Desiccant-Based Cooling and Dehumidification Systems
Summary
Desiccant-based cooling and dehumidification systems employ hygroscopic materials—either solid or liquid—to remove moisture from air, decoupling latent and sensible loads and enhancing overall energy efficiency. Incoming air passes through a dehumidifier packed with desiccant, which adsorbs water vapour and lowers humidity. The loaded desiccant is then regenerated in a separate heat-driven process, often utilising solar thermal energy, waste heat or electric heaters, restoring its moisture-adsorption capacity. Regeneration heat may be supplied at moderate temperatures, enabling integration with low-grade thermal sources. These systems can be combined with indirect evaporative coolers, mechanical vapour-compression cycles or absorption chillers to provide temperature control. Recent materials advances—such as high-capacity coatings and porous composites—have improved sorption kinetics and thermal stability. In practice, desiccant cooling offers superior indoor air quality, precise humidity management and reduced reliance on refrigerants, making it attractive for buildings in hot-humid climates, data-centre dew-point cooling and process drying. System-level optimisation continues to focus on hybrid cycles, renewable heat integration and lifecycle carbon reduction.
Research from Nature Portfolio
Recent studies have demonstrated a direct-expansion heat pump incorporating a desiccant-coated, water-sorbing heat exchanger to achieve simultaneous handling of sensible and latent loads. Moisture is adsorbed almost isothermally onto a coated surface and subsequently regenerated via condensation heat, enabling humidity-independent control. Prototype testing revealed coefficients of performance exceeding seven—roughly double those of conventional room air conditioners—while maintaining compactness and comfort standards. This configuration represents a significant advance in ultrahigh-efficiency HVAC design and underscores the potential of integrating sorption materials directly into refrigeration cycles.
Desiccant-Based Cooling and Dehumidification Systems publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in desiccant-based cooling and dehumidification systems across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Liquid desiccant system (LDS): An air-conditioning circuit in which a hygroscopic liquid absorbs moisture in a dehumidifier and is subsequently regenerated by heat.
Regenerator: A component that restores a desiccant’s moisture-adsorption capacity by applying heat to drive off absorbed water vapour.
Sensible and latent loads: Sensible load refers to temperature change in air; latent load denotes moisture-content change.
Coefficient of performance (COP): The ratio of useful cooling (or heating) output to energy input, indicating system efficiency.
Direct expansion heat pump: A refrigeration cycle in which the refrigerant evaporates within a heat exchanger to absorb heat directly from the air stream.
References
- Desiccant cooling systems: a review. International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies (2016).
- Comfortable, high-efficiency heat pump with desiccant-coated, water-sorbing heat exchangers. Scientific Reports (2017).
- Real life test of a novel super performance dew point cooling system in operational live data centre. Applied Energy (2023).
- Simulation Analysis of the Four Configurations of Solar Desiccant Cooling System Using Evaporative Cooling in Tropical Weather in Malaysia. International Journal of Photoenergy (2014).
- Comparison of Different Solar-Assisted Air Conditioning Systems for Australian Office Buildings. Energies (2017).
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