Hybrid liquid desiccant air-conditioning system combined with marine aerosol removal driven by low-temperature heat source

The hot and humid air containing marine aerosols on tropical islands or coastal areas always leads to serious equipment corrosion and affects the living comfort of residents. Conventionally, an air-conditioning system can only provide cool dry air, and the marine aerosol removal process consumes expendable materials. To simplify the procedure and reduce the energy consumption, a novel hybrid air-conditioning system combined with marine aerosol removal is proposed in this paper. The novel system achieves multiple functions based on the characteristics of liquid-desiccant dehumidification and phase transitions of the ternary solution system, and it can be driven by a low-temperature heat source. Simulation and thermodynamic analysis of the combined system are presented, and the results show that the humidity ratio of the supply air can reach 6.83 g/kg (dry air), with a temperature of 21.14 degrees C. Compared with the conventional cooling dehumidification system utilizing vapor compression refrigeration driven by power, the power saving ratio (PSR) and the equivalent power generation efficiency (eta(eq)) of the proposed system can reach 93.11% and 9.8%, respectively. Further, exergy analyses are carried out, and the results show the air handling process of the novel system has a considerable energy saving potential. Besides, a crystallization experiment is conducted to verify the feasibility of the key NaCl separation process. Finally, economic analyses are carried out, which indicate that the novel system achieves competitive economic performance. This study provides a new hybrid air-conditioning technology for simultaneous cooling, dehumidification and marine aerosol removal by using low-temperature heat.