Publisher's Synopsis
The book covers recent developments in the theory of non-equilibrium thermodynamics and its applications. Four chapters are devoted to the foundations; an overview chapter is followed by recent results addressing the underlying principles of the theory. The applications are concerned with bulk systems, with heterogeneous systems where interfaces are central and with process units in industry where entropy production minimization is useful. There is also a collection of chapters under the heading mesoscopic non-equilibrium thermodynamics, giving in the end an overview of extensions of the theory into the non-linear regime. Bringing the literature up to date and detailing new approaches in this area of research, it is aimed at a predominantly, but not exclusively, academic audience of practitioners of thermodynamics and energy conversion.
