Experimental Study on Utilizing Silica Gel with Ethanol and Water for Adsorption Heat Storage

Ahmed Rezk, Abdul Ghani Olabi, Abdul Hai Alami, Ali Radwan, Hasan Demir, Shek Mohammod Atiqure Rahman, Sheikh Khaleduzzaman Shah and Mohammad Ali Abdelkareem
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Ahmed Rezk: Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute (EBRI), College of Engineering and Physical Science, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK
Abdul Ghani Olabi: Sustainable Energy & Power Systems Research Centre, RISE, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Abdul Hai Alami: Sustainable Energy & Power Systems Research Centre, RISE, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Ali Radwan: Sustainable Energy & Power Systems Research Centre, RISE, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Hasan Demir: Department of Chemical Engineering, Osmaniye Korkut Ata University, 80000 Osmaniye, Turkey
Shek Mohammod Atiqure Rahman: Sustainable Energy & Power Systems Research Centre, RISE, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Sheikh Khaleduzzaman Shah: Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Group, Department of Infrastructure Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
Mohammad Ali Abdelkareem: Sustainable Energy & Power Systems Research Centre, RISE, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates

Energies, 2022, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Adsorption heat storage is the most feasible technology for heating decarbonization, which can store large quantities of waste and renewable heat for an exceptionally long time. However, utilizing adsorption heat storage in geographical locations with sub-zero ambient conditions is challenging. Therefore, this paper experimentally investigates the use of ethanol as a working fluid paired with silica gel for adsorption heat storage and utilizes sub-zero ambient as the heat source. The heat storage characteristics, heat charging/discharging cyclic performance, and energy conversion performance via exergy analysis were determined under realistic operating conditions and benchmarked against the widely investigated silica gel/water. Ethanol adsorbate was successfully utilized as a working fluid to employ the evaporators operating under sub-zero ambient conditions. Silica gel/ethanol showed the most significant net cyclic uptake, twice that of silica gel/water. However, the physical characteristics of ethanol molecules led to a degree of non-desorbed fluid, which hampered such potential to store 18.08 kJ/kg ads under a sub-zero evaporator temperature and 24.84 kJ/kg ads for an above-zero evaporator temperature compared to silica gel of 155.12 kJ/kg ads operating an above-zero evaporator temperature. On the other hand, silica gel/ethanol showed the fastest heat charging/discharging rate that can shorten the cycle time by 45%. The major contributor to exergy destruction was the exergy transferred by charging heat, which was five times the discharging heat due to the high charging temperature.

Keywords: heat storage; adsorption; silica gel; ethanol; water; heat storage capacity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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