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DOE OSTI · 2584763

Dehumidification energy storage using a stratified liquid desiccant tank

James, Nelson [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)]·Kozubal, Eric [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)] (ORCID:0000000261953126)·Esmaeilirad, Mohammadreza [Mojave Energy Systems, Sunnyvale, CA (United States)]·Kienitz, Brian [Mojave Energy Systems, Sunnyvale, CA (United States)]·Woods, Jason [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)] (ORCID:0000000276612658)
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Abstract

Liquid desiccants can play an important role in reducing dehumidification energy requirements in the built environment. Because they are in a liquid state, the desiccant can be easily stored and then used to dehumidify buildings during peak energy consumption periods. By maintaining stratification between concentrated and diluted desiccant solutions, a single tank can be used to store liquid desiccant for energy storage purposes. Using a stratified tank instead of separate tanks for dilute and concentrated solutions will reduce storage costs and increase energy storage densities for liquid desiccant systems. This paper describes the experimental validation and one-dimensional modeling of a stratified liquid desiccant tank. The stratified tank prototype developed achieved 80 % of the theoretical energy storage density based on an imposed desiccant concentration change. Here, the stratified tank model was able to reasonably reproduce the experimental results. Using this model, the impact of varying operational conditions on the energy density of the stratified liquid desiccant energy storage was evaluated. Depending on the operating conditions, stratified liquid desiccant energy storage using aqueous LiCl up to 40 wt% can achieve energy storage densities in excess of 330 kWh/m 3 .

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25 ENERGY STORAGEliquid desiccant dehumidificationstratified tankthermal energy storage

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James, Nelson [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)], Kozubal, Eric [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)] (ORCID:0000000261953126), Esmaeilirad, Mohammadreza [Mojave Energy Systems, Sunnyvale, CA (United States)], Kienitz, Brian [Mojave Energy Systems, Sunnyvale, CA (United States)], Woods, Jason [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)] (ORCID:0000000276612658). 2025-08-13. Dehumidification energy storage using a stratified liquid desiccant tank. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2025.118057

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