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Selection of adsorptive materials for desiccant cooling systems.

Author(s) : NÓBREGA C. E. L., BRUM N. C. L.

Summary

The continuous rise of electric power rates worldwide and environmental issues related to the ozone layer depletion have increased the interest in natural gas cooling technologies over the last years. One of the most promising techniques consists of evaporative cooling aided by solid desiccants. Although silica-gel has been primarily used in such systems, the requirement of encompassing a greater variety of climatic conditions has led to the development of new materials with selective adsorption properties, some of them being able to adsorb more than one chemical species at the same time (co-sorption). Accordingly, the present work analyses the influence of the isotherm shape of different adsorptive materials over the dehumidifying capacity of a desiccant wheel. A mathematical model for the desiccant wheels is developed, and the governing equations for heat and mass transfer are solved employing a totally implicit finite volume technique. The adsorption isotherms are represented by a general equation characterized by a separation factor R, the variation of which allows the behaviour of three different materials (silica-gel, molecular sieve and 1M) to be simulated. The results show that the separation factor R has a great influence over the dehumidifying effectiveness, for a given regeneration temperature.

Details

  • Original title: Selection of adsorptive materials for desiccant cooling systems.
  • Record ID : 2008-2628
  • Languages: English
  • Source: Clima 2007. WellBeing Indoors. Proceedings of the 9th REHVA World Congress [CD-ROM + Abstract book].
  • Publication date: 2007/06/10

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