An Annotated Bibliography of Exergy/Availability

James J. Kay

This bibliography is meant as a starting point for those interested in studying the ideas of second law analysis. The concepts of exergy, essergy and availability are all variations of the same theme. Second law efficiency measures reflect changes in the exergy content of the energy flowing through the system. Destruction of exergy in all real processes is mandated by the second law of thermodynamics.

Network thermodynamics is the application of network/physical systems theory to the analysis of thermodynamic systems. The across variable is exergy density and the through variable is energy flow.

Jaynes and others have shown the intimate link between information theory and thermodynamics. The potential exists for the development of generalized thermodynamics for non-equilibrium systems using information theory based distance measures.

The three basic references are: a) Brzustowski & Golem, b) Ford et al. c) Moran. Peusner and Wong cover the basics of network thermodynamics and Jaynes and Tribus are the foundation for the information theory link.

Primary Bibliography

Ahern, J.E. (1980) The Exergy Method of Energy Systems Analysis.: J. Wiley and Sons.

Many examples, little theory.

Bejan, A. (1997) Advanced Engineering Thermodynamics. New York: John Wiley and sons.

Bejan is considered one of the foremost current authorities on second law analysis and this book is a senior text on the subject.

Brzustowski, T.A., and P.J. Golem (1978) Second Law Analysis of Energy Processes Part 1: Exergy-An Introduction. Transactions of the Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineers. 4:209-218.

Covers the fundamental theory of the definition of Exergy

Chinneck, J. (1983) System-Theoretic Overview Models of Industrial Plant Energy Systems Incorporating Exergy.: Ph.D Thesis, Systems Design Enginneering. University of Waterloo.

Use of network theory to design optimum industrial plants on the basis of second law analysis. Chapter 2 reviews the theory.

Corliss, J. (1986) The Creation of Life in Archean Submarine Hot Springs in the Context of the Evolution of the Universe. Discussion Group on Evolutionary Systems, Washington, D.C. .

Some calculations of the availablity of energy and living systems.

Dixon, R.M. (1984) The Development of Exergy for the Thermodynamic Continuum.: M.A.Sc. Thesis, Mechanical Engineering. University of Waterloo.

The Introduction has a thorough history of the origins of the term Exergy

Edgerton, R.H. (1982) Available Energy and Environmental Economics.: D.C Heath.

Ch.6: Availabilty Analysis; Ch 14 & 17 relate to exergy in living systems. Many other types of applications. Discusses Thermoeconomics a la Evans in detail. Very readable.

El-Sayed, Y.M., and R.B. Evans (1969) On the Use of Exergy and Thermoeconomics in the Design of Desalination Plants. Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College.: Hanover, New Hampshire.

One of the first and a classic application

Ford, K.W., G.I. Rochlin, and R.H. Socolow (1975) Effecient Use Of Energy.: American Institute of Physics.

Chapter 2 is entitled Second Law Efficiency. It appears to be the first material to explore this concept in detail.

Gaggiolo, Richard A. (1980) Thermodynamics: Second Law Analysis: American Chemical Society.

An useful collection of papers. Paper 4 has a number of example calculations. Paper 6 is the overall economy, and the 13th is a theory of non-equilibrium Thermodynamics based on availabilty.

Gaggioli, Richard A., Ed. Efficiency and Costing; Second Law Analysis of Processes. Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society; 1983.

Hevert, H.; Hevert, S. Second Law analysis: An alternative indicator of system efficiency. Energy-The International Journal; 1980; 5(8-9): 865-873.

Defines all the different second law measures. The double journal issue is well worth looking at as well. Many, many good papers

Keenan, J.H. Availability and Irreversibility in Thermodynamics. Br. J. Appl. Phys.; 1951; 2.

The original paper by Keenan on availability (exergy)

Moran, M.J. (1982) Availabilty Analysis: A Guide to Effecient Energy Use. : Prentice-Hall

This book covers all of the theory and has many applications including calculating the exergy of sunlight. Detailed discussion of second law effeciencies and exergy calculations

O'Callaghan, P.W. (1981) Design and Management for Energy Conservation. : Pergamon Press.

pp. 68-103 discuss exergy, essergy, entropy, and second law effeciencies and their relationship

Peusner, L. (1986) Studies in Network Thermodynamics.: Elsevier Science Publishers.

The basics of network thermodynamics. Very sophisticated mathematically. Not for the faint hearted.

Szargut, J.; Morris, D. R.; Steward, F. R. Exergy Analysis of Thermal, Chemical, and Metallurgical Processes: Springer-Verlag; 1988.

Wall, G. 1986. Exergy- A Useful Concept. Goteborg, Sweden: Physical Resource Theory Group, Chalmers University of Technology.

Wall's Ph.D. thesis is one of the classic treatise on the subject. He also has a bibliography with several thousand entries. For lots more info check out his WWWW site: exergy.se

Wong, F.C. (1979) System-Theoretic Models for the Analysis of Thermodynamic Systems. Ph.D Thesis, Systems Design Engineering.: University of Waterloo.

Chapter 2 reviews the basics of thermodynamics and network theory. Detailed second law calculations. A less sophisticated version of Peusner's work.

Secondary Bibliography

Eriksson, K. E., K. Lindgren, and B. A. Mansson. 1987. Structure, Context, Complexity, Organisation: Physical Aspects of Information and Value. Singapore: World Scientific.

Hobson, A. (1971) Concepts in Statistical Mechanics.: Gordon and Breach.

Covers much of the relationship between information theory and thermodynamics

Levine, R., and M. Tribus (1979) The Maximum Entropy Formalism.: MIT Press.

Rosenkrantz, R.D. (1983) E.T. Jaynes: Papers on Probability, Statistics and Statistical Physics.: D. Reidel.

Tribus, M., P.T. Shannon, and R. Evans (1965) Why Thermodynamics is a Logical Consequence of Information Theory. A.I.Ch.E.J. 12:2: 244-248.

Last updated 15 March, 2002

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