Abstract
Abstract This study presents a numerical investigation of the dynamics of methane adsorption in granular activated carbon beds with bidisperse packing in order to reduce the void spaces between the adsorbent particles and to improve the storage capacity in adsorbed natural gas vessels. Two distinct particle sizes (d and D) were used for the packing of the bidisperse bed, and the following particle size ratios were investigated: δ = d/D = 1 (monodisperse bed), 1/5, 1/10, 1/15, and 1/20. Compared with the monodisperse bed condition, the results obtained showed that bidisperse packing increases bed density by about 30% and methane storage capacity by up to 20%. The results also showed that the charging time could be optimized by increasing the pressure drop applied to the bed and that the storage capacity can be increased by cooling the admitted gas in the vessel.
Highlights
The volatility of the oil market in conjunction with the environmental issues inherent in the exploitation of fossil fuels has led to the search for alternative fuels around the world
The few works (Greenbank, 1990; Greenbank, 1992; Chang, 1994) do not provide detailed data that can be used for validation of the proposed numerical model
We can assess the numerical model developed in this work by comparing the results of the bidisperse model where the small and large particles have the same size, and the bidisperse model should coincide with the monodisperse model
Summary
The volatility of the oil market in conjunction with the environmental issues inherent in the exploitation of fossil fuels has led to the search for alternative fuels around the world In this context, natural gas, an abundant fuel that is still little explored, appears as a promising source of energy for applications in automotive vehicles. The major drawback of the dissemination of natural gas in automotive vehicles is the fact that its storage and application under normal conditions of temperature of compression and increases the costs and presents safety restrictions. ANG technology makes it possible to obtain high storage capacities in the order of 200 V/V with pressures on the order of 3.5 MPa, which can be obtained with a single compression stage (Mota et al, 1997; Menon and Komarneni, 1998; LozanoCastelló et al, 2002; Rahman et al, 2011; Roszak and Chorowski, 2013; Kayal et al, 2015). Several researchers have pointed out different solutions to limit temperature fluctuations in ANG vessels during charge and discharge steps (Chang and Talu, 1996; Vasiliev et al, 2000; Mota et al, 2004; Yang et al, 2005; Santos et al, 2009; Santos et al, 2014; Santos et al, 2015)
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