Measurement of properties and performance prediction of the new MWCNT-embedded zeolite 13X/CaCl2 composite adsorbents

A FEM simulation model of an adsorber was built to predict the performance of different adsorbents, namely zeolite 13X, zeolite 13X/CaCl2 composite adsorbent and MWCNT embedded 13X/CaCl2 adsorbent (CNT-CA-1). Under the same operation conditions, in which the evaporation pressure is 872.5 Pa, condensation pressure is 4247 Pa, heating water temperature is 80 °C and cooling water temperature is 30 °C, the CNT-CA-1 performs much better than zeolite 13X and the zeolite 13X/CaCl2 composite adsorbent. The SCP of the adsorber using CNT-CA-1 is improved by 6.5 times to 1113.4 W/kg compared to zeolite 13X. The total cooling power is significantly enhanced by 13.4 times to 1783.2 W. By comparing the adsorber performance using CNT-CA-1 against that using zeolite 13X/CaCl2, simply adding the MWCNT can improve the COP and SCP by more than 20%.