1. A combined-cycle power plant operates with a maximum temperature of 1,353 K in its gas turbine, then dumps waste heat at 283 K from its steam turbine. What is the thermodynamic efficiency for this plant?
2. A combined-cycle power plant operates at its thermodynamic efficiency limit of 75%. It dumps waste heat from its steam cycle at 278 K.
a) What is the maximum temperature in its gas turbine?
If the gas turbine stage alone has a maximum thermodynamic efficiency of 60%, what are:
b) The intermediate temperature of the combined-cycle (the lower for gas cycle and also the higher for the steam cycle)
c) The thermodynamic efficiency of the steam cycle alone?
Hint: Convert the given efficiency from percent to decimal, and apply the equation for the efficiency of a heat engine.
3. World oil reserves amount to about 6,000 EJ, and humankind uses energy at the rate of roughly 10^13 Watts. If all your energy came from oil and assuming there was no growth in energy consumption, estimate the time left until we would exhaust the 6,000 EJ reserve.
10^13= 10,000,000,000,000
Research Problems
4. How much oil is in the US strategic petroleum reserve? For how much time could the reserve supply the oil we are now importing from other countries?
5. Find the composition of a typical gasoline, listing the major chemical components and the percentage of each.
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