Comparative analysis of surface adhesion and refrigeration efficiency: A statistical physics simulation of ethanol/KOH4-PR and ethanol/ KOH6-PR systems.

The growing demand for thermal regulation in a warming world underscores the critical and urgent need for high-efficiency cooling systems to minimize energy consumption and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In this quantitative exploration, we investigate the physicochemical attributes governing the surface interaction of ethanol with two types of phenol resin-based adsorbents (KOH4-PR and KOH6-PR), in order to perform industrial refrigerating systems. Our conceptual theory, originating from grand canonical ensemble, is deployed to match obtained measured points. Numerical outcomes demonstrate that ethanol retention likely follows a dual-layer adsorption mechanism with two distinct energy levels for both adsorbents. Furthermore, steric considerations suggest that, on average, ethanol entities align perpendicularly to the substrate surface. When the temperature varies within the range of 303 K to 343 K, the estimated anchoring energies range from –6 to –13 kJ/mol for KOH4-PR and from –1 to –11 kJ/mol for KOH6-PR, suggesting that non-covalent forces are the main driving interactions. At T= 343 K, the entropy reaches its maximum at half-saturation concentration and it is significantly affected by the variations in pressure. Our calculations revealed that the enthalpy is greater for KOH6-PR compared to KOH4-PR. In response to enhanced thermal fluctuations, PSD curves becomes much flatter, covering a wide range of radii that extend up to 7.5 × 10–8 m for KOH4-PR and up to 9.2 × 10–8 m for KOH6-PR. The thermodynamic cycle including two isosteric and two isobaric transformations, demonstrated that the coefficient of performance (COP) for KOH6-PR is higher than that of KOH4-PR.