We study the adsorption of carbon dioxide at a graphite surface using the new Small System Method, and find that for the temperature range between 300 K and 550 K most relevant for CO₂ separation; adsorption takes place in two distinct thermodynamic layers defined according to Gibbs. We calculate the chemical potential and the activity coefficient of both layers directly from the simulations. Based on thermodynamic relations, the entropy and enthalpy of the CO₂ adsorbed layers are also obtained. Their values indicate that there is a trade-off between entropy and enthalpy when a molecule chooses for one of the two layers. The first layer is a densely packed monolayer of relatively constant excess density with relatively large repulsive interactions and negative enthalpy. The second layer has an excess density varying with the temperature, an activity coefficient, which also indicates repulsion, but to a much smaller degree than in the first layer. Results for activity coefficients, entropies and enthalpies can be used to model transport through and along graphitic membranes for carbon dioxide separation purposes.

We extend the celebrated Michaelis-Menten kinetics description of an enzymatic reaction taking into consideration the presence of a thermal driving force. A coupling of chemical and thermal driving forces is expected from the principle of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, and specifically we obtain an additional term to the classical Michaelis-Menten kinetic equation, which describes the coupling in terms of a single parameter. A companion equation for the heat flux is also derived, which actually can exist even in the absence of a temperature difference. Being thermodynamic in nature, this result is general and independent of the detailed mechanism of the coupling. Conditions for the experimental verification of the new equation are discussed.