Adsorptive air conditioning systems driven by low temperature energy sources: choice of the working pairs

The performance of an adsorptive air-conditioning cycle driven by low temperature heat (80-85°C) was studied. The analysis rested on the Polanyi potential theory and took into account literature and author's experimental data on sorption equilibrium of various conventional and innovative adsorbents with water and methanol as working fluids. This adsorbent screening is aimed at evaluating the optimal working pairs for this application. The composite sorbent of methanol Lithium Chloride in mesoporous silica gel and the adsorbent of water FAM-Z02 were selected as challenging pairs for severe conditions of heat rejection typical for solar cooling in hot countries and air conditioning in cars.