Experimental investigation of heat and moisture transfer performance of CaCl2/H2O-SiO2 nanofluid in a gas–liquid microporous hollow fiber membrane contactor

Abstract

In this study, aqueous solution of CaCl2/SiO2 nanoparticles has been used as a desiccant in a gas–liquid hollow fiber membrane (HFM) air dehumidifier contactor system. The heat and mass (H/M) transfer properties HFM energy exchanger with CaCl2/H2O-SiO2 as desiccant solution studied experimentally for first time. Effects of different parameters on H/M transfer characteristics of system, including the nanoparticle concentration, liquid flow rate and liquid temperature were examined experimentally. The experiments arranged for desiccant temperatures of 20 °C and 26 °C, desiccant solutions of 0, 1%wt and 2%wt concentration and flow rates of 1.1, 1.25, 1.4 and 1.7 ml/s. The results indicated that the influence of particles on moisture removal rate is the greatest for the conditions of highest solution temperature and the highest particle. By introducing nanofluid solution as liquid desiccant in system the enhancing effect of reducing desiccant temperature on moisture removal lessens and declined to zero by increasing the solution flow rate with a high descending rate. For 2%wt nanoparticle concentration by 53% increase of absorbent flow rate, the value of temperature effectiveness reduced by 30%. This justifies adiabatic application of hollow fiber membrane systems with nanofluid desiccant.