Experimental Investigation of Granular Activated Carbon/R-134a Pair for Adsorption Cooling System Applications

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate the adsorption characteristics of granular activated carbon GAC/R-134a pair in the temperature range of 20˚C - 60˚C and pressure up to 10 bars. The Dubinin-Astakhov adsorption equilibrium model is fit to experimental data with acceptable error limit. The pressure-temperature-concentration (P-T-X) diagram of the pair is also presented. The isosteric heat of adsorption of R-134a on activated carbon has been calculated using the Clausius-Clapeyron equation as a function of adsorption capacity. The maximum adsorption capacity was found to be 1.92 kgR134a/kg carbon at 20˚C after 1200 s. The experimental results also show that the increase of heat transfer area improves the adsorption capacity per kg of adsorber, which leads to the design of a finned tubes heat exchanger adsorption unit.