Characterization of silica gel-based composites for adsorption cooling applications

Abstract

Abstract In this study, adsorption characteristics of water vapor onto several silica gel-based composites have been investigated experimentally. Adsorbent samples under investigation are silica gel powder (SGP), 98wt% SGP with 2wt% Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) binder, 93wt% SGP, 2wt% PVP binder with 5wt% EG500 and 93wt% SGP, 2wt% PVP binder with 5wt% EG100. The three composite samples have been named as (S1-PVP), (S2-EG500) and (S3-EG100), respectively. Porous properties and thermal conductivity of S2-EG500 and S3-EG100 have been measured and compared with that of SGP. Experimental results showed that S2-EG500 has higher effect on enhancing the thermal conductivity of the composites where its thermal conductivity reached about 2.8 times that of SGP whilst thermal conductivity of S3-EGP100 is found to be about 2.3 times that of SGP. Adsorption isotherms of composite samples/water pairs have been measured gravimetrically at 30, 50 and 70 °C. The Toth and Dubinin-Astakhov (D-A) equations have been used to fit adsorption uptake measurements, Toth equation shows a better fitting. Isosteric heat of adsorption of the studied pairs have been extracted from the experimental measurements using Clausius-Clapeyron equation. The Linear Driving Force (LDF) model is found to be able to present adsorption kinetics of the studied pairs through a good agreement with the experimental data.