The simulation of heat and mass transfer in microwave-assisted CO 2 desorption for zeolite 13X

By shortening the desorption time and heating only the adsorbent material, microwave-assisted desorption improves regeneration and reduces the system’s overall energy consumption. The combined mass and heat transfer during microwave-assisted regeneration for CO2 desorption applications has not been studied. The temperature distribution during microwave-assisted CO2 desorption with zeolite 13X was examined in this work using numerical analysis. The model takes into account the effects of purge flow rate, microwave forward power, and the addition of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MW-CNT) to the sorbent material. The findings demonstrated that lower microwave power led to a gradual rise in temperature, whereas higher power accelerated heating and desorption rates. Because of the improved dielectric properties, adding 2% MW-CNT nanoparticles increased the energy absorbed by the sorbent bed by 14%. A more uniform temperature distribution is achieved by minimizing convective heat loss through lower flow rates. These results highlight the significance of power levels, flow rates, and nanoparticle addition in boosting CO2 desorption efficiency and provide valuable insights into improving microwave-assisted CO2 desorption.