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This concept is very old and was used rather sucessfully in the early 20th century on large boats.
They were 1 cycle diesels, top end was diesel, bottom side of cylinder was water.
Unfortunately this design required a lot of maintenance as the water, oil and diesel were always going places they didn't belong.
I thought about this concept years ago and figured, why not use a low temperature boiling liquid, a heat transfer system like a radiator on the hot side and simply have a closed circuit steam engine similar to modern AC so the chemical stays enclosed and recirculated. Use the steam to run an alternator or generator for a semi hybrid. You could also remove the radiator if the engine was redesigned with ceramics to increase the amount of heat available to drive the steam and if we use a liquid that boils at a lower temp than water you would have almost instant on.
Remember folks there were some very advanced enclosed steam engines that were actually more efficient than diesel in the late 40's. Sadly most of that engineering genius and skill was lost with the steam era. I think steam opens many possibilities beyond fossil fuels and the capillary boilers of the 40's with their instant power system would blend well with a renueable. heck corn, leaves, wood chips, anything might make a viable fuel in a steam engine!
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