A mechanical vapor compression regeneration system of potassium formate solution: Model development, experimental verification and performance prediction

Abstract

Low energy consumption is the regeneration goal of high concentration potassium formate (KCOOH) solution, which can reduce freezing point while improve moisture absorption when being used as the antifreeze or liquid desiccant. This paper proposed a mechanical vapor compression (MVC) regeneration system, which can greatly reduce energy consumption when dealing with high concentration solution. The developed models of MVC regeneration system were in good agreement with the experiments, whose relative deviation between the model and experimental values is from −13.49 to 10.18 %, to predict and analyze the regeneration performance of KCOOH solution. Experimental results shows that the MVC regeneration system had still a high COP (12.22–16.30) when dealing with the high concentration solution. Performance prediction displays that the optimal heat transfer temperature difference was from 7 to 11 °C. Research of this paper provides the technical support for the design optimization and engineering application of MVC regeneration system.