SEMINAR REPORT

ON
GREEN ADSORPTION CHILLER

SUBMITTED TO:-

SUBMITTED BY:-

Dr. R.K. GARG

MANOJ

Dr. RAJKUMAR

15001504021

(PROF. MECHANICAL DEPTT.)

M.TECH - 3RD SEM.

DCRUST MURTHAL

MECHNICAL

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
BRIEF HISTORY
COMPARISON ANALYSIS
WORKING PRINCIPLE
ADVANTAGES
DISADVANTAGES
APPLICTIONS
FUTURE SCOPE
CONCLUSIONS
REFRENCES

INTRODUCTION:At present, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) has consumed a large amount
of energy . Given the energy crisis, saving energy of HVAC has evoked more attention from
researchers and engineers in this field than before. Adsorption refrigeration is one kind of
green technology that can supply refrigeration output for HVAC, especially when silica gel is
adopted because of its great suitability for low grade heat source and contributions effectively
to reduce greenhouse gas emission. Commonly, silica gel pairs with water as the working
pairs. Silica gelwater adsorption refrigeration is usually used in air conditioning, due to the
evaporating temperature of water at higher than freezing point. Silica gelwater adsorption
refrigeration systems are very popular in the utilization of low grade heat source, especially at
below 85

C. In this context, many researchers focused on the theoretical and technical

improvements of silica gelwater adsorption refrigeration. With their great efforts, many
achievements were obtained and widely reported. Since the 1990s, new cycles, new designs,
new prototypes, and new applications were proposed. The typical two-bed cycle could
continuously yield refrigeration output and was mostly adopted before other improved cycles
emerged and even is popularly used today. In order to be suitable for lower grade heat source
utilization, cycles and prototypes with multi-bed, multi stage, and multi-mode were
developed. A two stage adsorption chiller could obtain a coefficient of performance (COP) of
0.36 with driving source at 55 0 C and a heat sink at 30 0 C. A design and its simulation of a
three-stage six-bed adsorption chiller with re-heat scheme that could be driven by 5070 0 C
heat source at 30 0 C coolant temperature. In order to improve the reliability of the silica gel
water adsorption chillers, chillers combined by two adsorption/desorption cooling units were
developed. The newest results were that the cooling capacity and the COP of such chillers
were 3.6 kW and 0.32, respectively, at the hot water inlet temperature of 570 C, cooling water
inlet temperature of 27

C, and chilled water outlet temperature of 150 C; those were up to

5.7 kW and 0.41, respectively, when the hot water inlet temperature, cooling water inlet
temperature were changed to 80

C and 290 C, respectively. Those efforts had resulted in

closer and closer steps to commercial prototypes though so far those prototypes were not
really commercial ones due to its high cost. Indeed, commercialization of the silica gelwater
adsorption refrigeration has been hindered because of some puzzlement about fundamental
problems, such as low cooling capacity, low working reliability, and adsorption capacity
deterioration of silica gel. Some improved silica gelwater adsorption chillers developed in

the last decades experienced a high refrigeration capacity at first but their refrigeration
capacity sharply declining after being used for about one year. The similar conditions were
that some advanced silica gelwater adsorption chillers were reported for their development
and applications in the last two decades, but no information about the follow-down
applications of those chillers was available. Some troubles had to arise. The water adsorption
capacity deterioration of silica gel may be one of those problems. It arouned the researchers
attention presented that about 5% decrease of water uptake had been observed after silica gel
was used in the adsorption refrigeration system, though they pointed out that this loss must be
further investigated. Preliminarily studied some possible factors to influence the adsorption
performance deterioration in silica gelwater adsorption refrigeration and concluded that
pollution caused by impurity ions and solid particles was the primary factor to lessen the
adsorption

capacity.

In order to further clarify those problems affecting the cooling capacity of the silica gel
water adsorption chiller, on the basis of the former work, the adsorption characteristics of
silica gel in adsorption refrigeration were investigated in detail. According to the possible
surroundings in which silica gel is exposed and modification methods, 14 samples were
prepared and their adsorption property parameters were tested. The possible factors that cause
changes of silica gelwater adsorption characteristics were detected and analyzed. The
deteriorated silica gel sample, some samples were prepared through acid soaking and distilled
water washing. Under consideration of hot water leakage into the adsorbent side in adsorber,

the sample soaked in boiled city water was prepared. Samples obtained from the adsorption
refrigeration chiller were prepared for the investigation of the adsorption performance with
the operation time or the number of cycles. The consideration of samples polluted by the
atmosphere is that the dust and other contaminants in the air will probably pollute the
adsorbent during the storage and filling-into-adsorber of silica gel resulting in adsorption
capacity deterioration. Additionally, aluminum, copper, and steel are commonly used as the
materials in the adsorbent bed heat exchangers and therefore the samples should be prepared
to study the influence of aluminum, cuprum, and ferrum ions on silica gel.

EVOLUTION IN GREEN ADSORPTION CHILLER STUDY

R.Z. WANG et al. This paper presents the achievements gained in solid sorption
refrigeration prototypes since the end of the l970s, when interest in sorption systems was
renewed. The applications included are ice making and air conditioning. The latter includes
not only cooling and heating, but also dehumidification by desiccant systems. The prototypes
presented were designed to use waste heat or solar energy as the main heat source. The waste
heat could be from diesel engines or from power plants, in combined cooling, heating and
power systems (CCHP). The current technology of adsorption solar powered icemakers
allows a daily ice production of between 4 and 7 kgm_2 of solar collector, with a solar
coefficient of performance (COP) between 0.10 and 0.16. The silica gelwater chillers
studied can be powered by hot water warmer than 55 1C. The COP is usually around 0.20.6,
and in some commercially produced machines, it can be up to 0.7.
Dechang Wang et al As one of environmentally friendly refrigeration methods, solid
adsorption refrigeration has tracked much interest over the world. Silica gel is popularly used
in adsorption refrigeration systems as the adsorbent. Like a compressor in a compression
refrigeration system, the adsorbent is vital to the performance of adsorption refrigeration
systems. In this work, many different silica gel samples were prepared according to their
application surroundings in silica gelwater adsorption refrigeration systems. The adsorption
characteristics including variations, deterioration, and improvements of the adsorption
property were detected.
Zisheng Lu et al Compound adsorbent of macro-porous silica gel/LiCl-methanol and microporous silica gelwater were used as working pairs in two adsorption cooling systems
respectively. The adsorption performance was experimentally investigated and compared.
The experiment results are that mass recovery process can improve cooling capacity
significantly while heat recovery process can improve coefficient of performance (COP)
more significantly. The silica gel/LiCl-methanol cooling system has higher adsorption
capacity and working pressure. When the hot water inlet temperature, cooling water inlet
temperature and chilled water outlet temperature are about 850 c, 310 c and 150 c, the specific
cooling power (SCP) of silica gel/LiCl-methanol cooling system is higher by 59.5% than that
of silica gelwater cooling system.

M.S. Fernandes et al this paper aims to provide the current state of the art of solar adsorption

refrigeration systems operating with the single-bed intermittent cycle (also known as basic
cycle). A comprehensive literature review to have been conducted and it was concluded that
this technology, although attractive, has limitations regarding its performance that seem
difficult to overcome. Therefore, new approaches were identified to increase the efficiency
and sustainability of basic adsorption cycles, like the development of hybrid or thermal
energy storage adsorption systems. A survey of the developments in these new research
trends is also presented in this paper. It shows that there are simple adsorption cycles which
can be attractive alternatives not only to serve the needs for air-conditioning, refrigeration,
ice making, thermal energy storage or hybrid heating and cooling purposes, as standalone or
integrated systems, but also to meet the demands for energy conservation and environmental
protection

The first adsorption chiller was silica gel water adsorption chiller, produced by
Japanese company nishiyodo kuchouki, co. in 1986
The HIJC Company in USA is selling such adsorption chiller since 2000 The chiller
is driven by hot water at 50-90 C And temperature of chilled water is 3C
Canada manufacture silica gel water ad-sorption chilller in 2003, which powerded
hot water at 75C and yield chilled water is 3C
India also manufactures such type of adsorption chiller in 2015 by Bry air pvt. ltd.

Adsorption v/s Absorption

Previous thermally driven chillers have been effective but have been burdened with
significant maintenance and upkeep. Absorption chiller systems often depend on a corrosive
solution of lithium bromide salt that tends to corrode the internal copper tubing and steel shell
of the unit. Additionally, absorption chillers produce hydrogen gas as a by-product, requiring
an expensive palladium cell inside the chiller unit to remove the hydrogen.
The lithium bromide solution in absorption chillers also has phase state challenges and has a
tendency to solidify within the system while operating. If the regeneration temperature
becomes too hot or too cold, or the conditions change too rapidly for the system to adapt, the
liquid salt will solidify and crystallize inside the chiller unit. Many installations of absorption
units require a dedicated caretaker to maintain. Conversely, Adsorption Chillers use
municipal water as the refrigerant and solid silica gel as the desiccant. There are no CFCs or
freons, no Li-Br, and no ammonia. Not using these chemicals equates to no potential for
hazardous material leaks, no aggressive corrosion, no chemical testing required, and no
damage to upper-level atmospheric ozone.
An Adsorption Chiller significantly reduces the maintenance and upkeep costs by
substituting the corrosive salt desiccant with a benign silica gel. Reliability and machine
availability are significantly improved. Adsorption Chillers have very few moving parts and
do not require the maintenance and attention that the absorption chiller systems require.

Adsorption versus Absorption Comparison

Why it is called green adsorption chiller ?

Adsorption chiller is based on an advanced green technology using inert silica gel as an
adsorbent and water as an refrigerant Adsorption chiller uses a very green refrigerant (water)
to provide a source of safe efficient energy conservation by utilizing waste heat to drive an
adsorption chiller to replace toxic and very maintenance intensive li-Br absorption chiller.

Working principle of Green adsorption chiller

The principle of adsorption works with the interaction of gases and solids. With adsorption
chilling, the molecular interaction between the solid and the gas allow the gas to be adsorbed
into the solid. The adsorption chamber of the chiller is filled with solid material, silica gel ,
eliminating the need for moving parts and eliminating the noise associated with those moving
parts. The silica gel creates an extremely low humidity condition that causes the water
refrigerant to evaporate at a low temperature. As the water evaporates in the evaporator, it
cools the chilled water. The adsorption chiller has four chambers; an evaporator, a condenser
and two adsorption chambers. All four chambers are operated at nearly a full vacuum.

The Adsorption Chiller

The chiller cycles the adsorption chambers 1 and 2 between the processes of adsorbing and
desorbing. In the figure above, the water vapor flashes off the surface of the tubes in the
evaporator, creating the chilling effect captured in the output of chilled water. The water
vapor enters Chamber 1 through the open ports in the bottom of the chamber and is adsorbed
into the silica gel in Chamber 1. Cool water is circulated in this chamber to remove the heat
deposited in Chamber 1 by the adsorption process.
Hot water enters Chamber 2 to regenerate, or desorb, the silica gel while Chamber 1 is in the
adsorption process. The water vapor is driven from the silica gel by the hot water. The
refrigerant water vapor rises to the condenser portion of the The Adsorption Chillers where it
is then condensed to a liquid state. The condenser water is recycled in a closed-loop to the
bottom of the machine where it is immediately available for re-use.

As the machine cycles, the pressure in Chamber 1 is slightly lower than in the evaporator
chamber. A portion of the water refrigerant evaporates and moves to Chamber 1.
Simultaneously, the pressure in Chamber 2 elevates slightly as the water vapor is driven from

the silica gel. The water vapor is then pushed to the condenser chamber where it is condensed
back to the liquid state and returns to the evaporator chamber.
When the silica gel in Chamber 1 is saturated with water and the silica gel in Chamber 2 is
dry, the machines process reverses. The first step is the opening of a valve between the two
chambers, allowing the pressure to equalize. Then, cool water is sent through Chamber 2 to
transfer any residual heat to Chamber 1, which begins the heating process. The reversal is
completed and the adsorption in Chamber 2 commences while Chamber 1 is dried by the
desorption heating.

The Adsorption Chiller is capable of operating within a wide range of temperatures. The
machine selfregulates and balances the performance of the system by the control programs,
shifting to the program best suited for the system conditions. For optimal performance of the
Adsorption Chillers the hot water should be 90C(194F), the cool water about 24C to 35C
(75F to 95F) and the output cold water 7C to 12C (45F to 55F).

Basic Solar Adsorption Refrigeration Cycle :Solar energy is the energy source of most adsorption devices operating with the basic cycle.
In the remaining cases the components are kept unchanged, the main difference being the
heat collection method. A solar adsorption refrigerator based on the basic adsorption
refrigeration cycle does not require any mechanical or electrical energy, just thermal energy,
and it operates in term it ently according to the daily cycle. Like a simple vapour compression
system, these adsorption systems are closed systems, comprising a compressor, a condenser
and an evaporator. However, in this case, the compressor is an adsorber powered by the
thermal energy, and the cooling effect is achieved by the evaporation of a refrigerant while
the vapour produce disadsorbed by the adsorbent layer in the adsorber. The adsorbed content
of refrigerant varies cyclically, depending on the adsorbent temperature and system pressure,
which varies between a maximum limit set by the condensation pressure and a minimum
limit imposed by the evaporation pressure. In its simplest form, a solar refrigerator is a closed
system consisting of a solar collector containing the adsorbent bed (hermetically sealed and
painted in black, to optimize the solar radiation absorption), a condenser, a receiver equipped
with a 2-way valve and a cold box with the evaporator inside .

Advantage of green adsorption chiller

1. Low operational cost
2. Maintenance cost are negligible
3. Water used as refrigerant, no freon , no Li-Br
4. No hazardous leaks, no corrosion, no replacement
5. No compressor
i. No high voltage,
ii.

no vibration or noise,

iii.

no oil change,

iv.

no high pressure

6. Constant operation 24 hours/ 7 days a week

7. Capacity out-put remains stable as in-put fluctuates
8. Using waste heat from various processes
9.

reduce co emission

10. Simple and short start up/shut down time

Disadvantage of green adsorption chiller:1. Large volume and weight

2. High price
3. Large potential required in the construction of heat exchanger in the adsorber
compartments
4. Low heat transfer
5. Low cop

Applications: Waste heat from cogeneration systems (diesel engine, gas engine, gas turbine)
achieves tri-generation
Waste heat and solar heat from various process including food, chemical, plastic,
rubber, paper and cement cam enhance the heat balance of the process.
Hospitals and hotels can utilize their excess heat to cool their faclilities

Future scope
Silica gel / water adsorption cooling systems and it can be considered as a strong foundation
for further work.
The following is a list of the suggested future work;
1. A new species of adsorbents named metal organic frameworks (MOFs) that presented an
extraordinary behavior against water vapour adsorption. HKUST-1 was shown to
significantly outperform silica gel RD with 95% increase in the water uptake and 185.7%
in cycle analysis using the same operating conditions as those typically used in silica gel
/ water adsorption chillers.
2. The construction of a test rig that is flexible in changing a scaled down adsorbent bed
modules. There are many techniques that can improve the heat and mass transfer
performance of the adsorbent bed, including new designs of the adsorbent bed heat
exchanger. Some of these techniques have been theoretically investigated. A number of
adsorber bed designs were developed in the last decade that benefits the heat and mass
transfer performance. The performance of these new designs can be modeled using the
empirical lumped analytical model that has been developed in this work and tested in the
experimental facility.
3. Metal organic frameworks were originally investigated for gaseous fuel storage such as
hydrogen and methane. The use of this MOF material with environment friendly
refrigerant such as ethanol is also recommended for investigation.

Conclusion:Power is one of the basic needs along with food clothing and shelter now-a-days irrespective
of the life style of the people. It has occupied such a place in our daily routine. Indias energy
basket is a mixture of all available resources i.e., both renewable and non renewable energy
resources. We have already made efforts towards the efficiency of equipment but still some
part of energy goes to waste. This wasted energy results in increasing the temperature, Global
Warming and many more. So efforts should be done to achieve goals of Three Rs: Reduce,
Recycle,
Reuse.
Adsorbtion chiller proves better equipment in reuse of wasted energy and thus
reducing the thrust of this wasted energy on the Environment. What can be better than this,
that we are utilising the wasted energy for our benefits (Chilling Water).
Energy sources are mostly in limited amount and are in scarcity condition. So through
this process we are also helps in resource management.

REFRENCES
1. Lu, Zisheng et al. "Experimental Investigation Adsorption Chillers Using MicroPorous Silica GelWater And Compound Adsorbent-Methanol". Energy Conversion
and Management 65 (2013): 430-437.
2. Sah, Ramesh P., Biplab Choudhury, and Ranadip K. Das. "Study Of A Two-Bed
Silica GelWater Adsorption Chiller: Performance Analysis". International Journal
of Sustainable Energy (2016): 1-17.
3. Wang, Dechang et al. "Study Of Adsorption Characteristics In Silica GelWater
Adsorption Refrigeration". N.p., 2016. Print.
4. WANG, R and R OLIVEIRA. "Adsorption RefrigerationAn Efficient Way To
Make Good Use Of Waste Heat And Solar Energy". Progress in Energy and
Combustion Science 32.4 (2006): 424-458
5. Fernandes, M.S. et al. "Review And Future Trends Of Solar Adsorption Refrigeration
Systems". Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 39 (2014): 102-123.
6. www. Bry air.com