Hollow fibre membrane-based liquid desiccant humidity control for controlled environment agriculture
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ArticleAuthors
Lefers, Ryan
Srivatsa Bettahalli, N.M.
Fedoroff, Nina V.
Ghaffour, NorEddine

Davies, Philip A.
Nunes, Suzana Pereira

Leiknes, TorOve

KAUST Department
Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Research CenterBiological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) Division
Environmental Science and Engineering Program
Nanostructured Polymeric Membrane Lab
Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) Division
Water Desalination and Reuse Research Center (WDRC)
Date
2019-05-08Online Publication Date
2019-05-08Print Publication Date
2019-07Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/652888
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Humidity control is an important factor affecting the overall sustainability, productivity, and energy efficiency of controlled environment agriculture. Liquid desiccants offer the potential for pinpoint control of humidity levels in controlled environments. In the present work, a dehumidification processes utilizing liquid desiccants pumped through the lumens of triple-bore PVDF hollow fibre membranes is implemented in a bench scale controlled environment agriculture system. Hydrophobic hollow fibre membranes were combined into an array and placed near the crops. Concentrated magnesium chloride liquid desiccant solution with a low vapour pressure was pumped through the hollow fibre lumens. The dehumidification permeance rate responded dynamically to the changing transpiration rate of the plants, as influenced by changes in environmental factors such as light, temperature, and vapour pressure. The dehumidification permeance rate increased from an average of 0.26–0.31 g m−2 h−1 Pa−1 as the velocity of the liquid desiccant through the hollow fibres increased from 0.023 to 0.081 m s−1. Humidity levels were targeted to be maintained within a range of 70–90% relative humidity at 23 °C. The membrane-based liquid desiccant system was demonstrated to successfully control humidity within a bench-scale controlled environment agricultural setup.Citation
Lefers RM, Srivatsa Bettahalli NM, Fedoroff NV, Ghaffour N, Davies PA, et al. (2019) Hollow fibre membrane-based liquid desiccant humidity control for controlled environment agriculture. Biosystems Engineering 183: 47–57. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2019.04.010.Sponsors
The research reported in this publication was supported by funding from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). The authors thank colleagues from Nanostructured Polymeric Membrane (NPM) group, as well as Water Desalination and Reuse Center (WDRC), and KAUST's Core Labs for their help on equipment and analysis. The graphical abstract and Fig. 1 were produced by Xavier Pita, scientific illustrator at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Philip Davies acknowledges granting of a Visiting Researcher position by KAUST.Publisher
Elsevier BVJournal
Biosystems EngineeringAdditional Links
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1537511018312017ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2019.04.010