Experiments and modeling of bubble column dehumidifier performance

Humidification–dehumidification is a promising technology for decentralized, small-scale desalination, but conventional dehumidifiers are expensive due to the large surface area required. Direct-contact dehumidification in bubble columns has been shown to significantly decrease dehumidifier size and cost. In this paper, the heat flux and parallel-flow effectiveness of a bubble column dehumidifier are investigated experimentally using significantly smaller cooling coils than in previous work. In addition, a model is developed which predicts the heat transfer rate with an average error of less than 3%. It is found that heat flux rises and effectiveness decreases with decreasing coil area. Increasing air flow rate and air temperature both lead to increased heat flux but decreased effectiveness. Neither bubble-on-coil impact nor column height are found to significantly affect heat flux or effectiveness. The conflicting findings of previous research on bubble-on-coil impact are explained by the other trends identified in this work. Modeling results for salt water temperature and tube diameter are presented. Additional heat transfer in the air gap above the column liquid is explored, but found to be minimal for well-designed columns with low temperature pinch. These findings will inform the design of bubble column dehumidifiers for high heat recovery and low capital cost.Center for Clean Water and Clean Energy at MIT and KFUPM (Project R4-CW-08)Flowers Family FellowshipMIT Department of Physics Pappalardo Program (Fellowship)National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research Fellowship (Grant 1122374