Heat and Moisture Recovery from Ventilation Air with Membranes: From Fundamentals to Engineering Applications

Energy consumption by air conditioning accounts for 1/3 of the total energy use by the whole society. Cooling and dehumidifying fresh ventilation air constitutes 20-40% of the total energy load for air conditioning in hot and humid regions. Heat and moisture recovery from ventilation air has become a hot topic for building energy conservation in these years. Of the various technologies for heat and moisture recovery, membrane-based total heat exchanger is a promising alternative. This study in South China University of Technology concentrated on the research on membrane-based heat and moisture recovery, from fundamentals to engineering applications. The results are that a sensible effectiveness of 0.82 and a latent effectiveness of 0.64 are obtained for a total heat exchanger with novel materials and new constructions.