Non-equilibrium thermodynamic analysis of coupled heat and moisture transfer across a membrane

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Non-equilibrium thermodynamics theory is used to analyze the transmembrane heat and moisture transfer process, which can be observed in a membrane-type total heat exchanger (THX). A theoretical model is developed to simulate the coupled heat and mass transfer across a membrane, total coupling equations and the expressions for the four characteristic parameters including the heat transfer coefficient, molar-driven heat transfer coefficient, thermal-driven mass transfer coefficient, and mass transfer coefficient are derived and provided, with the Onsager’s reciprocal relation being confirmed to verify the rationality of the model. Calculations are conducted to investigate the effects of the membrane property and air state on the coupling transport process. The results show that the four characteristic parameters directly affect the transmembrane heat and mass fluxes: the heat and mass transfer coefficients are both positive, meaning that the temperature difference has a positive contribution to the heat transfer and the humidity ratio difference has a positive contribution to the mass transfer. The molar-driven heat transfer and thermal-driven mass transfer coefficients are both negative, implying that the humidity ratio difference acts to reduce the heat transfer and the temperature difference works to diminish the mass transfer. The mass transfer affects the heat transfer by 1%–2% while the heat transfer influences the mass transfer by 7%–14%. The entropy generation caused by the temperature difference-induced heat transfer is much larger than that by the humidity difference-induced mass transfer.