Performance Evaluation and Simulation of a Dehumidifying Module using Perfluorosulfonic Acid Capillary Membranes

Perfluorosulfonic acid membranes are widely used in membrane dehumidifiers because of their high water vapor permeance, but the permeance is strongly dependent on operating temperature and relative humidity. In this study, based on the water vapor permeance of a perfluorosulfonic acid membrane measured in a quasi-equilibrium state using a single capillary membrane over a wide range of temperature and relative humidity (10.40 degrees C, 0.90% RH), the water vapor permeance was formulated, and the simulation was applied to the dehumidification performance of commercial perfluorosulfonic acid membrane dehumidifiers. The simulation target was not limited to a single capillary module operating over a wide range of operating temperature and humidity conditions; for use in practical applications, external and self-sweep simulations were performed in a multi-capillary module. Good agreement between experimental and calculated values was obtained in the comparative verification of the relative humidity at each outlet.