Keep on running by clever burning! This book reports how humans created materials, machines and power plants with the help of fire and which fuels, with their advantages and disadvantages, they have used so far. "Climate rescuers” of all stripes, whether qualified for such challenge or not, want to eliminate the fire completely and replace it with electricity from photovoltaics and wind power.
The book contains facts and evidence as to why solar panels and windmills cannot be sufficient to ensure all the world's energy needs. Neither combustion nor thermal engines are responsible for the environmental hazard till now, but the fuels they have received in the past. Let's feed the fire with nature-compatible fuels and let it unfold properly in very effective machines and systems! The book describes systematically and comprehensibly for everyone, thermodynamic laws and methods for the design of very efficient machines and drives, as well as regenerative, climate-neutral fuels. This lecture is highly recommended when seating in front of a fireplace or sitting beside a campfire.
Author(s): Cornel Stan
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 285
City: Cham
Preface
Table of Contents
Part I Combustion in the modern world
1 The fire
1.1 Prometheus’ burning gift to humanity
1.2 Fire radiates its energy like the sun
1.3 Fire and flame
1.4 Fire usage from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens: Food preparation
2 Fire for heat
2.1 Heat for space heating
2.2 Heat for the production of building materials
2.3 Heat for the production of metals
3 Fire for work
3.1 Fire puts pressure on
3.2 Indirect effect of fire to create pressure for work
3.3 Direct effect of fire to create pressure for work
3.4 Fire directly or indirectly, on pistons or in front of turbine?
4 Climate-neutral fuels
4.1 Resources, potentials, properties
4.2 Biogas (methane)
4.3 Alcohols: Ethanol and Methanol
4.4 Hydrogen
4.5 Vegetable oils
4.6 Synthetic fuels
5 Fire causes emissions
5.1 Carbon dioxide
5.2 Nitrogen oxides
5.3 The particles
References for Part I
Part II Thermodynamics of fire
6 Heat and work change states
6.1 Phenomenological consideration of state changes
6.2 Heat, work, degrees of freedom of properties
7 Work from heat
7.1 Energy exchange
7.2 Energy balance from one state to another
8 Working fluids as carriers of heat and work
8.1 Air and water are working fluids, fuel is not
8.2 Elementary changes of state with gases as working fluids
9 The irreversibility of natural processes
9.1 Combustion is irreversible
9.2 Direction and limits of energy conversions
9.3 Entropy as a measure of irreversibility of processes
10 Ways from heat to work
10.1 Realizability and limits of processes in thermal machines
10.2 Comparison of ideal processes for thermal machines
11 Heat transfer
11.1 The three ways of heat transfer
11.2 Heat conduction
11.3 Heat convection
11.4 Heat radiation
References for Part II
Part III The Taming of Fire
12 Pouring oil on the fire
12.1 Climate neutrality: Europe and the world
12.2 The profitable oil and gas business
13 Fire use with the best possible and climate-friendly effect
13.1 Automobiles with a heart of fire and electric wheels
13.2 Combustion engines on water, on earth and in the air
13.3 Fire for electricity and heat
14 Second-hand Fire
14.1 Electricity and heat from waste firing
14.2 Slurry, manure and plant residues as a basis for second-hand fire
14.3 Second-hand heat from primary fire
15 Heat and work without fire
15.1 Photovoltaics, wind power and hydropower are not enough
15.2 The Last Weapon: Nuclear Power
References for Part III
Summary of soundbites
Glossary
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