Advancements in Thermodynamics and Type-B Energy Processes: Applications and Implications

Dear Colleagues,

Energy sustainability is one of the major scientific and technological challenges of the 21st century. Sustainable renewables, like wind and solar, are noteworthy and hold much promise, but even these energy resources are generally acknowledged to be insufficient to meet the growing needs of our energy-dependent world. New, breakthrough energy sources are needed.

A promising vein of advanced energy research involves what are called Type-B energy processes. For comparison, Type-A energy processes are those we are most familiar with: chemical and nuclear reactions, classical heat engines, and the various everyday electrical, chemical, and mechanical processes that run our technological world, all conforming to traditional thermodynamics.

Type-B processes, in contrast, offer radically new possibilities by extending standard thermodynamics in new ways, particularly with respect to the second law. Type-B processes can convert ambient thermal energy into useful work. They are inherent in such studied systems as protonic thermotrophic biochemistry, epicatalysis, and supradegeneracy. All known Type-B systems involve a thermodynamic asymmetry by which energy accumulates at system boundaries (superseding the traditional thermodynamic limit) and which is then harvested by an independent process. The possibilities for Type-B processes may extend far beyond those currently under study.

With this in mind, we are pleased to solicit full-length articles, short communications, perspectives, and review articles pertaining to frontline energy research involving Type-B processes. Theory, experiment, and numerical simulations are also welcome.

Prof. Dr. James Weifu Lee
Guest Editor

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• second law of thermodynamics
• type-B energy processes
• isothermal environmental heat utilization
• advanced thermodynamics and applicability of the second law
• thermotrophy
• epicatalysis
• supradegeneracy
• special structures and functions with type-B energy processes
• energy renewal through type-B energy processes