A study on Effective Thermal Conductivity of Packed Bed of Adsorbent Including Water

Abstract

In the present study, an effective thermal conductivity of the packed bed of an adsorbent including water was measured experimentally by using the transient hot wire method in temperature range from about -40°C to room temperature. Zeolite particle and activated carbon particle were employed as the adsorbent. The water included in the adsorbent was classified to three kinds; namely, the adsorbed water in the adsorption site with a nanometer order in particle, the osmosis water existing in gap with lager size than the adsorption site and the free water around particle. The measurement was performed with changing the mass ratio of adsorbed water and osmosis water and was also performed for the particle filled by the free water. As the results, the effective thermal conductivity of the packed bed increased with the increase of temperature except the case containing free water. In zeolite, the effective thermal conductivity of the packed bed of particles with adsorbed water became bigger than that of the desorbed particle about 10% though the adsorbed water was trapped in the adsorption site as a single molecular in zeolite particle. In activated carbon, the effective thermal conductivity was larger than that of desorbed particle about 20%. Next, in the packed bed of particle with the osmosis water, the effective thermal conductivity indicated about two times of that of particle with the adsorbed water. In the packed bed of particle filled by free water, the effective thermal conductivity increased suddenly under 0°C. It is considered that the thermal conductivity of ice affected seriously to the effective thermal conductivity because ice was the continuous phase in the bed.