Chemical dehumidification by liquid desiccants: theory and experiment

Chemical dehumidification of air by a liquid desiccant in a packed tower has been investigated both theoretically and experimentally for air conditioning and industrial applications. A computer model of a packed tower, able to determine heat and mass transfer between air and desiccant, has been developed and a parametrical study was carried out considering the solutions H2O/LiBr and H2O/CaCl2 to determine the optimum operative conditions. An experimental apparatus including a packed tower and a desiccant regenerator has been described together with experimental results: a set of 70 experimental runs with H2O/LiBr. Data have been reported and compared against the results of the computer code simulations. Science Ltd and llR, All rights reserved.