PERFORMANCE OF CHEMICAL ENGINES WITH A MASS LEAK

The performance of an isothermal chemical engine with finite-rate mass transfer and a mass leak is analysed in this paper. The relations bet ween the optimal power output and the efficiency, the maximum power ou tput and the corresponding efficiency and the maximum efficiency and t he corresponding power output are derived on the ba!;is of linear (Ons ager) mass-transfer law using the analogous method of finite-time ther modynamics for a heat engine. There exists a maximum efficiency bound with nonzero power output besides the maximum power output bound with nonzero efficiency for the engine. This characteristic is different fr om that for the chemical engine with the sole irreversibility of finit e-rate mass transfer. The optimal region of parameter selection for th e engine is provided and the effect of the mass-transfer law is analys ed.