Experimental Study of Optimal Operation for a Honeycomb Adsorber Operated with Thermal Swing

Abstract

A new example of thermal swing adsorption using a honeycomb rotor with a thin sheet of silica gel as adsorbent has been developed for dehumidification of air. Owing to improvement in the dynamic adsorption capacity and rapid thermal response of the rotor, the product humidity was reduced to 10–20% of the feed at an air velocity of 1–2 m/s through a 0.2m-long honeycomb. The existence of an optimal rotation speed of rotor has been observed. It increased in proportion to a single term of velocity of regeneration air, divided by width of the rotor and bulk density of the rotor; the effects of temperature and humidity of the feed and regeneration air were small. A dimensionless formula for the optimal rotation speed was derived on an empirical basis.