Technology
Liquid Desiccant Heat Pumps
Liquid Desiccant technology leverages chemistry and the properties of Lithium Chloride salt to transfer mass (water) in addition to the standard transfer of heat utilized in conventional air conditioning equipment to reduce energy consumption by 40-70% (range is based on climate, operating strategy, and product comparison).
Independent temperature & humidity control
Up to 70% lower energy costs
3rd party tested pathogen elimination (up to 99.9%)
Up to 100% fresh air ventilation
Commercialized, trusted & proven
Carbon & greenhouse gas reduction
Lithium Chloride saltwater also exhibits biocidal properties, enabling purification of air as it manages humidity and temperature levels, specifically reducing mold, bacteria, fungal, and viral contaminants.3rd party testing has been completed to certify air contaminant reductions to a 99.9% threshold with Intertek.
How does Liquid Desiccant Technology work?
Drycor®’s Liquid Desiccant is simply a mixture of Lithium Chloride salt and water.
Lithium Chloride salt exhibits hygroscopic properties – meaning it naturally attracts water molecules.
Our equipment harnesses this natural attraction to create a highly efficient means of manipulating the moisture content of the air it treats.
The amount of moisture removed or added to the air is based upon the concentration of our liquid desiccant solution (percentage of water vs percentage of Lithium Chloride salt in the mixture). This is how we adjust humidity levels.
We utilize traditional DX technology to control the temperature of the liquid desiccant, which in turn controls the temperature levels of the air we are treating.
This decoupling of temperature and humidity treatment allow us the ability to independently control each variable, resulting in more efficient and precise occupant comfort or target space conditions.
How does this look psychrometrically?
The vertical distance (humidity level) is controlled by adjusting desiccant fluid concentration. (1)
The horizontal distance (temperature level) is controlled by adjusting desiccant fluid temperature. (2)
When adjusting both concentration and temperature simultaneously, we get diagonal movement. (3)
How does Liquid Desiccant save energy?
To illustrate an example, let’s utilize the psychrometric chart above, which has conditions associated with a surgical suite.
ASHRAE Standard 170 design values for operating/surgical spaces are typically 68–75°F dry-bulb and 20–60% RH (60% is the upper design limit). If we take 3000cfm of air at 70F @ 60% RH (65.5 gr/lb) (noted on chart above) and utilize conventional vapor compression (refrigeration) based dehumidification technologies to achieve a target supply condition 60F @ 36.5 gr/lb (47.5% RH/40F Dewpoint), we must first cool the air down from 70F to 40F (to achieve the byproduct effect of removing water from the air through condensation) and then reheat the air to 60F.
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Using our latent and sensible heat equations:
Sensible: 3000cfm x 1.085 x (70-40) = 97,650 btuh
Latent: 3000cfm x .68 x (65.5-36.5) = 59,160 btuh
Total Work: 156,810 btuh or ~13 Tons of Total Capacity
With our Liquid Desiccant utilizing absorption instead of condensation to remove moisture from the air:
Sensible: 3000cfm x 1.085 x (70-60) = 32,550 btuh
Latent: 3000cfm x .68 x (65.5-36.5) = 59,160 btuh
Total Work: 91,710 btuh or ~7.6 Tons of Total Capacity (42% reduction in required capacity!)
(Liquid Desiccant regeneration utilizes exclusively waste heat from the sensible cooling vapor compression cycle, with no supplemental/secondary heat source)
From an OPEX perspective, the ability to achieve lower dewpoints via absorption rather than condensation is appealing, due to COP degradation of cooling equipment at low operating temperatures. (They are increasingly less efficient the colder they operate – COP at 60F is much higher than COP at 40F.)
Assuming a conventional refrigeration system has a COP of 2.5 at 40F and a COP of 3.4 for Drycor’s liquid desiccant system, we see:
Power consumption (Conventional) = 156,810 btuh / (2.5 x 3412.142) = 18.37 kW
Power consumption (Liquid Desiccant) = 91,710 btuh / (3.4 x 3412.142) = 7.91 kW
This results in a 57% reduction in simple power consumption to perform this work.
*This high-level analysis does not consider parasitics such as fans, pumps, etc.
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