Experimental Investigation on the Performance of Packed Tower for Regeneration of Liquid Desiccant.

El-samahy, Nader Mahmoud; Ahmed, Ahmed Ramzi Abbas; Awad, Mostafa Mostafa; Hamed, Ahmed Mohamed

doi:10.21608/bfemu.2020.95035

Experimental Investigation on the Performance of Packed Tower for Regeneration of Liquid Desiccant.

Document Type : Research Studies

Authors

¹ Mechanical Power Eng. Dept., Faculty of Engineering, Mansoura University

² Mechanical Power Engineering Department, University of Mansoura, Egypt

10.21608/bfemu.2020.95035

Abstract

In a liquid desiccant air conditioning system the regenerator is one of the essential components. The effectiveness of the regenerator directly influences the system performance. An experimental investigation on the performance of packed tower for regeneration of liquid desiccant is carried out. The experimental test unit has been designed and installed in the combustion Lab., Faculty of Engineering, Mansoura University, Egypt. A solution of calcium chloride is used as a working desiccant with a packing of burned clay pieces with a random shape, its porosity is about 0.22 and the average size and weight of the piece are about (90.25 cm³, 88.4 gram) respectively. The input variables used in the experiment are air inlet temperature, air flow rate and solution flow rate. The outlet parameters which are measured or calculated from the experimental results are air outlet temperature, air humidity ratio, desiccant solution outlet temperature and concentration. To illustrate the effect of air and liquid desiccant parameters on the outlet variables the experimental results are plotted. Based on these results, higher air inlet temperature (Tai = 60, 80, 100 and 120 °C) where the air inlet humidity ratio (0.0127, 0.0123, 0.0114 and 0.0130 kg/kg_da) results in higher average air humidity ratio (0.0206, 0.0232, 0.0249 and 0.0334 kg/kg_da) and the %age change of desiccant solution concentration (0.63, 1.13, 1.95 and 2.25 %) respectively. And higher air flow rate (Ma = 0.0252, 0.0529, 0.0659 and 0.0683 m³/s) where the air inlet humidity ratio (0.0147, 0.0177, 0.0178 and 0.0184 kg/kg_da) results in higher average air humidity ratio (0.0245, 0.0293, 0.0302 and 0.0312 kg/kg_da) and the %age change of desiccant solution concentration (0.78, 2.21, 2.57 and 3.01 %) respectively. Increase in solution flow rate (Ms = 1, 2 and 3 LPM) where the air inlet humidity ratio (0.0175, 0.0151 and 0.0148 kg/kg_da) results in lower average air humidity ratio (0.0278, 0.0274 and 0.0267 kg/kg_da) and the %age change of desiccant solution concentration (2.86, 2.58 and 2.23 %) respectively.

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