Composite adsorbent materials for desalination and cooling applications: A state of the art

Adsorption technology is very attractive for producing desalinated water and cooling with no harmful impact on the environment. The performance of adsorption water applications (desalination and cooling) depends on the adsorption characteristics. Many adsorption systems designs were investigated worldwide, employing different adsorbent materials to develop a cost-effective and high-performance system. This review presents and summarizes the studies in adsorption and the corresponding applications in desalination and cooling and compares the adsorption properties of composite adsorbents. The review focuses on the composite materials and how they were synthesized while comparing them in terms of the amount of adsorption. The reviewed materials have been classified according to the basic host, such as silica gel, zeolite, carbon, metal-organic frameworks (MOF), and vermiculite. The review contains more than 70 composites. The maximum reached water vapor uptake is 1.92 kg/kg of PHTS/CaCl₂-20 wt% composite at 0.9 P/P_s. The highest available desorption amount is 1.48 kg/kg of MOF composite for desalination applications and 0.87 kg/kg of vermiculite composite for cooling applications.