A microgrooved membrane based gas-liquid contactor

Abstract

This research presents an approach for applying microgrooved membranes for improved gas-liquid contacting. The study involves analysis of the performance of the microdevice by quantifying the flux enhancement for different membrane configurations. Two kinds of configurations, continuous and non-continuous grooves, were investigated. The microgrooves provide shear-free gas- liquid interfaces, which result in local slip velocity at the gas-liquid interface. Exploiting this physical phenomenon, it is possible to reduce mass transport limitations in gas- liquid contacting. An experimental study using grooved membranes suggests enhancement in flux up to 20-30 %. The flux enhancement at higher liquid flow rates is observed due to a partial shear-free gas-liquid interface. The performance of the membrane devices decreased with wetted microgrooves due to the mass transport limitations. The flow visualization experiments reveal wetting of the microgrooves at higher liquid flow rates. According to the numerical and experimental study, we have shown that microgrooved membranes can be employed to improve gas-liquid contacting processes. © The Author(s) 2012.