Experimental and theoretical study on dehumidification potential of clay-additives based CaCl2 composite desiccants

Abstract

Transported clay suitable for pot making is used as desiccant carrier. Additives like saw dust and horse dung are considered in particle preparation. Particles nearly spherical in shape are prepared manually and are dried under shadow and subsequently the particles are dried at different temperatures. These burnt particles are characterized for pore volume and surface area. The BET test reveals that clay particles subjected to 500 C possess higher pore volume but clay-horse dung particles exhibit higher surface area. Heat treated particles of clay with additives are impregnated with CaCl2 solution of 50% concentration. The ratio of desiccant water content to surrounding layer water content varies from 14.09 to 75.34 for CaCl2 based composite desiccants. One dimensional PGC mass transfer model for process air through burnt clay – additives - CaCl2 desiccant bed is adopted. The RMSE of measured and predicted results for reduction of moisture content from the process air by composite desiccant beds are in the range of 3.26–13.2%.