Experimental study of heat and mass recovery on steam generation in an adsorption heat pump with composite zeolite-CaCl2

Abstract High-temperature steam generation in adsorption heat pump with composite zeolite-CaCl2 has been experimentally investigated by introducing heat and mass recovery. A direct contact heat exchange method is utilized to enhance the overall heat transfer rate. Composite zeolite (CZ) is prepared by immersing zeolite particle in CaCl2 solution at mass concentration of 40%. Cyclic experiment consists of two processes: regeneration with 130 °C dry air and steam generation with 80 °C hot water. The heat and mass recovery with steam below 90 °C is added before generation process. Mass of generated steam above 200 °C is increased by 9.12%. The effective time for steam generation is dramatically extended by 18.33%. Adsorption and thermal equilibriums inside the packed bed are achieved more quickly with heat and mass recovery. Gross temperature lift for one-stage adsorption heat pump is above 100 °C. Coefficient of performance for heating (COPh) and specific heat power (SHP) are elevated by 9.55% and 9.23%, respectively. The increase in mass of generated steam contributes to the improvement of COPh. Meanwhile, only a short time used for heat and mass recovery enables the rise in SHP.