High Efficiency

The amount of heat that could be converted to useful work in a heat engine is limited by the ideal reversible Carnot efficiency, given by the following equation  

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The liquid used for the direct heat transfer should be chosen such that it can be separated easily from the reactor product and so recycled with the minimum expense. Use of extraneous materials, i.e., materials that do not already exist in the process, should be avoided because it is often difficult to separate and recycle them with high efficiency. Extraneous material not recycled becomes an effluent problem. As we shall discuss later, the best way to deal with effluent problems is not to create them in the first place. 

If the total heat consumed is from an external utility (e.g., mains steam), then a high efficiency is desirable, even perhaps at the expense of a high capital cost. However, if the heat consumed is by recovery from elsewhere in the process, as is discussed in Chap. 15, then comparison on the basis of dryer efficiency becomes less meaningful. 

Eliminate extraneous materials for separation. The third option is to eliminate extraneous materials added to the process to carry out separation. The most obvious example would be addition of a solvent, either organic or aqueous. Also, acids or alkalis are sometimes used to precipitate other materials from solution. If these extraneous materials used for separation can be recycled with a high efficiency, there is not a major problem. Sometimes, however, they cannot. If this is the case, then waste is created by discharge of that material. To reduce this waste, alternative methods of separation are needed, such as use of evaporation instead of precipitation. 

Reducing the use of extraneous materials that cannot be recycled with high efficiency. 

Bag filters. Bag filters, as discussed in Chap. 3 and illustrated in Fig. 3.66, are probably the most common method of separating particulate materials from gases. A cloth or felt filter material is used that is impervious to the particles. Bag filters are suitable for use in very high dust load conditions. They have an extremely high efficiency, but they suflFer from the disadvantage that the pressure drop across them may be high. ... 

Batteries of fuel cells have been used in spacecraft but, in general, the potentially high efficiency of the fuel cell has not been realized industrially. 

The application of fundamentally new ECT (Russia patent Jf 2063025) has made it possible to provide high-efficiency defect control accompanied by detecting both small surface defects and more rough under-surface defects under non-magnetic metal layer of 7 mm thick, or surface defects under protection coatings, dye, corrosion, hermetic and other type of layer of 10 mm thick. 

The above Cl reactions will occur if they are exothennic. In order for these reactions to occur with high efficiency, the pressure in the ion source must be raised to the milliTorr level. Also, the reagent species are often introduced in large excess so that they are preferentially ionized by the electron beam. 

By combining the Lagrange multiplier method with the highly efficient delocalized internal coordinates, a very powerfiil algoritlun for constrained optimization has been developed [ ]. Given that delocalized internal coordinates are potentially linear combinations of all possible primitive stretches, bends and torsions in the system, cf Z-matrix coordinates which are individual primitives, it would seem very difficult to impose any constraints at all however, as... 

Micic O I ef a/1996 Highly efficient band-edge emission from InP quantum dots Appi. Phys. Lett. 68 3150... 

If the PES are known, the time-dependent Schrbdinger equation, Eq. (1), can in principle be solved directly using what are termed wavepacket dynamics [15-18]. Here, a time-independent basis set expansion is used to represent the wavepacket and the Hamiltonian. The evolution is then carried by the expansion coefficients. While providing a complete description of the system dynamics, these methods are restricted to the study of typically 3-6 degrees of freedom. Even the highly efficient multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree (MCTDH) method [19,20], which uses a time-dependent basis set expansion, can handle no more than 30 degrees of freedom. 

Fig. 5. To generate an ensemble using Molecular Dynamics or Monte-Carlo simulation techniques the interaction between all pairs of atoms within a given cutoff radius must be considered. In contrast, to estimate changes in free energy using a stored trajectory only those interactions which are perturbed need be determined making the approach highly efficient.

Reflux ratio. This is defined as the ratio between the number of moles of vapour returned as refluxed liquid to the fractionating column and the number of moles of final product (collected as distillate), both per unit time. The reflux ratio should be varied according to the difficulty of fractionation, rather than be maintained constant a high efficiency of separation requires a liigh reflux ratio. ... 

Attention is directed to the fact that ether is highly inflammable and also extremely volatile (b.p. 35°), and great care should be taken that there is no naked flame in the vicinity of the liquid (see Section 11,14). Under no circumstances should ether be distilled over a bare flame, but always from a steam bath or an electrically-heated water bath (Fig.//, 5,1), and with a highly efficient double surface condenser. In the author s laboratory a special lead-covered bench is set aside for distillations with ether and other inflammable solvents. The author s ether still consists of an electrically-heated water bath (Fig. 11, 5, 1), fitted with the usual concentric copper rings two 10-inch double surface condensers (Davies type) are suitably supported on stands with heavy iron bases, and a bent adaptor is fitted to the second condenser furthermost from the water bath. The flask containing the ethereal solution is supported on the water bath, a short fractionating column or a simple bent still head is fitted into the neck of the flask, and the stUl head is connected to the condensers by a cork the recovered ether is collected in a vessel of appropriate size. 

Mg. 11, 56, 17 (Davies types) and Fig. 11, 56, 18 (double coil type) are examples of efficient double surface condensers. Fig. 11, 56, 19 depicts a screw type of condenser (Friedrich pattern) the jacket is usually 10, 15 or 25 cm. long and the cone and sockets are fil9 or 24 this highly efficient condenser is employed for both reflux and for downward distillation. 

The Stedman-type column is shown in Fig. 11, 56, 25. The characteristic features are (i) the use of a fine stainless steel wire cloth formed into conical discs, and (ii) an accurately fitting Pyrex glass jacket, produced by shrinking Pyrex glass on mandrels to the required inside dimensions. Modifications incorporating a silvered vacuum jacket and an electrically-heated jacket are marketed. This column is said to possess high efficiency but is expensive. It is generally employed in conjunction with a total-condensation variable take-off still head. 

The best results are obtained with a fractionating column surrounded by an electrically-heated jacket (compare Figs. II, 17. 2. and II. 17, 3), but this is not essential for n-caproic anhydride. For the preparation of propionic or n-biityric anhydride, a highly efficient fiactionating column must be used in order to obtain satisfactory results. 

Scandium iodide added to mercury vapor lamps produces a highly efficient light source resembling sunlight, which is important for indoor or night-time color TV. 

Flow injection analysis (FIA) was developed in the mid-1970s as a highly efficient technique for the automated analyses of samples. °> Unlike the centrifugal analyzer described earlier in this chapter, in which samples are simultaneously analyzed in batches of limited size, FIA allows for the rapid, sequential analysis of an unlimited number of samples. FIA is one member of a class of techniques called continuous-flow analyzers, in which samples are introduced sequentially at regular intervals into a liquid carrier stream that transports the samples to the detector. ... 

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