Chemical dehumidification of air by liquid desiccant: desiccant regeneration in a packed column with structured and random packing

This paper presents the experimental tests on desiccant regeneration carried out in a packed column with the hygroscopic solution H2O/LiBr. Two different packed columns were tested: random packing consisting of 1” Pall Ring elements and an ordinate column MELLAPACK 250Y. The experimental results are reported in terms of desiccant concentration increase, air side pressure drop and regeneration effectiveness. The experimental tests show that desiccant regeneration requires a temperature level around 40-50°C which can be easily obtained by using solar energy or heat recovered from an industrial process or from a thermal engine. The random packing shows higher regeneration performances, whereas the structured packing shows lower air side pressure drop. The experimental results are also compared against a one-dimensional simulation code of a packed column: a fair agreement is found between experiments and simulation.