Structural theory as standard for thermoeconomics

In this paper the Structural Theory of Thermoeconomics is proposed as a sta ndard and common mathematical formulation for all thermoeconomic methodolog ies employing thermoeconomic models that can be expressed by linear equatio ns. In previous works it has been demonstrated that the Exergy Cost Theory (ECT), the AVCO approach and the Thermoeconomic Functional Analysis (TFA) c an be dealt with the Structural Theory. In this paper, it is demonstrated t hat the Last-in-First-Out (LIFO) approach, a thermoeconomic cost accounting method, can also be reproduced with the Structural Theory. The LIFO and th e Structural Theory are both applied to a combined cycle plant and it is sh own that the equation systems obtained from both methods are the same. More over, a procedure to develop the productive structure representing the ther moeconomic model of LIFO (i.e. from which the same costing equations are ob tained as with the LIFO approach) is explained in detail, which provides th e tools to reproduce the costs obtained from LIFO with the Structural Theor y for complex energy systems. This paper concludes a series of research wor ks where it has been demonstrated that the most developed thermoeconomic op timization and cost accounting methodologies, as all of them employ thermoe conomic models that can easily be linearized, can be dealt with by the math ematical formalism of the Structural Theory. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.