Reaction‐coupled water desorption of zeolite driven by confinement‐induced water activation

Abstract Water removal is one of the fundamental and energy‐intensive processes widely involved in modern industries. Massive energy input has been considered necessary to break the water‐substrate affinity but causes high energy consumption and challenges the stability of the substrates. In this study, we developed a reaction‐coupled water removal strategy to chemically disrupt the water‐substrate affinity and adopted it to the water desorption of 4A zeolite desiccant. This approach avoided the necessity for high energy input and thus achieved fast water desorption at a temperature as low as 130°C (1.87 mmol H2O /[g zeo min]) when coupled with the water‐gas shift (WGS) reaction. Comprehensive theoretical and experimental studies revealed that water molecules at confined cationic sites can be distorted and activated by strong interactions (H‐O…Na + ) and weak interactions (H‐bond and spatial constraints). Concurrently, the exothermic WGS reaction provided in situ thermal compensation to the endothermic water desorption, reducing the total heat input by 40%, as determined by microcalorimetry.