Experimental Investigation on the Performance of Radial Flow Desiccant Bed Using Activated Alumina (Dept.M)

In the present work, an experimental investigation on the performance of radial flow desiccant bed using activated alumina has been carried out. A weight of 39.860 kg of spherical particles of the activated alumina with an average diameter of 4mm is used to form a hollow cylindrical shape bed with length of 90 cm and outer and inner diameters of 27.8 and 10.8 cm, respectively, to obtain radial flow of the air through the bed. In the present study, the weight of the bed is measured instantaneously using an accurate load cell to determine the adsorbed and desorbed water during the adsorption and desorption p rocesses, respectively. The experimental tests are carried out at different inlet air and initial bed conditions. Values of temperature and humidity of the air at inlet and exit of the bed are measured. Air inlet, and exit conditions are plotted on the psychrometric chart to demonstrate the transient variation of air conditions and the bed performance. In this study, effect of bed pre-cooling on the system performance is highlighted. The obtained results show that air with inlet humidity ranging from 18.7 to 12.5 g/kg could be dehumidified, using activated alumina, to a lower level of humidity (1.2 g/kg) when the temperature of the inlet air and bed temperature equal 32.5 °C.