Membrane Wetting in Membrane Contactor System: A Review

Abstract

Chemical absorption is the most developed technology for carbon dioxide (CO2) removal in gas processing application. In a long term operation, this conventional method has suffered from significant drawback such as flooding, channelling, entrainment and foaming; therefore membrane contactor is seen as the perfect solution to overcome these problems. In principle, a perfect combination of membrane material and liquid absorbent is vital in membrane contactor system in order to avoid membrane wetting. This review presents the introduction to membrane contactor for CO2 removal via absorption and stripping process. Details on membrane wetting phenomena were discussed which includes the factors contributing to wetting problem and prevention methods to minimize these issues.