On the Use of Water and Methanol with Zeolites for Heat Transfer

Rafael M Madero-Castro; Azahara Luna-Triguero; Andrzej Sławek; José Manuel Vicent-Luna; Sofia Calero

doi:10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c05369

On the Use of Water and Methanol with Zeolites for Heat Transfer

ACS Sustain Chem Eng. 2023 Mar 8;11(11):4317-4328. doi: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c05369. eCollection 2023 Mar 20.

Authors

Rafael M Madero-Castro¹, Azahara Luna-Triguero^{2

3}, Andrzej Sławek^{4

5}, José Manuel Vicent-Luna⁶, Sofia Calero^{1

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physical, Chemical, and Natural Systems, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Ctra. Utrera km. 1, ES-41013 Seville, Spain.
² Energy Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
³ Eindhoven Institute for Renewable Energy Systems (EIRES), Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, Eindhoven 5600 MB, The Netherlands.
⁴ Academic Centre for Materials and Nanotechnology, AGH University of Science and Technology, Kawiory 30, 30-055 Kraków, Poland.
⁵ Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 2, 30-387 Kraków, Poland.
⁶ Materials Simulation and Modelling, Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

Abstract

Reducing carbon dioxide emissions has become a must in society, making it crucial to find alternatives to supply the energy demand. Adsorption-based cooling and heating technologies are receiving attention for thermal energy storage applications. In this paper, we study the adsorption of polar working fluids in hydrophobic and hydrophilic zeolites by means of experimental quasi-equilibrated temperature-programmed desorption and adsorption combined with Monte Carlo simulations. We measured and computed water and methanol adsorption isobars in high-silica HS-FAU, NaY, and NaX zeolites. We use the experimental adsorption isobars to develop a set of parameters to model the interaction between methanol and the zeolite and cations. Once we have the adsorption of these polar molecules, we use a mathematical model based on the adsorption potential theory of Dubinin-Polanyi to assess the performance of the adsorbate-working fluids for heat storage applications. We found that molecular simulations are an excellent tool for investigating energy storage applications since we can reproduce, complement, and extend experimental observations. Our results highlight the importance of controlling the hydrophilic/hydrophobic nature of the zeolites by changing the Al content to maximize the working conditions of the heat storage device.