A regenerator has a significant influence on the energy efficiency of a liquid desiccant system. A conventional packed regenerator has a low specific surface area

which leads to the huge size of the equipment. An ultrasonic atomization method can greatly increase the specific surface area of a regenerator through atomizing the liquid desiccant into micron droplets

which will certainly reduce the equipment size. For the sake of development of ultrasonic atomization regeneration technology

this paper describes a theoretical study conducted on an ultrasound-atomizing regenerator. A model for the ultrasound-atomizing regenerator was established based on some necessary assumptions

and the model was validated experimentally. An index of specific energy consumption (SEC) is also suggested

and the model is used to investigate the energy consumption characteristics of an ultrasound-atomizing regenerator under different regeneration conditions

including the inlet solution temperature and concentration

as well as the inlet regeneration air temperature and humidity. The following conclusions can be drawn from this study: 1) A lower solution temperature is beneficial to improving the efficiency of an ultrasound-atomizing regenerator

but it should satisfy the practical application requirements of liquid desiccant after the regeneration. 2) The SEC of the regeneration of the liquid desiccant shows a clear increase with an increase in the inlet solution concentration. The SEC increases by nearly 40% as the solution concentration increases from 0.28 to 0.33. 3) A higher regeneration air temperature will lead to lower energy efficiency. The SEC of the solution regeneration increases from 3.263 to 4.629 kJ/g as the regeneration air temperature increases from 30 to 41 ℃ under the conditions applied in this study. 4) The higher regeneration air humidity will lead to higher energy consumption. Under the simulation conditions described herein

the SEC of the solution regeneration increases from 3.23 to 10.56 kJ/g as the regeneration air humidity increases from 10 to 28 g/kg (dry air).