Regression equations for predicting discharge performance of adsorbed natural gas storage systems

• Theoretical analysis of adsorbed natural gas storage reactors is carried out.
• The governing equations in non-dimensional form are solved numerically.
• Based on the results, regression equations for discharge are proposed.
• The regression equations cover a wide range of design and operating conditions.
• Proposed equations are useful in quick estimation of system performance.

Simple regression equations are proposed to predict the discharge performance of adsorbed natural gas storage systems consisting of tubular reactors filled with MAXSORB III. The regression equations are obtained for discharge time and heat transferred in terms of few relevant and statistically significant non-dimensional numbers. The data required for regression analysis is generated by numerically solving the transient heat and mass transfer equations of adsorbed natural gas (ANG) storage system undergoing discharge under constant flow condition. The regression equations are compared with the values obtained from numerical simulations and it is observed that the difference between the two is well within 25% for all the parameters. Using the correlations it is possible to quickly estimate important performance parameters such as delivery capacity and energy to be supplied for a variety of tubular ANG reactors filled with MAXSORB III.