Review of solar regeneration methods for liquid desiccant air-conditioning system

Liquid desiccant air-conditioning system is a novel air-conditioner with good energy saving potential. For the liquid desiccant air-conditioning system, the energy consumption mainly relies on the regeneration process of desiccant solution. As the regeneration process of the liquid desiccant air-conditioning system only needs low-grade energy, solar energy (a kind of renewable energy) can be used to regenerate the desiccant solution and the solar desiccant regeneration system has attracted many attentions. In this paper, recent theoretical and experimental works on solar thermal regeneration method and solar electrodialysis regeneration method of the liquid desiccant air-conditioning system are extensively reviewed. Moreover, the comparison of solar TH regeneration method and solar electrodialysis regeneration method is discussed. The results showed that compared to the solar thermal regeneration system, the solar electrodialysis regeneration system is more energy-efficient but expensive. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.