Experimental study on the kinetics of water vapor sorption on selective water sorbents, silica gel and alumina under typical operating conditions of sorption heat pumps

A selective water sorbent (SWS) is a composite material consisting of a porous host matrix and a hygroscopic substance (commonly an inorganic salt) impregnated into its pores. This work presents an experimental investigation for the kinetics of water vapor sorption on two host materials; namely mesoporous silica gel and alumina in comparison with the two composites SWS-1L and SWS-1A formed by impregnating these two host matrices with CaCl2. Moreover, the kinetics of water vapor sorption on microporous silica gel have been also investigated. The measurements have been carried out on 3 g samples of loose pellets on an isothermal wall under three different operating conditions of sorption heat pumps. The results obtained evidence a remarkable increase in the differential water loading of both SWS-sorbents over their host materials. However, and due to the increased diffusion resistance to water sorption resulting from the salt impregnation, the kinetics of water sorption into the host matrices is faster than that into the two SWS-composites. Moreover, SWS-1L is found to be faster than SWS-1A in sorbing water vapor. The differential water loading on microporous silica is about twice that on mesoporous silica and alumina, but the sorption kinetics are a little bit slower. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.