10. It should be noted that the results of non-optimal
and optimal values of studied system are calculated based on the spe-
cifications obtained for point B and the data given in Table 3, respec-
tively. The results reveal that thermal efficiency rises by 8.57% and the
exergy destruction drops by 337.62 kW. Also, it can be deduced based
on these results that an optimum performance of the system will occur
in a case in which the flow rate of the gas passing through the station
has a relatively lesser value. This condition is satisfied in the selected
optimum case. A less amount of the fuel flow rate in the burner is also
obtained in the optimum case accordingly.
Furthermore, reductions in the power generation of TEG module
and ORFC come from a decline in the flow rate of the gases passing
through the station and consequently the combustion gases.
5. Conclusion
The present study was carried out on energy and exergy analysis,
and multi-objective optimization of the novel NG pressure reduction
station integrated with an ORFC and TEG WHRS. A thermodynamic
model of the proposed system was developed using EES. Also, a genetic
algorithm based multi-objective optimization was performed by em-
ploying Matlab software.
The effect of different variables of the system on defined objective
functions was to found out through a parametric study indicating the

Table 9
The specifications of the selected points on the Pareto diagram.
Point Ex d (kW) η (%) ṁ NG (kg s ) Excess air (%) TNG − 2 (°C) Texh − 2 (°C) P7 P6 (−)

A 43.45 65.12 1.2 92.97 25 121.09 0.49

B 45.08 67.16 1.2 75.00 25 121.27 0.50
C 54.11 70.00 1.2 50.00 25 120.44 0.50

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7 220

200
6
Natural gas mass flow rate (kg/s)

180
5
160

Excess air (%)

4 140

3 120

100
2
80
1 60

0 40
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Population Population
(a) (b)
50 140

45 135
Natural gas outlet temp. (°C)

40
130
35 Texh-2 (°C)
125
30
120
25

115
20

15 110
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Population Population
(c) (d)
0.9

0.8

0.7

0.6
P6 / P7 (-)

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Population
(e)
Fig. 16. the scattered distribution of decision variables for obtained optimum states (a) mass flow rate of NG, (b) combustion excess air, (c) natural gas temperature
leaving the station, (d) inlet temperature to the TEG module, (e) pressure ratio (P6 P7 ).

Table 10 necessity of multi-objective optimization. Optimum states of the system

Comparison between the non-optimal and optimal outputs of the system. was determined through multi criteria optimization. An investigation of
Parameter Optimized Un-optimized
scattered distribution of decision variables in obtained optimum states
gives a good insight to designer in determining these variables cor-
Ẇnet, ORC (kW) 4.984 7.377 rectly. In view of the performed computations and analyses, the fol-
ηI (%) 67.12 58.55 lowing conclusions can be presented as the most important findings of
Eẋ d, tot (kW) 45.08 382.7 this research:
Pteg (W) 71.5 127
ṁ f (kg/h) 5.19 28.1
• The exergy analysis of the proposed system revealed that IWBH and
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M. Saadat-Targhi, S. Khanmohammadi
burner and ORC evaporator in the integrated system have the
highest exergy destruction rate;
•
An examination of exergy parameters demonstrated that 91.78% of
the relative exergy destruction rate takes place in IWBH and burner.
• A parametric analysis showed that five decision variables namely
ṁ NG , Excess air, TNG − 2 , Texh − 2 and P7 P6 highly affect the defined
objective function necessitating an optimization process.
• The optimum state of the integrated system was determined using
multi-objective optimization and optimum values of decision para-
meters are: 1.2 kg/s, 75%, 25 °C , 121.27 °C and 0.5 for ṁ NG , excess
air , TNG − 2 , Texh − 2 , P7 P6 , respectively.
• An investigation of scattered distribution of the system indicated
that some decision variables such as ṁ NG and TNG − 2 tend to choose
the starting point of the allowable domain.
• A comparison of non-optimal and optimal integrated system showed
that the optimization results in an 8.57% increment in thermal ef-
ficiency of the system and 337.62 kW decrement in total exergy
destruction rate.
Finally, this research can be served as a base for future studies on
economic analysis of the integrated city gate station with organic
Rankine flash cycle and the thermoelectric generator.
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