Measurements of Effective Thermal Conductivity of CaCl₂ Reactor Beds Used for Driving Chemical Heat Pumps

Abstract

An experimental method has been developed to measure the effective thermal conductivity of a bed consisting of CaCl₂ reactive particles accompanying the variations of thermophysical properties with the progress of gas-solid reactions. Using this method, measurements have been performed for the beds in CaCl₂/CH₃NH₂, CaCl₂/CH₃OH and CaCl₂/NH₃ reaction systems. The effective thermal conductivity of the reactive bed, which was reduced to less than one half of that of the initial anhydrous CaCl₂ bed, increased with the absorption and decreased with the desorption of the reactive gas. Corresponding to the variations of effective thermal conductivity, the void fraction varied during the reaction cycles. The relation between the effective thermal conductivity and the void fraction inside the particle indicates that the main cause of the reduction in the effective thermal conductivity is attributed to a decrease in the thermal conductivity of the solid product.