Experimental Analysis of Composite Desiccant Material

Sopan M. Kadu1, Yash B. Fule2, Hemant S. Chaudhari3, Akshay P. Amrutkar4

1
Student of Mechanical Engineering at G.H.Raisoni Institute of Engineering and Management, Jalgaon
[email protected]
2
Student of Mechanical Engineering at G.H.Raisoni Institute of Engineering and Management, Jalgaon
[email protected]
3
Student of Mechanical Engineering at G.H.Raisoni Institute of Engineering and Management, Jalgaon
[email protected]
3
Student of Mechanical Engineering at G.H.Raisoni Institute of Engineering and Management, Jalgaon
[email protected]

Abstract: - The rotary desiccant dehumidifier is a vital Nowadays, there is still a big amount of needs in
component which can be used in an air conditioning air conditioning systems with environmental change and
system for reducing consumption of electrical energy. A improvement of living standards. However, air
solid desiccant wheel is used for removing moisture from conditioning systems have already accounted for a large
the air as air has more dangerous effects on human and part of energy consumption in the whole society, and then
material. This paper gives the idea about the material how to effectively increase the energy utilization ratio of
used in desiccant wheel known as desiccant. This paper is air conditioning system is crucial for sustainable
about the performance of the desiccant material development. Traditional air conditioning system operate
according to the moisture removal rate. The performance on vapor compression (VC) cycle, although theoretical
of desiccant wheel dehumidifier is increases by increasing COP (coefficient of performance) of the system can reach
the moisture removal rate and decreasing its reactivation to about 30, due to the existence of heat transfer difference
temperature. The main focus in this paper is to make a and other irreversible loss, actual COP only can reach to
desiccant material having high moisture removal rate and 3.5. Besides, such systems rely on electricity and the
decreasing reactivation temperature. Since the adopted refrigerant still make contributions to greenhouse
equilibrium adsorption capacity of the desiccant material emission. Rotary desiccant wheel air conditioning system,
is directly proportional to the relative humidity of air in which operates on the principle of adsorption
contact, the rate of moisture transfer decreases along the dehumidification and evaporative cooling, becomes one
width of the wheel. In this system, the sensible load was of the good alternatives to conventional VC systems. In
undertaken by natural cool source, and the latent load rotary wheel desiccant cooling system, desiccant material
was undertaken by rotary dehumidification wheel. (solid adsorbent) is impregnated into rotary desiccant
wheel, process air is pumped into desiccant wheel to
1. Introduction contact with desiccant material, due to the vapor
concentration difference between process air and
Rotary desiccant wheel cooling system operates desiccant material, water vapor within process air can be
on the principle of adsorption dehumidification and adsorbed by solid desiccant material, thus latent load of
evaporative cooling. The system adopts natural substance process air is removed and humidity ratio of the air is
as working fluid and can be driven by low grade thermal always extremely low. After that, an evaporative cooling
energy such as solar energy. Due to these merits, solar is adopted to handle the sensible load. With use of a
powered rotary desiccant wheel cooling system has dehumidification component and evaporative cooler,
recognized as one of good alternatives to conventional comfort air with decreased humidity ratio as well as
vapor compression air conditioning system and has temperature can be supplied to conditioned space in
obtained increasing interests in the past years. cooling season. In order to make desiccant material reuse,
a regeneration process in which air with high temperature
is adopted to desorb water vapor from desiccant material
operates in parallel with dehumidification process. On the
other hand, if regeneration air is adopted as the supply air
to the conditioned space, the system realizes function of
heating and humidification for heating season. Compared
with conventional VC system in heat pump mode, rotary
desiccant wheel cooling system not only can control the
temperature but also can realize humidification. It also can
be found that thermal energy is the main power to drive
solid desiccant cooling system and the adopted refrigerant
is natural working fluid. In other words, solid desiccant
Fig. System of Desiccant Wheel Dehumidifier
system is an energy-saving and environmentally friendly

1
air conditioning method. Based on these reasons,
numerous researches have been conducted in this field in
terms of desiccant material, cycle mode and so on as
concluded in previous works

2. Experimental Setup of Material Selection

Procedure: -
Silica: - The silica is the adsorbent material which
absorbs the humidity from the environment and used as
desiccant material for the desiccant humidifier system.

Fig Muffle Furnace

Crucible: - Crucible is used for putting the desiccant

material in it and it is good for heating purpose of the
desiccant material.

Fig. Silica

Calcium Chloride: - The calcium chloride is also the

adsorbent material which absorbs the humidity from the
environment and used as desiccant material for the
desiccant humidifier system.

Fig. Crucible with lead

Spatula: - Spatula is used for mixing two different

types of materials.

Fig. Calcium Chloride

Muffle Furnace: - Muffle furnace is a device which is

used for heating purpose. When the composite desiccant
material is prepared the muffle, furnace is used for the
reactivation of the desiccant material.

Fig. Spatula

Weighing Balance: - Weighing balance is used for

measuring the weight of the material.

2
 Fig. Sample of CM2

For CM3
1. To make this material take 3gm of silica gel and
2gm of calcium chloride.
2. First upon start weight balance and set it zero
with crucible.
Fig. Weighing Balance 3. Using with spatula accurately get 3 gm of silica
gel then mixed with 2 gm calcium chloride.
3. Procedure for Making of Desiccant 4. After that start furnace set it at 600C and place
Material: - this material in furnace for 20 min and maintain
that temperature.
For CM1
1. To make this material take 4gm of silica gel and
1gm of calcium chloride.
2. First upon start weight balance and set it zero
with crucible.
3. Using with spatula accurately get 4 gm of silica
gel then mixed with 1 gm calcium chloride.
4. After that start furnace set it at 600C and place
this material in furnace for 20 min and maintain
that temperature.
Fig. Sample of CM3

For CM4
1. To make this material take 2gm of silica gel and
3gm of calcium chloride.
2. First upon start weight balance and set it zero
with crucible.
3. Using with spatula accurately get 2 gm of silica
gel then mixed with 3 gm calcium chloride.
4. After that start furnace set it at 600C and place
this material in furnace for 20 min and maintain
that temperature.
Fig. Sample of CM1

For CM2
1. To make this material take 3.5gm of silica gel
and 1.5gm of calcium chloride.
2. First upon start weight balance and set it zero
with crucible.
3. Using with spatula accurately get 3.5 gm of
silica gel then mixed with 1.5 gm calcium
chloride.
4. After that start furnace set it at 600C and place
this material in furnace for 20 min and maintain
that temperature. Fig. Sample of CM4

For CM5

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 1. To make this material take 1gm of silica gel and Sr. No Initial Weight Final Weight
4gm of calcium chloride. 1 41.8 41.9
2. First upon start weight balance and set it zero 2 41.0 41.4
with crucible. 3 42.8 43.0
3. Using with spatula accurately get 1 gm of silica 4 42.9 43.2
gel then mixed with 4 gm calcium chloride. 5 41.3 41.6
4. After that start furnace set it at 600C and place Table. Experimentation of MAB Test
this material in furnace for 20 min and maintain
that temperature.
MAB Test
43.5
43
42.5
42
41.5
41
40.5
40
39.5
Fig. Sample of CM5 1 2 3 4 5

4. Testing and Results of Material After Initial Weight Final Weight

Making Different Samples: - Graph. Experimentation of MAB Test
After making different samples of composite desiccant From the above table the moisture adsorbed can be
material silica and calcium chloride it is measured on the easily defined by,
weighing balance and the weight is taken down which is
given below. MRR = Final weight – Initial Weight

Sr. No Initial Weight Final Weight The moisture removal rate for different compositions are
as follows: -
1 43.0 41.8
2 43.0 41.0 The moisture captured by the composite material
3 42.9 42.7 according to different composition is given in the table
below
4 43.1 42.9
5 43.0 41.7 SiO2 (gm) CaCl2 (gm) MRR Rate
Table. Experimentation of Reactivation Test 4 1 0.1
3.5 1.5 0.4
3 2 0.32
2 3 0.3
1 4 0.2
43 43 43.1 43 Table. Different Composition with MRR
42.9 42.9
42.7
MAB TEST
41.8 41.7
5
41
4 4 4
3.5
3 3 3
1 2 3 4 5 2 2 2
1.5
Initial Weight Final Weight 1 1 1
Graph. Experimentation of Reactivation Test 0.4 0.32 0.3 0.2
0 0.1
Then the desiccant material after reactivation in the 1 2 3 4 5
furnace is exposed to the forced flow of the air due to
which the moisture is removed from the air and it is CaCl2 (gm) SiO2 MRR Rate
adsorbed in the desiccant material. Because of moisture
adsorbed by desiccant material the weight of the Graph. Experimentation of MAB Test
composite material is increased which is as follows
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Conclusion: - adsorbent SiO2�xH2O�yCaCl2 with high
uptake of water from air,” Sci. China Ser. E, vol.
As the above results shows the following: - 46, no. 5, p. 551, 2003.
1. The CM2 has the highest moisture removal rate [10] D. La, Y. J. Dai, Y. Li, R. Z. Wang, and T. S.
than the other composite material CM1, CM3, Ge, “Technical development of rotary desiccant
CM4, CM5. dehumidification and air conditioning: A
2. The CM2 has the low reactivation temperature review,” Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev., vol. 14,
than the other. no. 1, pp. 130–147, 2010.
3. The composite material 2 has give the better [11] S. Misha, S. Mat, M. H. Ruslan, and K. Sopian,
result than other material for desiccant wheel “Review of solid / liquid desiccant in the drying
dehumidifier. applications and its regeneration methods,”
4. The CM3 has followed the moisture removal Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev., vol. 16, no. 7, pp.
rate than CM2 4686–4707, 2012.
5. The moisture removal rate of composite
[12] I. Yaningsih, A. T. Wijayanta, T. Miyazaki, and
material is given as: -
S. Koyama, “Analysis of heat and mass transfer
CM2 > CM3 > CM4 > CM5 > CM1 characteristics of desiccant dehumidifier system
with honeycomb configuration,” Appl. Therm.
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