Introductory Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics

Chapter 5. Thermodynamics of Processes

There cannot be a greater mistake than that of looking superciliously upon practical applications of science. The life and soul of science is its practical application.

Lord Kelvin (William Thompson)

In the first four chapters, we have concentrated on applications of the first and second laws to simple systems (e.g., turbine, throttle). The constraints imposed by the second law should be clear. In this chapter, we show how the analyses we have developed for one or two operations at a time can be assembled into complex processes. In this way, we provide several specific examples of ways that operations can be connected to create power cycles, refrigeration cycles, and liquefaction cycles. We can consider ...