In this research, a vortex generator heat exchanger is used to recover exergy from the exhaust of an OM314 diesel engine. Twenty vortex generators with 30° angle of attack are used to increase the heat recovery as well as the low back pressure in the exhaust. The experiments are prepared for five engine loads (0, 20, 40, 60 and 80% of full load), two exhaust gases amount (50 and 100%) and four water mass flow rates (50, 40, 30 and 20 g/s). After a thermodynamical analysis on the obtained data, an optimization study based on Central Composite Design (CCD) is performed due to complex effect of engine loads and water mass flow rates on exergy recovery and irreversibility to reach the best operating condition.