Master Summary

Summary
The study presents an experimental investigation of the dynamic
characteristics of adsorbed natural gas (ANG) storage during charging and
discharging processes.
Experiments have been carried out using a natural gas storage tank packed
with 1009 1 g of Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) commercially known as
Cell Carb GM100.
The storage tank has been supported with internal gas distributer and a
cooling coil heat exchanger. The function of the gas distributer is to expedite and
improve the flow of natural gas through the packed adsorbent whilst the cooling
coil heat exchanger is used to cool down adsorbent bed during charging process.
Measurements have been conducted within temperatures ranging from 30
to 50 C and pressures up to 10 bar using constant volume variable pressure
technique. System pressure and temperature have been continuously recorded
from which the instantaneous adsorption uptake has been estimated. In the
present study, natural gas has been treated as (i) pure methane, (ii) ideal gas
mixture and (iii) real gas mixture.
Temperature profiles at different positions in the storage tank during
charging and discharging have also been presented.

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For the sake of comparison, charging process has been carried out with
and without cooling of adsorbing bed and the results were compared.
Experimental results show that cooling of ANG storage tank can significantly
improve adsorption capacity and reduce the charging time as well.
Also, the kinetics of the adsorption process are estimated using two
models: the classical LDF model and a modified version of it from a previous
study. The results from the modified model are in good agreement with the actual
results.

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