CELLULOSE FIBER & HUMIDIFICATION
Munters CELdek® and cellulose evaporative media for cooling and adiabatic humidification — cut to size for commercial HVAC, greenhouse, industrial process, and OEM applications.
Lead time 6-8 weeks
Two Jobs, One Media
Evaporative cooling and adiabatic humidification are the same physical process pointed at two different goals. The same pad can do both — often in the same air handler, in different seasons. What changes is how you size it, when you run it, and what you do with the side effect.
Cooling
The goal is the temperature drop. Air gives up sensible heat to evaporate water, and leaves the media cooler and more humid.
You size for maximum saturation efficiency at your design wet bulb, and you manage the added moisture downstream. Typically a summer load.
- Sized against design wet bulb
- Deeper media for higher efficiency
- Added humidity is the tradeoff
Humidification
The goal is the moisture. Air is usually preheated, then passed through the wetted media, where it picks up water vapor and drops in dry bulb along the way.
Because the energy comes from the airstream itself rather than a boiler, adiabatic humidification uses a fraction of the energy steam humidification does. Typically a winter load.
- Sized against target relative humidity
- Far lower operating cost than steam
- Sensible cooling is the tradeoff
One media bank, both seasons. Many commercial systems run the same media for evaporative cooling through the summer and adiabatic humidification through the winter. If that’s your application, tell us — it changes how we’d recommend sizing and how often you should plan on replacement.
CELdek® and Cellulose Media
Cellulose is the industry standard for evaporative media, and Munters CELdek® is the line we supply most often. It’s built from corrugated cellulose sheets, impregnated with rigidifying and anti-rot saturants, then bonded into cross-fluted blocks that hold their shape wet.
Cross-fluted geometry
Alternating steep and shallow flute angles create turbulent mixing of air and water, maximizing contact area. The steeper angle faces the incoming air to encourage wash-down and self-cleaning.
High saturation efficiency
Excellent wicking and high surface area per cubic foot deliver strong performance at modest depth — which is why cellulose remains the cost-performance benchmark for both cooling and humidification.
Rigid when wet
Saturants keep the block dimensionally stable under continuous wetting and airflow load, so flutes stay open and water keeps distributing evenly across the face.
Other lines available. CELdek® is our primary cellulose line, but we also supply equivalent media from other manufacturers when a project specifies it or availability calls for it. If you’re working to a particular basis of design, send us the spec and we’ll tell you what we can match.
Cellulose or Glass Fiber?
Both materials cool and humidify. The decision usually comes down to fire code, water quality, and how long you want to go between change-outs.
| Cellulose (CELdek®) | Glass Fiber (GLASdek®) | |
|---|---|---|
| Substrate | Resin-impregnated cellulose | Inorganic glass fiber |
| First cost | Lower | Higher |
| Service life | Shorter, and highly dependent on water quality | Substantially longer under the same conditions |
| Fire performance | Treated cellulose substrate | Non-combustible substrate; suits stricter code requirements |
| Wet/dry cycling | Less tolerant; repeated cycling shortens life | Highly tolerant |
| Aggressive water | Less tolerant of hard or untreated water | More tolerant |
| Typically chosen for | Cost-sensitive cooling and humidification where code allows | Code-driven applications and long service intervals |
Fire code is usually the deciding factor. If your specification calls for a non-combustible media substrate, cellulose won’t satisfy it regardless of cost. Send us the spec section and we’ll tell you which material applies before you order.
Where It's Used
Commercial HVAC
Air handler cooling in summer, winter humidification for occupant comfort and static control. Office buildings, schools, healthcare, and institutional facilities where indoor relative humidity is part of the design intent — and where the fire code section often decides the material.
Greenhouse & Agriculture
Pad-and-fan cooling and humidity control for growing environments, plus livestock and poultry housing. Managing vapor pressure deficit and heat load directly affects yield and animal health, and cellulose media is the long-standing standard for these systems.
Industrial Process
Printing, textiles, and woodworking all depend on tight humidity control. Paper changes dimension with moisture, yarn loses strength and picks up static when air is dry, and wood moves as its moisture content shifts. Adiabatic humidification holds those conditions at a fraction of the cost of steam.
OEM & Equipment Builders
Media supplied to your cassette formats and dimensional tolerances, with consistent specification across production runs. If you build evaporative coolers, air handlers, or humidification sections, we can supply to print and hold stock against your build schedule.
Depths, Sizes & Service Life
Deeper media saturates more completely and costs more static pressure. The right depth depends on how much cooling or humidification you need and how much fan energy you can spend getting it.
| Media depth | Typical saturation efficiency | Relative static pressure |
|---|---|---|
| 4 inch | 65-75% | Lowest |
| 6 inch | 75-85% | Low |
| 8 inch | 85-90% | Moderate |
| 12 inch | 90-95% | Highest |
Figures shown at moderate face velocity. Higher face velocity reduces saturation efficiency and increases static pressure. Confirm against certified product data for your conditions.
Water quality determines service life more than the calendar does. Hardness, silica, and dissolved solids drive scale, and scale on cellulose reduces saturation efficiency while raising static pressure at the same time. The same media can run for years on treated water and fail in a single season on hard, untreated water. Follow the factory recommendations on bleed rate and wet-down sequencing, and send us a water analysis with your inquiry if you have one.
What We Need to Quote Your Media
Send whatever you have. We can work from partial information — but the more of this you include, the faster and more accurate the quote.
- Application — cooling, humidification, or both
- Equipment make and model, for replacements
- Cassette or media dimensions — height, width, depth
- Quantity and delivery schedule
- Airflow and face area, or design face velocity
- Site location, or design dry bulb and wet bulb
- Fire code requirements, if any apply
- Makeup water analysis, if available
Not sure what’s currently in your equipment? Send a photo of the media face along with the equipment model — we can usually identify it from that. Spec sheets, performance data, and replacement guidelines are available on our main evaporative media page.
Request a Quote or Product Support
Send us what you have — equipment model, dimensions, a photo of your existing media, or just a rough description of the application.
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