Microporous materials such as zeolites, metal organic frameworks, activated carbons and aluminum phosphates are suitable for catalysis and separation applications. These high surface area materials are invariably produced in particulate forms and need to be transformed into hierarchically porous structures for high performance adsorbents or catalysts. Structuring of porous powders enables an optimized structure with high mass transfer, low pressure drop, good heat management, and high mechanical and chemical stability. The requirements and important properties of hierarchically porous structures are reviewed with a focus on applications in gas separation and catalysis. Versatile powder processing routes to process porous powders into hierarchically porous structures like extrusion, coatings of scaffolds and honeycombs, colloidal processing and direct casting, and sacrificial approaches are presented and discussed. The use and limitations of the use of inorganic binders for increasing the mechanical strength is reviewed, and the most important binder systems, e.g. clays and silica, are described in detail. Recent advances to produce binder-free and complex shaped hierarchically porous monoliths are described and their performance is compared with traditional binder-containing structured adsorbents. Needs related to better thermal management and improved kinetics and volume efficiency are discussed and an outlook on future research is also given.

https://cyberleninka.org/article/n/1017336.pdf

Structuring adsorbents and catalysts by processing of porous powders

Passive solar design strategies comprise important ways of reducing the heating, cooling and lighting energy consumption of buildings. Although it is relatively simple to reduce the energy use up to some extent by applying individual strategies, very high levels of energy performance require application of the optimal combination of several strategies, verified through building energy simulations. Here we give an exhaustive review of the previous studies of simulation-based optimization of passive solar design strategies, with particular focus on recent research results.

Optimization of passive solar design strategies: A review

Vacuum insulation panel products: A state-of-the-art review and future research pathways

As thermal energy storage (TES) technologies gain more significance in the global energy market, there is an increasing demand to improve their energy efficiency and, more importantly, reduce their costs. In this article, two different methods for insulating TES systems that are either incorporated inside residential buildings or buried underground in direct vicinity of the building are reviewed and discussed. Boundary conditions are storage volumes in the range 10 – 1000 m3 and storage temperatures up to 90 °C. The first method involves the application of thermal insulation materials on the outside of the storage. Thermophysical properties and costs of conventional materials (such as mineral wools and organic foams) are compared against those of state-of-the-art products such as vacuum insulation panels and aerogels. A parametric comparative analysis is conducted to evaluate the combined costs of thermal insulation and living space occupied by the thermal insulation for TES systems integrated inside buildings. It is shown, for example, that the use of vacuum insulation panels becomes advantageous when the economic value of saving living space outweighs the extra cost of the insulation itself. The second method discussed is the so-called evacuated powders, in which the insulation is realized by creating an evacuated double-wall powder-containing envelope around the storage. The theoretical foundations of this method are discussed and the properties of commonly used powders – such as expanded perlite and fumed silica – are provided. Reference costs of double-wall vacuum-insulated TES tanks are provided and the use of evacuated powders is compared against the application of conventional insulation materials.

A review and evaluation of thermal insulation materials and methods for thermal energy storage systems

Thermal transport in nano-porous insulation of aerogel: Factors, models and outlook

Heat transfer modeling in vacuum insulation panels containing nanoporous silicas—A review

Mass transfer modeling in gas barrier envelopes for vacuum insulation panels: A review

Energy saving and environmental resources potentials: Toward new methods of building design

A Vacuum Insulation Panel is a very efficient thermal insulation system for buildings, but its durability has to be carefully examinated to ensure a long term performance. Heat and mass transfer models for VIPs are detailed in this paper: the parallel fluxes model for thermal conductivity, the sorption-diffusion and dual mode models for gas permeation. The limits of the Sorption-Diffusion model are illustrated thanks to experimental data. Long term simulations are conducted based on these models. They show a long term behavior hard to predict from short term expriments if the mass transfer mechanisms are not well understood.

Heat and mass transfer modeling in vacuum insulation panels, towards long term thermal performance simulation

/pdf/assessment-of-the-water-vapor-permeability-effect-of-the-3fpiq5b2.pdf

Thierry Duforestel

Papers

Heat transfer modeling in vacuum insulation panels containing nanoporous silicas—A review

Mass transfer modeling in gas barrier envelopes for vacuum insulation panels: A review

Energy saving and environmental resources potentials: Toward new methods of building design

Heat and mass transfer modeling in vacuum insulation panels, towards long term thermal performance simulation

Assessment of the water vapor permeability: Effect of the total pressure