CO2 absorption through super-hydrophobic hollow fiber membrane contactors

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the performance of super hydrophobic hollow fiber membrane contactors to absorb CO2 using water and diethanolamine (DEA) solution as absorbents. During the experiment the absorbents flowed through lumen fibers while the CO2 flowed through the shell side of the membrane contactor. Absorbents flow rates as well as the number of fibers in the contactor are the variables observed in this study to see their effects on the overall mass transfer coefficient and flux as well as the absorption efficiency in the membrane contactor. The experimental results show that the overall mass transfer coefficient and the flux increased with increasing the absorbents flow rate. The number of fibers in the contactor have different effects on the overall mass transfer coefficient and the flux for both absorbents. The mass transfer coefficient and the flux increased for water absorbent and decreased for DEA solution. Meanwhile, the CO2 absorption efficiency increased with increasing the water flow rate and the number of fibers in the membrane contactor due to the increase in the turbulence and the contact area, respectively.