Desiccants, broadly classified as solid and liquid desiccants, have the property of extracting and retaining moisture from air brought into contact with them. By using either type, moisture in the air is removed and the resulting dry air can be used for air-conditioning or drying purposes. Because of its properties, lithium chloride is the most stable liquid desiccant and has a large dehydration concentration (30% to 45%), but its cost is relatively high ($9.00-13.00 per kg). It is expected that lithium chloride will reduce the relative humidity to as low as 15%. Calcium chloride is the cheapest (45 cents per kg) and most readily available desiccant, but it has the disadvantage of being unstable depending on the air inlet conditions and the concentration of the desiccant in the solution. To stabilize calcium chloride and to decrease the high cost of lithium chloride, the two can be mixed in different weight combinations. The main objective of this research is to measure the physical properties of different combinations of this mixture such as density. viscosity, and vapor pressure which are necessary for analysis of heat and mass transfer in a packed tower desiccant-air contact system. The solubility of this new liquid desiccant under certain temperature-concentrations will also be studied.
