MAXIMUM POWER OF A COMBINED-CYCLE ISOTHERMAL CHEMICAL ENGINE

A chemical engine processes mass flow to convert the differences in ch emical potentials into work. An isothermal endoreversible chemical eng ine, in which the sole irreversibility is finite-rate mass transfer, i s modeled in this paper. The expression of maximum power from the mode l using the analogous method of finite-time thermodynamics for a combi ned-cycle heal engine is derived. An important result shows that the e fficiency at maximum power output is half of the maximum efficiency fo r chemical and heat engines. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.