Thermodynamic Optimization of Complex Energy Systems

This text provides a comprehensive assessment of the methodologies of thermodynamic optimization, energy analysis and thermoeconomics, and their application to the design of efficient and environmentally sound energy systems. The chapters are organized in a sequence that begins with pure thermodynamics and progresses towards the blending of thermodynamics with other disciplines, such as heat transfer and cost accounting. Three methods of analysis stand out, entropy generation minimization, energy (or availability) analysis, and thermoeconomics. The book reviews late-1990s directions in a field that is both extremely important and intellectually alive. Additionally, new directions for research on thermodynamics and optimization are revealed.