Air-to-air heat and moisture exchange and moisture deposition, migration and caking in potash

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This research is divided into two physically related areas (A) Air-to-air heat and moisture exchange and (B) Moisture deposition ,migration, caking and cake strength in potash.    (A) Air-to-air heat and water vapor exchange between exhaust air and supply air to ventilate buildings can reduce the size of heating boilers and the size of chillers for air-conditioning by 10 to 30% as well as the annual energy costs for heating and cooling.  This research on air-to-air and water vapor exchange will lead to improved performance and reduce costs of these devices and reduce costs for heating and air conditioning buildings.    (B) Water vapor adsorption, deposition, and migration in granular potash and other similar bulk fertilizers causes caking between particles and the formation of dust, especially in warm humid climates.  If these moisture interactions become excessive, the fertilizer must be recycled or discarded because it cannot be used in agricultural seed and fertilizer distribution machines.  This research on moisture deposition and migration in potash fertilizer will lead to better models of these processes, new data and models for recrystallization and caking and cake strength and better methods to reduce caking and dust formation in potash.     Both of these research applications are interconnected by the common principles of heat and water transfer in semi-permeable porous media where microscopic and submicrosscopic length scales are important.