Thermodynamic system, maximum work output

The maximum work output of any thermodynamic system or process can be obtained, if the material in the system or the working fluid in the process is brought into equilibrium with the environment reversibly. The actual work output of a technical process with combustion is much smaller because the combustion is highly irreversible. The work losses in a continuous combustion can be evaluated if the exergy (or available energy) before and after the reaction is calculated. This exergy is described by the equation ... 

Helmholtz energy (sometimes also called Helmholtz free energy, or Helmholtz function) is the thermodynamic state function equal to the maximum possible nonexpansion work output, which can be done by a closed system in an isothermal isochoric process (T = const, V = const). In terms of the -> internal energy and -> entropy... 

We all widely utilize aspects of the first law of thermodynamics. The first law mainly deals with energy balance regardless of the quality of that part of the energy available to perform work. We define first law efficiency or thermal efficiency as the ratio of the work output to total rate of heat input, and this efficiency may not describe the best performance of a process. On the other hand, the second law brings out the quality of energy, and second law efficiency relates the actual performance to the best possible performance under the same conditions. For a process, reversible work is the maximum useful work output. If the operating conditions cause excessive entropy production, the system will not be capable of delivering the maximum useful output. 

With the exception of entropy, each of these functions reaches a minimum at equilibrium, and each decreases during spontaneous processes (at constant values of the subscripted variables). Thus each serves as a thermodynamic potential, or as a measure of the capacity for a system described by the subscripted variables to undergo some change or process. These thermodynamic potentials also provide a measure of the maximum work or heat output available from a process ... 

Example 4.8 Chemical reactions and reacting flows The extension of the theory of linear nonequilibrium thermodynamics to nonlinear systems can describe systems far from equilibrium, such as open chemical reactions. Some chemical reactions may include multiple stationary states, periodic and nonperiodic oscillations, chemical waves, and spatial patterns. The determination of entropy of stationary states in a continuously stirred tank reactor may provide insight into the thermodynamics of open nonlinear systems and the optimum operating conditions of multiphase combustion. These conditions may be achieved by minimizing entropy production and the lost available work, which may lead to the maximum net energy output per unit mass of the flow at the reactor exit. 

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