entropy-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Thermodynamic Analysis and Process Intensification

A special issue of Entropy (ISSN 1099-4300). This special issue belongs to the section "Thermodynamics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2022) | Viewed by 7676

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA
Interests: transport and rate processes; thermodynamic coupling; self-organization; reaction-diffusion systems; information theory; fluctuation theory
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Process intensification focuses on considerable improvements, in tens to hundreds of percent, in the manufacturing sector through the modification of existing operations or new designs that are precise efficient, economical, and safer. Process intensification (PI) enables the manufacturing sector to remain competitive and can be achieved by focusing on molecular levels of reaction kinetics, thermodynamics, and heat and mass transfer. Thermodynamic analysis suggests process improvements toward better matching the design parameters with the operating conditions that lead to less irreversible processes with less entropy production, hence less dissipated energy. Besides, the analysis of information flow between interacting parts of a process may help increase compatibility and reduce the overall irreversibility toward improving the overall efficiency. Some guiding principles for PI are as follows:

  • Maximize the effectiveness of intramolecular and intermolecular interactions toward higher conversion, yield, and selectivity.
  • Provide uniformly distributed conditions for all the molecules as in a plug flow reactor with uniform heating.
  • Maintain equipartition driving forces to reduce or evenly distribute irreversibility in space and in time to lower the energy/power dissipation, such as countercurrent heat exchangers.
  • Maximize synergetic interactions among the parts of a process, such as heat integration to increase productivity, safety, capacity, composition (purity), flexibility
Decrease complexity, footprint, byproducts, energy usage, waste, investment, cost, risk

Prof. Yasar Demirel
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Entropy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Thermodynamic analysis
  • process intensification
  • process irreversibility
  • information flow
  • techno economic analysis
  • sustainability analysis
  • process design & optimization

Published Papers (4 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

26 pages, 7146 KiB  
Article
Performance Modulation of S-CO2 Brayton Cycle for Marine Low-Speed Diesel Engine Flue Gas Waste Heat Recovery Based on MOGA
by Liangtao Xie and Jianguo Yang
Entropy 2022, 24(11), 1544; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/e24111544 - 27 Oct 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1449
Abstract
(1) Background: the shipping industry forced ships to adopt new energy-saving technologies to improve energy efficiency. With the timing modulation for the marine low-speed diesel engine S-CO2 Brayton cycle, the waste heat recovery system is optimized to improve fuel economy. (2) Methods: [...] Read more.
(1) Background: the shipping industry forced ships to adopt new energy-saving technologies to improve energy efficiency. With the timing modulation for the marine low-speed diesel engine S-CO2 Brayton cycle, the waste heat recovery system is optimized to improve fuel economy. (2) Methods: with the 6EX340EF marine low-speed diesel engine established in AVL Cruise M and verified by the bench test data, the model of the S-CO2 Recompression Brayton Cycle (SCRBC) system for the low-speed engine flue gas waste heat recovery was developed in EBSILON, and verified by SANDIA experimental data. On this basis, the effects of injection timing and valve timing parameters on the comprehensive performance of the main engine and the waste heat recovery system were investigated. By optimizing the timing modulation parameters through multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) and evaluating the flue gas waste heat recovery from the perspective of thermodynamic performance and emission reduction, the research on the performance modulation method of the S-CO2 Brayton Cycle for flue gas waste heat in marine low-speed engines has been completed. (3) Results: the SCRBC with waste heat modulation will further increase the total power and efficiency, which in turn brings about a reduction in the fuel consumption rate. The efficiency of the SCRBC system with the addition of waste heat modulation increases by 2.28%, 1.04% and 2.07% at 50%, 75% and 100%, respectively. After adding the residual heat modulation, the maximum annual CO2 emission reduction of 748.51 × 103 kg·a−1 occurred at 50% load; with the exergy analysis, the cooler has the largest system exergy loss of 165 kW, with the exergy loss efficiency of 2.06% under 100% load. (4) Conclusions: the research on the performance modulation method of S-CO2 Brayton cycle for flue gas waste heat in the marine low-speed engine has been completed, which further improves the efficiency of the system and can be extended to other engines. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamic Analysis and Process Intensification)
Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 3962 KiB  
Article
A Comprehensive Experimental Investigation of Additives to Enhance Pool Boiling Heat Transfer of a Non-Azeotropic Mixture
by Chen Xu, Zuoqin Qian and Jie Ren
Entropy 2022, 24(11), 1534; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/e24111534 - 26 Oct 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1127
Abstract
Adding nanoparticles or surfactants to pure working fluid is a common and effective method to improve the heat transfer performance of pool boiling. The objective of this research is to determine whether additives have the same efficient impact on heat transfer enhancement of [...] Read more.
Adding nanoparticles or surfactants to pure working fluid is a common and effective method to improve the heat transfer performance of pool boiling. The objective of this research is to determine whether additives have the same efficient impact on heat transfer enhancement of the non-azeotropic mixture. In this paper, Ethylene Glycol/Deionized Water (EG/DW) was selected as the representing non-azeotropic mixture, and a comparative experiment was carried out between it and the pure working fluid. In addition, the effects of different concentrations of additives on the pool boiling heat transfer performance under different heat fluxes were experimentally studied, including TiO2 nanoparticles with different particle diameters, different kinds of surfactants, and mixtures of nanofluids and surfactants. The experimental results showed that the nanoparticles deteriorated the heat transfer of the EG/DW solution, while the surfactant enhanced the heat transfer of the solution when the concentration closed to a critical mass fraction (CMC). However, the improvement effect was unsteady with the increase in the heat flux density. The experimental results suggest that the mass transfer resistance of the non-azeotropic mixture is the most important factor in affecting heat transfer enhancement. Solutions with 20 nm TiO2 obtained a steady optimum heat transfer improvement by adding surfactants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamic Analysis and Process Intensification)
Show Figures

Figure 1

27 pages, 4863 KiB  
Article
Layout Comparison and Parameter Optimization of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Coal-Fired Power Generation Systems under Environmental and Economic Objectives
by Dongxu Chen, Zhonghe Han, Yaping Bai, Dongyang Guo, Linfei Zhao and Peng Li
Entropy 2022, 24(8), 1123; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/e24081123 - 15 Aug 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1142
Abstract
In the current studies, the supercritical carbon dioxide coal-fired power generation systems show efficiency and cost advantages over the traditional steam-based power systems. However, few studies have considered simultaneously environmental and economic objectives in the multi-objective analysis process. This study conducts a layout [...] Read more.
In the current studies, the supercritical carbon dioxide coal-fired power generation systems show efficiency and cost advantages over the traditional steam-based power systems. However, few studies have considered simultaneously environmental and economic objectives in the multi-objective analysis process. This study conducts a layout comparison and parameter optimization of the systems under the above two objectives. Initially, the thermodynamic, environmental, and economic models of the systems are established. Subsequently, the optimal layout is determined by the two-stage layout comparison. Further, multi-objective optimization is performed for the selected layout, and the optimal design parameters are determined by the decision process. Finally, the sensitivities of three selected parameters to the optimization results are analyzed. The results show that the basic layout coupled with overlap and intercooling schemes is optimal. Its ultimate environmental impact (UEI) and levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) are 219.8 kp-eq and 56.9 USD/MWh, respectively. The two objectives UEI and LCOE are conflicting. Based on a trade-off between them, the maximum temperature/pressure of the system is determined to be 635.3 °C/30.1 MPa. The coal price per unit of heat shows the highest sensitivity, and the pinch temperature difference of the recuperator shows opposite sensitivities at the UEI below 218 kp-eq and above 223 kp-eq. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamic Analysis and Process Intensification)
Show Figures

Figure 1

21 pages, 4016 KiB  
Article
Development and Analysis of the Novel Hybridization of a Single-Flash Geothermal Power Plant with Biomass Driven sCO2-Steam Rankine Combined Cycle
by Balkan Mutlu, Derek Baker and Feyza Kazanç
Entropy 2021, 23(6), 766; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/e23060766 - 18 Jun 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3201
Abstract
This study investigates the hybridization scenario of a single-flash geothermal power plant with a biomass-driven sCO2-steam Rankine combined cycle, where a solid local biomass source, olive residue, is used as a fuel. The hybrid power plant is modeled using the simulation [...] Read more.
This study investigates the hybridization scenario of a single-flash geothermal power plant with a biomass-driven sCO2-steam Rankine combined cycle, where a solid local biomass source, olive residue, is used as a fuel. The hybrid power plant is modeled using the simulation software EBSILON®Professional. A topping sCO2 cycle is chosen due to its potential for flexible electricity generation. A synergy between the topping sCO2 and bottoming steam Rankine cycles is achieved by a good temperature match between the coupling heat exchanger, where the waste heat from the topping cycle is utilized in the bottoming cycle. The high-temperature heat addition problem, common in sCO2 cycles, is also eliminated by utilizing the heat in the flue gas in the bottoming cycle. Combined cycle thermal efficiency and a biomass-to-electricity conversion efficiency of 24.9% and 22.4% are achieved, respectively. The corresponding fuel consumption of the hybridized plant is found to be 2.2 kg/s. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamic Analysis and Process Intensification)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop