THEORETICAL-STUDY OF HEAT AND MASS-TRANSF ER IN A ZEOLITE BED DURING WATER DESORPTION

A mathematical model based on scale changing has been established, in order to study heat and mass transfers in a zeolithe bed during water desorption. The model has been solved numerically by the finite-volume method, for the case of two-dimensional transfers. The numerical simu lation is used to present the time-space evolution of the solid temper ature, the pressure and the moisture content in the reactor and to det ermine the sensitivity to some parameters (heating temperature, outlet temperature, heat coefficients and reactor geometry). The effects of the particle diameter, the kinetic constant of desorption as well as t he effective thermal conductivity are discussed.