Experimental testing on contaminant and moisture removal performance of silica gel desiccant wheel

Indoor air quality including temperature, humidity and cleanliness has attracted more and more attention recently. Rotary desiccant wheel system provides a good solution to improve indoor air quality due to it can realize both TVOC and moisture control. In order to analyze practical performance of desiccant wheel, in this paper an experimental setup is built and TVOC removal as well as moisture removal capacity of silica gel desiccant wheel is discussed. Performance of the wheel is evaluated by the removal efficiency of TVOC (Ec) and moisture (Ed). Experiments are firstly conducted under mild environmental condition with moderate temperature and humidity ratio to analyze effects of main parameters on TVOC removal efficiency, and it is found that Ec increases with the increasing of regeneration temperature, also under experimental condition the required regeneration air temperature range for TVOC removal fits with the regeneration temperature for dehumidification. Then under Shanghai summer condition the combined removal capacity of TVOC and moisture under the same regeneration air temperature is discussed. Results show that regeneration temperature higher than 100°C is recommended under experimental conditions to meet both needs from TVOC and humidity load. Also under this condition, dehumidification capacity of the system is greatly affected by ambient humidity ratio but keep fixed with changing of TVOCA concentration, and TVOC removal capacity is influenced both by ambient humidity condition and contaminant concentration.