Fossil fuels are still widely used for power generation. Nevertheless, it is possible to attain a short and medium term substantial reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to atmosphere through a sequestration of the CO₂ produced in fuels oxidation.

Chemical-looping combustion (CLC) is a thermochemical process where fuel oxidation is carried out through an intermediate agent that actuates as oxygen carrier between two separated reactors: i) a reduction reactor or fuel reactor, where the oxygen carrier is reduced oxidizing the fuel, and ii) an oxidation reactor or air reactor, where the oxygen carrier is oxidized in air. Overall, the system carries out the same chemical transformation as a conventional combustion, with the fundamental advantage of segregating the oxidation products CO₂ and H₂O into an output flow not diluted in air, where the only non-condensable gas is CO₂. Therefore, CLC allows an integration of CO₂ capture in the power plant without energy penalty. In addition, a lower exergy destruction in the combustion chemical transformation is achieved, leading to a greater thermal efficiency of the power generation process. Most efforts have been devoted to CLC systems based on methane as a fuel.

This paper focus on a second-law analysis of a combined cycle power plant with CO₂ sequestration using syngas as fuel and a CLC combustion system, considering the CO₂ sequestration and storage stage. A comprehensive analysis of the performance of such a power plant from a Second Law point of view is carried out. The exergy flows along the power plant are evaluated and compared with a similar system based in a conventional combustion, finding a notable increase of the power plant efficiency.  In addition, the power plant behaviour is simulated in a range of operating conditions, leading to an optimization of the key parameters of the cycle.  Also, in order to investigate the influence of syngas composition on the results, different H₂-content fuels are considered.

This lecture is a short review on the role entropy plays in dissipative dynamics formulated in terms of Leibniz bracket algebræ (LBA). While conservative dynamics is given an LBA formulation in the Hamiltonian framework, with total energy H generating the motion via classical Poisson brackets or quantum commutation brackets, an LBA formulation can be given to classical dissipative dynamics through the metriplectic bracket algebra (MBA): the conservative component of the dynamics is still generated via a Poisson algebra by the total energy H, while S, the entropy of the degrees of freedom statistically encoded in friction, generates dissipation via a metric bracket. Here a (necessarily partial) overview on the types of systems subject to MBA formulation is presented, and the physical meaning of the quantity S involved in each is discussed. Then, the parallel between the classical MBA and the commutator-anticommutator algebræ of open quantum systems is examined: the role of the quantum environment is analysed in view of a thorough comparison of it with the role of classical microscopic degrees of freedom giving rise to dissipation through their entropy in MBA.

Objects in classical world model are in an "either/or" kind of state. A compass needle cannot point both north and south at the same time. The quantum world, by contrast, is "both/and" and a magnetic atom model has no trouble at pointing both directions at once. When that is the case, physicists say that a quantum object is in a "superposition" of states. In previous paper, we already discussed the major intrinsic limitations of "Science 1.0" arbitrary multi-scale (AMS) modeling and strategies to get better simulation results by "Science 2.0" approach. In 2014, Computational information conservation theory (CICT) has shown that even the most sophisticated instrumentation system is completely unable to reliably discriminate so called "random noise" (RN) from any combinatorically optimized encoded message (OECS, optimized exponential cyclic sequence), called "deterministic noise" (DN) by CICT. Unfortunately, the "probabilistic veil" can be quite opaque computationally, and misplaced precision leads to confusion. The "Science 2.0" paradigm has not yet been completely grasped by many contemporary scientific disciplines and current researchers, so that not all the implications of this big change have been realized hitherto, even less their related, vital applications. Thus, one of the key questions in understanding the quantum-classical transition is what happens to the superposition as you go up that atoms-to-apple scale. Exactly when and how does "both/and" become "either/or"? As an example, we present and discuss the observer space-time splitting case. In other words, we show spacetime mapping to classical system additive representation with entropy generation. It is exactly at this point that "both/and" becomes "either/or" representation by usual Science 1.0 approach. CICT new awareness of a discrete HG (hyperbolic geometry) subspace (reciprocal space) of coded heterogeneous hyperbolic structures, underlying the familiar Q Euclidean (direct space) surface representation can open the way to holographic information geometry (HIG) to recover system lost coherence and to overall system minimum entropy representation.

At temperatures close to absolute zero, individual symmetric or asymmetric molecules that comprise a thermodynamic system organize themselves into crystals that we can comprehend as macromolecules. Crystals can be ideal (perfect crystals) if they consist of monotonous arrays of aligned symmetric or asymmetric molecules. Unideal (imperfect crystals) comprize nonmonotonic arrays of asymmetric molecules. Therefore, nonmonotonous arrays contain an information code and a certain amount of information, I. The disorder of such a thermodynamic-intofmation system is characetrized by Shannon entropy, H, in informatics and by residual entropy, S₀ or R₀, in thermodynamics. Both quantities are based on the statistical coin model and in both cases probabilities are determined by the Gaussian normal distribution. However, the probabilities in thermodynamic entropy, S, are described by the Boltzmann distribution. Thus, we see that a thermodynamic system possesses three kinds of entropy: thermodynamic entropy, residual entropy and Shannon entropy. The relationship of these three entropies, however, still remains unclear. In order to shed more light on this problem, a comparative analysis of the three entropies was done. Thermodynamic entropy of an ideal crystal was calculated by the Boltzmann entropy equation, treating it as one large macromolecule. Shannon entropy and residual entropy were found through the Shannon equation and Boltzmann entropy equation, respectively. In the calculation of Shannon entropy, the constant in the Shannon equation was set equal to the Boltzmann constant, in order for it to be comparable with thermodynamic and residual entropy. Entropies of real gasses were also analyzed. Thermodynamic entropy of real gasses was calculated from the high temperature ideal limit to the condensation temperature using van der Waals, Berthelot and Redlich-Kwong models. Our analysis leads us to conclusion that the residual entropy, S₀ or R₀, of a closed thermodynamic system that contains asymmetric particles (i.e. CO, H₂O, N₂O) aligned in nonmonotonic series is equal to its Shannon entropy, H. So the information theory and classical thermodynamics have at least one strong common point – the equality of Shannon entropy and residual entropy, H = R₀.

The early universe was markedly close to thermal equilibrium, as observed in the homogeneity of CMB photons with temperature deviations of ΔT/T~10^-5. Yet, the 2^nd Law ensures total entropy will increase. These two facts suggest that this state of thermal equilibrium is one of low entropy, at odds with the current understanding of the high entropic content of equilibrium states. Low initial gravitational entropy may be the cause of low entropy in the early universe. Penrose’s reliance on the fortunate initial value of the Weyl curvature tensor is insufficient in explaining low initial gravitational entropy. Rather, an inflationary model explains how an arbitrary universe could be driven to the ‘specialness’ of low initial gravitational entropy. We suggest that the rapid expansion of false vacuum energy, and its decay during reheating, deposited matter and radiation into the universe homogenously and ‘unclumped’, hence in a state of low gravitational entropy. This puts the early universe in a low entropy state.

A new low-temperature phase-change desalination process was studied in which, saline water is desalinated by evaporation at near-ambient temperatures under low pressures. The low pressure is achieved naturally in the head space of water columns of a height equal to the local barometric head. We present the energy, exergy and emergy analysis of this process to evaluate the thermodynamic efficiency of its major components and to identify suitable operating conditions to minimize exergy destruction and maximize resource utilization (emergy). For energy and exergy analysis, three different heat sources such as direct solar (SSV), photovoltaic energy (SSPV) as well as a low grade heat source (SSL) were considered. Exergy analysis showed that the major exergy destruction occurs in the condenser where the latent heat of the water vapor is lost to the environment. The overall exergy efficiencies were 0.04%, 0.051%, and 0.78% respectively for SSV, SSP, and SSL configurations. Exergy performance of individual process components and recommendations to further improve the exergy efficiency of the proposed process were discussed.

Emergy analysis was performed on the three different configurations to assess their resource utilization efficiencies, environmental impacts, and sustainability. Six different indices based on the emergy approach took into account factors such as renewable and non-renewable energy used by the process, benefit of the process to society, and the cost of the process. Based on the indices estimated in this study, the configuration utilizing thermal energy from low grade heat source (such as a solar water heater) was found to be the most promising sustainable technology. Results of this study indicate that future research and development work on the barometric distillation process should focus on further refining the configuration utilizing thermal energy from a solar water heater.

Isotope effects in the thermodiffusion of dilute atomic liquids are examined using a non-equilibrium thermodynamic model, where the thermodynamic parameters are calculated using equations rooted in statistical mechanics. In this approach, isotope effects in thermodiffusion are quantified through the variation in chemical potential and its temperature dependence with isotope mass.  The model is applied to silicate melts, in order to compare our results to recent approaches that incorporate quantum mechanics and kinematic concepts. We show that the previous theories either require unrealistic values of physical parameters or are based on invalid assumptions. The model provides an adequate description of isotope effects in thermodiffusion in silicate melts, with reasonable values of the Soret coefficient.

We use a novel measure of shape complexity known as configurational entropy to obtain stability bounds of various astrophysical objects. We apply the method to Newtonian polytropes, neutron stars with an Oppenheimer-Volkoff equation of state, and to self-gravitating configurations of complex scalar field (boson star) in ground and excited states. The versatility of this method has also been tested on hydrogen atom in comparison with boson stars. Configurational entropic measure locates critical stability regions obtained from perturbation method with accuracy of a few percent or better.

We try to explain the known asymmetry between baryons and antibaryons in the observable universe as the result of random fluctuations in the number of baryons and antibaryons. The establishment of this asymmetry occurs at a poorly constrained time, before the epoch of baryon/antibaryon annihilation. The low initial gravitational entropy of the universe is due to this initial matter/antimatter asymmetry. The observed ratio of cosmic microwave background photons to baryons (~ one billion) is a measure of this asymmetry.  Different horizons render different probability distributions, all variants of a Gaussian centered at zero. Using the current levels of fluctuation witnessed in our particle horizon, along with the time evolution of the size and matter density of the universe, we estimate the time of baryogenesis.

I explore the entropy of a diffusing particle.  Further examination of the mutual information of the particle and the vacuum, yields a derivation of the “action” of the particle being equal to the entropy.  I argue the second law of thermodynamics is the justification for the principle of least action.