Feasibility study and life cycle assessment of two air dehumidification systems

A. E. Kabeel* and M. M. Bassuoni

Mechanical power engineering department, Faculty of engineering, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt.

*Corresponding Author Email: kabeel6@hotmail.com; Tel: 00201001543587, Fax: 0020403453860

Accepted 06 August 2013

Abstract

Design of new cost-effective and sustainable dehumidification systems is important for both energy savings and environmental impacts. This paper analyzes the economic feasibility study and environmental impacts of two different dehumidification systems A and B. These systems are referred as; desiccant system and traditional vapor compression system; respectively. The present worth value and the payback period are used to compare the two systems economically. On the other hand, the weighing methodology of the environmental priority strategies (EPS-2000) has been used for evaluating their environmental impacts. The analysis shows that system A has a payback period of 7 months with annual running cost savings of about 32.5 % compared with system B also, the overall environmental impacts of system A are nearly 0.68 of that of B. The maximum value of LCC for system A and B is 3860 $ and 5440 $; respectively at the end of cycle life. Also, the LCS reaches to 1314 $ at the energy cost 0.05 $/KWh and 2109 $ at the energy cost 0.083 $/KWh.

Keywords: Economic study; Environmental impact assessment; Life cycle assessment  desiccant dehumidification; liquid desiccant.