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Experimental investigation of temperature swing adsorption system for air dehumidification

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Abstract

Produce of continuous-dehumidified air free from traces of water vapour is essential in many industrial applications. Temperature swing adsorption (TSA) system and heatless based pressure swing adsorption (PSA) system are generally used to produce ultra-low dew point temperature dehumidified air. In this work, an internally heated TSA system is developed and investigated for its suitability for producing dehumidified air using molecular sieve desiccant. The system is evaluated by conducting experiments in three phases, such as screening, optimization, and validation, to identify the significant parameters using statistically designed experiments. The results indicated that the most critical parameters affecting the quality of the dehumidified air are desorption temperature and space velocity. The other parameters, half-cycle time, bed length and adsorption temperature are found to have meager effects on the system performance. A regression equation is also obtained for predicting the moisture content of the product air in terms of the significant parameters of TSA system. This equation also forms a basis for designing a TSA system to a large scale and provides the tool needed to optimize the drying sub-system within the framework of the drying system. The results show that the feed air can be dehumidified to a level ranging from −20 °C to −70 °C dew point temperature and is most suitable for variety of industrial applications. The performance indicators of TSA system is also compared with PSA system to establish a qualitative guideline for the selection of an appropriate method for air dehumidification purposes. TSA system can be effectively and economically employed to produce the dehumidified air with the operating pressure varying above 3 bar.

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Abbreviations

R2(Adj):

Adjusted regression coefficient

Adj SS:

Adjusted sum of squares

Adj MS:

Adjusted mean squares

CO2 :

Carbon-di-oxide

m3/min:

Cubic metre per minute

m3/h/kgads :

Cubic metre per hour per kilogram adsorbent

DF:

Degrees of freedom

°C:

degree Celsius

F-value:

Fisher’s F ratio

H2 :

Hydrogen

log:

Logarithmic value

CH4 :

Methane

m:

Metre

NRV:

Nonreturn valve

ppmv:

Parts per Million Volume basis

PDPT:

Pressure dew point temperature

%:

Percent

R2 :

Regression coefficient

rh:

Relative humidity

SMBA:

Simulated moving-bed adsorption

TPSA:

Tapered pressure-swing adsorption

P Value:

The attained level of significance

TCPSA:

Thermally coupled pressure-swing adsorption

VSA:

Vacuum-swing adsorption

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Coimbatore Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, 641109, India

    V. Suresh Kannan & S. Vijayan

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Studies in Engineering and Technology, Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya (A Central University), Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, India

    T. V. Arjunan

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  1. V. Suresh Kannan
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Kannan, V.S., Arjunan, T.V. & Vijayan, S. Experimental investigation of temperature swing adsorption system for air dehumidification. Heat Mass Transfer 56, 2093–2105 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-020-02841-w

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