Experimental Study for the Effect of Air Flow Rate on the Regeneration Process inA Desiccant Column

Abstract

A desiccantcolumn contains a silica gel as a solid moisture absorbent material has been used in this study, in whichthe regeneration or desorption process was discussed.The dimensions of the silica-gelcolumnare 30cm long*30 cm wide*15 cm height.Four different value of regeneration air flow rate ranged between (3.23 to 5.07) kg/min are used to investigate the effect of air flow rate on the regeneration process within the desiccant column.The regeneration air inlet temperature was fixed at about 53 °C, which was obtained by using a solar air heater in addition to an electric heating unit for temperature control purposes. The results obtained from this study showed that the regeneration period is greatly affected by the air flow rate. Increasing the regeneration air flow reduces the regeneration period and viceversa For example, the process of drying silica gel completely from moisture took a 45 min with an air flow rate of (3.23) kg/min, while it took a 35 min with an air flow rate of (5.07) kg/min