Can Ionized Air Filters Double as Air Dryers for Compressors?

[Madpoet626]

I've seen ionized air room air filters and was trying to figure out if they could be scaled up to work as an air dryer/filter for an air compressor.

 

[Bystander]

How were you planning to make such a device work as a dryer?

 

[Madpoet626]

Despite being described as 'water ionizors' the machines are designed to work as water electrolysers. This is anelectrochemicalprocess in which water is split to form hydrogen and oxygen by an electric current. The overall chemical reaction is shown below:

2 H2O(l) → 2 H2(g) + O2(g)
During this process the water near the anode is acidic while the water near the cathode is alkaline. Water ionisers work by simply syphoning off the water near the cathode. This contains increased levels ofhydroxide(OH−) and would be expected to have a higherpH(i.e. be more alkaline). The effectiveness of the process is debatable, as electrolysis requires significant amounts of time and power; hence the amount of hydroxide that could be generated in a fast moving stream of water (i.e. a running tap) would be minimal at best.
When researching if I wanted one of these units for home use, The syphoning off the water part caught my eye and since we are only dealing with vapor not liquid water the time and power needed would be much smaller. The picture that came to mind is a chamber filled with cathodes with ribs in them, the water would gather in valley of the ribs and flow downward to the bottom where it can be removed. I am not a mathematician so I don't know if the numbers will work, that's what I want to know.
Desiccant Tower dryers scavenge a lot for air to work and refrigerant dryers are expensive and use hazardous gas, I've been trying to come up with something different.

 

[berkeman]

Despite being described as 'water ionizors' the machines are designed to work as water electrolysers. This is anelectrochemicalprocess in which water is split to form hydrogen and oxygen by an electric current. The overall chemical reaction is shown below:

2 H2O(l) → 2 H2(g) + O2(g)
During this process the water near the anode is acidic while the water near the cathode is alkaline. Water ionisers work by simply syphoning off the water near the cathode. This contains increased levels ofhydroxide(OH−) and would be expected to have a higherpH(i.e. be more alkaline). The effectiveness of the process is debatable, as electrolysis requires significant amounts of time and power; hence the amount of hydroxide that could be generated in a fast moving stream of water (i.e. a running tap) would be minimal at best.
When researching if I wanted one of these units for home use, The syphoning off the water part caught my eye and since we are only dealing with vapor not liquid water the time and power needed would be much smaller. The picture that came to mind is a chamber filled with cathodes with ribs in them, the water would gather in valley of the ribs and flow downward to the bottom where it can be removed. I am not a mathematician so I don't know if the numbers will work, that's what I want to know.
Desiccant Tower dryers scavenge a lot for air to work and refrigerant dryers are expensive and use hazardous gas, I've been trying to come up with something different.

When you quote something like that, you need to provide a link to the original source. Otherwise it can be a copyright violation, which we do not allow here at the PF. Can you please give us a link where you copied that text from? Thanks.

So you want to use high voltage to perform electrolysis on the water vapor in air to remove the water from the air inlet flow into the compressor -- is that right? Has that technique been used for this purpose before?

 

[Madpoet626]

When you quote something like that, you need to provide a link to the original source. Otherwise it can be a copyright violation, which we do not allow here at the PF. Can you please give us a link where you copied that text from? Thanks.

So you want to use high voltage to perform electrolysis on the water vapor in air to remove the water from the air inlet flow into the compressor -- is that right? Has that technique been used for this purpose before?

Will do, next time I'll try of figure out how to include the link.
I had in mind a high voltage, low amp system but not knowing how to do the math, I'm not sure if it can handle the volume of air I'm working with. I have been a service tech. in the industry for over 20yrs and haven't seen anything like this on the market. As building a proto-type will be costly, I want to make sure the numbers add up.

 

[berkeman]

Will do, next time I'll try of figure out how to include the link.

The simplest way is to go to the web page where you found the text (I'm guessing somewhere on wikipedia), and just copy the URL from your browser's address bar, and paste it in here.

 

[berkeman]

I had in mind a high voltage, low amp system but not knowing how to do the math, I'm not sure if it can handle the volume of air I'm working with. I have been a service tech. in the industry for over 20yrs and haven't seen anything like this on the market. As building a proto-type will be costly, I want to make sure the numbers add up.

Is there a reason that you don't want to use traditional dehumidifier technology?

https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=1&ContentID=498

.

 

[Madpoet626]

Is there a reason that you don't want to use traditional dehumidifier technology?

https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=1&ContentID=498

.

Cost mainly, refrigeration and desiccant towers are expensive and water traps are ineffective, I have a number of smaller customers who need some kind of dryer but can't spend the money. I was also intrigued by the idea that ionization could be used for both filter and dryer in one unit.