Effect of degassing on the stability and reversibility of glycerol/ZSM-5 zeolite system

Gaseous phase plays roles in a liquid/nanoporous system during application that adequate attention should be paid to the gaseous effects and the nanoscale gas-liquid interaction. In the present study, two glycerol/ZSM-5 zeolite systems with different amount of residual gas are compared by performing a series of experiments. Influences of loading rate, as well as system temperature on the gas-liquid interactions, are studied. Results show that vacuum degassing pretreatment is required to obtain a reversible and stable energy absorption system. Moreover, the influence of gas on a liquid/nanoporous system is found to mainly act on the liquid outflow. After the routine vacuum degassing pretreatment, the residual air that is left in the nanopores is around 0.9014 nm-3 per unit specific pore volume, as presented in the current study. During compression, the existing gas left in the nanochannel tends to gather into the gas cluster, which further promotes the liquid outflow during unloading. However, excessively dissolved gas may reduce the driving force for liquid outflow by breaking the continuity of the liquid molecular chain in nanochannel. Consequently, small bubbles as a labile factor in the system must be excluded for the steady use of the system. This work sheds some light on the effect of the amount of residual gas on the liquid/nanoporous system and gives guidance on the pretreatment of the liquid/nanoporous material mixture before encapsulating. © 2018 by the authors.