About this Abstract |
Meeting |
2023 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
Symposium
|
Advanced Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage 2023
|
Presentation Title |
The Energy Saving Potential of Thermo-responsive Desiccants for Air Dehumidification |
Author(s) |
Yi Zeng, Jason Woods, Shuang Cui |
On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Shuang Cui |
Abstract Scope |
The desiccant wheel is a promising technology for energy-efficient humidity control. However, its overall efficiency—hindered by the desiccant materials’ properties—remains low because traditional desiccants have a single isotherm regardless of their adsorption temperature. Thermo-responsive materials have been proposed to break this fixed affinity to water vapor, with drastically different adsorption isotherms depending on temperature. Its potential for improving dehumidification efficiency, however, has not been addressed. In this paper, we model the potential of a thermo-responsive interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) desiccant with temperature-dependent adsorption isotherms for energy-efficient dehumidification via a validated transient desiccant wheel model for humidity control of buildings. Thermo-responsive desiccants can improve the dehumidification performance due to their thermo-responsive switchable hydrophilicity below/above the lower critical solution temperature. Our analysis shows that thermo-responsive IPN desiccants can potentially reduce energy consumption by up to 30% compared to silica gels. The savings depend strongly on the critical temperature of the thermo-responsive desiccant. |
Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
Keywords |
Energy Conversion and Storage, Modeling and Simulation, Polymers |