Energy xxx (2015) 1e9

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Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

An analysis of the thermodynamic efciency for exhaust gas

recirculation-condensed water recirculation-waste heat recovery
condensing boilers (EGR-CWR-WHR CB)
Chang-Eon Lee a, Byeonghun Yu a, Seungro Lee b, *
a
b

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, 100 Inha-ro, Nam-gu, Incheon 402-751, South Korea
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chonbuk National University, 567 Baekje-daero, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do 561-751, South Korea

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 4 December 2014
Received in revised form
2 April 2015
Accepted 3 April 2015
Available online xxx

This study presents fundamental research on the development of a new boiler that is expected to have a
higher efciency and lower emissions than existing boilers. The thermodynamic efciency of exhaust gas
recirculation-condensed water recirculation-waste heat recovery condensing boilers (EGR-CWR-WHR
CB) was calculated using thermodynamic analysis and was compared with other boilers. The results
show the possibility of obtaining a high efciency when the temperature of the exhaust gas is controlled
within 50e60
C because water in the exhaust gas is condensed within this temperature range. In
addition, the enthalpy emitted by the exhaust gas for the new boiler is smaller because the amount of
condensed water is increased by the high dew-point temperature and the low exhaust gas temperature.
Thus, the new boiler can obtain a higher efciency than can older boilers. The efciency of the EGR-CWRWHR CB proposed in this study is 93.91%, which is 7.04% higher than that of existing CB that is currently
used frequently.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR)
Condensed water recirculation (CWR)
Waste heat recovery (WHR)
Condensing boiler (CB)
Thermodynamic efciency

1. Introduction
As industrial development has continued in recent years, the
use of combustion systems that use fossil fuel has increased
throughout the world. Although the increasing use of combustion
systems is necessary for industrial development, energy shortages
and environmental pollution created by the high energy consumption and increased generation of exhaust gases have become
large social issues. Chief among these problems is the level of CO2
emissions that in 2012, for some representative countries,
increased to 293% of the 1990 levels [1]. To reduce the level of CO2
emissions below the 1990 levels, the current consumption of fossil
fuels should be reduced by 75%. Although many researchers have
studied renewable energy options to solve the problems of excessive energy consumption and environmental pollution of fossil
fuels [2e5], these solutions are expected to require a long period of
time to overtake the market, as renewable energy only accounted
for approximately 2.9% of total energy consumption in 2012 [6].
Thus, the most effective and economical method to solve the

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 82 63 270 2334; fax: 82 63 270 2315.

E-mail address: seungrol@jbnu.ac.kr (S. Lee).

problems of excessive energy consumption and environmental

pollution is improving the current fossil fuel combustion systems.
Combustion systems have been used in various ways for industry, transportation and residential and commercial buildings. In
2012 these sectors accounted for 38%, 26% and 34% of the total
energy usage, respectively [7]. In industry and in residential and
commercial buildings, the combustion system used most often and
the one that consumes the most energy is a boiler. A boiler primarily consists of a combustor and a heat exchanger. The heat
generated from the combustor is supplied to the heat exchanger via
water or steam at high temperatures. The generated heat is supplied to the hot water or heating water used for residential and
commercial use or is used in large industrial equipment, such as
industrial drying systems. In terms of the most effective and
economical approach to solving the problems of excessive energy
consumption and environmental pollution, the boiler, which is the
most used combustion system in industrial, residential and commercial applications, should be studied to dramatically improve
efciency and reduce pollutant emissions.
Present boilers can be divided into three types: non-condensing
boilers (non CB), existing condensing boilers (existing CB) and
waste heat recovery condensing boilers (WHR CB). First, non CB
only exchanges sensible heat inside the boiler. The exhaust gas

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.04.042
0360-5442/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: Lee C-E, et al., An analysis of the thermodynamic efciency for exhaust gas recirculation-condensed water
recirculation-waste heat recovery condensing boilers (EGR-CWR-WHR CB), Energy (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.04.042

C.-E. Lee et al. / Energy xxx (2015) 1e9

temperature is approximately 120e160
C and the efciency is

approximately 82e84%. Existing CB has sensible and latent heat
exchangers, providing an efciency of 86e88% because the exhaust
gas temperature is relatively low, approximately 60
C [8]. Lastly,
WHR CB, used in some industrial and residential applications, has a
waste heat recovery heat exchanger to recover the waste heat from
the exhaust gases in addition to the sensible and latent heat exchangers. WHR CB has approximately 2% higher efciency than that
of existing CB and has the highest efciency among existing boilers
because WHR CB preheats the air supplied to the combustor using
the sensible heat of the exhaust gases and the latent heat of the
water. Especially, Semkov et al. proposed a simplied method to
improve the efciency through waste heat reduction in industrial
systems [9] and Yang et al. presented a new concept of boilers with
waste heat recovery for the industrial system, which was achieved
the high energy efciency improvement and great economic benets [10].
To solve the current energy and environmental problems
aggressively, a new boiler needs to be developed with both
increased efciency and reduced pollutant emissions. To achieve
this goal, we have studied the effect of exhaust gas recirculation
(EGR) on the thermal efciency and pollutant emission characteristics of various EGR ratios and equivalence ratios [11,12]. In these
studies, the EGR method was shown to reduce pollutant emission
and increase the boiler thermal efciency. To further the previous
work, we would like to suggest a new boiler: an exhaust gas
recirculation-condensed water recirculation-waste heat recovery
condensing boiler (EGR-CWR-WHR CB). The EGR-CWR-WHR CB
adds EGR and condensed water recirculation, in which the
condensed water generated in the exhaust gas is supplied to the
preheat air directly to improve the existing waste heat recovery
heat exchanger in the WHR CB.
This study includes fundamental research on the development
of the new EGR-CWR-WHR CB, which is expected to have a high
efciency and low emission performance. Prior to empirical study,
the thermodynamic efciency of the EGR-CWR-WHR CB was
calculated with thermodynamic analysis and compared with other
boilers in this study. To achieve this, parameters such as the operating air ratio of the boiler, waste heat recovery performance and
the relative humidity of preheated air were considered to calculate
the thermodynamic efciency. Finally, the maximum thermodynamic efciency of the boiler was obtained using various parameter
combinations.
2. Boiler classication and calculation conditions
Figs. 1 and 2 show schematic diagrams of the thermodynamic
system for the boilers investigated in this study. In these diagrams,
F represents fuel, A is moist air, M is mixture, EG is exhaust gas, CW
is condensed water and RG is recirculated gas. The number and
character behind each acronym represent each position of the
boiler system. For example, the number 1, 2 and 3 behind EG
indicate the position just before the main heat exchanger, just after
the main body and at the inlet of the WHR device, respectively.
Additionally, the lower case e behind EG indicates the nal outlet of
exhaust gas as the outlet of the WHR and the i behind A indicates
the position of the air inlet of the WHR. Here, the composition and
properties of moist air at the position of the air inlet of the WHR
correspond to the supplied air at ambient conditions. The lower
case p indicates the outlet of the preheated and the humidied air
from the WHR device.
Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagram of the thermodynamic
system for an older boiler. As shown in Fig. 1, the boiler can be
divided into the main body and the WHR device. The main body has
a combustor and a heat exchanger for the heating water (the main

HEX). The WHR device also has a heat exchanger (the WHR HEX)
used to preheat the supply air with the waste heat from the exhaust
gas exiting the body at EG2. In this study, older categories of boilers
were classied as shown in Table 1. The rst category divides
boilers based on the presence or absence of a WHR device. In the
absence of a WHR device, the boiler was classied as either a non
CB if it did not condense water during the heat exchange process in
the main HEX or an existing CB if it is designed to use the main HEX
to condense water. If a WHR device was present, the boiler was
classied as a WHR CB. WHR CB has been commercialized partly for
industry and is being researched for residential buildings [12]. The
WHR CB operates most efciently when the temperature of the
exhaust gas at the boiler outlet (EGe) is lower than the saturation
temperature of the water vapor.
Fig. 2 shows the schematic diagram of the thermodynamic
system for the new boiler. As shown in Fig. 2, the new boiler adds
two further functions to the WHR CB. The rst addition is exhaust
gas recirculation (EGR) that supplies a portion of the exhaust gas air
to the main body by a fan with the venturi function when the air is
supplied. The second addition is condensed water recirculation
(CWR), which increases the capacity of the waste heat recovery
during the preheating process by recirculating a portion of the
water in exhaust gas condensed in the process of waste heat recovery into the supply air through the gap of the WHR HEX. The
new boiler can be classied by the presence and the absence of EGR
and CWR functions as shown in Table 1. EGR-WHR CB only has the
EGR function and CWR-WHR CB only has the CWR function, while
EGR-CWR-WHR CB has both EGR and CWR functions. Because the
boilers listed as new types in Table 1 are not reported yet, they are
considered novel concepts for boilers.
Table 1 shows the calculation conditions for the various types
of boilers. As seen in Table 1, the air ratio (a), waste heat recovery
performance (b) and the relative humidity of preheated air (g)
were the parameters considered for the boilers in this study. In the
case of the non CB and the existing CB, the only parameter is the
air ratio (a), which is in the range of 1.1e1.4. Typically, the air ratio
of a non CB is approximately 1.6, and the air ratio of most existing
CB is approximately 1.4, depending on the combustion durability,
efciency and the pollution emission performance [12]. For
increased efciency, the air ratio should approach 1.0; however,
when the air ratio goes this low, increasing NOx emissions and
material degradation of the combustor are caused by the increased
ame temperature [12]. For the older boilers, the conditions the of
exhaust gas at EG2 and EGe are the same, and the conditions of
the inlet air at Ai and Ap are also the same. The main parameters
of a WHR CB are air ratio (a) and waste heat recovery performance
(b), which can be adjusted between 0 and 1. When the waste heat
recovery performance is 0, the boiler is not using the waste heat
recovery. In this study, the air ratio and waste heat recovery performance of a WHR CB are assumed to be 1.4 and 0.8 to match the
existing CB.
For an EGR-WHR CB, the main parameters are the air ratio (a)
and the waste heat recovery performance (b). Here, EGR-WHR CB
can be used like an EGR CB without WHR, and the main parameter
of an EGR CB is the air ratio. Using an EGR CB may be a good way to
suppress the NOx emissions and increase the efciency because the
ame temperature and the NOx emissions can be controlled by
adjusting the air ratio. In this study, the air ratio and the waste heat
recovery performance of EGR-WHR CB are assumed to be 1.1 and
0.8. Furthermore, for the CWR-WHR CB and the EGR-CWR-WHR CB,
the main parameters are the relative humidity of preheated air (g),
the air ratio (a) and the waste heat recovery performance (b). The
air ratios of CWR-WHR CB and EGR-CWR-WHR CB are 1.4 and 1.1,
respectively, the waste heat recovery performance is 0.8 and the
relative humidity of preheated air is 100%.

Please cite this article in press as: Lee C-E, et al., An analysis of the thermodynamic efciency for exhaust gas recirculation-condensed water
recirculation-waste heat recovery condensing boilers (EGR-CWR-WHR CB), Energy (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.04.042

C.-E. Lee et al. / Energy xxx (2015) 1e9

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the thermodynamic system for an old boiler.

To calculate the efciency for all the boilers, common conditions

are shown in Table 1. For the calculation, the fuel used is a pure
methane (CH4) and the temperature of the fuel (T) is assumed to be
0
C. The ambient temperature (TAi) is assumed to 0
C and the
relative humidity of the inlet air (gAi) is assumed to be 70%. The
return temperature of the heating water at the main HEX is

assumed to 60
C. Although the temperature of the exhaust gas just

after the main HEX (TEG2) is a little bit higher than the return
temperature of the heating water, they are assumed to be the same
to simplify the calculation. Finally, the combustion method is as
assumed to be the premixed combustion method employed in most
condensing boilers.

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of the thermodynamic system for a new boiler.

Please cite this article in press as: Lee C-E, et al., An analysis of the thermodynamic efciency for exhaust gas recirculation-condensed water
recirculation-waste heat recovery condensing boilers (EGR-CWR-WHR CB), Energy (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.04.042

C.-E. Lee et al. / Energy xxx (2015) 1e9

Table 1
Calculation conditions for each boiler.

Old boilers

Non-CB
Existing CB
WHR CB

New boilers

EGR-WHR CB
CWR-WHR CB
EGR-CWR-WHR CB

Air ratio (a)

Waste heat recovery performance (b)

Relative humidity of preheated air (g) [%]

1.1e1.6
(1.6)
1.1e1.6
(1.4)
1.1e1.6
(1.4)
1.1e1.6
(1.1)
1.1e1.6
(1.4)
1.1e1.6
(1.1)

0e1
(0.8)
0e1
(0.8)
0e1
(0.8)
0e1
(0.8)
T (F CH4)
TAi

SVAi
gAi $PPSVAb

Common conditions

SVAi
gAi $PPSVAb
SVAi
gAi $PPSVAb
 100
(100)
SVAi
gAi $PPSVAb
 100
(100)


0 C
0
C
70%
60
C

gAi

THWr

3. Thermodynamic efciency calculation method

3.1. Generalized efciency equations for all considered boilers
In this study, 1 kmol of methane with temperature T and moist
air with a temperature of TAi, relative humidity of gAi and an air
ratio of a are assumed for the reaction. The global reaction
equation in this assumption is generally expressed by Equation
(3-1-1).

CH4 TF 2aO2 3:76N2 TAi gAi nSVAi H2 OTAi

0fCO2 2a  1O2 7:52aN2 gTEGe
gAi nSVAi 2H2 OTEG2

(3-1-1)

In this study, the changing mole number of H2O contained in

the reactant must be considered. Thus, the mole number of H2O
in the moist air is expressed in the form of the multiplication of
the mole number of saturated water vapor as a function of
temperature (n) and relative humidity (g). Here, the saturated
vapor pressure with temperature is calculated by Equation (3-16) [13], and this saturated vapor pressure is expressed using H2O
in the moist air and the mole number of a dry air, such as
Equation (3-1-7). Thus, using Equations (3-1-6) and (3-1-7), the
mole number of saturated water vapor with a temperature (n) is
calculated as a function of ambient temperature using Equation
(3-1-8).
7:5T

When a total mole number of H2O in the product side (gAinSVAi2) is combined with the inlet of moist air and the combustion
product, this term is dened using Equation (3-1-2). The total mole
number of H2O is the same as the total number of H2O that exits
from the boiler regardless of the boiler type at steady state conditions, and this number is the same as the mole number of H2O at
EG1 for an old boiler in Table 1. In this global reaction equation, the
mole number of dry air (n) in the reactant is expressed using
Equation (3-1-3) and the mole of dry exhaust gas (n) is expressed
using Equation (3-1-4). As functions of only the air conditions,
these 2 mol numbers can be treated as constants when the air ratio
is constant.

PSV T 0:00611  10:0237:7T bar

PSV T

nSVA T
fnDA nSVA Tg

nSVA PSV TAi 

nDA
1  PSV TAi

(3-1-6)

(3-1-7)

(3-1-8)

In these equations, to apply to all boilers, the total number of

H2O that exits from the boiler can be divided into three terms: a
mole number of water vapor in the nal stage of the exhaust gas
(n), a mole number of condensed water in the main body (n) and a
mole number of condensed water in the waste heat recovery device
(n). Thus, the simplied global reaction equation can be Equation
(3-1-5).

In the simplied global reaction equation as expressed by

Equation (3-1-5), the energy conservation equation in the control
volume of the system is expressed using Equation (3-1-9) and the
efciency of the system is expressed using Equation (3-1-10).
Here, this efciency is the theoretical thermal efciency ignoring
the energy lost to the outside (approximately 1e2% of the supplied energy). In Equation (3-1-10), the efciency of the combustion system like a boiler can be dened the ratio of the heat
value supplied to the boiler (Q) to the heat value used in the
boiler (Q). Here, the heat value used in the boiler can be represented the difference between the heat value supplied to the
boiler and the heat value emitted from the boiler (Q). In addition,
the heat value emitted from the boiler can be expressed as the
sum of the heat value of dry exhaust gas (nDEG HDEG ), the heat
value of water vapor in the nal stage of the exhaust gas
(nVEGe HV ), the heat value of condensed water in the main body
(nCW1 HL ) and the heat value of condensed water in the waste heat
recovery device (nCW2 HL ).

CH4 TF nDA TAi gAi nSVAi H2 OTAi

0nDEG DEGTEGe nVEGe H2 OTEGe nCW1 H2 OTEG2
nCW2 H2 OTCW2

H F TF nDA HDA TAi gAi nSVAi HV TAi

0Q U nDEG H DEG TEGe nVEGe HV TEGe nCW1 HL TEG2
nCW2 HL TCW2

nVEG gAi nSVAi 2

(3-1-2)

nDA 9:52a

(3-1-3)

nDEG 9:52a  1

(3-1-4)

(3-1-5)

(3-1-9)

Please cite this article in press as: Lee C-E, et al., An analysis of the thermodynamic efciency for exhaust gas recirculation-condensed water
recirculation-waste heat recovery condensing boilers (EGR-CWR-WHR CB), Energy (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.04.042

C.-E. Lee et al. / Energy xxx (2015) 1e9

QU
Q  Q out
Q
cv
1  out
Q cv
Q cv
Q cv


nDEG HDEG TEGe nVEGe HV TEGe nCW1 HL TEG2 nCW2 HL TCW2
1
Q CV

where Hi is the specic enthalpy per 1 kmol of component i, Q is the

heat value used in heating and Q is the heat value supplied to the
boiler. The heat value supplied to the boiler is the same as the
heating value of 1 kmol of CH4 at 0
C and is calculated by Equation
(3-1-11) using the stoichiometric reaction of CH4.

Q CV

Hprod 

Hreac

(3-1-10)

determined by comparing the mole number of saturated water

vapor and the mole number of water vapor in combustion product
at EG1 (n), as in Equation (3-2-4).

nSVEG2 PSV TEG2 

nDEG
1  PSV TEG2

(3-2-3)

(3-1-11)

In the energy conservation equation of Equation (3-1-9) and the

efciency of Equation (3-1-10), three unknown mole numbers,
nVEGe, nCW1 and nCW2, must be determined to calculate the efciency. These three unknown mole numbers are determined by the
structure of the boiler and the operating conditions, so the calculations are divided into old boilers, explained in Section 3.2, and
new boilers, explained in Section 3.3. While the composition of
inlet air supplied to the boiler for old boilers is not changed, the
composition of inlet air supplied to the boiler for new boilers is
changed by the condensed water recirculation.
3.2. Calculation of efciency for old type boilers
As classied in Table 1 of Section 2, old boilers are divided into
three types of boilers, distinguished by the presence or absence of a
WHR device. Non CBs and existing CBs lack a WHR device and WHR
CBs have a WHR device.
3.2.1. No WHR device: non CBs and existing CBs
As shown in Fig. 1, the structure of a boiler without a WHR
device only consists of the main body shown on the left side of
Fig. 1. Without a WHR device, the mole number of condensed water
in the waste heat recovery device (n) is zero and nVEGe is the same
as nVEG2. Thus, there are only two unknown mole numbers, nVEG2
and nCW1, in the energy conservation equation of Equation (3-1-9)
and the efciency equation of Equation (3-1-10). Consequently,
Equation (3-1-9) and Equation (3-1-10) can be expressed using
Equation (3-2-1) and Equation (3-2-2).

CH4 TF nDA TAi gAi nSVAi H2 OTAi

0nDEG DEGTEGe nVEG2 H2 OTEG2 nCW1 H2 OTEG2
(3-2-1)


nDEG H DEG TEG2 nVEG2 H V TEG2 nCW1 H L TEG2
h1
Q CV
(3-2-2)
The mole number of the saturated water vapor in the exhaust
gas emitted from the main body with a temperature of nal exhaust
gas (EG2) (nSV-EG2) can be calculated by Equation (3-2-3) using the
same method as in Equation (3-1-8), which calculates the mole
number of saturated water vapor for a given temperature. The mole
number of the saturated water vapor in the exhaust gas generated
from the main body is the maximum mole number of water vapor
that can be emitted from the exhaust gas. In addition, the mole
number of the condensed water in the main body (nCW1) can be

nVEG1 gAi nSVAi 2

(3-2-4)

Using these equations, the two unknown mole numbers can be

determined by following Equation (3-2-5) and Equation (3-2-6). In
detail, the mole number of water vapor in the exhaust gas of the
main body (n) corresponds to a small value within the parentheses
in Equation (3-2-5). Additionally, the mole number of the
condensed water in the main body (nCW1) corresponds to a large
value within the parentheses in Equation (3-2-6). In other words, if
n is larger than n(n > n), the amount of the condensed water will be
generated by the difference between n and n. On the other hand, if
n is smaller than n(n < n), the amount of condensed water will be
zero. In addition, the summation of the mole number of water
vapor in the exhaust gas of the main body (n) and the mole number
of the condensed water in the main body (nCW1) is the same as the
mole number of water vapor in combustion product at EG1 (nV-EG1).

nVEG2 minnVEG1 ; nSVEG2 

(3-2-5)

nCW1 max0; nVEG1  nSVEG2 

(3-2-6)

3.2.2. With WHR device: WHR CB

To consider WHR CB, the temperature of the exhaust gas
emitted from the main body (TEG2) in Fig. 1 must be determined.
Although TEG2 is a little bit higher than the return temperature of
the heating water (THWr) in a real boiler, they are assumed to be the
same to simplify the calculation. Additionally, for a WHR CB, the
temperature of preheated moist air (TAp) by the WHR device and
the temperature of the nal exhaust gas (TEGe) should be determined rst. To calculate these temperatures, the waste heat recovery performance (b) is dened by Equation (3-2-7). This waste
heat recovery performance is the ratio of the preheat temperature
increase of the air (TApTAi) and the maximum temperature difference between the heat exchange materials for counterow
(TEG2TAi). This waste heat recovery performance can be 1.0
theoretically but is assumed to be 0.8 for practicality in this
calculation.

TAp  TAi
0  b  1
TEG2  TAi

(3-2-7)

The efciency for a WHR CB can be determined using Equation

(3-2-8) from the general Equation (3-1-10). In Equation (3-2-8), the
term of nSVEGe HV is changed from the term of nVEGe HV in
Equation (3-1-10), because the amount of the water vapor in the
nal exhaust gas emitted from the WHR device is the same as the
amount of saturated water vapor at the temperature of the nal
exhaust gas.

Please cite this article in press as: Lee C-E, et al., An analysis of the thermodynamic efciency for exhaust gas recirculation-condensed water
recirculation-waste heat recovery condensing boilers (EGR-CWR-WHR CB), Energy (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.04.042

C.-E. Lee et al. / Energy xxx (2015) 1e9


h1

nDEG HDEG TEGe nSVEGe H V TEGe nCW1 HL TEG2 nCW2 HL TCW2

Q CV

To determine this efciency, the mole number of the water vapor in the exhaust gas emitted from the main body (nSV-EG2) and
the mole number of the condensed water in the main body (nCW1)
should be determined structurally and can also be calculated using
Equation (3-2-5) and Equation (3-2-6). Next, the temperature of the
nal exhaust gas emitted from the WHR device (TEGe) and the
temperature of preheated moist air (TAp) must be found. If the
waste heat recovery performance b is assumed, the temperature of
the preheated moist air (TAp) will be calculated by Equation (3-2-7)
because the ambient temperature (TAi) is assumed to 0
C and TEG2
is assumed to 60
C. The temperature of the nal exhaust gas
emitted from the WHR device (TEGe) can be calculated by Equation
(3-2-9), which is the heat balance equation of a WHR device. This
heat balance equation is based on the supplied heat value of the
preheated moist air (QPH) being the same as the heat value
generated from the exhaust gas (QRH). The nal exhaust gas emitted
from the WHR device is saturated because the temperature of the
exhaust gas is very low in this equation.


 


Q RH nDA HDA TAp gAi nSVAi HV TAP  nDA HDA TAi

H T
g n
 Ai SVAi V Ai

nDEG HDEG TEG2 nVEG2 HV TEG2

 nDEG HDEG TEGe nSVEGe HV TEGe

nCW2 HL TCW2 Q RH
(3-2-9)
Because TEGe is a function of the mole number of the water
vapor in the nal exhaust gas emitted from the WHR device (nSVEGe) and the temperature and the mole number of the condensed
water (TCW2 and nCW2), these parameters should be determined
by a simultaneous equation. Thus, in order to nd the TEGe in the
implicit function equation of Equation (3-2-9), nSV-EGe from
Equation (3-2-10), TCW2 from Equation (3-2-11) and nCW2 from
Equation (3-2-12) are determined with an assumption of TEGe. The
calculation must be iterated until it satises the heat balance
equation by substituting the values into Equation (3-2-9). In


h1

nSVEGe PSV TEGe 

TCW2

nDEG
1  PSV TEGe

TEG2 TEGe
2

nCW2 max0; nVEG2  nSVEGe 

(3-2-10)

(3-2-11)
(3-2-12)

Consequently, to calculate the efciency for a WHR CB using Eq.

(3-2-8), three unknown mole numbers, nSVEGe, nCW1 and nCW2 in
Equation (3-2-8), can be calculated by Equations (3-2-10), (3-2-6)
and (3-2-12). In addition, the summation of the 3 mol numbers is
the same as the mole number of the water vapor in combustion
product at EG1 (nV-EG1).
3.3. Calculation of efciency for new boilers
As mentioned previously in Fig. 2, the new boiler category refers
to a boiler in which a portion of the water in the exhaust gas
condensed in the WHR device is recirculated into the supply air
through a gap in the WHR HEX, so that the condensed water is
vaporized again and preheats the supply air. Although there is little
chance to recirculate exhaust gas with the condensed water, the
amount of EGR gas is assumed to be small. With this assumption, as
shown in Table 1, the new boilers are divided into CWR-WHR CB
without exhaust gas recirculation and EGR-CWR-WHR CB with
exhaust gas recirculation.
The operating condition of a CWR-WHR CB is the same as the
operating condition of a WHR CB, as well as the index to describe
the level of CWR. The operating range of the relative humidity of
the preheated air (gAp ) is from the conditions without the addition
of water, which is the relative humidity of the inlet with temperSVVi
ature correction (gAi PPSVAb
), to 100% of the relative humidity of
preheated air by CWR, as shown in Table 1.
The efciency for CWR-WHR CB can be determined using
Equation (3-3-1) from the general Equation (3-1-10).

nDEG HDEG TEGe nSVEGe HV TEGe nCW1 HL TEG2 nCW2 HL TCW2

Q CV

addition, although the temperature of the condensed water in the

exhaust gas decreases toward the boiler outlet, TCW2 is calculated
by Equation (3-2-11) with the assumption that TCW2 is the average
of the exhaust gas temperatures at the inlet and outlet of the
WHR device. Because nCW2 is generated when the mole number
of condensed water at the inlet of the WHR device (nV-EG2) is
larger than the mole number of the saturated water vapor at the
outlet of the WHR device (nSV-EG2), nCW2 can be calculated by
Equation (3-2-12).

(3-2-8)


(3-3-1)

To determine this efciency, rst, the mole number of the

condensed water in the main body (nCW1) should be determined
structurally. The global reaction equation in the boiler with CWR
is needed to determine nCW1, and the reaction equation is
expressed by Equation (3-3-2). In other words, the mole number
of H2O in the reactant, accounting for preheating the air and CWR,
becomes gApnSVAp. Here, the mole number of the condensed
water to satisfy the relative humidity of the preheated air is
determined by Equation (3-3-3). In addition, the temperature of

Please cite this article in press as: Lee C-E, et al., An analysis of the thermodynamic efciency for exhaust gas recirculation-condensed water
recirculation-waste heat recovery condensing boilers (EGR-CWR-WHR CB), Energy (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.04.042

C.-E. Lee et al. / Energy xxx (2015) 1e9

the reactant (TAp) can be determined with an assumption of b as

described in Section 3.2.





CH4 TF nDA TAp gAp nSVAp H2 O TAp
0nDEG DEGTEG2 nVEG2 H2 OTEG2 nCW1 H2 OTEG2
(3-3-2)
nVad gAp nSVAp  gAi nSVAi

(3-3-3)

In the global reaction equation of Equation (3-3-2), the total

mole number of water vapor is determined by Equation (3-3-4),
unlike the case without CWR. The mole number of the saturated
water vapor in the exhaust gas emitted from the main body
(nSVEG2) is determined by Equation (3-3-5), as described
previously.

nVEG1 gAi nSVAi 2 nVad gAp nSVAp 2

nSVEG2 PSV TEG2 

nDEG
1  PSV TEG2





Q RH nDA HDA TAp gAp nSVAp HV TAP


 nDA HDA TAi gAi nSVAi HV TAi


nDEG HDEG TEG2 nVEG2 HV TEG2

 nDEG HDEG TEGe nSVEGe HV TEGe

nCW2 HL TCW2 Q RH

To nd TEGe of Equation (3-3-8), nSV-EGe from Equation (3-3-9),

TCW2 from Equation (3-3-10) and nCW2 from Equation (3-3-11) are
determined with an assumption for TEGe. The calculation should be
iterated until it satises the heat balance equation by substituting
these values into Equation (3-3-8).

nSVEGe PSV TEGe 

nDEG
1  PSV TEGe

TEG2 TEGe
2

(3-3-4)

TCW2

(3-3-5)

nCW2 max0; nVEG2  nSVEGe  nVad 

The mole number of the condensed water in the main body

(nCW1) in the efciency equation of Equation (3-3-1) can be
determined by following Equation (3-3-6) and Equation (3-3-7). In
other words, the mole number of water vapor in the exhaust gas of
the main body (n) corresponds to a small value within the parentheses in Equation (3-3-6). Additionally, the mole number of the
condensed water in the main body (nCW1) corresponds to a large
value within the parentheses in Equation (3-3-7).

(3-3-8)

(3-3-9)

(3-3-10)
(3-3-11)

where, because nCW2 is generated when the mole number of

condensed water at the inlet of the WHR device (nV-EG2) is larger
than the mole number of the saturated water vapor at the outlet
of the WHR device (nSV-EG2), nCW2 can be calculated by Equation
(3-3-11).
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Impacts of air ratio and exhaust gas temperature on efciency

nVEG2 minnVEG1 ; nSVEG2 

(3-3-6)

To determine the three unknown mole numbers in the efciency equation of Equation (3-3-1), nSVEGe, nCW2 and TCW2, the
temperature of the nal exhaust gas emitted from the WHR device
(TEGe) should be determined. This temperature can be calculated
by Equation (3-3-8), which is the heat balance equation considering WHR and CWR to be similar to the previous heat balance
equation.

Fig. 3 shows the thermodynamic efciency of the boiler with

various exhaust gas temperatures and air ratios. When the air ratio
of the operating condition for the boiler is constant, the efciency
of the boiler increases with decreasing exhaust gas temperature
because the wasted heat from the boiler is decreasing. When the
temperature is less than 50e60
C, the efciency rapidly increases
because the water in the exhaust gas is condensed and the boiler
uses the latent heat generated by the condensed water. Assuming
an operating air ratio of 1.4 for the boiler, the temperature of the
exhaust gas for a condensing boiler should be less than 53
C. When

Fig. 3. Thermodynamic efciency at various exhaust gas temperatures and air ratios.

Fig. 4. Thermodynamic efciency, exhaust gas temperature and preheated air temperature at various waste heat recovery performance and relative humidity of preheated air at an air ratio of 1.1.

nCW1 max0; nVEG1  nSVEG2 

(3-3-7)

Please cite this article in press as: Lee C-E, et al., An analysis of the thermodynamic efciency for exhaust gas recirculation-condensed water
recirculation-waste heat recovery condensing boilers (EGR-CWR-WHR CB), Energy (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.04.042

C.-E. Lee et al. / Energy xxx (2015) 1e9

the temperature of the exhaust gas is constant, the efciency increases as the operating air ratio approaches 1.0. When the boiler is
operating near an air ratio of 1.0, although the exhaust gas temperature is the same, the amount of heat emitted from the boiler is
reduced with decreasing amounts of exhaust gas. Consequently,
high performance can be reached when the combustion system
operates near an air ratio of 1.0 with low exhaust gas temperatures.
4.2. Impacts of CWR and WHR on efciency
Because the EGR-CWR-WHR CB suggested in this study adopts
the EGR method, the air ratio of this boiler type can operate near
1.0, so the air ratio of an EGR-CWR-WHR CB is assumed to be 1.1.
Fig. 4 shows the efciency, exhaust gas temperature and preheated air temperature for various waste heat recovery performance and relative humidity of preheated air at an air ratio of
1.1. When the waste heat recovery performance was less than 0.4
and 0.5, the exhaust gas temperature decreased with increasing
waste heat recovery performance regardless of the relative humidity of the preheated air. In addition, when the waste heat
recovery performance was over 0.5, the higher the relative humidity of the preheated air, the lower the exhaust gas temperature with increasing waste heat recovery performance. This
trend is closely related to whether the water is condensed or not
in the main body. In other words, the total amount of heat
supplied to the main body of the boiler can be expressed as the
sum of the heat of fuel and the amount of heat obtained from the
exhaust gas to vaporize the condensed water from the exhaust
gas recirculation depending on the change in the relative humidity of the preheated air. If the water is not condensed in the
main body of the boiler, the heat of the exhaust gas at EG3 will
always have increased heat from the exhaust gas in addition to
the vaporization of the condensed water according to the change
of the relative humidity of the preheated air. Because the
increased heat is fed back to the preheated air from the WHR
device, the heat and temperature of the exhaust gas at EGe will
always have constant values regardless of the relative humidity.
However, when the waste heat recovery performance is greater
than 0.5, because the water is condensed in the main body of the
boiler, the heat of the exhaust gas at EG3 will have a certain
value all of the time, regardless of the relative humidity of the
preheated air. Because the amount of heat supplied to the preheated air from the WHR device increases with increasing relative humidity of the preheated air, the heat and temperature of
the exhaust gas at EG3 will be lowered. Consequently, if the
water is not condensed in the main body of the boiler, the efciency will have the same value because the exhaust gas temperature is constant regardless of the relative humidity of the
preheated air. However, if the water is condensed in the main
body of the boiler, the efciency will increase because the temperature of the exhaust gas at EG3 is decreased as the heat
gained from the exhaust gas is increased with increasing relative
humidity of the preheated air.

Fig. 5. Relative enthalpy, dew-point temperature and exhaust gas temperature for
various types of boilers.

4.3. Comparison of the performance between old and new boilers

Table 2 shows the calculation results for the various types of
boilers studied. As seen in Table 2, among the old boilers, the efciency of the WHR CB is the highest at 88.96%, and the efciency of
the non CB is 80.94% and the existing CB is 86.87%. Although the air
ratio and the dew-point temperature are the same for the existing
CB and WHR CB, the efciency of the WHR CB is higher than that of
the existing CB because the exhaust gas temperature for the WHR
CB, which has some of the condensed water generated from the
WHR device, is lower. In addition, because the operating air ratio
and the exhaust gas temperature for non CBs are higher than those
for existing CB and WHR CB, a non CB has the lowest efciency. For
the new boilers, because the EGR-CWR-WHR CB proposed in this
study can reduce the air ratio to 1.1 due to the application of EGR
and can decrease the exhaust gas temperature because the amount
of water condensed in the main body of the boiler and the WHR
device is the largest, the maximum thermodynamic efciency for
an EGR-CWR-WHR CB is 93.91%. This is 4.95% higher than a WHR
CB, which is the highest efciency of the existing boilers, and is
7.04% higher than an existing CB.
Fig. 5 shows the relative enthalpy, dew-point temperature and
exhaust gas temperature for various types of boilers. The relative
enthalpy in Fig. 5 is the ratio of the enthalpy gained from the boiler
system to the total enthalpy gained from the fuel. In other words,
the rst in the bar graph represents the ratio of the enthalpy gained
from the exhaust gas considering all of the components to the total
enthalpy gained from the fuel, the second is the ratio of the
enthalpy for the water vapor in the exhaust gas to the total enthalpy
gained from the fuel, the third is the ratio of the enthalpy for the

Table 2
Calculation results for various types of boilers.

Old
boilers
New
boilers

Non-CB
Existing CB
WHR CB
EGR-WHR CB
CWR-WHR CB
EGR-CWR-WHR CB

Air ratio
(a)

Efciency
(h) [%]

Total condensed water (nCW)

[Kmol/kmolF]

Dew-point temp.
(Td) [
C]

Exhaust gas temp. (TEGe)

[
C]

1.6
1.4
1.4
1.1
1.4
1.1

80.94
86.87
88.96
89.05
92.17
93.91

0.00
0.00
0.33
0.30
0.92
1.20

50.6
53.1
53.1
57.6
61.4
64.3

160
60
50
55
43
42

Please cite this article in press as: Lee C-E, et al., An analysis of the thermodynamic efciency for exhaust gas recirculation-condensed water
recirculation-waste heat recovery condensing boilers (EGR-CWR-WHR CB), Energy (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.04.042

C.-E. Lee et al. / Energy xxx (2015) 1e9

dried exhaust gas to the total enthalpy gained from the fuel and the
fourth and last are the ratios of the enthalpy for CW1 and CW2 to
the total enthalpy gained from the fuel. Consequently, the rst bar
is the sum of the second, third, fourth and the last bars. As seen in
Fig. 5, the enthalpy gained from the water vapor is the largest
percentage of the total enthalpy. When comparing the existing CB
to the new condensing boilers, the changes of the enthalpy for the
dried exhaust gas are small, but the enthalpies for the water vapor
are dramatically reduced because the mole numbers of the water
vapor are reduced due to being emitted from the system by
condensed water. In contrast, although the enthalpies for the
condensed water are increased, the increments are not large
because the enthalpy of the condensed water per mole is much
smaller than that of the water vapor. Furthermore, when the
temperature of the exhaust gas is lower than that of the dew-point,
the relative enthalpy of CW1 begins to appear. In addition, the dewpoint temperatures for non CBs, existing CBs and WHR CBs are
constant, while the dew-point temperatures for CWR-WHR CB increase because the fraction of the water vapor to the exhaust gas is
increased by the CWR. As a result, the enthalpy emitted by the
exhaust gas for new boilers is smaller because the amount of
condensed water is increased by the high dew-point temperature
and the low exhaust gas temperature. This is clear evidence that the
new boilers can obtain a higher efciency than the old boilers.
5. Conclusions
This study presented fundamental research on the development
of new boilers that are expected to have a higher efciency and
lower emission performance than existing boilers. The thermodynamic efciency of an EGR-CWR-WHR CB was calculated by thermodynamic analysis and compared with other boilers in this study.
The primary results are as follows:
(1) The EGR-CWR-WHR CB can achieve high efciencies due to
the low exhaust gas temperature and the operating air ratio
near 1.0. High efciencies are obtained particularly when the
exhaust gas temperature is controlled near 50e60
C
because water in the exhaust gas is condensed in this temperature range.
(2) As the relative humidity of the preheated air supplied to the
boiler increases, the heat gained from the exhaust gas increases because the heat required for vaporization of the
moisture to be supplied to the preheated air is increased.
Thus, the exhaust gas temperature decreases with increasing
relative humidity of the preheated air, increasing the efciency of the boiler. Consequently, CWR is key to improving
boiler efciency.
(3) The maximum thermodynamic efciency of the EGR-CWRWHR CB proposed in this study is 93.91%, which is 7.04%
higher than that of the frequently used existing CB.
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation
of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIP) (No.
2012R1A2A2A01013884), by INHA UNIVERSITY Research Grant and
by research funds of Chonbuk National University in 2014.
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Nomenclature
A: moist air
CWR: condensed water recirculating
CB: condensing boiler
DA: dried air
DEG: dried exhaust gas
EG: exhaust gas
EGR: exhaust gas recirculation
hrel: relative enthalpy [%]
Hi : specic enthalpy of component (i) [kJ/kmol]
HEX: heat exchanger
HW: heating water
n: mole numbers [kmol/kmolF]
P: pressure [bar]
RG: recirculation gas
Q: heat value
T: temperature [
C]
WHR: waste heat recovery
Greek Symbols

a: air ratio
b: waste heat recovery performance
g: relative humidity of air [%]
h: efciency [%]
Subscripts
Ai: inlet air
Ap: preheated air
ad: addition
CV: control volume
CW: condensed water
d: dew-point
DA: dried air
DEG: dried exhaust gas
EG*: exhaust gas at point* (* is number)
F: fuel
HWr: heating water return
L: liquid of water
M: mixture
PH: preheat
RH: recovery heat
SV: saturated vapor
U: used
V: vapor of water

Please cite this article in press as: Lee C-E, et al., An analysis of the thermodynamic efciency for exhaust gas recirculation-condensed water
recirculation-waste heat recovery condensing boilers (EGR-CWR-WHR CB), Energy (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.04.042