Exergy Analysis of Steam Pressure Reduction Valve in Marine Propulsion Plant on Conventional LNG Carrier

Paper has presented an exergy analysis of steam pressure reduction valve, unavoidable element in the steam propulsion plant on LNG carrier. The steam pressure reduction valve was analyzed in a wide range of steam system loads. Along with pressure decrease, through the valve also occur decrease in steam temperature and increase in steam specific entropy. The pressure decrease of the analyzed valve ranges from 4.846 MPa up to 5.027 MPa while the average steam temperature decrease for the whole observed operating range amounts 74.8 °C. At the ambient temperature of 25 °C, valve exergy destruction ranges from 121.72 kW up to 180.64 kW, while exergy efficiency amounts from 80.28 % up to 80.54 %. Variation in the ambient temperature, for the expected engine room temperature range, showed that the exergy destruction of pressure reduction valve increases and exergy efficiency decreases during the increase in the ambient temperature. The lowest average value of pressure reduction valve exergy destruction was obtained at the ambient temperature of 10 °C and amounts 152.03 kW, while at the same ambient temperature was obtained the highest average exergy efficiency of 82.77 %. The highest valve exergy destruction and the lowest exergy efficiency were obtained at the highest observed ambient temperature of 40 °C