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Thermal management and optimization of adsorption vessels for CO2-based green refrigeration systems: A heat and mass transfer approach

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Abstract

A 2-D transient heat and mass transfer analysis is carried out on a longitudinal finned reactor suitable for adsorption-based green refrigeration/heat pump systems employing CO2-activated carbon pair. The study is carried out for a 1 kg adsorbent at constant charging/discharging pressure of 40 bar and 65 bar, respectively, for a fixed charging/discharging time of 300 s. Effects of various geometric parameters viz… reactor aspect ratio (AR), fin height and length, and number of fins (Nf) are studied to achieve an optimum reactor configuration based on maximum CO2 uptake. The results indicate that the addition of fins is crucial for enhancing the CO2 uptake for lower ARs. It is observed that the AR = 7.8; with 32 fins resulted in a maximum CO2 uptake of 1.25 kg/kg of adsorbent. The increment of 9–40% CO2 uptake is observed for all reactor configurations with Nf = 32. The gravimetric analysis revealed the existence of optimum reactor configurations for maximum CO2 uptakes. Based on the optimized conditions, equivalent annular finned models are analyzed for the same mass of the adsorption vessel. The results indicated that similar CO2 uptake could be obtained with lesser annular fins for lower ARs. Moreover, the current study is extended to analyze the desorption performance of optimized reactor configurations under high-pressure conditions. The results confirmed the best desorption performance for the reactor with AR = 7.8 for all external heating fluid temperatures. An increment of 495 and 637% is obtained for AR = 7.8 with Nf = 0 and 32, respectively w.r.t. AR = 0.35 with Nf = 0 at 400 K.

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Abbreviations

b:

Henry’s constant [1/bar]

b0 :

Pre-exponential coefficient in isotherm model [1/bar]

c:

Adsorbate uptake [kg/kg]

c0 :

Limiting uptake [kg/kg]

Cp :

Specific heat at constant pressure [J/kg K]

D:

Outer diameter of reactor [mm]

h :

Convective heat transfer coefficient [W/m2 K]

H:

Height of fin [mm]

h cc :

Contact conductance [W/m2 K]

K:

Permeability of the bed [m2]

k :

Parameter accounting for the presence of graphite in bed [-]

L:

Length of rector and fin [mm]

m:

Mass [kg]

Mg :

Molecular weight [kg/kmol]

n:

Heterogeneity factor [−]

N f :

Number of fin [−]

P:

Pressure [bar]

Pf :

Fin pitch [mm]

q:

Heat flux [W/m2]

Q st :

Isosteric heat of adsorption [J/mol]

r:

Radius of inner porous filter [mm]

Ru :

Universal gas constant [J/mol K]

T:

Temperature [K]

t:

Time [sec]

tf :

Fin thickness [mm]

tw :

Wall thickness [mm]

ug :

Gas velocity [m/s]

ε:

Porosity [−]

y:

Mass ratio [−]

λ:

Thermal conductivity [W/m K]

μ:

Gas viscosity [Pa s]

ρ:

Density of gas [kg/m3]

ads:

Adsorbed

C:

Copper

cc:

Contact conductance

charg:

Charging

des:

Desorbed

discharg:

Discharging

eff:

Effective

eq:

Equilibrium

ext:

External

f :

Fluid

g:

Gas

gr:

Graphite

i:

Initial

s:

Adsorbent

t:

Total

AC:

Activated carbon

ACF:

Activated carbon fibers

ACS:

Activated carbon spheres

ADCS:

Adsorption cooling system

AF:

Annular fin

ANG:

Adsorbed natural gas

AR:

Aspect ratio

CCS:

Carbon capture and storage

CMS:

Carbon molecular sieves

CSAC:

Coconut shell based activated carbon

GHG:

Greenhouse gas emission

GU:

Gravimetric uptake

HEx :

Heat exchanger

MH:

Metal hydride

MOF:

Metal organic framework

LF:

Longitudinal fin

RL:

Refinement level

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Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the Department of Science and Technology (Science and Engineering Research Board), Govt. of India [Grant No. ECR/2018/000141] for financial assistance provided to carry out this research work.

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  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, 826004, India

    GAUTAM & SATYABRATA SAHOO

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GAUTAM, SAHOO, S. Thermal management and optimization of adsorption vessels for CO2-based green refrigeration systems: A heat and mass transfer approach. Sādhanā 46, 246 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12046-021-01774-2

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