An experimental study on the dehumidification performance of a counter flow liquid desiccant dehumidifier

This paper presents an experimental study on the dehumidification performance of a counter flow liquid desiccant dehumidifier using structured packing with a high specific surface area (650 m2 m−3). New empirical equations correlating the moisture effectiveness and the enthalpy effectiveness with critical inlet parameters are developed, which can be used to conveniently predict the performance of a similar dehumidifier. The empirical correlations are validated using the experimental data of this study, and compared with the experimental data reported by another researcher. The deviations are within ±10% for the former and within ±15% for the latter. The performance of the present type of packing is also compared with other two types of structured packing available in literature. The influences of the inlet conditions of the air and the desiccant as well as the packing height on the dehumidification performance are also investigated and compared with the results reported in previous studies.