Copper foam coated with CPO-27(Ni) metal-organic framework for adsorption heat pump: simulation study using OpenFOAM

Abstract The performance of the metal-organic framework (MOF) CPO-27(Ni) for adsorption heat pumps using water as adsorbate was investigated through modeling and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. A customized solver and methodology to simulate adsorption cycles were developed in OpenFOAM and strictly validated using literature data, since OpenFoam lacks specific tools for these processes and applications. Due to the potential of adsorbent coatings and metal fibers and foams for improving the performance of such processes, a metal tube of copper surrounded by a composite of copper foam and CPO-27(Ni) coating, was considered in this study. For evaporation, condensation and bed regeneration temperatures of 278.15 K, 308.15 K and 368.15 K, respectively, the obtained coefficients of performance and specific heating powers for the composite coating CPO-27(Ni)/copper foam were in the range 1.16-1.39 and 1922-5130 W kg-1. Under similar conditions, the MOF was outperformed by the well-known adsorbent AQSOATM FAM-Z02, essentially due to the faster intraparticle mass transfer kinetics for the latter.