A Review on Theoretical and Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling of Coupled Heat and Mass Transfer in Fixed Beds of Adsorbing Porous Media

Heat exchangers–adsorbers (HEX-As) are emerging as innovative technologies in many applications (CO2 capture, gas purification and separation, thermal energy storage, etc). This review addresses the theoretical challenges within computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in modeling and simulating coupled heat and mass transfer within gas separation by using adsorbing porous media in fixed beds. Conservation equations of mass, momentum, and energy from different studies (1D, 2D-CFD, and 3D-CFD models) are presented and discussed with an emphasis on their ability to predict the complex multi-physics multi-scale heat and mass transfer phenomena involved, such as the adsorption kinematics, the thermal front propagation, and the multi-component fluid flow dynamics inside the beds. For the fist time, we show that mathematical theoretical modeling in CFD has been differently developed and applied by many authors in the literature in order to model the same physical phenomena. This sheds light on the present challenges and bottlenecks in theoretical and computational fluid dynamics when it comes to complex coupled heat and mass transfer in multi-component gas dynamics in porous media. This review make it easier for readers to understand the different models that exist in the literature for modeling and simulating HEX-As. It also opens questions on how accurately one can model multi-functional heat exchangers–adsorbers using CFD, e.g., physics multi-scale extrapolation from nano- to meso- and then to macro-scale behavior.