236 Geothermal Power Plants: Principles, Applications, Case Studies and Environmental Impact

Fig. 10.5 Flash vessel and process diagram.

We may define Second Law efficiencies for this system using the brute-force and
functional forms:
_ 3 e3 1 m
m _ 4 e4
ηIIFV;BF 5 ð10:40Þ
_
m1 e1
and
_ 4 e4
m
ηIIFV;FUN 5 ð10:41Þ
_ 1 e1
m
Whereas the form of eq. (10.40) follows directly from the brute-force definition, that of
eq. (10.41) expresses the ratio of the flow rate of exergy of the steam generated to that
of the incoming liquid. The reason for the latter is that the purpose of the flasher is to
produce a steam flow for use in some process, in this case, a geothermal steam turbine,
and therefore the exergy of the steam produced is the desired output.
The exergy loss is found from the exergy accounting equation:
ΔE_ FV 5 m
_ 1 e1 2 m
_ 3 e3 2 m
_ 4 e4 ð10:42Þ
There are no exergy terms for work or heat transfer since only flows are involved. The
mass flows can be related to the incoming mass flow using the quality as follows:
m _1
_ 3 5 ð1 2 x2 Þm ð10:43Þ
and
_ 4 5 x2 m
m _1 ð10:44Þ
Numerical example: Suppose an incoming liquid is a saturated liquid at 2.5 MPa
and flows steadily at 100 kg/s. The throttle valve creates a pressure drop leading to
P2 5 0.70 MPa. Let us assume that the pressure loss within the flash vessel is negligible,
i.e., P2 5 P3 5 P4. The dead state is at 20 C, 1 atm. With the aid of Steam Tables [6], the fol-
lowing state-point data may be obtained; all entries except the bold ones are found directly:

State P (MPa) T ( C) x s (kJ/kg  K) h (kJ/kg) e (kJ/kg)

1 2.5 223.99 0 2.5547 962.11 216.19

2 0.7 164.97 0.1282 2.5967 962.11 203.88
3 0.7 164.97 0 1.9922 697.22 116.19
4 0.7 164.97 1 6.7080 2763.3 799.84
0 0.1 20 0 (assumed) 0.2966 83.96 0