New mass transfer performance data of a cross-flow liquid desiccant dehumidification system

This paper presents new mass transfer performance data of a cross-flow liquid desiccant dehumidification system using a structured packed tower. The structured packing consists of cross-corrugated cellulose paper sheets with a surface area per unit volume ratio of 608 m2 m−3. The liquid desiccant, viz. calcium chloride, flows through the pad from top to bottom, while the air flows horizontally making it a cross-flow configuration. The experimental dehumidification effectiveness from the present study was compared with the widely used Chung's correlation (although developed for counter flow arrangement, as opposed to cross-flow in the current study) and Liu et al.'s correlation. A new empirical correlation was developed for the dehumidification effectiveness, which fitted the experimental data to within ±10%. The effect of varying air and solution inlet conditions and flow rates on the system performance was also quantified in the paper.