CO2 absorption from its mixture through super-hydrophobic membrane contactor

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of super-hydrophobic hollow fiber membrane contactors to absorb CO2 from its mixture with N2 or CH4 using 5 wt% diethanolamine (DEA) solution as absorbent. Methodology: During the experiment the absorbent flowed through lumen fibers, whilst the feed gas flowed through the shell side of the membrane contactor. Results: The experimental results demonstrated that the mass transfer coefficients, the fluxes and the amount of CO2 absorbed increased with the absorbent and feed gas flow rates for CO2-N2 and CO2-CH4 feed gas system. The CO2 absorption efficiency for both feed gas increased with the absorbent flow rate. The CO2 absorption efficiency increased with feed gas flow rate for CO2-N2 system, but decreased for CO2-CH4 system. Conclusion: The overall mass transfer coefficient and the flux decreased with the number of fibers in the contactor, whilst, the amount of CO2 absorbed and the CO2 absorption efficiency increased.