Theoretical Exergoenvironmental Analysis of a Tunnel Furnace and Drying System in a Brick Production

Abstract

The performance of a tunnel furnace and a tunnel dryer in a brick production was exergoenvironmentally assessed. The real production data of a brick factory in Turkey with a daily production capacity of 392 tons of fired bricks were used in the analysis. The exergoenvironmental factor of the control volume was calculated as 0.87. The specific exergoenvironmental cost of the control volume was determined to be 559.55 €/h, 3.39 €cent/ kg fired brick and 1.94 €cent/MJ. The specific exergoeconomic cost and the environmental damage prevention cost were obtained to be 0.41 € cent/MJ and 1.53 € cent/MJ, respectively. Because the ratio of exergoenvironmental cost to sales price of 2.41 € cent / kg fired brick was 1.41 (above 1), it was concluded that the brick production in Turkey was not sustainable in terms of exergoenvironmental analysis.