A review of adsorbents and adsorbates in solid-vapour adsorption heat pump systems

World-wide efforts to use solid-vapour adsorption technology for heat pumps have been intensified since the imposition of international restrictions on production and use of chlorofluorocarbons. Yet, to this date solid-vapour refrigeration and heat pump systems are still under laboratory testing stages. Promising recent developments in Japan, Europe and the U.S.A. include the use of porous metal hydrides and composite adsorbents. A review of adsorbents and adsorbates used in various investigations on solid-vapour adsorption heat pumps are presented in this paper, with an aim of initiating a novel concept experimental investigation. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.