Recent Developments in Liquid Desiccant-Based Cooling Systems

M Mujahid Rafique, P Gandhidasan, Nasiru I Ibrahim, and Haitham M Bahaidarah, King Fahd University of Petroleum and
Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Ó 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Introduction

The increase in population, technology advancement, and living standards has increased the total energy demand of the world
significantly in last few decades. Almost 15% of world’s total energy is consumed by air conditioning systems to provide thermal
comfort conditions and this demand is increasing rapidly (Rafique et al., 2015). The statistics prove that the performance of an indi-
vidual is more effective in conditioned space as compared to the untreated environment. Furthermore, people spend most of the
time in confined environments which increases the requirement of thermal comfort, both in the residential and commercial sectors.
The air conditioning system is required to provide fresh air to the occupied zone by controlling the air humidity, temperature, and
contaminants by removing or supplying moisture and/or heat from or to the conditioned zone (Energy Information Administra-
tion, 2004). Along with the fast depletion of primary energy resources, the use of conventional air conditioning system also causes
the emission of greenhouse gases such as CO2. This emission of CO2 is causing an increase in the temperature of the earth’s atmo-
sphere via the greenhouse effect and causing many environmental disturbances and is becoming a major cause of global warming
(Rafique et al., 2016a,b).
The above-mentioned drawbacks of conventional systems arise the need of alternative technology which is not only energy effi-
cient but should be environmental friendly as well. Desiccant cooling is a suitable and cost-effective alternative which provides
better thermal comfort conditions. This technology is cost effective, energy efficient, and ecofriendly. It will decrease the dependence
on primary energy by an effective utilization of alternative, clean, free, and abundant sources of energy. The desiccant cooling is
a thermally operated technology and is mostly used for dehumidification and cooling applications. Desiccant systems can either
be solid or liquid depending upon the type of desiccant material used. The use of liquid desiccant material is advantageous as these
can be regenerated at a lower temperature (60–75 C), which makes the use of low-grade thermal energy resources more feasible
(Niassar and Gilani, 2009; Rafique et al., 2016c).
In this book chapter, liquid desiccant cooling systems have been discussed from the prospectus of its recent developments,
working principle, and future research and development work needed. The pros and cons of the technology have also been dis-
cussed in the present work.

Liquid Desiccant Cooling System

Desiccant cooling is used as an alternative to conventional cooling system. These systems operate without the use of any refrigerant
and control the latent as well as sensible load independently which helps in better control of moisture and improve air quality.
Thermal energy required for regeneration of these units can be supplied from different heat sources such as solar, biomass, waste
heat, etc.

Working Principle of Liquid Desiccant System

The issues of higher consumption of primary energy resources and environmental concerns related to cooling systems can overcome
by the use of liquid desiccant technology. A typical liquid desiccant cooling system consists of an absorber and a regenerator. Fig. 1
shows a basic liquid desiccant cooling system.
In basic cycle of operation, air and cooled concentrated liquid desiccant solution flow in counter flow direction through the
packed bed into the absorber. Different packing materials and arrangements are used for better heat and mass transfer between
air and desiccant. The liquid desiccant solution becomes diluted as it absorbs water vapor from the air and flows to the regenerator.
The weak solution is regenerated in the regenerator using a heat source. During regeneration process moisture is transferred to a scav-
enging air stream from the weak desiccant solution. The regenerated and hot desiccant solution is passed through a cooling medium
and returns to the absorber for the completion of cycle. Some heat exchangers are often included into the cycle for external heating
and cooling. A typical cycle has been represented on psychrometric chart as shown in Fig. 2.

Pros and Cons of Liquid Desiccant Systems

Benefits
Liquid desiccant technology has a number of benefits over other conventional systems such as no condensation on interior surface
of the equipment, which eliminates the growth of different fungi and bacteria and avoids different health issues. This capability of
liquid desiccant systems benefits different industries including medicines, food storage and processing, laboratories, etc. A summary
of few other advantages of liquid desiccant cooling are as follows.

Encyclopedia of Sustainable Technologies, Volume 4 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-409548-9.10146-0 441

442 Recent Developments in Liquid Desiccant-Based Cooling Systems

Fig. 1 Basic configuration of liquid desiccant system.

Fig. 2 A typical cycle has been represented on psychrometric chart.

l The liquid desiccants can be regenerated at lower temperature, which makes the use of low-grade energy sources feasible.
l The entire unit is more compact and small.
l If heat source is not available at some time, concentrated liquid desiccant can be stored and used.
l It lowers the use of electrical power and has high-moisture removal capacity.
l No freezing or frosting occurs at lower temperature as liquid desiccant materials are good antifreeze.
l The latent and sensible loads are controlled independently.

Limitations
Along with the above-mentioned advantages, liquid desiccant systems have the following drawbacks as well:
l The corrosive nature of liquid desiccant materials can damage the system.
l Health of occupants can be affected due to any carryover of liquid desiccant with process air. Mist eliminators are needed.
l Larger pumping power is required in order to pump large volume of liquid desiccant solution.
l Some liquid desiccant can also face the problem of crystallization.
l The initial cost for the system is higher.
 Recent Developments in Liquid Desiccant-Based Cooling Systems 443

Need for Better Control of Latent Load

A building’s air conditioning load comes from variety of sources as shown in Fig. 3. Thermal comfort, energy efficiency, and indoor
air quality are the main concerns while designing a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning system for the building. The thermal
comfort conditions vary depending on different activities. Generally, in order to provide thermal comfort conditions to the
occupants, an air conditioning system should maintain indoor air temperature of 18–26 C and relative humidity of 40%–70%
(Armstrong, 2008).
The latent load is controlled by conventional vapor compression cooling systems by the process of condensation. The air is
cooled below its dew point temperature to remove the moisture and then reheated again to desired supply temperature. A consider-
able amount of energy is wasted during this process of overcooling and reheating, which lowers the system overall COP. More over
process of condensation creates an environment for the growth of harmful fungi and bacteria.
The latent load can also be controlled by using some absorbents as used in desiccant cooling systems. A desiccant cooling unit
controls the latent and sensible load independently with desiccant dehumidifies controlling the latent load and an evaporative
cooler or some other cooling device controls the temperature of supply air. In this way both loads are controlled individually
and efficiently. Earlier, these systems were only used for drying applications. But the need of ecofriendly and energy efficient cooling
device has introduced the desiccant technology as an alternative cooling. A summary of different approaches used for humidity
control are shown in Table 1 (Advantix Systems, n.d.).

Research and Development

Although a lot of ideas and efforts have been put for the research and development of liquid desiccant cooling systems but it is
relatively at basic level. The use of alternative and renewable energy resources and other environmental concerns are the main

Fig. 3 Components of building load.

444 Recent Developments in Liquid Desiccant-Based Cooling Systems

Table 1 Basic approaches to humidity control (Advantix Systems, n.d.)

Approach Technology Main characteristics

Dedicated outside air system l Overcools as above, has packaged hot gas reheat l Mature technology
l Specialized coils to allow greater moisture removal l Cost of operation is high
l Driving source of energy is electricity or natural gas
l Low-energy storage capacity
l Energy inefficient because of overcooling and reheating
Solid desiccant l Hygroscopic chemistry adsorbs moisture l Developing technology
l Heat addition necessitates precooling and/or l Cost of operation is low
postcooling of air l High regeneration temperature
l Driving source of energy is low-grade energy such as
solar, waste heat, etc.
l High energy storage capacity
l Require more additional cooling
l No overcooling and reheating
Liquid desiccant l Hygroscopic chemistry absorbs moisture l Developing technology
l Cools and dries air simultaneously l Cost of operation is low
l Low regeneration temperature
l Driving source of energy is low-grade energy such as
solar, waste heat, etc.
l High energy storage capacity
l Require less additional cooling
l No overcooling and reheating

driving forces, which are encouraging the researchers and scientists to make this technology more efficient. Keeping in view of the
importance and future prospects of this technology many efforts have been made for the development of this technology all over the
world.

Developments in Liquid Desiccant Materials

The performance and development of desiccant cooling systems strongly depends on the used desiccant materials. The thermo-
physical properties of these materials affect the performance of the system significantly. The key parameter for the selection of
a desiccant material is that it should have the ability to absorb and hold large amount of water vapor. It should be desorbed easily
by providing heat input.
The properties such as density, vapor pressure, etc. of different desiccant materials can be enhanced by mixing two or more mate-
rials together. The mixed desiccants are termed as composite desiccants. Many researchers have studied the properties of composite
desiccant materials in order to study their effects on dehumidification performance of the system.
Many efforts have been made for research and development of desiccant materials. Aristov et al. (1996) have used CaCl2, LiBr,
SrCl2, and NaSO4 to mix with silica gel and developed a composite desiccant material with desired properties. Liu and Wang (2003)
developed SiO2$xH2O$yCaCl2 as a composite desiccant material by mixing CaCl2 and silica gel and studied mixture ratio and pore
structure. Along with other enhancement, it was found that material can be regenerated in the range of 60–80 C. Jia et al. (2006)
investigated a composite of silica gel–CaCl2 and LiCl (lithium chloride) and found that moisture removal capacity of composite
desiccant material has been enhanced and regeneration temperature is lowered.

Developments in Liquid Desiccant Dehumidifiers

Most of the research on liquid desiccant cooling systems began in the early 1990s. Due to the advantages of high dehumidification
capacities and energy storage, many developments are focused on liquid sorption applications. Different modifications have been
proposed in to the basic liquid desiccant cooling cycle for its performance enhancement. Some of the developments include inner
cooled dehumidifiers, rotary dehumidifiers, membrane type heat and mass exchangers, and multistage dehumidifiers.
Jiang et al. (2004) studied the concept of multistage desiccant dehumidification system. It is developed by combining multiple
dehumidifiers in series as shown in Fig. 4. Liquid desiccant solution flows from one dehumidifier to other and for better perfor-
mance cooling is provided between each stage. This new concept overcomes the disadvantage of single-stage dehumidification
system. A double-effect liquid desiccant unit with higher concentration gradients can reduce the energy consumption by about
0.06 quads relative to a conventional system in a commercial building.
Lowenstein et al. (2006) developed a compact and novel liquid desiccant cooling system, which could be installed on rooftop
and this reduces the installation cost of the solar collectors. The schematic of the system is shown in Fig. 5. This system requires low
flooding rates, which avoid the carry over, high-pressure drop, and other problems associated with liquid desiccant dehumidifier
requiring high flooding rates. This system has higher COP and produces greater cooling effects with dry air.
 Recent Developments in Liquid Desiccant-Based Cooling Systems 445

Fig. 4 Schematic diagram of the multistage dehumidifier (Jiang et al., 2004).

Fig. 5 Schematic and operation of a low-flow rate liquid desiccant system (Lowenstein et al., 2006).
446 Recent Developments in Liquid Desiccant-Based Cooling Systems

Fig. 6 Schematic of solar-driven liquid desiccant air conditioning system (Crofoot and Harrison, 2012).

The cooling load demand of the building generally coincides with the availability of solar energy. Crofoot and Harrison (2012)
developed a system using low-flow parallel plate liquid desiccant cooling system and an array of 0.95 m2 evacuated tube solar
collector. Fig. 6 shows the configuration of the build solar-driven liquid desiccant air conditioning system. The system was tested
for 5 days. The results showed a thermal COP of about 0.47 with cooling load of 12.3 kW. Moreover, it was expected that better
performance of the system can be achieved in hot and humid conditions.
Al-Abidi et al. (2013) investigated a liquid desiccant cooling system with energy provided by triplex tube heat exchanger. A phase
change material was used in the middle tube of heat exchanger for the energy storage. The melting process of thermal energy storage
was studied using triplex concentric tube heat exchanger containing phase change material for storage of thermal energy. The sche-
matic of experimental setup used for testing is shown in Fig. 7.
Hellmann and Grossman (1995) reported a liquid desiccant cooling system, which can utilize low-grade energy effectively. The
system was called as dehumidifier–evaporator–regenerator cycle and is shown in Fig. 8. It operates at atmospheric pressure. The
results of simulation show that with a cooling capacity of 21.5 kW, the system can achieve a COP of 0.43.

Developments in Liquid Desiccant Regenerators

The heat energy is used as input energy source in the regenerator of liquid desiccant cooling system; this heat can come from
different sources such as solar, biomass waste heat, or other low-grade energy source. The amount of required energy input is
a very important parameter as it will define the size of regenerator and overall performance of the system. Several investigations
had been carried out for the regeneration of liquid desiccant cooling systems.
The regenerator with packed bed configuration is mostly used for regeneration of liquid desiccant solution. These operate similar
to packed bed dehumidifier but packed media is flooded with hot desiccant solution with air flowing across or through the packed
bed. In this way water is taken by the flowing air and regenerated desiccant solution can be used in dehumidifier again.
As of packed bed dehumidifier, a packed bed regenerator also requires high-flow rate of desiccant solution. This will require high
pumping power, which correspondingly reduces the overall performance of the system. The high-flow rate will also cause droplet
carry over. To overcome this limitation, an internally heated regenerator can be used instead of packed bed regenerator. Internally
heated regenerator reduces the pumping power and overcome the problem of desiccant carry over.
A new regeneration method for liquid desiccant cooling systems was investigated by Li et al. (2011) called as electrodialysis
(ED). Photovoltaic cells were used to provide electric power in this method. ED is based on transport of ions through the selective
 Recent Developments in Liquid Desiccant-Based Cooling Systems 447

Fig. 7 Schematic diagrams of experimental setup (Al-Abidi et al., 2013).

membranes under the influence of an electrical field. The positive and negative charged ions inside the electro-dialyzer cells move
toward the oppositely charged poles. The flow of ions through membranes causes a rise in the ions concentration in the concentrate
compartments and fall into the dilute compartment. By this way, both the concentrated desiccant solution and pure water can be
acquired.
During regeneration process heat is also transferred to the air along with mass transfer, which increases the temperature of the air.
This causes the parasitic loss, which needs to be minimized. Due to this loss, COP of single-stage regenerators is less than unity. The
removed water vapor can be used again for further regeneration in next stage in a multistage regeneration setup. These systems can
give a COP higher than unity. Mehta (2013) reported a COP of more than unity for a two-stage regeneration of liquid desiccant
system in which team generated in high-temperature regenerator was used in low-temperature regenerator for heating intermediate
concentration liquid desiccant solution.

Developments in Hybrid Liquid Desiccant Air Conditioning Systems

In hybrid systems, liquid desiccant handles the dehumidification process separately while the conventional air conditioning
system carries the sensible heat load. Hybrid liquid desiccant air conditioning (HLDAC) system consists of three main parts
and these are the dehumidifier (liquid desiccant material), the regenerator, and the cooling unit (Mohammad et al., 2013), as
shown in Fig. 9. Classification of the hybrid desiccant cooling systems is based on the type of cooling units used to further
cool the dehumidified air. Air temperature and humidity are two parameters that mainly determine the selection of the cooling
unit. In a typical HLDAC system, a low-energy source such as waste heat or solar heat is supplied to the regenerator and regen-
erates the weak desiccant solution. The strong solution is then entered into the dehumidifier where it absorbs water vapor from
process air (humid air) passing across the dehumidifier. The resulting hot and dry air is then directed to any of the sensible cool-
ing system such as vapor compression unit, vapor absorption unit, direct or indirect evaporative cooler where its temperature is
lowered.
448 Recent Developments in Liquid Desiccant-Based Cooling Systems

Fig. 8 The dehumidifier–evaporator–regenerator cycle (Hellmann and Grossman, 1995).

Fig. 9 Types of hybrid liquid desiccant air conditioning systems (Mohammad et al., 2013).

Hybrid Liquid Desiccant–Vapor Compression System

This hybrid system consists of a liquid desiccant unit and conventional vapor compression cycle. Literature survey, characteristics,
configurations, and performances of different types of HLDAC systems based on vapor compression cycle have been carried out and
reported in detail. Yamaguchi et al. (2011) studied the performance of a hybrid liquid desiccant air conditioning system consisting
of a conventional liquid desiccant system and a vapor compression heat pump. LiCl was used as the solution in the
 Recent Developments in Liquid Desiccant-Based Cooling Systems 449

Fig. 10 Schematic of HLDAC system with integrated absorber/evaporator and regenerator/condenser (Yamaguchi et al., 2011).

dehumidification unit. The main feature of the system is that the absorber and regenerator are integrated with the evaporator and
condenser, respectively, as shown in Fig. 10. Therefore, heat rejected by the condenser is used to regenerate the weak solution. The
results showed that the COP of the system reached 2.71, which could be higher by improving the compressor isentropic efficiency.
Chen et al. (2014) studied the performance of a novel hybrid vapor compression–desiccant cooling system where the heat
rejected by the condenser was used for regeneration of the liquid desiccant, as shown in Fig. 11. LiCl solution was used as the

Fig. 11 Schematic of HLDAC system using heat rejected by condenser for regeneration (Chen et al., 2014).
450 Recent Developments in Liquid Desiccant-Based Cooling Systems

Fig. 12 Schematic of a novel HLDAC system with subcooler (She et al., 2016).

desiccant and the results indicate that the COP of the system was 13.6dwhich is 116.1% higher than that of the conventional
system under different operation conditions. They later on performed a real-time investigation on the performance of the new
hybrid system under a typical summer condition experimentally and theoretically based on modified NTU-Le model for the dehu-
midification process.
She et al. (2016) proposed a hybrid liquid desiccant-refrigeration system shown in Fig. 12. In this system, evaporative cooling of
dry air dehumidified by the liquid desiccant is used to subcool the refrigerant for better performance.
They considered two different airflow patterns (close-pattern and open-pattern) to achieve optimum configurations of the
hybrid refrigeration system. The results indicate that both flow patterns show higher COP than the conventional refrigeration
system, with the maximum improvement of 12.3% and 9.8%, respectively.

Hybrid Liquid Desiccant Evaporative Cooling System

Compared to conventional unit, liquid desiccant-based evaporative cooling system consumes reasonably less electrical energy and it
reduces the number of discomfort hours inside the conditioned space. The application of desiccant-based dehumidification will
allow the effective use of direct as well as indirect evaporative coolers in hot and humid climates. Buker and Riffat (2015) presented
a review on solar-assisted liquid desiccant evaporative cooling technology focusing on the recent developments.
Kim et al. (2013) studied the performance of a hybrid liquid desiccant evaporative cooling system, which uses 100% outdoor air
as shown in Fig. 13. They investigated the impact of the liquid desiccant system on the operations of both direct and indirect
evaporative coolers using TRNSYS simulation. They predicted the energy saving potential of the system through a series of energy
simulations and compared with a conventional variable air volume (VAV) system. Results indicate that the hybrid system consumes
51% less cooling energy compared with the conventional VAV system. They attributed this to the effect of water-side free cooling in
maintaining the absorber temperature of the liquid desiccant system. The solar water heating system also contributed to the reduc-
tion in operating energy.
In a later study (Kim et al., 2014), annual operating energy savings of the same system over the conventional VAV system is
reported to be 82% during summer, and 54% and 37% in winter and intermediate season operations, respectively. The authors
also investigated the energy conservation benefit of water-side free cooling in the hybrid system experimentally. The results
show that the required water temperature for cooling the desiccant solution is higher than the conventional cooling water supply
temperature, which is about 22–27 C. Again, in recent study (Kim et al., 2016), the authors retrofitted the existing system by (1)
using Maisotesenko-cycle or a dew point indirect evaporative cooler in place of the indirect and direct evaporative coolers and (2)
adding a membrane enthalpy exchanger before the liquid desiccant unit. The simulation results showed that the first retrofit
enhances the cooling capacity and thermal COP. But the requirement of heat energy input for regenerating the desiccant solution
is increased due to the higher process airflow rate compared to the existing system reported in. The results also indicate that the
 Recent Developments in Liquid Desiccant-Based Cooling Systems 451

Fig. 13 Schematic of a hybrid liquid desiccant-IEC/DEC evaporative-cooling system. Adapted from Kim, M. H., Park, J. S. and Jeong, J. W. (2013).
Energy saving potential of liquid desiccant in evaporative-cooling-assisted 100% outdoor air system. Energy 59, 726–736.

second retrofit could improve the cooling capacity, primary COP, and thermal COP without increasing the input heat energy for
regenerating the desiccant solution.

Future Needs

Although a number of developments had been made in liquid desiccant cooling technology but a number of steps still need to be
taken in order to make this technology more market accessible. Some of future research and development needs are:
l Cost-effective, noncorrosive, and nontoxic liquid desiccant materials need to be developed. These materials must have relatively
low surface tensions so that they can easily wet the surface of the dehumidifier and regenerator.
l The desiccant materials should have less viscosity so that required pumping power can be reduced. Also these materials should be
stable.
l The effectiveness of regenerator needs to be improved using several approaches including multiple-effect boilers and vapor
compression distillation. Different alternative energy sources should be utilized for regeneration purpose.
l Surface enhancements extended surfaces such as fins should be used to modify the design of dehumidifier and regenerator for
better heat and mass transfer.
l Advanced indirect evaporative coolers should be integrated with liquid dehumidification system to make the system more
commercial.
l The system should be identifying for longer operation to avoid possible operating problems in industrial applications such as
acidifying the desiccant, foaming, etc.
Research and development of liquid desiccant cooling system requires more efforts from experts in the area, which are familiar to
these systems. Design activities need to be developed to make this technology accessible to all people in different parts of the worlds.

Conclusions and Outlook

The use of desiccant cooling technology reduces the energy consumption substantially because of no overcooling and reheating of
supply air for moisture removal. The system directly absorbs the moisture from the air. Liquid desiccant systems control the latent
and sensible loads independently, which make these systems suitable to provide better thermal comfort conditions along with
452 Recent Developments in Liquid Desiccant-Based Cooling Systems

energy saving potential. This technology can effectively utilize the alternative and environmental friendly resources of energy.
Thermal energy is directly utilized to operate these technologies, which eliminate the cost for conversion of thermal energy to other
form of energy.
In this article, the progresses related to liquid desiccant technology have been discussed along with advantages offered by this
technology. The recent developments in the fields of liquid desiccant cooling have also been presented. For better understanding the
basic working principle has been discussed. The main things can be summarized as:
l The liquid desiccant materials have low viscosity, which reduces the required pumping. Low regeneration temperature makes
these materials more suitable for the application of low-grade energy resources.
l The carryover is the problem faced in liquid desiccant cooling system in past. Different developments have been made to
overcome this problem such as the use of rotary liquid desiccant dehumidifier, membrane heat exchanger, inner cooled
dehumidifier, and multistage dehumidification.
l Different composite desiccant materials have also been develop to overcome their corrosive nature and to obtain desired
sorption properties.
l As liquid desiccant cooling has the ability to control latent and sensible load independently, different advancements have been
made in cooling unit used for the control of sensible load. Such as the development of evaporative coolers. Indirect evaporative
coolers have been introduced, which cool the air without adding moisture to it.
l The use of solar energy as input heat source is a successful option for this technology as cooling load demand follows the same
profile as solar radiation. Although initial cost for solar system will be high but it is substantial for long run.
Different hybrid combination of liquid desiccant with conventional cooling systems such as vapor compression has been devel-
oped recently. More research should be conducted on other innovative hybrid liquid desiccant cooling systems integration,
taking into consideration the associated investment costs. The development in liquid desiccant technology is in progress and
it has attaining stability in the market. It appears to be reliable, safe, and environmental friendly according to the needs of
our society.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the support provided by the Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR) at King Fahd University of Petroleum and
Minerals (KFUPM) for funding this work through project no. IN141033.

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