Adsorption Chillers : uptake of Ethanol on Type RD Silica gel

Sammanfattning: The adsorption cooling technology has the potential to replace all vapor compression based chillers in the future. So, in all over the world immense researches are going on in this field. The purpose of this report is to experimentally investigate whether ethanol could serve as a refrigerant in the technology. Compared to water it has freezing point below 0 °C (-114.1 °C) and can therefore in theory be used in refrigeration applications. The report begins with the theory regarding the adsorption cooling process, describing the cycle and parameters that affect the Coefficient of Performance (COP).In the actual experiment, adsorption between the silica gel and the ethanol vapor is studied at various pressures by maintaining isothermal conditions. An experimental apparatus (Constant Volume Variable Pressure apparatus - CVVP) was fabricated, assembled and tested for this project. After the assembly and testing, volume calibration for the apparatus was carried out as it is essential to know in further experimental calculation. All the data related with the fabrication, assembly and testing of the apparatus and the volume calibrations are presented later in this report in detail.Adsorption experiments are conducted at 301.15K, 311.15K, 321.15K and 331.15K with varying inlet pressure condition to the system and then the uptake data is calculated for each and every experiments using ideal gas equation. Subsequently, the validations of the experimental data with the standard adsorption isotherms are done. Dubinin-Astakhov is found to be the most ideal isotherm to simulate the theoretical data. Its RMSE (Root Mean Square Error) value is found to be 0.506%. It is concluded that ethanol valid option for refrigeration, but further research is needed and recommended.