Effect of fiber packing density on physical CO2 absorption performance in gas–liquid membrane contactor

CATEGORY: CARBON CAPTURE
Separation and Purification Technology, Volume 115, 30 August 2013, Pages 152–157
Effect of fiber packing density on physical CO2 absorption performance in gas–liquid membrane contactor
R. Naim (a, b, c), A.F. Ismail (a, b),
a Advanced Membrane Technology Research Centre (AMTEC), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
b Department of Gas Engineering, Faculty of Petroleum and Renewable Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
c Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Lebuhraya Tun Razak, 26300 Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
Abstract
Describes fabrication of microporous polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) hollow fiber membranes using the wet-spinning process. Researchers characterized the prepared fibers in terms of gas permeation, wetting pressure and membrane morphology. They conducted physical absorption of CO2 from distilled water through the gas–liquid membrane contactors. They studied overall mass transfer resistance of the membrane system using Wilson plot analysis.
The spun membranes were found to have good gas permeability, high wetting pressure and reasonably effective surface porosity which is appropriate for mass transfer between gas and liquid phases. Researchers observed that by increasing the packing density of the membrane module, CO2 absorption flux decreases with reductions in liquid velocity. At increasing packing densities of up to 13%, liquid side resistance contributed to more than 90% of the overall mass transfer resistance due to ‘dead zone’ phenomena. A clear trend of mass transfer resistance was observed when the fiber packing density was varied accordingly in gas–liquid membrane contactor systems.
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