Thermodynamic frameworks of adsorption kinetics modeling: Dynamic water uptakes on silica gel for adsorption cooling applications

•Thermodynamic frameworks of adsorption kinetics.•Statistical partition functions of adsorptive sites.•Valid from the Henry's region to the saturated pressure.•Dynamic uptakes of water vapor on silica gels.•Model is connected with the pore structure of adsorbents.

This paper presents the thermodynamic frameworks to describe the dynamic uptakes of water vapor on various sizes and layers of silica gels for adsorption cooling applications. The proposed kinetic formulation is developed from the rigor of the partition function of each adsorptive sites and the kinetics theory of adsorbate molecules with the analogy of Langmuir kinetics. The simulation results calculated from the proposed formulation are compared with experimentally measured kinetics data of various single and multi layers configuration of silica gels–water systems. An interesting and useful finding has been established that the proposed model is thermodynamically consistent from the Henry's region to the saturated pressure, and also is connected with the surface structural heterogeneity factors of adsorbents.