The problem of non-isothermal absorption of vapour into freely expanding liquid sheets is addressed in this study. This is done in the context of four models that characterise the coupled heat and mass transfer in the liquid phase: a nonlinear model retaining the effect of sheet growth, an approximate model for slowly increasing mass flow rate in the sheet, a large Lewis number model and finally, a boundary layer model. These models have been numerically or analytically solved and applied to the comparative analysis of two different working pairs, LiBr-H2O and LiNO3-NH3, under conditions representative of adiabatic absorption in refrigeration systems. The limits of applicability of each model have been assessed and the sensitivity of the results to the sheet aperture angle, heat of absorption and initial subcooling has also been tested. For equal initial mass fraction and subcooling. the models indicate that Sherwood number and the rate of absorption in laminar expanding sheets for the LiNO3-NH3 solution are always superior to those for the LiBr-H2O solution. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.