Analysis of equilibrium and kinetic parameters of water adsorption heating systems for different porous metal/metalloid oxide adsorbents

The performances of well-known porous metal/metalloid oxide adsorbents (zeolite 13X, zeolite 4A and silica gel) and less explored Engelhard titanosilicate ETS-10 for water adsorption heating systems (AHSs) were compared with the aid of computational modelling and simulations. The developed model contemplated adsorption equilibrium, one-dimensional heat and mass transfer in the bed, external heat transfer limitations, and intraparticle mass transport. The pair zeolite 13X/water seemed most promising for the AHS partly due to a higher amount of heat generated per cycle, and favourable water-adsorption isotherm features. Based on sensitivity studies, for zeolite particle diameters in the range 0.2-0.6 mm, the coefficient of performance was 1.48 and the specific heating power was in the range 1141-1254 W kgs−1. Aiming at inferior computational and numerical efforts, the impact of considering some simplified postulations (e.g. constant thermal conductivity of the adsorbent; constant isosteric heat of adsorption; constant linear driving force coefficient), while ensuring comparable predictions of the performances of the AHSs, was successfully investigated.