Heat-transfer enhancement by additives

A workshop on heat-transfer enhancement by additives in absorption processes was held last year at the Bavarian Center for Applied Energy Research (ZAE Bayern) in Garching, Germany, in collaboration with the Technical University Munchen. The workshop was the first in a series of Munchen Discussion Meetings, designed to bring together a limited number of researchers active in specific fields in order to facilitate not only presentations of research results but also discussion of related issues and problems. The specific purpose of the present workshop has been to establish the current state of knowledge in the area of transfer enhancement by additives and bring forth the outstanding problems so as to formulate research needs. During the 2 days of the workshop, 14 papers were presented and discussions were conducted by 34 participants from eight countries. At the conclusion of the workshop it was stated that well-known additives contribute a significant increase of heat and mass transfer in liquid sorption systems. However, from a fundamental point of view almost nothing is satisfactorily explained. On the one hand, in solid sorption systems the basic understanding of the combined heat- and mass-transfer processes seems to be better, on the other hand, the best means for enhancement is disputed much more controversially. This paper is a summary of the presentations and discussions during the Munchen Discussion Meeting with the main emphasis on liquid sorption systems. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd and IIR