Energy & Fuels, Vol.23, No.1, 457-463, 2009
Regeneration of Silica Gel Using High-intensity Ultrasonic under Low Temperatures
This paper presents the experimental study on the regeneration of silica gel using ultrasonics under low-temperature conditions. Four kinds of regeneration temperatures, including 35, 45, 55, and 65 degrees C, were chosen to investigate the new regeneration technology. The temperature and humidity of ambient air were kept at 24 +/- 0.5 degrees C and 75 +/- 5%, respectively, during the experiments. The ultrasonics used for this study was of 40 W in power and 25.6 kHz in frequency. The actual regeneration period for each experimental condition was set as 160 min, during which the weight decrement of silica gel was recorded every 8 min. The experimental results showed that ultrasonics could contribute to improving the regeneration efficiency of silica gel under low-temperature conditions. The role of ultrasonics in the regeneration appears to become more important under lower regeneration temperatures and a higher moisture ratio in silica gel. The study indicates that ultrasonics can help decrease the regeneration temperature of silica gel and, hence, bring about chances of energy conservation in industrial applications.