Why a Desiccant Air Dryer?
Let’s start with what is a desiccant air dryer, then move on to why you would want one. A desiccant air dryer uses desiccant to dry the air. Desiccant is a group of materials that adsorb moisture. The desiccant needs to be regularly desorbed, that is have the moisture removed from it. This is called regeneration. Most desiccant air dryers have two pressure vessels, one for drying air and the other for regeneration. They switch between the two so compressed air is always available. There are two sets of options for desiccant air dryers, either they use some of the compressed air from your compressed air system or they use a blower to force air over the desiccant for regeneration and they can either be heated or not.
Now, onto why a desiccant air dryer? They, like the refrigerant air dryers, have all the benefits of being an air dryer that were discussed before. In short, they reduce costs by removing moisture from compressed air. Moisture in the compressed air system can cause much damage to your compressed air system and equipment that uses compressed air. Desiccant air dryers are more expensive than refrigerant air dryers, but can get the air much dryer. So, if your equipment is more sensitive to moisture, then you may want a desiccant air dryer rather than a refrigerant air dryer. As for the different types, blowers use more electricity, but do not use any of your compressed air; and heated regeneration uses more electricity, but desorbs the desiccant faster.