Adsorption

Adsorbents remove the moisture from the air by attracting and holding the water to the surface of their particles, or by ion exchange using an Ion-Exchange Resin.

These systems can be broken down into two major categories:

• Heatless/Pressure Swing Designs-Open System
• Heat Reactivated/Convection Designs which can be divided into two categories:
  • Open Loop Designs
  • Closed Loop Designs

These types of systems can also be designed and adapted for any number of liquid dehydration systems.

These dryers use three types of Adsorbents:

• Activated Alumina
• Silica Gel
• Molecular Sieves

A fourth type for more specialized designs is Ion Exchange Resins, which come in various forms for a number of liquid and gas applications.

In a classic dynamic adsorption system, there are three distinct zones: the saturated zone which is in equilibrium with the incoming fluid, the mass transfer zone, and the active zone where no adsorption has occurred.