Experimental study of heat and mass recovery on steam generation in an adsorption heat pump with composite zeolite-CaCl₂

High-temperature steam generation in adsorption heat pump with composite zeolite-CaCl₂ has been experimentally investigated by introducing heat and mass recovery. A direct contact heat exchange method is utilized to enhance the overall heat transfer rate. Composite zeolite (CZ) is prepared by immersing zeolite particle in CaCl₂ solution at mass concentration of 40%. Cyclic experiment consists of two processes: regeneration with 130 °C dry air and steam generation with 80 °C hot water. The heat and mass recovery with steam below 90 °C is added before generation process. Mass of generated steam above 200 °C is increased by 9.12%. The effective time for steam generation is dramatically extended by 18.33%. Adsorption and thermal equilibriums inside the packed bed are achieved more quickly with heat and mass recovery. Gross temperature lift for one-stage adsorption heat pump is above 100 °C. Coefficient of performance for heating (COP_h) and specific heat power (SHP) are elevated by 9.55% and 9.23%, respectively. The increase in mass of generated steam contributes to the improvement of COP_h. Meanwhile, only a short time used for heat and mass recovery enables the rise in SHP.