Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Thermal modelling and parametric investigations on coupled heat and mass transfer processes occurred in a packed tower

  • Original
  • Published:
Heat and Mass Transfer Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Packed towers are the most preferable type of contactors for achieving better heat and mass interactions between the air and the working fluids. In the present study, a thermodynamic model is developed for analyzing the heat and mass transfer interaction between air and working fluid along a counter/parallel flow packed tower (dehumidifier, regenerator and cooling tower). An algorithm using a backtracking approach is introduced for simulating the transfer processes in the packed tower. The predicted simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental data available in the literature for the counter/parallel flow packed tower. The contour plots are developed for analyzing the transfer processes along the height of the packed tower. The performances of the dehumidifier, the regenerator and the cooling tower are predicted at various operating conditions and tower specifications.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

Cp :

specific heat at constant pressure (kJ/kg – K)

G:

mass flux or flow rate per unit cross sectional area (kg/m2–s)

h:

enthalpy (kJ/kg)

z:

height (m)

T:

temperature (°C)

a s :

specific surface area per unit volume (m2/m3)

R. H.:

relative humidity (%)

An + 1 :

equally spaced node

N:

no. of iterations

n:

no. of parts

k:

integer denoting equally spaced 1 to ‘n’ no. of parts

β :

desiccant concentration (kgdes./kgsol.)

α m :

mass transfer coefficient (kg/m2s)

α h :

heat transfer coefficient (W/m2K)

δ :

latent heat of vaporization (kJ/kg)

ω :

humidity ratio (kgv/kgda)

λ :

evaporation/condensation rate (g/m2s)

γ :

ratio of mass flux of working fluid and air

ξ :

effectiveness

τ h :

function of heat transfer coefficient and air mass flux

τ m :

function of mass transfer coefficient and air mass flux

ζ T :

logarithmic function of thermal effectiveness

ζ m :

logarithmic function of moisture effectiveness

a:

air

l:

working fluid

v:

water vapour

m:

moisture

T:

thermal

sol.:

Solution

des.:

Desiccant

e:

equilibrium

da:

dry air

i:

inlet

o:

outlet

avg.:

average

References

  1. Perry R, Don W (2007) Green, Perry's chemical Engineers' handbook, 8th edn. McGraw-Hill, New York

  2. Treybal RE (1969) Mass transfer operations, vol 3. McGraw-Hill, New York, pp 186–211

    Google Scholar 

  3. Merkel F (1925) Evaporative cooling. Z Verein Deutsch Ingen (VDI) 70:123–128

    Google Scholar 

  4. Nottage HB (1941) Merkel's cooling diagram as a performance correlation for air-water evaporative cooling systems. ASHVE Trans 47:429–448

    Google Scholar 

  5. Yadigaroglu G, Pastor EL (1974) An investigation of the accuracy of the Merkel equation for evaporative cooling tower calculations. ASME Trans: 59–74

  6. Threlkeld JL Thermal environmental engineering. Prentice-Hall Inc, New Jersey

  7. Zhang Q, Wu J, Zhang G, Zhou J, Guo Y, Shen W (2012) Calculations on performance characteristics of counter – flow reversibly used cooling towers. Int J Ref 35:424–433

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Factor HM, Grossman GA (1980) Packed bed dehumidifier/regenerator for solar air conditioning with liquid desiccants. Sol Energy 24(6):541–550

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Fumo N, Goswami DY (2002) Study of an aqueous lithium chloride desiccant system: air dehumidification and desiccant regeneration. Sol Energy 62(4):351–361

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Khan AY, Ball HD (1992) Development of a generalized model for performance evaluation of packed-type liquid sorbent dehumidifiers and regenerators. ASHRAE Trans 98:525–533

    Google Scholar 

  11. Oberg V, Goswami DY (1998) Experimental study of the heat and mass transfer in a packed bed liquid desiccant air dehumidifier. J Sol Energy Eng 120(4):289–297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Babakhani D, Soleymani M (2010) Simplified analysis of heat and mass transfer model in liquid desiccant regeneration process. J Taiwan Inst Chem Eng 41:259–267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Liu X, Jiang Y, Xia J, Chang X (2010) Analytical solutions of coupled heat and mass transfer processes in liquid desiccant air dehumidifier/regenerator. Energy Convers Manag 48:2221–2232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Chengquin R, Yi J, Yianpin Z (2006) Simplified analysis of coupled heat and mass transfer processes in packed bed liquid desiccant-air contact system. Sol Energy 80:121–129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Patil D (2016) R. Kumar and F. Xiao, wetting enhancement of polypropylene plate for falling film tower application. Chem Eng Process Process Intensif 108:1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Zalewski W, Gryglaszewski PA (1997) Mathematical model of heat and mass transfer processes in evaporative fluid coolers. Chem Eng Process Process Intensif 36:271–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Gandhidasan P (2004) A simplified model for air dehumidification with liquid desiccant. Sol Energy 76:409–416

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Gandhidasan P (2005) Quick performance prediction of liquid desiccant regeneration in a packed bed. Sol Energy 76:409–416

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Peng D, Zhou J, Luo D (2017) Exergy analysis of a liquid desiccant evaporative cooling system. Int J Refrig 82:495–508

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Langroudi LO, Pahlavanzadeh H, Mousavi SM (2014) Statistical evaluation of a liquid desiccant dehumidification system using RSM and theoretical study based on the effectiveness NTU model. J Ind Eng Chem 20:2975–2983

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Chung TW, Ghosh TK (1996) Comparison between random and structured packings for dehumidification of air by lithium chloride solutions in a packed column and their heat and mass transfer correlations. Inds Eng Chem Res 35:192–198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Kiran Naik B, Chaudhary V, Muthukumar P, Somayaji C (2017) Performance assessment of a counter flow cooling tower – unique approach. Energy Procedia 109:243–252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Yin Y, Zhang X, Peng D, Li X (2009) Model validation and case study on internally cooled/heated dehumidifier/regenerator of liquid desiccant systems. Int J Therm Sci 48:1664–1671

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Kiran Naik B, Muthukumar P, Sunil Kumar P (2018) A novel finite difference model coupled with recursive algorithm for analyzing heat and mass transfer processes in a cross flow dehumidifier/regenerator. Int J Therm Sci 131:1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Yimo L, Hongxin Y, Lin L, Ronghui Q (2014) A review of the mathematical models for predicting the heat and mass transfer process in the liquid desiccant dehumidifier. Renew Sust Energ Rev 31:587–599

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Kiran Naik B, Muthukumar P (2017) A novel approach for performance assessment of mechanical draft wet cooling towers. Appl Therm Eng 121:14–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Koronaki P, Christodoulaki RI, Papaefthimiou VD, Rogdakis ED (2013) Thermodynamic analysis of a counter flow adiabatic dehumidifier with different liquid desiccant materials. Appl Therm Eng 50:361–373

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Adomain G (1991) A review of the decomposition method and some recent results for nonlinear equations. Comput Math Appl 21:101–127

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  29. Fatoorehchi H, Abolghasemi H (2014) Approximating the minimum reflux ratio of multicomponent distillation columns based on the Adomian decomposition method. J Taiwan Inst Chem Eng 45:850–886

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Biazar J, Babolian E, Islam R (2004) Solution of the system of ordinary differential equations by Adomian decomposition method. Appl Math Comput 147:713–719

    MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  31. Fatoorehchi H, Abolghasemi H (2013) Improving the differential transform method: a novel technique to obtain the differential transforms of nonlinearities by the Adomian polynomials. Appl Math Model 37:6008–6017

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  32. Ayaz F (2004) Solutions of the system of differential equations by differential transform method. Appl Math Comput 147:547–567

    MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  33. Sweilam NH, Khader MM (2007) Variational iteration method for one dimensional nonlinear thermoelasticity. Chaos, Solitons Fractals 32:145–149

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  34. Knuth DE (1968) The art of computer programming. Addison-Wesley

  35. Najibi F, Niknam T, Fard AK (2016) Optimal stochastic management of renewable MG (micro-grids) considering electro-thermal model of PV (photovoltaic). Energy 97:444–459

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Yuan X, Ji B, Yuan Y, Ikram RM, Zhang X, Huang Y (2015) An efficient chaos embedded hybrid approach for hydro-thermal unit commitment problem. Energy Convers Manag 91:225–237

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Turgut OE (2017) Thermal and economical optimization of a Shell and tube evaporator using hybrid backtracking search—sine–cosine algorithm. Arab J Sci Eng 42:2105–2123

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam, 781039, India

    B. Kiran Naik & P. Muthukumar

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, West Bengal, 711103, India

    C. Bhattacharyya

Authors
  1. B. Kiran Naik
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. P. Muthukumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. C. Bhattacharyya
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to P. Muthukumar.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kiran Naik, B., Muthukumar, P. & Bhattacharyya, C. Thermal modelling and parametric investigations on coupled heat and mass transfer processes occurred in a packed tower. Heat Mass Transfer 55, 627–644 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-018-2440-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-018-2440-1

Search

Navigation