Thermo-diffusion revisited: a comparative approach between two recent thermodynamic formalisms (Q2574004)

This paper provides a detailed comparison of two current and well-known nonequilibrium thermodynamic formalisms, namely, extended irreversible thermodynamics [\textit{D. Jou, J. Casas-Vázquez} and \textit{G. Lebon}, Extended irreversible thermodynamics, Springer, Berlin, 3rd edition (2001; Zbl 0974.74003)] and GENERIC (non-equilibrium reversible-irreversible coupling) [\textit{M. Grmela} and \textit{H. C. Ottinger}, Phys. Rev. E 56, 6620--6655 (1996)]. This comparison is carried out by applying both theories to a concrete problem, namely, thermodiffusion in a binary fluid mixture of non-viscous fluids. The main assumptions of both theories --both of them going beyond the local-equilibrium classical irreversible thermodynamics-- are stated and compared, and, from the concrete application, the authors underline that, in the presence of couplings, extended irreversible thermodynamics is much simpler than GENERIC formalism, which must introduce some extra variables besides the heat flux and the mass flux used in the former theory. In spite of these differences, it is found that extended thermodynamics and GENERIC do not contradict each other, but that they are complementary in several aspects.