A Fluidized Bed Adsorption Driven Power Generation System - the Potential of Metal-organic Frameworks

Abstract

Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) and adsorption cooling systems are promising technologies that can be used to exploit the abundant amount of low to mid-grade heat sources such as solar energy, geothermal energy and waste heat from industrial processes. In this study, a hybrid four fluidized alternating adsorption cycle based on ORC configuration has been investigated to generate power by evaluating different metal organic framework adsorbent materials and fluorocarbon refrigerants through the use of thermodynamic models. Four different main scenarios and two sub-scenarios were simulated with Aspen Adsorption to assess the impact on overall system design, performance and costs. The simulation revealed that a four-bed adsorption /desorption cycle is technically feasible for the R134a / MIL-101(Cr) (or NU 1000) system and compared to fixed-bed systems, fluidized bed features a high compactness degree.