A novel radial flow adsorber with uniform velocity distribution for air purification in liquid air energy storage

The radial-flow adsorber used in air purification plays a crucial role in ensuring the secure and stable operation of liquid air energy storage systems. It has notable advantages, including a substantial capacity for air handling, minimal pressure drop, and low energy consumption. However, one of the key challenges associated with the radial-flow adsorber is the non-uniform distribution of velocity, which results in reduced utilization of adsorbent. To address this issue, a novel radial-flow adsorber is proposed in this work, which has gradient particle diameters of the adsorbent along the axial direction. The detailed configuration is optimized to investigate the heat and mass transfer phenomena, including flow distribution, pressure drop and concentration distribution. The results show that the velocity distribution is uniform in this proposed adsorber, contributing to a uniform concentration distribution. The utilization rates of γ-Al2O3 and zeolite 13X as adsorbents increase by 8.5 % and 12.9 %, respectively. The breakthrough time is also significantly improved leading to an increased absorption amount. Furthermore, this new adsorber reduces pressure drop by up to 31.1 %, compared with traditional radial-flow adsorbers. This study is meaningful for improving the performance of radial-flow adsorber, promoting the development of liquid air energy storage.