Porous Desiccant Wheel Produced Using Inductively Coupled Plasma Technique

In this study, the adsorption material is fabricated from the aluminum residues using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) technique and applied as a raw material to manufacture porous solid desiccant wheel. An ICP system is developed to refine aluminum hydroxide extracted from aluminum residues into activated alumina by utilizing its high energy densities. A six-turn induction coil is suitable for our match box to produce alternating electromagnetic field, to sustain space discharge, and to have well reaction zone. The ICP generator power is set at 800 W, and the batch of aluminum residues is purified to generate activated alumina with a BET surface area of 122 m2/g. The porous desiccant wheel is manufactured using activated alumina with a 3-D random porous structure and applied to adsorb moisture from the air. The equilibrium time for the solid desiccant wheel and humidity are determined by observed kinetics in the adsorption experiment. The adsorption equilibrium time of the desiccant wheel (60 pores per inch) with 15-cm diameter and 5-cm thickness is 12 minutes. The maximum adsorption capacity is 51.4 g (at 12 min) and per gram of the desiccant wheel can adsorb 0.184-g water.