PERFORMANCE-CHARACTERISTICS OF ENDOREVERSIBLE CHEMICAL ENGINES

Chemical engines process mass flows to convert differences in chemical potential into work-the analog of heat engines processing heat flows to generate work from temperature differences. For isothermal endoreve rsible chemical engines constrained to finite-time operation-examples of which include mass exchangers, electrochemical, photochemical, and solid-state devices: (i) optimal cycle types for maximizing average po wer output, (ii) upper bounds on power production, and (iii) sensitivi ty of these results to mass-transfer law, illustrated for linear and d iffusive behavior, are derived.