Development o the Design of an Experimental Adsorber and Optimization of its Gas-Dynamic Parameters

Abstract

Various technologies and equipment are used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For example, the method of adsorption is used to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from the smoke emissions of cement industries. In the adsorption process using zeolites, devices such as adsorbers are typically employed. Zeolites, a versatile group of aluminosilicate materials, are known for their high surface area and selective adsorption properties, making them effective for CO2 capture. The effectiveness of the adsorber depends on many factors, including its geometric dimensions and shape. Adsorbers with a central inlet flow have uneven gas distribution at the entrance to the adsorbent layer, which reduces their operational efficiency. To eliminate this disadvantage, various devices installed at the output of the adsorber inlet are usually used. Analysis of such devices shows that they do not provide maximum adsorption efficiency. To study the efficiency of zeolite operation for capturing carbon dioxide contained in the smoke gases of cement industries, the design of a laboratory adsorber is proposed featuring a cyclone and distribution device in its lower part. The cyclone prevents the adsorbent from being contaminated by drip fluid, which reduces the efficiency of the adsorption process in the gas, and the distribution device reduces the uniformity of gas distribution at the entrance to the adsorbent layer. This paper proposes a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model and design of the distribution device, which was analyzed and modified to significantly increase the uniform distribution of gas at the entrance to the adsorbent layer. Compared with other designs of distribution devices, the proposed design is simpler and performs better under varying gas flow rates.

Keywords

• efficiency
• carbon dioxide
• zeolite
• computational fluid dynamics
• speed
• adsorbent
• adsorber