Experimental investigation of innovative composite Maxsorb III adsorbent for cooling and water desalination

This study presents an innovative composite Maxsorb III/CaCl₂ (70 wt % of Maxsorb III to 30 wt % of CaCl₂) for a relatively high adsorption capacity, cooling capacity, and freshwater production. The raw Maxsorb III (Max) has undergone acid treatment (2 mol HCl) as a pretreatment then it is impregnated with salt hydrates (Max/CaCl₂). Raw and composite Max is characterized using XRD, adsorption isotherm utilizing nitrogen, and water vapor adsorption kinetics and isotherm. The isotherm outcomes showed that Max/CaCl₂ had a water uptake of 1.35 kg_H2O/kg_Max/CaCl2. A simulation model of a desalination system employing the adsorption technique, either with or without heat recovery, has been conducted using MATLAB software to show the performance of an adsorption system utilizing the innovative composite adsorbent material. The results showed that Max/CaCl₂ attained SDWP of 25.4 m³/ton_Max/CaCl2 per day with SCP 717.4 W/kg_Max/CaCl2 and COP 0.704 at 85 °C. Additionally, water productivity utilizing condenser-evaporator heat recovery can reach 36.7 m³/ton_Max/CaCl2 at 85 °C and 43 m³/ton_Max/CaCl2 at 95 °C. The results indicated that the innovative composite material has a promising performance within the AD system and overcomes traditional adsorbents such as activated carbon, silica gel, and zeolite.