A parametric analysis of periodic and coupled heat and mass diffusion in desiccant wheels

Solid sorbents are frequently adopted for gas component separation in the chemical industry. Over the last decades, solid sorbents have also been applied for the benefit of indoor air quality and humidity control in modern building design. Adsorptive rotors have been designed for the removal of water vapor, CO and VOCs from indoor environments. Although the adsorption of water vapor by a specific adsorbent (particularly silica-gel) has been extensively studied, a non-dimensional parametric analysis of humidity adsorption on a nonspecific hygroscopic material appears to be an original contribution to the literature. Accordingly, a mathematical model using non-dimensional parameters is built from energy and mass balances applied to elementary control volumes. The periodic nature of the cyclic adsorption/desorption processes requires an iterative solution, which is carried out by comparing temperature and mass distributions at the onset to the distributions by the end of the cycle.