Abstract
Adsorption isotherms of activated carbon-methanol pair have been experimentally investigated. The adsorbent used in the present study is activated carbon of type Maxsorb III having a surface area as high as 3,200 m(2)/g. Dubinin- Radushkevich (D-R) equation is used to fit the experimental isotherms data and to provide the relationship between the equilibrium pressure, adsorption temperature and adsorption uptake (P-T-W) diagram. Heat of adsorption is also estimated by using the Clausius-Clapeyron equation. Thermodynamic analysis of Maxsorb III-methanol based adsorption cooling cycle has been presented. Effect of operating conditions on the cycle performance in terms of specific cooling effect and coefficient of performance has also been studied. Comparison between the performance of Maxsorb III-methanol, Maxsorb III-ethanol, silica gel-water and activated carbon-ammonia based adsorption cooling cycles has also been presented. Theoretical calculations show the superiority of the first pair for both air conditioning and ice making applications.