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Exploring Fundamentals and Challenges of Heat, Entropy, and the Second Law of Thermodynamics: Honoring Professor Milivoje M. Kostic on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 15592

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Dr. Pradip Majumdar

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Professor (Retired), Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115, USA
Interests: Li-ion battery; fuel cell; nanostructured materials; multi-physics modeling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Kevin H. Knuth

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Department of Physics, University at Albany, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12222, USA
Interests: bayesian data analysis; entropy; probability theory; signal processing; machine learning; robotics; foundations of physics; quantum information; exoplanet detection and characterization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The scientific community is currently being challenged to address several critical global issues, such as an accelerated increase in oil and gas prices; the need to mitigate global warming; impetus for cleaner and greener environment; the requirement of renewable, sustainable, and high-efficiency power generation systems; and the accelerated electrification of transportation vehicles. Additionally, all countries must now rethink their supply chains for fuel sources and ways to produce power locally and more efficiently, with increased emphasis on renewable energy and battery storage. The fundamental laws of thermodynamics and key concepts such as entropy generation; irreversibility; reversible and irreversible heat generation and dissipation; and comprehensive analysis and optimization are the most effective ways for enhanced efficiency and could lead to innovations in power generation, including renewable and clean energy technologies. Therefore, advances in energy conversion and utilization technologies including intelligent heat management and cooling will contribute to increased efficiency, enhanced safety, and improved environmental conditions.

This Special Issue solicits diverse contributions to explore the most effective innovations using the fundamental laws of thermodynamics, comprehensive analysis, new frontiers of power generation (including renewable and clean energy application), optimization, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) methods in thermal processes and devices.

Topics: The scope of this Special Issue includes both fundamental issues and practical applications.

The content of this Special Issue will highlight papers exploring fundamental thermodynamics topics such as availability, irreversibility, and entropy generation in thermal processes; Sadi Carnot’s reversible equivalency; irreversible forcing and ‘work-potential’ dissipation with entropy generation; thermal energy concepts such as authentic-and-distinctive part of the total thermodynamic internal energy; as well as Maxwell’s demon and other challengers of the second law of thermodynamics.

In this Special Issue, we will also consider papers related to practical topics including, but not limited to: thermal effects, entropy production and thermal heat management in electrochemical devices (e.g., fuel cells and electric battery storage); energy conversion in thermoelectric devices with application to PV power generation, bio-sensors and biomedical devices; thermal heat management in electronic devices; renewable and clean energy applications; and applications of advanced computational algorithms such as AI/machine learning methods to predictive thermal analytics and thermal process optimization involving entropy production as well as heat generation and dissipation.

Biography of Prof. Dr. Milivoje Kostic

Milivoje Kostic, Ph.D. is a Serbian-American thermodynamicist and Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering at Northern Illinois University (NIU), a licensed Professional Engineer (PE) in Illinois, and Editor-in-Chief of the Thermodynamics Section of the journal Entropy. He is an expert in energy fundamentals and applications, including nanotechnology, with emphasis on efficiency and energy conservation, environment and sustainability.

Prof. Kostic was a professor and researcher in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at NIU for 26 years. During this time, Prof. Kostic taught classes on thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer and experimental methods. He was highly regarded among students and faculty for his dedication and commitment, with highest-level quality in educating both undergraduate and graduate students. Prof. Kostic was one of the most active researchers in the department in the areas of the heat transfer and hydrodynamics of viscoelastic fluid flow; nanofluids, heat transfer and nanotechnology; second law of thermodynamics analysis; and computational fluid dynamics analysis of scouring formation under river bridges.

Prof. Kostic has also worked in industry, and has authored several patents and professional publications, including invited articles in professional encyclopedias. Professor Kostic was appointed as a NASA faculty fellow, and as a faculty research at Fermi and Argonne National Laboratories. He has won several professional awards and recognitions, is a frequent keynote plenary speaker at international conferences and at different educational and public institutions, and is also a member of several professional societies and scientific advisory boards.

Professor Kostic is interested in the fundamental laws of Nature, thermodynamics, and heat transfer fundamentals and applications, especially the second law of thermodynamics and entropy. He has developed a collaboration with Tsinghua University and other Chinese universities, where he has been invited several times to lecture on his creative research.

Professor Kostic has served on the Entropy Editorial Board since 2013, and has been the Section Editor in Chief for the Thermodynamics Section since 2015. We at Entropy have benefitted greatly from his hard work and expertise in the field. Prof. Kostic has organized three Special Issues, “Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics”, "Exploring the Second Law of Thermodynamics" and “Nature of Heat and Entropy: Fundamentals and Applications for Diverse and Sustainable Future”, as well as a Topical Collection titled “Foundations and Ubiquity of Classical Thermodynamics”. Professor Kostic has a passion for rigor and care that he has applied to more than 400 decisions made on research papers submitted to Entropy. We came to rely on his passion for rigor, especially when it came to papers focused on the second law of thermodynamics, for which he was well-known to hold authors, reviewers, and editors to a high standard. This served to significantly raised the standards of the journal as a whole. We at Entropy are grateful for his many years of service to journal, and are very pleased to publish this Special Issue in his honor.

Dr. Pradip Majumdar
Prof. Dr. Kevin H. Knuth
Guest Editors

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.

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Research

39 pages, 5033 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Reasoning and Logical Proofs of the Fundamental Laws: “No Hope” for the Challengers of the Second Law of Thermodynamics

by Milivoje Kostic

Entropy 2023, 25(7), 1106; https://doi.org/10.3390/e25071106 - 24 Jul 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1827

Abstract

This comprehensive treatise is written for the special occasion of the author’s 70th birthday. It presents his lifelong endeavors and reflections with original reasoning and re-interpretations of the most critical and sometimes misleading issues in thermodynamics—since now, we have the advantage to look at the historical developments more comprehensively and objectively than the pioneers. Starting from Carnot (grand-father of thermodynamics to become) to Kelvin and Clausius (fathers of thermodynamics), and other followers, the most relevant issues are critically examined and put in historical and contemporary perspective. From the original reasoning of generalized “energy forcing and displacement” to the logical proofs of several fundamental laws, to the ubiquity of thermal motion and heat, and the indestructibility of entropy, including the new concept of “thermal roughness” and “inevitability of dissipative irreversibility,” to dissecting “Carnot true reversible-equivalency” and the critical concept of “thermal-transformer,” limited by the newly generalized “Carnot-Clausius heat-work reversible-equivalency (CCHWRE),” regarding the inter-complementarity of heat and work, and to demonstrating “No Hope” for the “Challengers” of the Second Law of thermodynamics, among others, are offered. It is hoped that the novel contributions presented here will enlighten better comprehension and resolve some of the fundamental issues, as well as promote collaboration and future progress. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring Fundamentals and Challenges of Heat, Entropy, and the Second Law of Thermodynamics: Honoring Professor Milivoje M. Kostic on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday)

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10 pages, 1036 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Thermoelectric Cycle and the Second Law of Thermodynamics

by Ti-Wei Xue and Zeng-Yuan Guo

Entropy 2023, 25(1), 155; https://doi.org/10.3390/e25010155 - 12 Jan 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1861

Abstract

In 2019, Schilling et al. claimed that they achieved the supercooling of a body without external intervention in their thermoelectric experiments, thus arguing that the second law of thermodynamics was bent. Kostic suggested that their claim lacked full comprehension of the second law of thermodynamics. A review of history shows that what Clausius referred to as the second law of thermodynamics is the theorem of the equivalence of transformations (unfairly ignored historically) in a reversible heat–work cycle, rather than “heat can never pass from a cold to a hot body without some other change” that was only viewed by Clausius as a natural phenomenon. Here, we propose the theorem of the equivalence of transformations for reversible thermoelectric cycles. The analysis shows that the supercooling phenomenon Schilling et al. observed is achieved by a reversible combined power–refrigeration cycle. According to the theorem of equivalence of transformations in reversible thermoelectric cycles, the reduction in body temperature to below the ambient temperature requires the body itself to have a higher initial temperature than ambient as compensation. Not only does the supercooling phenomenon not bend the second law, but it provides strong evidence of the second law. Full article

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34 pages, 1875 KiB

Open AccessArticle

How Flexible Is the Concept of Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium?

by Vijay M. Tangde and Anil A. Bhalekar

Entropy 2023, 25(1), 145; https://doi.org/10.3390/e25010145 - 10 Jan 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1460

Abstract

It has been demonstrated by using generalized phenomenological irreversible thermodynamic theory (GPITT) that by replacing the conventional composition variables

{x_{k}}

by the quantum level composition variables

{{\tilde{x}}_{k, j}}

corresponding to the nonequilibrium population of the [...] Read more.

It has been demonstrated by using generalized phenomenological irreversible thermodynamic theory (GPITT) that by replacing the conventional composition variables

{x_{k}}

by the quantum level composition variables

{{\tilde{x}}_{k, j}}

corresponding to the nonequilibrium population of the quantum states, the resultant description remains well within the local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) domain. The next attempt is to replace the quantum level composition variables by their respective macroscopic manifestations as variables. For example, these manifestations are, say, the observance of fluorescence and phosphorescence, existence of physical fluxes, and ability to register various spectra (microwave, IR, UV-VIS, ESR, NMR, etc.). This exercise results in a framework that resembles with the thermodynamics with internal variables (TIV), which too is obtained as a framework within the LTE domain. This TIV-type framework is easily transformed to an extended irreversible thermodynamics (EIT) type framework, which uses physical fluxes as additional variables. The GPITT in EIT version is also obtained well within the LTE domain. Thus, GPITT becomes a complete version of classical irreversible thermodynamics (CIT). It is demonstrated that LTE is much more flexible than what CIT impresses upon. This conclusion is based on the realization that the spatial uniformity for each tiny pocket (cell) of a spatially non-uniform system remains intact while developing GPITT and obviously in its other versions. Full article

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11 pages, 1882 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Advanced Exergy Analysis of Adiabatic Underwater Compressed Air Energy Storage System

by Lukasz Szablowski and Tatiana Morosuk

Entropy 2023, 25(1), 77; https://doi.org/10.3390/e25010077 - 30 Dec 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1439

Abstract

Rapid development in the renewable energy sector require energy storage facilities. Currently, pumped storage power plants provide the most large-scale storage in the world. Another option for large-scale system storage is compressed air energy storage (CAES). This paper discusses a particular case of CAES—an adiabatic underwater energy storage system based on compressed air—and its evaluation using advanced exergy analysis. The energy storage system is charged during the valleys of load and discharged at peaks. The model was built using Aspen HYSYS software. Advanced exergy analysis revealed interactions between system components and the potential for improving both system components individually and the system as a whole. The most significant reduction in exergy destruction can be achieved with heat exchangers. The round-trip efficiency of this system is 64.1% and 87.9% for real and unavoidable operation conditions, respectively. Full article

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22 pages, 2614 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enthalpy-Entropy Compensation Effect in Saturated Solutions on an Example of Polynuclear Aromatics According to Thermodynamics at Melting Temperature

by Andrzej Mianowski and Grzegorz Łabojko

Entropy 2023, 25(1), 55; https://doi.org/10.3390/e25010055 - 28 Dec 2022

Viewed by 1215

Abstract

A thermodynamic the influence of temperature on the logarithm of the considered quantity is expressed by bifunctional functional terms (1/T, lnT). For this purpose, the Apelblat & Manzurola (A&M) equation was used for extended model dissolution analysis of 12 aromatic hydrocarbons in tetralin and decalin vs. temperature for saturated solutions. The A&M equation was found to be thermodynamically compensatory in the sense of Enthalpy-Entropy-Compensation (EEC) while limiting melting temperature

T_{m} = \frac{∆_{m} H}{∆_{m} S} .

The coefficients for the functional terms

A_{1}

vs.

A_{2}

are a linear relationship, with a slope called the compensation temperature

T_{c}

, as ratio of average enthalpy to average entropy. From this dependence, it has been shown that the approximation of

∆ c_{p} = ∆_{m} \bar{S}

is justified, also assuming the average entropy. Regarding the term representing the activity coefficients, modifications to the A&M equation were proposed by replacing the intercept and it was shown that the new form correctly determines

∆_{m} H .

However, the condition is that the molar fraction of the solute exceeds x > 0.5 moles. It has been shown that the simplest equation referred to van ’t Hoff’s isobar also allows the simultaneous determination of enthalpy and entropy, but these quantities do not always come down to melting temperature. Full article

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11 pages, 611 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Finite-Time Thermodynamic Modeling and Optimization of Short-Chain Hydrocarbon Polymerization-Catalyzed Synthetic Fuel Process

by Yajie Yu, Shaojun Xia, Qinglong Jin and Lei Rong

Entropy 2022, 24(11), 1658; https://doi.org/10.3390/e24111658 - 15 Nov 2022

Viewed by 820

Abstract

The short-chain hydrocarbon polymerization-catalyzed synthetic fuel technology has great development potential in the fields of energy storage and renewable energy. Modeling and optimization of a short-chain hydrocarbon polymerization-catalyzed synthetic fuel process involving mixers, compressors, heat exchangers, reactors, and separators are performed through finite-time thermodynamics. Under the given conditions of the heat source temperature of the heat exchanger and the reactor, the optimal performance of the process is solved by taking the mole fraction of components, pressure, and molar flow as the optimization variables, and taking the minimum entropy generation rate (MEGR) of the process as the optimization objective. The results show that the entropy generation rate of the optimized reaction process is reduced by 48.81% compared to the reference process; among them, the component mole fraction is the most obvious optimization variable. The research results have certain theoretical guiding significance for the selection of the operation parameters of the short-chain hydrocarbon polymerization-catalyzed synthetic fuel process. Full article

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22 pages, 6626 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Efficient Power Characteristic Analysis and Multi-Objective Optimization for an Irreversible Simple Closed Gas Turbine Cycle

by Xingfu Qiu, Lingen Chen, Yanlin Ge and Shuangshuang Shi

Entropy 2022, 24(11), 1531; https://doi.org/10.3390/e24111531 - 26 Oct 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3199

Abstract

On the basis of the established irreversible simple closed gas turbine cycle model, this paper optimizes cycle performance further by applying the theory of finite-time thermodynamics. Dimensionless efficient power expression of the cycle is derived. Effects of internal irreversibility (turbine and compressor efficiencies) and heat reservoir temperature ratio on dimensionless efficient power are analyzed. When total heat conductance of two heat exchangers is constant, the double maximum dimensionless efficient power of a cycle can be obtained by optimizing heat-conductance distribution and cycle pressure-ratio. Through the NSGA-II algorithm, multi-objective optimizations are performed on the irreversible closed gas turbine cycle by taking five performance indicators, dimensionless power density, dimensionless ecological function, thermal efficiency, dimensionless efficient power and dimensionless power output, as objective functions, and taking pressure ratio and heat conductance distribution as optimization variables. The Pareto frontiers with the optimal solution set are obtained. The results reflect that heat reservoir temperature ratio and compressor efficiency have greatest influences on dimensionless efficient power, and the deviation indexes obtained by TOPSIS, LINMAP and Shannon Entropy decision-making methods are 0.2921, 0.2921, 0.2284, respectively, for five-objective optimization. The deviation index obtained by Shannon Entropy decision-making method is smaller than other decision-making methods and its result is more ideal. Full article

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10 pages, 536 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A New Entropy Function to Analyze Isentropic Processes of Ideal Gases with Variable Specific Heats

by Yunus A. Çengel and Mehmet Kanoğlu

Entropy 2022, 24(6), 746; https://doi.org/10.3390/e24060746 - 24 May 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2552

Abstract

A new entropy function s⁺ is defined in terms of the existing entropy function s° and temperature as s⁺ = s° − R lnT to facilitate the analysis of isentropic processes of ideal gases with variable specific heats. The function s⁺ also makes it possible to calculate the entropy changes of ideal gases during processes when volume information is available instead of pressure information and the variation of specific heats with temperature is to be accounted for. The introduction of the function s⁺ eliminates the need to use the dimensionless isentropic functions relative pressure P_r and relative specific volume v_r of ideal gases and to tabulate their values. The P_r and v_r data are often confused with pressure and specific volume, with an adverse effect on the study of the second law of thermodynamics. The new s⁺ function nicely complements the existing s° function in entropy change calculations: the former is conveniently used when volume information is given while the latter is used when pressure information is available. Therefore, the introduction of the new entropy function s⁺ is expected to make a significant contribution to the thermodynamics education and research by streamlining entropy analysis of ideal gases. Full article

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Exploring Fundamentals and Challenges of Heat, Entropy, and the Second Law of Thermodynamics: Honoring Professor Milivoje M. Kostic on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday

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