Energy and Exergy Analysis of Condensate and Vapor Management System: A Case Study of Urmia Sugar Plant

Energy and Exergy Analysis of Condensate and Vapor Management System: A Case Study of Urmia Sugar Plant | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Energy and Exergy Analysis of Condensate and Vapor Management System: A Case Study of Urmia Sugar Plant Navid Samadzadeh, Adel Rezvanivand Fanaei, Ahmad Piri, Vahid Rostampour This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7180686/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 20 Feb, 2026 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 13 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The sugar production industry represents one of the most energy-demanding processing sectors within agro-industry systems, characterized by substantial energy inputs and large-scale operations. Given the importance of sustainability of food production systems, environmental issues, limited fossil fuel reserves, and the reduction of the share of energy in the final price of the product, a detailed assessment of sugar production processes is required. In this study, vapor recovery and vapor condensation units were evaluated by thermodynamic analyses. Energy losses and thermodynamic inefficiencies in each subsystem were determined using energy and exergy analyses. The results of the analyses showed that from an energetic and exergetic perspective, the vapor condensation unit has a much weaker thermodynamic performance than the vapor recovery unit. The exergy destruction rate and improvement potential of the vapor condensation unit were 6.90 and 47.79 times that of the vapor recovery unit, respectively. Also, the sustainability index and exergy efficiency of the vapor recovery unit were 7.11 and 238.69 times that of the vapor condensation unit, respectively. In the vapor condensation unit, the highest amount of exergy destruction, the lowest exergy efficiency, the lowest sustainability index and the highest improvement potential belong to the cooling tower, respectively, with 1073.91kW (equivalent to 33.52% of the total exergy destruction), 2.93%, 1.03 and 1042.48kW. It is suggested that the vapor of the last effect of the evaporation line and the crystallization process be regenerated using mechanical and thermal compression methods in order to reduce the vapor entering the vapor condensation unit and consequently reduce the exergy destruction to use it in syrup heating processes. Physical sciences/Energy science and technology Physical sciences/Engineering Sugar Energy Exergy Barometric Condenser Flash Drum Cooling Tower Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 20 Feb, 2026 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 01 Sep, 2025 Reviews received at journal 07 Aug, 2025 Reviews received at journal 04 Aug, 2025 Reviews received at journal 01 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 01 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 29 Jul, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 29 Jul, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 29 Jul, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 29 Jul, 2025 Editor invited by journal 25 Jul, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 24 Jul, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 23 Jul, 2025 First submitted to journal 21 Jul, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7180686","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":492886396,"identity":"1f44244d-7e4b-4e4c-9acb-693108b3736e","order_by":0,"name":"Navid Samadzadeh","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Urmia University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Navid","middleName":"","lastName":"Samadzadeh","suffix":""},{"id":492886398,"identity":"acca0316-4163-425b-9059-876e8703919d","order_by":1,"name":"Adel Rezvanivand Fanaei","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA/UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDADNhDBUwEkmCECPERqOUOKFjDgbSNCEX8D78OHP9vs8vgkkp89eDvvcL5uO/MDhh81DDLmDdi1SBxgNzaQbEsuZpNIMzecu+2w5bbDbAaMPccYeGQO4LDmABubhMEZ5sQ2ngNm0rzbDhuYHWYwYOBtYOCRwKFD/gAb+4+EM/VALce/SfPOAWlh/8D4F48WA6AtDAcqDie2sfcAbWkAaeExYMZni+FhNmbJhorjIC1lknOOpYO0FByWOSaBU4vc8TbGjz8MqhPnN7Nvk3hTY21gdv74xodvamzscWmBRRxamACDEpeGUTAKRsEoGAVEAADmhU0frfEVzgAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Urmia University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Adel","middleName":"Rezvanivand","lastName":"Fanaei","suffix":""},{"id":492886403,"identity":"3b1029f5-ce55-4f98-80ae-7dedcbbbd118","order_by":2,"name":"Ahmad Piri","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Urmia University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ahmad","middleName":"","lastName":"Piri","suffix":""},{"id":492886405,"identity":"81f6c869-2a58-4352-88a3-252b1805f473","order_by":3,"name":"Vahid Rostampour","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Urmia University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Vahid","middleName":"","lastName":"Rostampour","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-07-21 20:23:22","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7180686/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7180686/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-41065-6","type":"published","date":"2026-02-20T15:59:20+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":103252400,"identity":"3ece5ece-db5e-4f1f-a10e-26f97728df7c","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-23 16:14:42","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1217004,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"MainDocumentScientificReports.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7180686/v1_covered_2c4a3c7d-4352-435f-891a-bb320d680c10.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Energy and Exergy Analysis of Condensate and Vapor Management System: A Case Study of Urmia Sugar Plant","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Sugar; Energy, Exergy, Barometric Condenser, Flash Drum, Cooling Tower","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7180686/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7180686/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe sugar production industry represents one of the most energy-demanding processing sectors within agro-industry systems, characterized by substantial energy inputs and large-scale operations. 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