Systems and methods for efficient heating of sorbents in an indoor air scrubber

A system for regenerating a sorbent material of a scrubber configured for scrubbing a contaminant from indoor air from an enclosed space comprising:

• a sorbent material portion (SMP) including a sorbent material, the SMP configured to be cycled between at least two operational phases including:
• an adsorption phase for adsorbing a contaminant from indoor air, and
• a regeneration phase configured for releasing at least a portion of the contaminant adsorbed by the sorbent material during the adsorption phase thereof via temperature swing adsorption into a purging airflow, the purging airflow configured to flow over and/or through the sorbent material during the regeneration cycle;
• a heater configured to heat at least one of the sorbent material and the purging airflow to a regeneration temperature;
• a heat exchanger configured to transfer heat from the purging airflow exiting the SMP after flowing over and/or through the sorbent material to an incoming fresh purging airflow;
• an air inlet configured to receive the purging airflow at a first temperature, and
• a conduit configurable during the regeneration phase only to establish a closed loop or shunt arrangement with the SMP,
• wherein:
• the system is configured to operate in one operational phase at a time;
• the received purging airflow is heated directly and/or indirectly by the heater from the first temperature to at least the regeneration temperature, and
• the conduit is configurable to establish the closed loop or shunt arrangement with the SMP such that during at least an initial phase of the regeneration phase, the purging airflow exiting from the SMP is directed back to an inlet of the SMP to be flowed over and/or through the sorbent material again.

A system for regenerating a sorbent material of a scrubber configured for scrubbing a contaminant from indoor air from an enclosed space comprising:

• a sorbent material portion (SMP) including a sorbent material, the SMP configured to be cycled between at least two operational phases including:
• an adsorption phase for adsorbing a contaminant from indoor air, and
• a regeneration phase configured for releasing at least a portion of the contaminant adsorbed by the sorbent material during the adsorption phase thereof via temperature swing adsorption into a purging airflow;
• and
• a shunt conduit configurable in a closed loop arrangement with the SMP, such that during at least a first phase of the regeneration phase, the purging airflow exiting from the SMP is directed back to an inlet of the SMP to be flowed over and/or through the sorbent material again,
• wherein during a second phase of the regeneration phase, the shunt conduit is closed off by one or more dampers and the purging air flow is exhausted to the outdoor environment.