Investigation on recirculated regenerative solid desiccant-assisted dehumidification system: Impact of system configurations and desiccant materials

Desiccant wheels (DWs) have emerged as highly promising alternatives for achieving efficient dehumidification, low-carbon and energy-saving initiatives. The present work aimed to determine the optimal system configuration for dehumidifying enclosed spaces using a DW-based system with the recirculated regeneration of process air based on modelling investigation, which has been validated with experiments. Three distinct configurations of this DW-based system were compared. The impact of operational parameters and desiccant materials on the system dehumidification capacity (Dtot) and energy efficiency was thoroughly analyzed. The results indicate that the posterior diversion of regeneration air was most preferable for improved dehumidification performance, enhancing the Dtot and the improvement of moisture removal capacity (ΔMRC) by 3.7 % and 42.8 %, respectively. Moreover, posterior diversion emerged as a compelling option for energy conservation as it reduced the energy consumption by 13.3 %. Furthermore, six different desiccant materials were compared, and it was found that the synthesized metal silicate material was most suitable for the proposed systems, improving the optimal ΔMRC by 32.2 %. Furthermore, a strong correlation was identified between the maximum adsorption capacity and the proposed system performance. Overall, these findings aid in developing a promising method for enclosed space dehumidification and cooling.