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DE-102024210878-A1 - Drying device and method for its operation as well as DAC system

DE102024210878A1DE 102024210878 A1DE102024210878 A1DE 102024210878A1DE-102024210878-A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a drying device (1) for regenerating an adsorber material (15) by heating, in particular for reducing the carbon dioxide content in the adsorber material (15), preferably for use in a DAC (Direct-Air-Capturing) system (20) for extracting carbon dioxide from ambient air, comprising a regenerator chamber (2) for receiving the adsorber material (15) and a discharge device (3) connected to the regenerator chamber (2) for removing gases released from the adsorber material (15), in particular carbon dioxide and/or water vapor, from the regenerator chamber (2).

Inventors

  • Juergen Oberle
  • Bernd Stuke
  • Uwe Wostradowski

Assignees

  • Robert Bosch Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20241113

Claims (16)

  1. Drying device (1) for regenerating an adsorber material (15) by heating, in particular for reducing the content of a gas, preferably carbon dioxide, in the adsorber material (15), preferably for use in a gas separation device (20), in particular a DAC (Direct Air Capture) system (20) for extracting carbon dioxide from ambient air, comprising a regenerator chamber (2) for receiving the adsorber material (15) and a discharge device (3) connected to the regenerator chamber (2) for removing gases released from the adsorber material (15), in particular carbon dioxide and/or water vapor, from the regenerator chamber (2), characterized in that the drying device (1) comprises a microwave generator (4) which is microwave-conductingly connected to the regenerator chamber (2), so that the adsorber material (15) in the regenerator chamber (2) can be irradiated with microwaves (16), in particular by means of microwave energy It is heatable.
  2. Drying device after Claim 1 , characterized in that the microwave generator (4) is designed as a magnetron (5).
  3. Drying device after Claim 2 , characterized in that the magnetron (5) is formed with a central, cylindrical cathode (11) and an anode (12) radially surrounding the cathode (11), wherein an annular gap (13) is formed between the cathode (11) and the anode (12) and at least one cylindrical cavity is formed in the anode (12) as a resonator (8) axially parallel to the cathode (11), wherein the resonator (8) is connected to the annular gap (13) by a slot-shaped opening (14) along a longitudinal side of the resonator (8).
  4. Drying device according to one of the Claims 1 until 3 , characterized in that a sensor means (6) is arranged in operative connection with the regenerator chamber (2) and is configured to detect an electromagnetic voltage wave emanating from the microwave generator (4), so that an interaction of the microwave generator (4) with the adsorber material (15) in the regenerator chamber (2) can be detected.
  5. Drying device (1) according Claim 4 , characterized in that the sensor means (6) is configured to detect a permittivity of the adsorber material (15) in the regenerator chamber (2) and is preferably designed as a directional coupler (7).
  6. Drying device after Claim 2 or 3 , characterized in that a resonator (8) of the magnetron (5) is at least partially designed as a regenerator chamber (2) and can be filled with the adsorber material (15).
  7. Drying device after Claim 6 , characterized in that the drying device (1) comprises a detection electronics (9) which detects the frequency behavior of the magnetron (5) and makes it available for evaluation.
  8. Drying device after Claim 6 or 7 , characterized in that a mode barrier (10) is arranged to limit the regenerator chamber (2) in the resonator (8) of the magnetron (5), wherein the mode barrier (10) is designed to be permeable to the adsorber material (15).
  9. Drying device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the regenerator chamber (2) comprises a covering device for closing and/or covering openings, in particular inlet and outlet openings of the regenerator chamber (2).
  10. Gas separation device (20), in particular DAC (Direct Air Capture) system (20), comprising a drying device (1) according to one of the Claims 1 until 9 is trained.
  11. Gas separation device (20) according to Claim 10 , characterized in that the gas separation device (20) comprises the following components and/or assemblies: an adsorber unit (21) in which adsorber material (15) can be permeated by gas (25) to be treated, in particular ambient air, a conduit (22) for conveying adsorber material (15) from the drying device (1) to the adsorber unit (21) and from the adsorber unit (21) to the drying device (1), a conveying means (23) for conveying the adsorber material (15) in the conduit (22) and preferably a storage means (24) for storing adsorber material (15).
  12. Method for operating a drying device (1), in particular according to one of the Claims 1 until 9 is characterized in that an adsorber material (15) is irradiated with microwaves (16) in a regenerator chamber (2), in particular heated by means of microwave energy, whereby a regeneration of the adsorber material (15) is carried out by means of microwave energy.
  13. Procedure according to Claim 12 , characterized in that the regeneration of the adsorber material (15) is carried out batchwise or continuously.
  14. Procedure according to Claim 12 or 13 , characterized in that an electromagnetic voltage wave emanating from the microwave generator (4) is detected by means of a sensor means (6) which is arranged in operative connection with the regenerator chamber (2) in order to detect an interaction of the microwave generator (4) with the adsorber material (15) in the regenerator chamber (2).
  15. Procedure according to Claim 14 , characterized in that a permittivity of the adsorber material (15) is also detected in the regenerator chamber (2).
  16. Drying device after Claim 15 , characterized in that the frequency response of the microwave generator (4), which is in particular designed as a magnetron (5), is detected.

Description

Technical field The invention relates to a drying device for regenerating an adsorbent material, particularly in a DAC system. The invention further relates to a DAC system with a drying device and a method for operating a drying device. State of the art To limit the warming of the Earth's atmosphere, it is already known to actively reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. So-called "Direct Air Capture" (DAC) systems can be used for this purpose (source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_Air_Capture). Such a system is characterized in principle by the fact that, in a first stage, carbon dioxide is actively separated from the ambient air by adsorption and bound using an adsorbent material. In a second stage, the carbon dioxide is removed from the carbon dioxide-enriched adsorbent material in a desorption process, so that the carbon dioxide can subsequently be permanently bound, e.g., by injecting it into geological cavities. From the EP 3 725 391 B1 Furthermore, a DAC system with a drying device having the features of the preamble of claim 1 is known. EP 3 725 391 B1 This document describes how to carry out an adsorption and desorption process of carbon dioxide in a system comprising multiple chambers containing adsorbent material. In a first operating mode, ambient air flows through the adsorption chambers to transfer the carbon dioxide to the adsorbent material. The individual chambers of the system can be sealed or evacuated from the environment using appropriate devices to enable desorption of the carbon dioxide from the adsorbent material in a second operating mode under the influence of negative pressure and/or heat. For this purpose, the chamber or the adsorbent material is heated to a temperature of typically around 100°C. It is known from the known device or system to permeate the chamber with heat-conducting elements (pipes) that serve to guide a heat transfer medium, in particular a heat transfer fluid. This entails considerable system complexity, which consequently results in high costs. Furthermore, the volume of the heat-conducting elements in the chambers reduces the chamber's capacity for the adsorption material, so that for a given amount of adsorption material, the chamber must be relatively large. The object of the invention is to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art and to propose an efficient heating of the adsorber material, particularly with regard to energy efficiency and space efficiency. Disclosure of the invention The drying device according to the invention, with the features of claim 1, has the advantage that energy for heating an adsorbent material can be introduced very precisely into the adsorbent material in a regenerator chamber, and that the construction of the drying device is particularly simple. Furthermore, no components are necessary in the regenerator chamber for heating the adsorbent material, so that the volume of the regenerator chamber can be filled with adsorbent material particularly efficiently. The drying device according to the invention for regenerating an adsorber material by means of heating, in particular for reducing the content of a gas, especially carbon dioxide, in the adsorber material, preferably for use in a gas separation device, in particular a DAC system for removing carbon dioxide from ambient air, comprises a regenerator chamber for receiving the adsorber material and a discharge device connected to the regenerator chamber for removing gases released from the adsorber material, in particular carbon dioxide and/or water vapor, from the regenerator chamber. According to the invention, the drying device comprises a microwave generator which is microwave-conductingly connected to the regenerator chamber, so that the adsorber material in the regenerator chamber can be irradiated with microwaves, in particular heated by microwave energy. Advantageous further developments of the drying device according to the invention are listed in the dependent claims. In a first preferred embodiment, the microwave generator can be configured as a magnetron. A magnetron offers a particularly efficient and cost-effective way to generate microwaves. The power and frequency of a magnetron are largely determined by its mechanical design and therefore remain constant even over long periods of operation. For the present application, a constant frequency and power are sufficient. Microwave generation, which is why a magnetron can be used advantageously. In a further preferred embodiment, the magnetron can be configured with a central, cylindrical cathode and an anode radially surrounding the cathode, wherein an annular gap is formed between the cathode and the anode, and at least one cylindrical cavity in the anode is formed as a resonator parallel to the cathode, the resonator being connected to the annular gap by a slot-shaped opening along one longitudinal side of the resonator. This design enables advantageously simple man