A comparative study on the regeneration performance of traditional heating and heat localization methods

Liquid desiccant air-conditioning (LDAC) system is a promising alternative to the traditional vapor compression system. The most energy-consuming part of LDAC system is desiccant regeneration. An urgent issue that needs to be addressed is the inefficiency of traditional regeneration method. Solar heat localization is a novel and high-efficiency strategy for seawater desalination. However, the wide application is confined due to the low-efficient of water condensation and harvesting. In this work, the regeneration performance of heat localization method was investigated and an electric heating sheet was adopted to circumvent the effect of solar reflection. Compared with traditional heating method, the regeneration performance can be significantly improved by heat localization method. The regeneration efficiency of desiccant with 40 % concentration was significantly improved by 6 times (about 23.15 %) through heat localization method. Heat localization method allows immediate concentration of high-concentration desiccant with a low-temperature rise of regenerated desiccant. The low-temperature rise is beneficial for LDAC system due to less cooling energy is needed. This work is expected to extend the application of solar heat localization and provide some new information for liquid desiccant regeneration. [Display omitted] •An electric heating sheet was adopted to study regeneration performance of heat localization.•Regeneration efficiency can be improved by 6 times with heat localization methods.•The desiccant temperature regenerated by heat localization methods is the lowest.•Heat localization methods are more conducive to the regeneration of high concentration solution.