Volume 23: Pages 550-553, 2010
The supercritical solvent thermal cycles: A challenge to the second law
David Van Den Einde 1
11284 170th St., Bejou, Minnesota 56516, USA
The positive excess heat of a solution reaction between a supercritical solvent and a solid solute enables a closed power cycle to access input heat from successive thermal reservoirs below its normal T1. The cycle’s heat to work conversion rate is compared to the summed work output of ideal gas Carnot cycles using the same amount of heat from the same reservoirs. The cycle’s energy conversion rate exceeds the isentropic potential of its input heat to do work. Second law logic that established the kinetic energy transfers of the ideal gas Carnot cycle as a universal limit on the convertibility of heat to work by cyclical process is reviewed.
Keywords: Supercritical, Solution, Second Law of Thermodynamics, Power Cycle, Excess Heat, Carnot, Entropy
Received: January 13, 2010; Accepted: August 1, 2010; Published Online: September 1, 2010
