Experimental research of composite solid sorbents for fresh water production driven by solar energy

Abstract

Solid sorption air-to-water apparatus driven by solar energy has a great potential for the advantages of being widespread application and efficient in the remote areas with deficit of natural fresh water and electricity supply. Two most important difficulties of the air-to-water apparatus are selection of solid sorbents and the reasonable way for filling the sorbent in the bed. This research focuses on the development of novel composite solid sorbents with high cycle sorption quantity, low desorption temperature, and optimal structure design for filling in the sorption bed. Eight sorbents composite with four matrixes and two salts are studied and compared, and the consolidating Active Carbon Felt (ACF) with LiCl shows the best water uptake performance, and the largest desorption quantity (0.65g/g) at 77°C and 20% relative humidity. Meanwhile, textural properties of consolidated matrixes and composited sorbents are tested by ASAP 2020. Otherwise, the Dubinin–Astakhov (DA) equation based on the Polanyi theory were fitted with the experimental data for the sorption properties of consolidating ACF with CaCl2.