On The Cast House Exergy Management

The energy efficiency of aluminum casting furnaces has been widely reported. However, the conventional energy efficiency analyses are based on the first law of thermodynamics which do not shed adequate light on the processes' degradation of energy. This just gives a general idea of the furnace's performance with no reference to possible improvement strategies. In this study, we apply exergy analyses on the aluminum holding and melting furnaces to identify the location and causes of energy degradation. The exergy analyses which are based on a real life furnace conditions highlight the possible locations for technology improvement in a typical cast house. With this established, methods of minimizing the cast house's exergy losses are assessed.