Module Notes
Faculty Member (Members):
Postgraduate, Fall Semester
Module Type: Core Courses
Teaching Language: English
Course Code: GCHEM_Α101
ECTS Credits: 12
Module Availability on Erasmus Students: No
Module Details
  1. Energy and the 1st law of thermodynamics: Basic concepts and principles. System, environment, interaction, property, work, heat, energy, restraints. The ideal gas. The 1st law of thermodynamics for closed and open systems. Applications to steady-state processes, and to processes involving transients.
  2. Reversibility, entropy and the 2nd law of thermodynamics: Reversible processes, entropy, Clausius’ theorem. The 2nd law of thermodynamics for closed and open systems. The entropy balance. Reversibility and irreversibility. Applications of the entropy balance. Power generation and refrigeration cycles.
  3. Mathematical foundation of thermodynamics, the combined 1st and 2nd law: Fundamental equations in various representations. Homogeneous functions and the Euler theorem. The Maxwell equations. The Euler equation. The Gibbs-Duhem equation. The equations of state. Legendre transforms. Evaluation of thermodynamic partial derivatives. Applications (calculation of the Joule-Thomson coefficient, etc.). Applications.
  4. Thermodynamic equilibrium and stability: Criteria for equilibrium. Stability of thermodynamic systems. The 3rd law of thermodynamics.
  5. Phase equilibrium for single component systems: Evaluation of the thermodynamic properties of real substances. The virial equation of state. The van der Waals equation of state. The Peng-Robinson equation of state. Cubic equations of state. Evaluation of changes of thermodynamic properties using equations of state. Calculation of pure fluid-phase equilibria. The Gibbs phase rule for a one-component system. The fugacity of a pure gaseous species. The fugacity of a pure liquid phase. The fugacity of a pure solid phase. The computation of vapor pressure from an equation of state. Thermodynamic properties of phase transitions (Clausius-Clapeyron equation, Antoine equation, first- and second-order phase transitions).
  6. Phase equilibrium for multi-component systems: Thermodynamic description of mixtures. Criteria for phase equilibrium in multi-component systems. Partial molar Gibbs free energy and the generalized Gibbs-Duhem equation. Ideal and excess mixing properties. Estimation of the Gibbs free energy and fugacity of a component in a mixture. Activity coefficient models. Vapor-liquid equilibrium using activity coefficient models or equations of state. Solubility of a gas in a liquid. Solubility of a liquid in a liquid. Solubility of a solid in a liquid, gas or supercritical fluid. Partitioning of a solute among two co-existing liquid phases. Freezing-point depression of a solvent due to the presence of a solute. The freezing point of liquid mixtures. Osmotic pressure.
  7. Combined chemical and phase equilibrium: Balance equations for reacting systems. Thermodynamics of mechanical and chemical explosions. Production of work. Applications to processes such as combustion and explosion. Introduction to electrochemical cells. Fuel cells and batteries.
  8. Biochemical applications of thermodynamics. Solubilities of weak acids, weak bases, amino acids and proteins as a function of pH, ionic strength, and temperature. Thermodynamic analysis of fermenters and other bioreactors. Gibbs-Donnan equilibrium and membrane potentials. Protein concentration in an ultracentrifuge.
  9. Additional Topics: Phase transitions. Thermodynamics of surfaces. Magnetic systems. Nonequilibrium thermodynamics. Thermodynamics of generalized gradient flows.

Course textbooks

  1. I. Sandler, Chemical, biochemical and engineering thermodynamics, 5th Ed., John Wiley & Sons Inc., New York (2016).
  2. J.W. Tester, M. Modell, Thermodynamics and its applications, 3rd Ed., Prentice Hall RTP, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey (1997).

Additional reading

  1. H.B. Callen, Thermodynamics and an Introduction to thermostatistics, 2nd Ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York (1985).
  2. M. Prausnitz, R.N. Lichtenthaler, E.G. de Azevedo, Molecular Thermodynamics of Fluid-Phase Equilibria, 3rd Ed., Prentice Hall RTP, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey (1999).