Experimental and Theoretical Study of Liquid Desiccant Dehumidification System

Desiccant evaporation cooling technology is compatible with the environment and can be used in air conditioners in the indoor environment of the building. The characteristics of dehumidification column of the liquid desiccant evaporation cooling air conditioning system are introduced in this paper. A system was designed and manufactured for this purpose. Lithium chloride (LiCl), as liquid desiccant, and a packed bed column were used for the dehumidification. The described system includes a part for processed air simulation with various temperatures, humidities and flow rates. The effectiveness model is considered for predicting performance of the lithium chloride dehumidification system. For validation purposes, a comparison was made between experimental outlet data of the system and corresponding results of the experimental model that showed a satisfactory correlation i.e. increase in the mass transfer unit number (NTU) leads to better performance of the dehumidification system. In addition, factors leading to increase in NTUs are also investigated.