Experimental adsorption studies of atmospheric water vapor by clay based composite sorbents in vertical fluidized bed

Year 2025, Volume: 11 Issue: 5, 1374 - 1391, 21.10.2025

C. R. Hiremath Ravikiran Kadoli , Ravikumar J Talapati

Abstract

Transient adsorption characteristics of atmospheric water vapor with clay and clay-addi-tives-based calcium chloride composite desiccants in vertical fluidized beds are studied exper-imentally. The different clay-based composite sorbents considered in the study are clay-calci-um chloride, clay-horse dung-calcium chloride and clay-sawdust-calcium chloride adsorbents. The influence of bed mass and air superficial velocity on transient change in bed inlet air humidity ratio and air temperature for different desiccant clay-based composite sorbents is experimentally studied. It was noted that the thermo-physical properties of different adsor-bents, bed mass and air inlet velocity significantly influence the fluidized bed performance in the adsorption system. The linear porosity distribution in fluidization shows the availabil-ity of increased adsorption capacity for clay-based desiccants in comparison to clay-additive desiccants, as indicated by higher total adsorption capacity. For the similar conditions of bed weight (300 g) and inlet air velocity (2 m/s), the total quantity of water adsorbed is 30.09 g, 21.84 g and 27.02 g for clay-calcium chloride, clay-horse dung-calcium chloride and clay-saw-dust- calcium chloride fluidized adsorbent beds. The results reveal heat load reduction of clay-calcium chloride vertical fluidized bed dehumidification system is 62% and 52% higher compared to clay-horse dung-calcium chloride and clay-sawdust-calcium chloride desiccant dehumidification systems. For all the dehumidification systems, the reduction in latent load is higher than the increase in sensible heat load, which will reduce the overall heat load of the cooling system.

Keywords

Adsorption , Clay , Calcium chloride , Fluidization , Horse dung , Humidity ratio , Sawdust

References

• [1] Zhang Y, Wang W, Zheng X, Cai J. Recent progress on composite desiccants for adsorption-based dehumidification. Energy 2024:131824. [CrossRef]
• [2] Kaushik SC, Verma A, Tyagi SK. Advances in solar absorption cooling systems: an overview. J Therm Eng 2024;10:1044–1067. [CrossRef]
• [3] Sharafian A, Bahrami M. Assessment of adsorber bed designs in waste-heat driven adsorption cooling systems for vehicle air conditioning and refrigeration. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2014;30:440–451. [CrossRef]
• [4] Subramanyam N, Maiya MP, Murthy SS. Application of desiccant wheel to control humidity in air-conditioning systems. Appl Therm Eng 2004;24:2777–2788. [CrossRef]
• [5] Enteria N, Mizutani K. The role of the thermally activated desiccant cooling technologies in the issue of energy and environment. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2011;15:2095–2122. [CrossRef]
• [6] Hiremath CR, Ravikiran K. Experimental analysis of low-temperature grain drying performance of vertical packed clay and clay-additives composite desiccant beds. Sadhana 2021;46:1–6. [CrossRef]
• [7] Ji JG, Wang RZ, Li LX. New composite adsorbent for solar-driven fresh water production from the atmosphere. Desalination 2007;212:176–182. [CrossRef]
• [8] Lv B, Zhao Z, Deng X, Fang C, Xing B, Dong B. Hydrodynamics and adsorption performance of liquid–solid fluidized bed with granular activated carbon for removal of copper ions from wastewater. J Clean Prod 2021;328:129627. [CrossRef]
• [9] Krzywanski J, Grabowska K, Sosnowski M, Zylka A, Kulakowska A, Czakiert T, et al. Heat transfer in adsorption chillers with fluidized beds of silica gel, zeolite, and carbon nanotubes. Heat Transf Eng 2021;43:172–182. [CrossRef]
• [10] Hamed AM. Experimental investigation on the adsorption/desorption processes using solid desiccant in an inclined-fluidized bed. Renew Energy 2005;30:1913–1921. [CrossRef]
• [11] Horibe A, Husain S, Inaba H, Haruki N, Tu P. An experimental investigation of sorption process in fluidized bed with cooling pipe. ASME J Heat Mass Transf 2008;130:114509.
• [12] Ye J, Luo Q, Li X, Xu Q, Li Z. Sorption drying of soybean seeds with silica gel in a fluidized bed dryer. Int J Food Eng 2008;4. [CrossRef]
• [13] Sobrino C, Almendros-Ibáñez JA, Santana D, De Vega M. Fluidization of Group B particles with a rotating distributor. Powder Technol 2008;181:273–280. [CrossRef]
• [14] Hamed AM, Abd El Rahman WR, El-Emam SH. Experimental study of the transient adsorption/desorption characteristics of silica gel particles in fluidized bed. Energy 2010;35:2468–2483. [CrossRef]
• [15] Wang Q, Gao X, Xu JY, Maiga AS, Chen GM. Experimental investigation on a fluidized-bed adsorber/desorber for the adsorption refrigeration system. Int J Refrig 2012;35:694–700. [CrossRef]
• [16] Horibe A, Haruki N, Hiraishi D. Continuous sorption and desorption of organic sorbent powder in two connected fluidized beds. J Therm Sci Technol 2012;7:563–576. [CrossRef]
• [17] Zettl B, Englmair G, Somitsch W. An open sorption heat storage concept and materials for building heat supply. Energy Procedia 2015;73:297–304. [CrossRef]
• [18] Li X, Wang L, Jia L, Cai W. Numerical and experimental study of a novel compact micro fluidized beds reactor for CO2 capture in HVAC. Energy Build 2017;135:128–136. [CrossRef]
• [19] Yu H, Saren S, Miksik F, Conte P, Miyazaki T, Thu K. A review of recent advances in sustainable preparation of high-performing activated carbon for dehumidification technology. J Mater Sci 2024;59:1–36. [CrossRef]
• [20] Mittal H, Al Alili A, Alhassan SM. Development of high efficacy super-porous hydrogel composites-based polymer desiccants to capture water vapors from moist air. Adsorption 2024 Apr 19:1–7. [CrossRef]
• [21] Kumar M, Yadav A. Composite desiccant material “CaCl₂/Vermiculite/Saw wood”: a new material for fresh water production from atmospheric air. Appl Water Sci 2017;7:2103–2111. [CrossRef]
• [22] Hiremath CR, Kadoli R, Katti VV. Experimental and theoretical study on dehumidification potential of clay-additives based calcium chloride composite desiccants. Appl Therm Eng 2018;129:70–83. [CrossRef]
• [23] Liang JD, Hsu CY, Hung TC, Chiang YC, Chen SL. Geometrical parameters analysis of improved circulating inclined fluidized beds for general HVAC duct systems. Appl Energy 2018;230:784–793. [CrossRef]
• [24] Timsina R, Thapa RK, Moldestad BM, Eikeland MS. Effect of particle size on flow behavior in fluidized beds. Int J Energy Prod Manag 2019;4:287–297. [CrossRef]
• [25] Singh A, Kumar S, Dev R. Studies on cocopeat, sawdust and dried cow dung as desiccant for evaporative cooling system. Renew Energy 2019;142:295–303. [CrossRef]
• [26] Politi D, Sidiras D. Modified spruce sawdust for sorption of hexavalent chromium in batch systems and fixed-bed columns. Molecules 2020;25:5156. [CrossRef]
• [27] Dasar SR, Boche AM, Yadav AK, Anish S. Sorption–desorption characteristics of dried cow dung with PVP and clay as composite desiccants: experimental and exergetic analysis. Renew Energy 2023;202:394–404. [CrossRef]
• [28] Suranjan Salins S, Reddy SK, Kumar S, Nair PS. Application of biomass-based wood shaving packing in a liquid desiccant dehumidification system – a source of sustainable energy. Int J Sustain Energy 2024;43:2287783. [CrossRef]
• [29] Hiremath CR, Kadoli R. Experimental studies on heat and mass transfer in a packed bed of burnt clay impregnated with calcium chloride liquid desiccant and exploring the use of gas side resistance model. Appl Therm Eng 2013;50:1299–1310. [CrossRef]
• [30] Chen H, Peng YH, Wang YL. Thermodynamic analysis of hybrid cooling system integrated with waste heat reusing and peak load shifting for data center. Energy Convers Manag 2019;183:427–439. [CrossRef]
• [31] Hiremath CR, Katti VV, Kadoli R. Experimental determination of specific heat and thermal conductivity of Clay+ additives-Calcium chloride composite desiccant. Procedia Mater Sci 2014;5:188– 197. [CrossRef]
• [32] Wu SY, Baeyens J. Effect of operating temperature on minimum fluidization velocity. Powder Technol 1991;67:217–220. [CrossRef]
• [33] Rachayya HC. Studies on dehumidification potential of clay with additives and impregnated with calcium chloride composite desiccants [dissertation]. Surathkal (IN): National Institute of Technology Karnataka; 2019.
• [34] Ramzy A, Kadoli R. Modified PGC model and its validation by experiments for heat and moisture transfer analysis in a vertical fluidized desiccant bed. Appl Therm Eng 2015;81:83–91. [CrossRef]
• [35] Liang JD, Hsu CY, Hung TC, Chiang YC, Chen SL. Geometrical parameters analysis of improved circulating inclined fluidized beds for general HVAC duct systems. Appl Energy 2018;230:784– 793. [CrossRef]
• [36] Dasar SR, Boche AM, Yadav AK, Anish S. Sorption–desorption characteristics of dried cow dung with PVP and clay as composite desiccants: experimental and exergetic analysis. Renew Energy 2023;202:394–404. [CrossRef]
• [37] Sarker MS, Ibrahim MN, Aziz NA, Punan MS. Energy and exergy analysis of industrial fluidized bed drying of paddy. Energy 2015;84:131–138. [CrossRef]
• [38] Kumar R, Mishra DR, Dumka P. Improving solar still performance: a comparative analysis of conventional and honeycomb pad augmented solar stills. Sol Energy 2024;270:112408.
• [39] Moffat RJ. Describing the uncertainties in experimental results. Exp Therm Fluid Sci 1988;1:3–17. [CrossRef]
• [40] Hamed AM. Theoretical and experimental study on the transient adsorption characteristics of a vertical packed porous bed. Renew Energy 2002;27:525–541. [CrossRef]
• [41] Demir H, Mobedi M, Ülkü S. Effects of porosity on heat and mass transfer in a granular adsorbent bed. Int Commun Heat Mass Transf 2009;36:372–377. [CrossRef]
• [42] Zheng X, Wang LW, Wang RZ, Ge TS, Ishugah TF. Thermal conductivity, pore structure and adsorption performance of compact composite silica gel. Int J Heat Mass Transf 2014;68:435–443.
• [43] Majumdar P, Sarwar MK. Performance of a desiccant dehumidifier bed with mixed inert and desiccant materials. Energy 1994;19:103–116. [CrossRef]
• [44] Wang T, Tian S, Li G, Sheng M, Ren W, Liu Q, et al. Experimental study of water vapor adsorption behaviors on shale. Fuel 2019;248:168–177. [CrossRef]
• [45] Pesaran AA, Mills AF. Moisture transport in silica gel packed beds—II. Experimental study. Int J Heat Mass Transf 1987;30:1051–1060. [CrossRef]