SusTEM Special Sessions

on
Thermal Energy Management

ADSORPTION LOW TEMPERATURE COOLING

USING ACTIVATED CARBON / ETHANOL
WORKING PAIRS
A. Elsayed, R.K. AL-Dadah, S. Mahmoud,
B. Shi, A. Rezk, K. Rahbar
 Content

o Introduction
o Tested Samples

o Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) of samples

o Dynamic vapour Sorption (DVS) Test Facility

o Comparison of different samples kinetics and capacity of ethanol uptake

o Adsorption kinetics and isotherms prediction

o CFD modelling of adsorption process of plate heat exchangers

o Conclusions
 Introduction

o Adsorption cooling is considered as attractive heat powered

cooling technology suitable for various applications.

o Commercially available systems use water/silica gel,

water/zeolite and ammonia/ chloride salts working pairs. The
water based pairs are limited to work above 0 °C due to the water
high freezing temperature, while ammonia has the disadvantage
of being toxic.

o This work experimentally investigates the ethanol adsorption

characteristics for a wide range of activated carbon materials
using gravimetric analysis method.

o Numerical simulation of the adsorption process was carried out

to investigate the effect of adsorbent material thickness on the
cycle uptake.
 Introduction

Operation concept of adsorption Chiller

 Tested Samples

sample Manufacture Particle Product form Surface area

diameter [m2/g]
µm]
[µ
Maxsorb Kansai coke 72 Powder 3000

RX1 Norit 947 Pellet 1450

RX3 Norit 2570 Pellet 1370
HR5 Eurocarb 630 Granular 1050
YAO Eurocarb 700 Granular
ATO Eurocarb 650 Granular
HDLC Eurocarb 50 powder
SRD12004 Chemviron 20 powder

SRD12005 Chemviron 40 powder

SRD12006 Chemviron 50 powder

SRD12009 Chemviron 1000 Granular

Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) of samples
Dynamic vapour Sorption (DVS) Test Facility
Drying curves
Comparison of different samples kinetics
 Ethanol Uptake Maximum Capacity (Tads=25°°C)

1.4

1.2 Uptake
Stability Time/1000 [min]
Uptake [kg/kgads]

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
 Prediction of kinetics and Adsorption isotherms

o kinetics of these samples was predicted using the linear driving

force adsorption model.
x / xeq = 1 − exp(−k LDF t )
o The activation energy was calculated from two isotherms using:
 k LDF ,2  1 
Ea = R ln  / − 1 
k  T T 
 LDF ,1   1 2 

o The adsorption rate parameter KLDF could be convert to

temperature independent adsorption constant Ko using:
 − Ea 
k o = k LDF / exp  
 RT 
o The adsorption isotherms has been predicted using Dubinin Model

  A m   P 
xeq = xmax exp −    A = − RT ln 
 E  
   Ps 
Kinetics Prediction of different Samples
 Adsorption Isotherms

1.4
Maxsorb Eurocarb ATO
Eurocarb HDLC Chemviron SRD 12005
1.2

1
Uptake [kg/kg]

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2
Isotherm of carbon samples at 25 °C

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
P/ps [-]
CFD Model of Plate Heat Exchanger
 Governing Equations

(
∂ ερ g + ρ b x )
+ ∇ • ρ gug = 0 ( ) Mass Balance
∂t

∂T ∂x
(ρC )eff
∂t
( )
+ ρ g C pg u g ⋅ ∇T = ∇ ⋅ λeff ∇T + ρb ∆H
∂t Energy Balance

K
ug = − ∇P
µg Momentum Balance (Darcy module)

Physical properties

o d 2pε 3 Permeability
K=
2
150( 1 − ε )
Effective density
o ρ b = ( 1 − ε )ρ s
2λs + λ g − 2ε (λs − λg )
o λeff = λs Effective Thermal conductivity
2λs + λ g + ε (λs − λ g )

o (ρC )eff = ( ερ g + ρ b x )C pg + ( 1 − ε )ρ s C ps Effective Specific heat

 Model inputs

Physical parameter Symbol Value[units]

Solid carbon density ρs 2000 [kg/m3]
Packing density ρb 300 [kg/m3]
Solid carbon conductivity λs 1.7 [W/m.K]
Intial Bed temperature T_initial 35 [°C]
Evaporating Pressure Pevap 3.93,5.232 [mbar]
Cooling water flow uwater 1[m/s]
Heat of adsorption ∆H 1053.89[kJ/kg]
Cooling water inlet Temp Tw,in 25 [°C]
Metal layer thickness t_metal 0.6 [mm]
 Calculation of Bed Initial Temperature

1000 1
0.8
0.6
Desorption
2 0.4
3
100 0.2
0.1
Pressure [mbar]

Preheating 0.01
10 Precooling

1 4
Adsorption
1

0.1

35[°C] Maxsorb
0.01
-15 0 15 30 45 60 75 90
Bed Temperature [°° C]
 Adsorbent Temperature and Uptake Distribution

0.045

0.04

Uptake [kg/kgads]
0.035

0.03

0.025

0.02

0.015
0 5 10 15 20
Distance from adsorbent Upper Surface [mm]

Maxsorb adsorbent Temperature and uptake in adsorbent layer after 160 sec
Uptake of initially dry bed with packing thickness
Temperature distribution of initially dry bed at various packing thickness
Comparing different samples in real chiller operation (initial uptake wmin>0.0)
 Conclusions

o The ethanol / activated carbon adsorption pair can be used to achieve

low temperature cooling. Simulation results showed that an
evaporator temperature of -15 °C can be achieved.

o 11 commercially available activated carbon materials were

investigated and results showed that Maxsorb outperforms other
activated carbon materials both in terms of the equilibrium uptake
and cycle performance.

o As the adsorbent thickness increases, its temperature at the upper

layers will increase leading to lower ethanol uptake. Adsorbent
thicknesses below 10mm offer better cooling and higher uptake.