Recycled High-Density Polyethylene and Rice Husk as a Wetted Pad in Evaporative Cooling System

Abstract

Problem statement: The low cost and easy-to-find materials, for being used as wetted pad of evaporative cooling system, are necessary for agriculture. This study, thus, studied the evaporative cooling efficiency and pressure drop of recycled High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and rice husk as a wetted pad in evaporative cooling system. Approach: The study was done by establishing the tested wetted pad with 25.4 and 50.8 mm of thickness. The velocity air flow through wetted pad was controlled at 1, 2 and 3 m sec⁻¹ respectively. In addition, the dry bulb and wet bulb temperatures of inlet air were controlled at 30.1 ± 1.0°C and 23.2 ± 1.1°C, respectively. The commercial wetted pad was also tested in order to compare results with rice husk and recycled HDPE. Results: It was found that rice husk wetted pad gave the average saturation efficiency of 55.9 %, while HDPE gave the average saturation efficiency of 29.1%. However, the pressure drop across wetted pad of rice husk and recycled HDPE was significantly higher than that of commercial wetted pad. For the effect of air velocity on saturation efficiency and pressure drop, it was found that higher air velocity decreased saturation efficiency and increased pressure drop across wetted pad. Conclusion: Finally, the rice husk has a potential as wetted pad material. However, further study about optimum point between operation cost and materials cost of using rice husk wetted pad is needed.