Experimental Study on dehumidification/regeneration of Liquid Desiccant: LiBr Solution

The growing demand for air conditioning has caused a significant increase in demand for energy resources. The traditional commercial, non natural working fluids, like CFC, HCFC and HFC result in both ozone depletion and global warming emission of CO2. The use of hygroscopic salts in direct contact with moist air provides an attractive alternative to conventional cooling systems. The liquid desiccant can substitute the dangerous fluids. The main operations in Liquid Desiccant Cooling System (LDCS) are dehumidification and regeneration. This paper presents an experimental study of dehumidification/regeneration processes using LiBr as liquid desiccant in direct contact with the air at different operating conditions. An analysis of the mass transfer is made in order to prove is this material is the best liquid desiccant for LDCS. Experimental results showed the effect of air conditions on mass transfer. It can be seen that LiBr is able to absorb moisture and can be regenerated at low temperature.